Headline RePLAY – 7.19.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime admits that Diablo III’s always-online requirement is DRM, Fortnite may require constant online access and Deadpool: The Game is closer to the source material than you may think.  

In a state of the game address to Diablo III players, Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime concedes that the always-online requirement is a form of DRM, but insists that it combats issues like cheating and in-game cracks while being important for the “long-term integrity of the game experience.”

“One other common topic we’ve seen in the forums is the always-connected experience, and the perception that the online requirement is nothing but an infective form of copy protection that has already been cracked” wrote Morhaime on the game’s official forums. “While we’ve never said that this requirement guarantees that there will be no cheating or game cracks, it does help us battle those problems (we have not found any fully functional cracks).

“More important to us is that the online requirement is critical for the long-term integrity of the game experience,” he continued. “I fully understand the desire to play Diablo III offline; however, Diablo III was designed from the beginning to be an online game that can be enjoyed with friends, and the always-online requirement is the best way for us to support that design.”

Morhaime elaborated by stating that features like the friends list, cross-game communication, co-op matchmaking, persistent characters, customer support, service, and security are all directly tied to the “online nature” of the game. He reiterates that the online components are “essential” to the design of Diablo III and believes that improvements can still be made to expand the “online experience” and make co-play more “rewarding.”

|Source: Blizzard

It looks like even Epic Games’ upcoming sandbox survival game, Fortnite, won’t escape the possibility of an always-online requirement. Producer Tanya Jessen, however, says that it would be used to improve the game and not as DRM to combat piracy.

“That’s [always-online requirement] something we don’t know yet,” Jessen told Rock, Paper, Shotgun. “It’s going to be really dependent on gameplay, and it’s also dependent on platform—the method of getting updates and stuff like that. So I can’t say for sure today one way or another [whether or not we’re going to use it].”

Jessen explains that the focus will be on cooperative play, and an always-online requirement may come with the territory. “Fortnite is a game that’s being developed as a co-op experience primarily,” she said. “That’s our number one focus. This is a game you’re gonna want to play with your friends, and it’s most fun with your friends. So whatever we decide to do there is gonna be more relevant to the most fun experience you can have with you friends [than I tis to piracy]. But I can’t nail that down today.”

|Source: Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Comic book fans that want authenticity in their comic book video games is getting it with Deadpool: The Game—it’s being written by the current author of the Deadpool comic series, Daniel Way.

The High Moon Studios game about the “merc with a mouth” is slated for a release sometime in 2013.

|Source: Joystiq

Headline RePLAY – 7.5.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Diablo III's item hunt end-game isn’t enough, Nintendo won’t charge for internet access for the Wii U and a Final Fantasy VII re-release on the PC.

Diablo III is all about the hunt for the perfect item drop(s), however Blizzard concedes that it’s just enough for a “long-term sustainable end-game.”

“We recognize that the item hunt is just not enough for a long-term sustainable end-game,” said Community Manager Micah “Bashiok” Whipple on the official forums. “But honestly Diablo III is not World of Warcraft. We aren’t going to be able to pump out tons of new systems and content every couple months. There needs to be something else that keeps people engaged, and we know it’s not there right now.”

Bashiok reveals that Blizzard does have plans to “give people things to do” and “get them excited about playing” with fixes and changes via patches (1.0.4) and Diablo III’s delayed PvP arenas; although these are not going to be a “real end-game solution.”

“We have some ideas for progression systems,” continued Bashiok, “but honestly it’s a huge feature if we want to try to do it right, and not something we could envision being possible until well after 1.1 which it itself is still a ways out.”

On the suggestion that Diablo III was released before it was ready, Bashiok admitted that the development team underestimated how sustainable the item hunt would be.  

“Hindsight is 20/20 I suppose, but we believed pre-release that the item hunt would be far more sustainable, and would work to be a proper end-game for quite a while,” he said. “That didn’t turn out to be true, and we recognize that.”

|Source: Blizzard via IGN

Nintendo promises not to charge consumers for their “ordinary online services,” much like how Sony handles PSN, although the company cannot guarantee it for “deep” experiences.

                            

“We cannot promise that Nintendo will always provide you with online services free of charge no matter how deep the experiences are that it may provide,” Nintendo President Satoru Iwata told shareholders, “but at least we are not thinking of asking our consumers to pay money to just casually get access to our ordinary online services.”

