Reader Oleg was kind enough to send along this Diablo III screenshot, which he found over on Blizzard's main site about the new game they announced this weekend. As you can see up in the corner, the game's internal code name apparently was Hydra, so that answers the question we posted way back in September of last year about someone overhearing the name "Hydra" being bounced around the Austin GDC.
And we also know now, of course, that Diablo III isn't an MMO, which means that Blizzard still has at least one secret project running: that next-gen MMO that we've been told about via job listings. Unfortunately, we probably won't hear much about it for a while -- unless Blizzard wants to ramp up their production, three titles at once is a lot for them to work on, and even at BlizzCon later this year, we don't really expect to see a new game announcement (although they might use the occasion, if Wrath really is released by then, to announce the next planned expansion).
Still, that's one mystery solved. Maybe we'll overhear another codename this year in Anaheim, and the rumor wheel can start spinning up yet again.
With the game updated to patch 2.4, and the servers "scheduled" (I use the term loosely) to come online in 15 minutes, I'm presented with a nice little server selection box when I log in. Complete with a new location (Blizzard's catogorization, not mine) to choose: "Development."
What is this?
When clicking the name I'm not seeing anything different. It still shows the realms off line. In fact, it's the only option. Now my memory isn't completely clear here, as it's something I've always just clicked on, but for my U.S. account the options there have always been "United States" and "Oceanic." So what's this new tag about? The only time I've seen this has been on the PTR.
I have a few guesses.
First, and quite likely the most plausible explanation, is that it is an artifact of the servers being upgraded. Blizzard takes the servers down, the put them into a special mode, and they update them as needed. That could be all this tag is about.
Susana of Hyjal speculates about something I've thought about a few times before -- just what exactly are Blizzard's internal development tools like? Most games that have mapmakers can churn out new maps pretty rapidly, but we've had the same BG maps for years now, and only one or two per year since then. And even the created maps aren't fixed easily, apparently -- a few map tweaks on WSG would probably fix the turtling problem, but Blizzard instead is tweaking the rules to fix things. Just what is Blizzard using to make their game that they take so long with development?
To be fair, the rules here are a little more complicated than most first-person shooters (since you can do a lot more than just shoot at each other), so obviously the maps would presumably be a little more complicated as well. But in the age when players have access to the Neverwinter Nights toolset and even the Forge on Halo 3, surely it's a little crazy that Blizzard takes months to release one map, when other great games can pump out whole packs of them in the same time.
Now, this is WoW Insider, so it's ok if you're a Blizzard apologist. It's fine for you to say "Blizzard has the biggest game in the world not despite the fact that they're so slow, but because of it," and it's fine for you to be a fanboy/girl and say you'd rather wait three years for a Blizzard-quality Arathi Basin than play a whole "Hidden Fronts" pack. And the truth is that when Blizzard does release content, they don't disappoint. But we're still left wondering just why, after doing this for so long and having so much practice at it, it still takes them so long to do it.
The 2008 Game Developers Conference is underway in San Francisco right now, and this means there should be quite a bit of gaming news and juicy bites to report on in the next few days. Blizzard's own Rob Pardo is there as a featured speaker, participating in a panel on the future of MMORPGs and giving a talk on Blizzard's approach to multiplayer gaming design. Hopefully that means we might even get a few pieces of new information about Warcraft and the expansion, or even beyond.
Our colleagues at Massively will be watching the whole conference closely, as will we, and we'll be sure to keep you up to date if Blizzard drops any bombshells of the Lich King variety or otherwise.
Back in April we noticed that Blizzard had some interesting job openings on their web site. Specifically, they were looking for Lead Engine Programmer, a Lead Tools Programmer, and a Lead Technical Artist, all for what was only identified as a "Next-Gen MMO." And while we have no official news from Blizzard, we can follow this mystery game's development by keeping an eye on the job opportunities available at Blizzard. Recently, they've started looking for a Senior Graphics Programmer, a Senior Tools Programmer, a Lead 3D Character Artist, and a Lead 3D Environment Artist for their "Next-Gen MMO." (Hydra?) Whatever the project is, its development must be progressing as the team grows.
If you've been keeping up with the news here on WoW Insider, you already know the information that has been updated on the WoWUnder Development page. But it's nice to see it in black and parchment.
Under Almost Ready, Blizzard lists the highlights of Patch 2.2: Voice Chat, Mac Movie Capture and the Improved Chat Interface. They also include a link to the current PTR Patch notes. These changes will be released in the next major patch, which unfortunately looks like it will be a while.
The Coming Soon section lists things that will be in upcoming patches, presumably before the expansion. They don't link to any further official info for this section, but I've provided links to WoW Insider details:
Zul'Aman - A high-level 10-player instance located in the Ghostlands
Sunwell Plateau - A high-level 25-player instance located north of Silvermoon City
The On the Horizon section is all about Wrath of the Lich King. The highlights they list are the new level cap, Inscription, Northrend, Death Knights and Character Customization. For more info, they link to the official WotLK website.
I was hoping for more official info on the Coming Soon topics -- and something more than just 3 items. I don't expect the expansion to be here for another year, so an official sneak preview of some more of the free goodies we're going to get in the meantime would be nice.
