A few weeks ago, we posted about a countdown on the site that was going towards May 1st, and if you check your calendars, you can see that the day has come, and Diablo3.com is now redirecting to Diablofans.com. There is a post on the site saying that Blizzard contacted the site a few months ago to pick up the domain name, and while the owner (who also runs I-Mockery) wanted it to stay a fan site, he couldn't help but sell to Blizzard. We had speculated that it would mean an official takeover, and while it hasn't actually happened yet (right now the redirect is in place, and we're not sure how long that'll be the case), it looks like we were right.

The obvious conclusion here, of course, is that Blizzard is ramping up for a Diablo 3 announcement -- no doubt sweet, sweet candy to the ears of Blizzard fans everywhere. And that's not a huge assumption -- it's been rumored for a while, and what other reason would Blizzard have to start marking their territory? Of course, as the owners of the Diablo trademarks, Blizzard could probably have claimed the domain any time, though from the post on the new site, it sounds like they actually paid money for it -- how much, we're not sure. (they didn't -- see update)

At any rate, if you're going to be optimistic about there being a Diablo 3, the new date to mark on your calendars is Saturday, June 28th -- that's the date that the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational starts in Paris. Last year, they used the event to announce Starcraft 2, so who knows -- maybe this year we'll see Deckard Cain in a cinematic saying, "It's about time."

Update: Actually, the I-Mockery guys said they gave it to Blizzard for free, just because they were Blizzard fans, which is kind of cool. Also, the redirect will apparently last until June 1st, at which point, Blizzard will take over Diablo3.com. Our guess is that then it'll redirect to Blizzard.com (see diablo.com), at least until an announcement is made.

You know how it is. One of your favorite addons breaks down completely after a patch, so you go looking for the updated version, but then you realize you don't remember where you downloaded it. You check your favorite mods website, only to find that they only have the out-dated version. You end up having to check several different websites in order to find the update, and you wish there were a better way.

KitKatsFTW over in Europe has developed a simple solution: a site called "WoW Mod Search," which uses Google's custom engine to search through the four main WoW mod sites: WoW UI, WoW Interface, Curse, and WoWAce. The site is simple, unobtrusive, and aside from some google text ads, there's absolutely nothing to get in your way.

I use Inquisitor on Safari to quickly use shortcuts of any search engine without actually visiting the website itself first. If any of you out there are also using Inquisitor, or any similar search plugin, you should be able to just copy and paste this search url into your plugin preferences as a shortcut for quick access to WoW Mod Search later. (The "%@" in that link represents the space that will be replaced with your searched keywords when you use the plugin.)

You play MMO's, you chat, you express your invaluable opinion on the forums, and you /dance. Your virtual identity is all about customization, and DKPSystem.com's beta Armory Signature Generator is a quick, easy way to snag yourself a l33t forum signature. After all, you might as well try to save your adoring fans some energy; now they don't even have to look you up before they reply!

I love the simplicity of this tool. Although it allows you a fair amount of customization, it allows anyone, regardless of technical expertise, to generate a signature complete with character photo and pertinent information. From choosing which stats will be displayed, to choosing your own background, this is one handy tool that should be in every forum-goer's toolkit.

Westerners and Easterners, for whatever reason, often have very different sorts of websites, and the World of Warcraft websites for different regions of the world reflect this. The game itself may be the same anywhere in the world, but the people who play it are different, and it's interesting to note some of these differences to see what we can learn from them about the people.

Westerners (Americans and Europeans, to be exact) get a blog-like format, featuring columns and an expansive vertical menu going down the left side. Western WoW pages of various countries tend to be more or less the same, just in different languages.

Easterners (namely Chinese, Taiwanese and Koreans), get quite a different experience. One of the first things you notice on the front page is that lots of information on the WoW sites is presented interactively, with images taking up the main space, and words and news items being pushed into the background. Words are kept to a minimum, and are presented in square-like sections, rather than columns, with a friendly flash menu stretching across the top of the page. Their pages all seem tailor-designed for each of the three Asian regions, and no two are exactly alike.

Are westerners getting shafted with lower-quality websites for their World of Warcraft needs? Or are the Easterners' glitzy sites making up for something Westerners may take for granted? Continue reading for a closer look, with a gallery of illustrative screenshots.