“We have a wide variety of consumers,” Iwata elaborated, “from the ones who enthusiastically play video games to those playing more casually, who are not always interested in them but try to play a game only when it has become a public topic or play it just during certain periods, like a year-end season and summer vacation.

“We therefore believe that services which ask our consumers to obtain paid memberships are not always the best.”

|Source: Nintendo via Eurogamer

If you missed the dozen other Final Fantasy VII re-releases over the past few years, Square-Enix is offering it again for the PC with some added… features.

The re-released PC version includes 36 achievements to unlock with online profile sharing, a “character booster” that can increase character stats and Gil and cloud save support.

Final Fantasy VII for the PC will exclusively be available on the Square-Enix store. No release date is announced.

|Source: Square-Enix

Headline RePLAY – 6.22.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Restrictions on new digital purchases of Diablo III, Persona 4: Golden boosts much needed PS Vita sales and Namco Bandai joins the Super Smash Bros. team.

In a move that is likely to spark a debate over consumer rights, Blizzard has announced yesterday that new purchases of digital versions of Diablo III are subject to content restrictions up to 72 hours.

Most specifically, digital version buyers are stuck on Starter Edition limitations, such as:

• Access up to Act 1 of the Skeleton King encounter.
• Level 13 cap.
• Matchmaking only with other Starter Edition players.
• No Auction House access of any kind.
• The inability to trade and drop items for other players to receive.
• Restricted players are locked out of chatting in public or game channels.
• Restricted players cannot attach a custom message to friend requests, but can send/accept friend requests and play with friends.  
• Users can only play in their home region.

In a forum post, support forum agent Kaltonis explains that the “review period” was necessary to combat fraud and other malicious activities that can “weaken everyone’s play experience.” Kaltonis adds that the delay is “no longer than three days” and can be over “often much quicker than that.”

Blizzard further clarified in a statement released to Kotaku, stating that the move was to “help ensure the integrity of the game and auction house service” and to “deter credit card fraud.”

The company says the content restrictions are only until payment verification is complete, and that most payments are approved and restrictions are lifted within a day. Blizzard also assures players that it will monitor player feedback and will continue to “evaluate the best methods for ensuring a positive experience for everyone.”

Additionally, Blizzard acknowledges that there were players that purchased the game digitally after patch 1.0.3 were unintentionally affected by the security changes, and ended up capped at level 13 and content locked at Act I. Blizzard says they are working to correct the issues as soon as possible, and will provide another update when there are more details to share.

|Source: Blizzard

The release of Persona 4: Golden provided the PS Vita with a much needed sales boost in Japan this week by single-handedly moving over 34,000 units. The last time the PS Vita saw numbers above the 30,000 mark was in early January, before sales started declining.

Most tellingly, the Persona remake alone broke PS Vita software records by moving 137,076 units since its release four days ago.

|Source: Media Create Sales (Week 24) by NeoGAF via GameTrailers

Namco Bandai is joining the Super Smash Bros. development team alongside Sora, according to a joint-statement released by the two companies.

Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai says announcement was made so he can develop the game with some freedom. He said the project has “just gotten started” and the game was announced before any actual development.

Sakurai commented how the prototype prepared by Namco Bandai’s special team “looks pretty good” and that it’s “working great.”

Namco Bandai for their part wants to assure fans that their “dream team” is on the job, such as Yoshito Higuchi, the producer and director of the Tales series, Tetsuya Akatsuka, producer and director of Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs., the art/sound director of SoulCalibur and the main development team staff from Tekken.

“We will fully utilize our experience and knowledge in action/fighting game development, technical capability, and organizational strength,” promised Namco Bandai’s Masaya Kobayashi, “and we hereby promise you that we will develop the best and most powerful Super Smash Bros. title ever! Don’t miss it!”

|Source: Nintendo

Headline RePLAY – 6.12.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: EA’s future plans on its Origin service, layoffs strikes Slant Six studios and the banhammer descends on Diablo III cheaters.

Electronic Arts’ Origin platform is constantly compared to Valve’s Steam by users; primarily that it should be more like its competitor. EA’s response is a simple one: provide better service, but be different.   

