Fans of Blizzard’s Diablo series may now rejoice. After 8 years of anticipation since Diablo II’s release and wondrous results, the big boys at Blizzard finally broke the long silence about another sequel to the dark fantasy MMORPG – Diablo III.

Diablo first came out in 1997 for the PC, and after a fairly positive reception, Diablo 2 followed a few years after with resounding fan approval. It featured elements that would later be seen in Blizzard’s money-making giant, World of Warcraft. After the success for the first two games, word of a third Diablo game remained strictly amongst fans, as Blizzard seemed to keep a tight lip as to even remote possibilities of a game ever being produced, and truly the idea was overshadowed once World of Warcraft came out. However, with announcements last year of Starcraft finally getting a true sequel, whispers once again started to stir of Diablo’s resurrection. Thankfully, fruit has been borne of those desires.

The launched site features a surprising amount of eye-candy in terms of media and visual accounts of actual gameplay. Two classes have been released thus far on the site: the return of the Barbarian-class from Diablo 2, as well as a Witch Doctor-class that no doubt will be replacing the Necromancer from the previous game. New and old monster classes have been released in small doses as well, and no doubt additional character and monster classes will be revealed as time goes on.

Check out the site here – Official Diablo III Site

No announcements on a projected release date for the game have been given, though speculation suggests that it will be either before or after Starcraft 2, to give the respective giants their space.

We love SNK and Capcom for their contributions to the 2-d fighting genre, but right now, it’s Sammy’s Guilty Gear series that is the reigning champion. While SNK continues to make use of its aging Neo-Geo hardware and Capcom continues to remake versions of Street Fighter II, Sammy’s Guilty Gear sets itself apart from the pack with its cast of zany characters, beautiful graphics and animation, unique fighting system, complex backstory, and 80s Rock ‘n’ Roll inspired atmosphere. Guilty Gear XX, which is the third game in the series, is no different. However, Guilty Gear’s developers share one unfortunate aspect with Capcom and SNK; namely the tendency to re-release versions of their games which add just a few small tweaks. In fact, there are currently 5 iterations of Guilty Gear XX, and #Reload is only the second. #Reload adds several tweaks and alterations to character’s move lists in order to balance the gameplay. This entry is also notable for the fact that it’s the first appearance of the series on Xbox, and this version of the game is the first entry in the series to feature online play. Online play is also available on the PC version thanks to fan-created modifications.

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Good News: Nintendo Power has confirmed that Mega Man 9 is not only a reality, but coming to WiiWare as a retro-awesome throwback to the NES days. The BBPS has scans straight out of the magazine showing the series has abandoned all Zs and Xs and visual upgrades.
But lets dial back a bit: The original leak from the Austrailian ratings board a month or so ago said Mega Man 9 had been rated as a “multiplatform” title. Capcom’s comment? “NP only has part of the story. More to be learned later.” Capcom’s hearty support of Microsoft and Sony’s download services with Street Fight HD Remix, Wold Of The Battlefield, and Bionic Commando suggest they’re not above sharing this with all consoles.
I suppose you want to know who the new robot masters are and I’ll tell you: Magma Man, Galaxy Man, Jewel Man, Concrete Man, Hornet Man, Plug Man, Tornado Man, and Splash Woman.
I just hope the music is up to par.

Having Pikachu on hand and dozens of Pokémon in balls as items just wasn’t enough. Now we’re getting a Pokémon Trainer as a playable character!

True to Pokémon games, he doesn’t do any actual fighting, he merely commands Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard in battle. You can switch out between the 3 characters at will, but they share damage. Balancing the 3 will part of the challenge. Are they still allowed to use Pokéballs?

From Smash Bros Dojo: Pokémon Trainer

Oh, and before I forget, there is a Canadian Best Buy flyer showing Sonic with the cast of Smash Bros. Fact, Fiction, or just Wishful Thinking?

Apparently DST did not actually put on display all of their upcoming minimates at the San Diego Comic Con. At Wizard World Chicago today, a new two-pack was revealed as an FYE/Suncoast exclusive. Scarlet Spider and Hobgoblin make their debut in the minimate format. Thanks to MinimateHQ for the news and check out more pictures here.

Event just started with a performance from Corpreal, the band of high school students who played the Halo theme to some success on youtube in the past year. They played in Peter Moore, who spoke briefly about the change of venue and then announced that every game they’d show in the conference tonight will be released this year.

Then Moore introduced some of the Harmonix crew to play Rock Band. After some stumbles and Peter’s off key adlib vocals while playing guitar, they wheeled out the evenings next big gun… Viva Pinata Party Animals.

Viva Pinata Party Animals will be a party game not unlike Mario Party with… Viva Pintata characters. Yeah, I’ll leave this one to aDam.

The Mass Effect trailer. [Read the rest of this entry…]