What are you most looking forward to being added to the game before the expansion? Or will nothing satisfy you except for new hairstyles, ten new levels and another continent?
In an exclusive interview with Gamasutra, Blizzard revealed they have 3 development teams hard at work on games. WoW has 135 developers, Starcraft II's team has 40 members and a third unannounced title has a team of 40 members. Frank Pearce, Blizzard's Senior Vice President of Product Development, said "Team 3 is working on something really awesome. I can't give you any hints but it's totally awesome."
Be still my beating heart. Of course, the speculation on the forums has begun and Blizzard CM Tigerclaw is fanning the flames:
When our awesome new World War II first person shooter ships, you'll all be saying "aw why didn't I see that coming!"
A few players suggested that World of Tacocraft is on the horizon. Tigerclaw ran with the idea:
You could have power-ups and add-ons, like you could wrap the taco in an authentic Chicago-style pizza... maybe even dip it in batter and then deep fry it til it's golden brown... That's what I call a Taco!
Personally, I would like to see Diablo 3 or another MMO on the horizon. Hopefully, they will tell us more at Blizzcon, but Blizzard is notoriously reticent with this kind of information, so I'm not holding my breath.
What new game would you like to see from Blizzard? Do you think they'll tell us at Blizzcon? Would you eat a deep fried, pizza wrapped taco?
Bloodsong asked the following on the General Discussion Forums today:
WoW or Starcraft 2? Balancing classes or creating new content? Raiding or PvP? Professions or transportation? Next patch or next expansion? New races or new classes? New zones or new quests?
Bloodsong's questions are timely. People are leaving WoW and those that are staying would like to know what to look forward to. Yes, Blizzcon is coming up, and we will find out more about upcoming development then -- but we are impatient.
CM Nethaera responded:
World of Warcraft and Starcraft 2 are being developed by different but equally dedicated teams.
Everything else goes hand in hand since they are all interconnected.
PC Gamer's online portal, Computerandvideogames.com (CVG) has reported that they have insider information confirming what the gaming world has suspected for some time. CVG states that it is indeed a StarCraft MMO currently in the works at Blizzard and not another chapter in the StarCraft RTS series. According to their article, the new StarCraft MMO will be announced at the upcoming Blizzard event slated for May 19th in South Korea.
While I'm thrilled that there is another StarCraft in the pipes, I'm more than a bit curious about how Blizzard are going to be able to translate StarCraft's universe to an MMO. Will you be able to play as Protoss, Zerg, and Terran? Or will the Zerg become the new Scourge -- NPC's for Protoss and Terran players to battle against? Another question to my mind would be about the number of worlds in the StarCraft universe. Will you start on the home planet of your race and then as you gain levels, move to others? How is Blizzard planning on addressing the platform battles in space? Will they add in the option for in-space skirmishes (somewhat like EVE Online) which help to decide who controls different platforms and sectors of space as opposed to it all being land-battles? Or will you just board shuttles (teleport) from planet to platform to planet without ever actually spending much time in space?
Late last night (or early this morning - depending on your point of view) a story started breaking saying that Vivendi had announced in a Wall Street presentation that Blizzard would be moving all of its franchises to the MMO format. They state an expected three year development cycle and $50 million cost per MMO (as compared to Warcraft's 4 1/2 year development and $63 million cost). So will we be seeing a Diablo MMO? A Starcraft MMO?
However, the official Blizzard response on the WoW forums has been very clear - they haven't announced any specific development aside from The Burning Crusade, and they have no intention on focusing on a single genre for future games. Another Blizzard employee notes that perhaps there's some confusion between what Vivendi has planned for its own games' division (which operates separately from Blizzard) and Blizzard's own development path.
Greg over at the Guardian Gamesblog has been chatting with Itzik Ben Bassat, VP of Business Development for Blizzard, about WoW's success in Europe and worldwide. He hints at possible console versions:
Consoles will become increasingly important to the online world and obviously as a leading company in the online world we would like to use the great tools that the 360 and PS3 offer to bring Blizzard quality to console owners. There is nothing confirmed yet though.
Also, more hints on future development:
At the moment we are not announcing anything but we have several projects concerning the three worlds (Starcraft, Diablo and Warcraft) that we will announce when we feel comfortable that they match the quality of our previous games.
With over six million subscribers to WoW, and with no end in sight, it might be understandable if Blizzard focused all of their rescources on support for World of Warcraft. According to this Gamespot article, however, WoW is only one iron in Blizzard's fire, as they plan to actively develop a wide range of new games, for both PC's and consoles.
Of course, there's no mention of what these new games might be, or exactly which platform they will appear on...but they're working on it, apparently. Which is fine with me, as long as they don't spead themselves too thin & allow WoW to suffer as a result. You know what I mean by suffer; long queue times, server outages, lag.....oh, wait a minute...
With the game updated to 
The 2008 Game Developers Conference
In an 
PC Gamer's online portal, Computerandvideogames.com (CVG) has reported that they have insider information confirming what the gaming world has suspected for some time. CVG states that 
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