“The easy response to that is, ‘Well, give us a few more years, and maybe we’ll be better than Steam,’” Origin SVP David DeMartini told Gamasutra. “That said, right no we’re not. …Steam took eight years to get where it is. We’re not going to take eight years, but we’re going to get there and go beyond.”

DeMartini says while EA wants Origin to be comparable to Steam, the goal is not to become a clone of its industry competitor. “There’s one Steam. I think what people want to see is, they want to have another viable option. They want us to differentiate in a way that sets us apart.”

“What I is [for] Origin to be differentiable and better as a service, which is similar to what Steam does.”

|Source: Gamasutra

Success does not guarantee the lack of cost-cutting, the developer of Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City learned, as it announced that more than a quarter of its 96 employees were going to be temporarily laid off.

“Regretfully, we can confirm that there have been some temporary layoffs at our studio,” read a statement from Slant Six Games. “We must stress that these are temporary layoffs, which means we are working very hard on new business prospects so we can reinstate every single person affected. As an independent and close-knit studio it is very difficult but necessary business measure due to the current project cycle demands.”

A Slant Six representative told GameSpot that the affected employees were given the option of taking a severance package or accepting a temporary layoff as the studio searches for additional projects. Those that chose being temporarily laid off will be able to collect employment insurance and retain their extended benefits for 13 weeks. However, if the studio is unable to rehire them, the layoff becomes permanent.

The representative continued by saying that most of the 26 affected employees chose the temporary layoff option.

|Source: GameSpot UK

After issuing a warning about impending bans on Diablo III cheaters, Blizzard made good on its threat and slammed the banhammer on a good several thousand players today.

“We recently issued a round of account suspensions and bans to several thousand Diablo III players who were in violation of the Battle.net Terms of use for cheating and/or using botting or hacking programs while playing,” said Community Manager Jonathan “Zarhym” Brown on the official forums.

“In addition to undermining the spirit of fair play that’s essential to everyone’s enjoyment of the game, botting, hacking, and other such exploitative behavior can contribute to stability and performance issues with the Battle.net service,” he continued. “As always, maintaining a stable, safe, and fun online-gaming experience for legitimate players is a top priority for us, and we’ll be continuing to keep watch on Battle.net and take action as needed.”

|Source: Blizzard

Headline RePLAY – 6.11.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: The producer of Street Fighter IV is back in action, Diablo III prepares for the Real-Money Auction House and League of Legends EU is the latest to be hit with a security breach.

Yoshinori Ono’s dedication to Capcom’s Street Fighter series is so legendary that it was instrumental in revving the franchise in 2008 with the release of Street Fighter IV—but was it the same devotion that arguably lead to his sudden illness and collapse in April?

In an interview with Eurogamer’s Simon Parkin, Ono recounts his journey from composer to producer, and his dogged persistence in proposing the fourth entry to Street Fighter to a reluctant company since the release of Street Fighter 3: Third Strike in 1999.  

“I was working on Onimusha 4 and during that time I repeatedly submitted my proposal for a new Street Fighter,” Ono recalled. “The company kept telling me: ‘It’s a dead franchise. It doesn’t make any money. We have series that make money like Resident Evil and Onimusha. Why bother with a dead franchise?”

Ultimately, Ono’s persistence paid off and he was given a small budget to create a prototype. Ono’s strategy was simple: “I had been asking all of the journalists to make noise about the series when out and about. I would always tell them that it was their responsibility to tell Capcom, not me as I don’t have the power. Journalists and fans have the power to move Capcom—not producers. With so many voices crying out for a Street Fighter game Capcom could no longer ignore it any more and so they gave the green light for a prototype and they asked me to create it.

“It’s a miracle that happened after a decade…”

Capcom was still not sold on the project, however. Fan demands may have forced the company’s hand, but Ono was constantly asked, “Ono-san, seriously why are you persisting with this? You are using so much money, budget and resources. Why don’t we use it on something else, something that will make money?”

“No one had the intention of selling it,” Ono concluded, “so I had virtually no help from other departments—they were reluctant, right up to the day of release.”

Ono’s dedication and his faith in the fans paid off in spades: Street Fighter IV was a huge success, single-handedly resurrecting the franchise.

And it probably overworked him into a hospital bed, but the producer vows that’s not enough to stop him.

