In what should surely be categorised as 'Duh!' news, Blizzard's Online Technology VP, Richard Bridenbecker expressed surprise at the reaction they have got online(oh the irony) regarding the requirement to be always connected to the internet to play Diablo III. Speaking in an interview with MTV, he said "I'm actually kind of surprised in terms of there even being a question in today's age around online play and the requirement around that".
He further added "We've been doing online gameplay for 15 years now…and with 'World of WarCraft' and our roots in Battle.net and now with 'Diablo 3,' it really is just the nature of how things are going, the nature of the industry. When you look at everything you get by having that persistent connection on the servers, you cannot ignore the power and the draw of that."
He denies that the requirement was a form of DRM that they has in mind and said it was something they just planned for the new Battle.net. Is this an oversight from Blizzard's part? I've said it before and I'll say it again... I feel Blizzard doesn't exactly know what PC gamers want, secluded in their giant headquarters of theirs. This was also something I felt was true with StarCraft II. Did they honestly believe people were going to be completely kosher with this move? Duh Blizzard
Source: VG247
I don't agree with your view on SC though. Although the game has been split into 3 parts, each part is as long as a traditional game.
ReplyDeleteMy contention with StarCraft II is not with the three games they plan to release as a series. It was price. But more related to this particular post, it is that Blizzard didn't know how much backlash they would get for SC2 ditching lan(I didn't care though) and especially the Real ID issue. They were also surprised about it last time.
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