“There have been rumors saying Ono is dead or retiring. None of that’s true. I want to support the next generation of fighting games. It’s my job. It’s my calling.”

|Source: Eurogamer

Diablo III’s long-disputed Real-Money Auction House is launching tomorrow, and in the wake of hacking reports that plagued the game’s release, Blizzard is requiring that players have an authenticator attached to their account in order to access the feature.

More specifically, players must have a physical or mobile Battle.net authenticator attached to their Battle.net accounts in order to use the RMAH. Players who already attached their account to Battle.net Balance, a feature that provides the option to buy and sell items on the RMAH, without an authenticator will continue to be able to do so—on the caveat that it is required to add to the balance in the future.

|Source: Blizzard

League of Legends EU is the latest to be hit by hackers, Riot Games reports that only personal player data in EU West and EU Nordic and East databases were accessed and “absolutely” no payment or billing information was compromised.

According to Riot, any personal data that was breached included e-mail addresses, encrypted account passwords, summoner [game ID] name and date of birth. The studio does note that for a “small number of players” first and last name might’ve been compromised along with encrypted security question and answer.

Riot does assure players that the security issue that hackers exploited was resolved, all EU West, EU Nordic and East players were notified via e-mail and that the investigation is still ongoing. Additionally, Riot has redirected teams to “quickly implement new security measures” to improve the safety of player data and will continue to “invest in security measures” like password hashing, data encryption, state of the art firewalls, SSL and security ninjas.

And lastly the company asks users to change their account passwords and offers steps on how to do so.

|Source: League of Legends

Headline RePLAY – 5.24.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Only a minority of players were affected by the Diablo III hacks, details on Castlevania’s rumored reveal at E3 and GameStop’s annual Expo conference opens up to the public.

In an update to the Diablo III community, Blizzard assured fans today that Battle.net and Diablo III servers have not been compromised by hackers and only an “extremely small” number of players have been affected.

“First and foremost, we want to make it clear that the Battle.net and Diablo III servers have not been compromised,” wrote Blizzard Community Manager Danielle “Nethaera” Vanderlip. “In addition, the number of Diablo III players who’ve contacted customer service to report a potential compromise of their personal account has been extremely small.

“In all of the individual Diablo III-related compromise cases we’ve investigated, none have occurred after a physical Battle.net Authenticator or Battle.net Mobile Authenticator app was attached to the player’s account,” she continued, “and we have yet to find any situation where a Diablo III player’s account was accessed outside of “traditional” compromise methods (i.e. someone logging using an account’s login email and password).”

Nethaera rejects speculation that “session spoofing” was used as a method to hijack a player’s identity after he or she joins a public game, but assures fans that despite the “technical impossibility” of it occurring Blizzard will continue to investigate reports of such incidences.

"To that end, we’ve also seen discussions regarding the possibility of account compromises occurring in ways that didn’t involve these “traditional” methods—for example, by “session spoofing” a player’s identity after he or she joins a public game," she continued. "Regarding this specific example, we’ve looked into the issue and found no evidence to indicate compromises are occurring in this fashion, and we’ve determined the methods being suggested to do so are technically impossible. However, you have our assurance that we’ll continue to investigate reports such as these and keep you informed of important updates.”

|Source: Blizzard

Details on Castlevania’s return are materializing from the mists of rumor prior to its E3 2012 debut much like Dracula’s Castle does every century.

Castlevania: Mirror of Fate, the 3DS title, is reportedly a 2D adventure that stars two different playable characters and co-op play much like Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin for the DS. Unlike its DS cousin, Mirror of Fate allegedly utilizes the 3DS’ cameras as some sort of mirror or as a new puzzle-solving mechanic.

On the official front, Konami has released a teaser site at thedragonreturns.com. Not only does the site contain Castlevania-esque artwork the web address refers to the name of Vlad Dracul, or Vlad the “Dragon” in Romanian, the basis of the Dracula legend.

|Source: IGN

GameStop is opening its annual Expo conference to consumers—an event that was previously exclusive to the retail chain’s managers and members of the game industry.

The Expo conference serves to introduce GameStop managers to upcoming game titles and a preview of products that will be sold during the holiday season. And now in what is likely a public relations move, consumers will get an inside look into what games will be released, meet video game publishers and see special guests.

Price for admission is $35, or $100 for VIP admission. VIP passes will be able to attend presentations by major game companies. Tickets are only sold to members of GameStop’s PowerUp Rewards loyalty program.

The conference will be held at San Antonio, Texas on August 29th, two days before PAX 2012 in Seattle.

|Source: Gamasutra

Headline RePLAY – 5.23.12

Even Activision Executives Joked That StarCraft II was Never Coming Out |Source: Kotaku

Diablo III is the Fastest-Selling PC Game of All Time |Source: Blizzard

Judge Recommends Import Ban for the Xbox 360 |Source: GamePolitics

Next Guild Wars 2 Beta is on Hold to Implement New Hardware |Source: VG247

Grand Theft Auto V Due by End of March 2013 – Analysts |Source: GameSpot

Headline RePLAY – 5.22.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: The Nintendo 3D hits another sales milestone, the Star Wars: The Old Republic team experience layoffs and Blizzard responds to Diablo III hacking claims.

As PlayStation Vita sales continue to drop in Japan, Nintendo 3DS sales continue to rise as it crossed the six million mark this week in domestic sales, according to retail tracker Enterbrain, Famitsu’s publisher.

From its debut on February 26, 2011 to May 20, 2012, the handheld sold a grand total of 6,017,206 units in Japan alone.

According to Andriasang and Media Create data, the Nintendo 3DS was also the fastest handheld ever to reach 5 million in sales.  

|Source: Famitsu via Andriasang

BioWare doctors Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka have confirmed layoffs with the Star Wars: The Old Republic’s development team today in a statement on the MMO’s official forums.

“Sadly, we are bidding farewell to some talented, passionate and exceptionally hard-working people who helped make SWTOR a reality,” said the BioWare doctors. “Impacting people’s lives this way is always very hard, but we’re ensuring the affected people are treated with dignity, fairness, and respect.”

Despite the layoffs, Dr. Zeschuk and Muzyka wanted to reassure fans that business will continue as usual with SWTOR. “We still have a very substantial development team working on supporting and growing the game, and we feel we are in a strong position, with your continued involvement and feedback, to continue to build Star Wars: The Old Republic as one of the most compelling and successful online experiences in the world today.”

|Source: SWTOR

In a coordinated effort to tackle the Diablo III hacking crisis, Blizzard has rejected allegations that hackers are bypassing authenticators and have devoted forum threads to aid players in buffing their Battle.net account security.

“We’ve been taking the situation extremely seriously from the start, and have done everything possible to verify how and in what circumstances these compromises are occurring,” said Blizzard Community Manager Micah “Bashiok” Whipple.

“Despite the claims and theories being made, we have yet to find any situations in which a person’s account was not compromised through traditional means of someone else logging into their account through the use of their password. While the authenticator isn’t a 100% guarantee of account security, we have yet to investigate a compromise report in which an authenticator was attached beforehand.”

In a separate thread dedicated to Battle.net account security, Community Manager Stephanie “Lylirra” Johnson explains that the rise of compromised accounts amidst the release of a new game is nothing new.

“Historically, the release of a new game—such as a World of Warcraft expansion—will result in an increase in reports of individual account compromises, and that’s exactly what we’re seeing now with Diablo III,” said Lylirra.  

“We know how frustrating it can be to become the victim of account theft, and as always, we’re dedicated to doing everything we can to help our players keep their Battle.net accounts safe—and we appreciate everyone who’s doing their part to help protect their accounts as well.”

|Source: Blizzard

Headline RePLAY – 5.21.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Guild Wars 2 aims to set a new MMO-genre standard, Diablo III problems persist and a new Castlevania game.

Is the MMO-genre formula for success set by Blizzard’s World of Warcraft changing? ArenaNet’s global brand director thinks so, and believes that the company’s upcoming Guild Wars 2 will set a new standard in the genre.

   

“We’re finally seeing a point where companies realize that they’re not going to create the next great MMO by just copying what’s come before [World of Warcraft],” said ArenaNet’s Christopher Lye. “Honestly, I think the problem is that there’s been a lack of change in MMO design and that Guild Wars 2 is a reaction to that.”  

Guild Wars 2 deviates from the World of Warcraft blueprint with the “Dynamic Events” system to replace traditional questing, which allows the development team to “easily modify and add new content.” ArenaNet’s upcoming MMO also revamps the action-bar combat system to be more like Bluehole’s TERA MMO with action-based combat that employs active dodging.  

“People will call this risky, but we think it’s riskier just to churn out the same MMO that everyone played before,” said Lye. “People can read the words, but it’s not until someone actually plays the game that they really understand some of the fundamental changes that we’ve made to the genre.”

|Source: Gamasutra

The problems with Diablo III continues to mount up like a pile of trash loot that nobody wants, except it now comes in the form of enterprising hackers rather than server gremlins.  

Reportedly hackers have compromised many Diablo III players’ accounts and stolen in-game gold, items or even the accounts they have hijacked. It appears that the Blizzard Authenticator is ineffective at preventing these attacks, as there has been speculation that hackers are simply able to ‘jump into’ accounts—completely bypassing the Blizzard authentication process.

Blizzard has yet to comment on the issue, but has been ‘rolling back’ victimized accounts to a point prior to when the hacking took place. Any items lost to the hacking, however, will not be returned.

|Source: GamesIndustryInternational

Castlevania is making a return to handhelds via the 3DS, according to rumors by Dutch Nintendo site N1ntendo.

The new game will be called Castlevania: Mirror of Fate and it is to be revealed by Konami at this year’s E3. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow producer David Cox and writer/director Enric Alvarez are rumored to be part of the development team.   

Is this the reason why Cox Tweeted from the “land of Dracul” last month and teased his reason for being there?  

|Source: NeoGAF via Kotaku

Headline RePLAY – 5.18.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Initial details on Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut, Kevin Butler stars in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale and Diablo III’s secret level.

In what is our first glimpse into Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut, voice actors for Admiral Hackett, EDI and Kaidan Alenko were confirmed to have recorded voice-over work for the upcoming DLC.

“I just did another session with them,” Lance Henriksen, the voice actor for Admiral Hackett, told G4. “They were saying there’s a little bit of a problem with the abruptness of the ending. So we did a whole series of things to add to the end of the game, to live up to the quality they’ve been doing.”

Raphael Sbarge, the actor for Kaidan Alenko, also confirmed his return via Twitter: “Just when you thought I would never go back, they keep PULLING me back in #MassEffect!! Recording!! Yay! Wha-hoo!”

Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut is slated for a summer release.  

|Source: G4

Fictional VP of PlayStation commercials, Kevin “With a Stick” Butler, is the latest to be included in the roster of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale together with Snake, Nathan Drake, Cole MacGrath and Sly Cooper.

According to online database site IMDB, each of the characters’ voices will be reprised by their usual actors, such as David Hayter as Snake, Nolan North as Nathan Drake and Jerry Lambert as Kevin Butler.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale is Sony’s answer to Nintendo’s popular Super Smash Bros. franchise, where up to four PlayStation characters duke it out with sticks.  

|Source: GamerZines

Hello, friends. Stay awhile and listen.

In homage to the Diablo II’s Secret Cow Level, fans have uncovered a new secret level in Diablo III— “Whimsyshire.”

Whimsyshire is a completely playable area that consists of smiling clouds, pink cupcakes, ponies and rainbows. Oh, and it has elite bosses that can still slaughter an unsuspecting adventurer expecting hugs and friend-magic.

This stage was undoubtedly inspired by the art controversy at BlizzCon 2008, where a number of Diablo III fans found the color palette of the game to be “too colorful.” In response, Blizzard’s art department made t-shirts with rainbows, unicorns and happy clouds for the Diablo III development team.

|Source: Diablo Wiki

Headline RePLAY – 5.17.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Blizzard apologizes for Diablo III’s disastrous release, Guild Wars 2’s name reservation program and Pokémon Black and White 2’s awesome introductory movie.  

Diablo III’s release this week unleashed a different kind of hell than the one Blizzard was expecting: a hell rife of error messages, disappearing achievements and long queues. The technical problems were so grave that Blizzard has stepped forth to apologize.

“We sincerely regret that your crusade to bring down the Lord of Terror was thwarted not by mobs of demons,” said Blizzard Community Manager Micah “Bashiok” Whipple, “but by mortal infrastructure.”

Bashiok admits that “despite very aggressive projections” their preparations for the game’s launch “did not go far enough.” Since then Blizzard has been “monitoring the game 24/7 and have applied several optimizations” to Diablo III’s systems to “better weather the global rush.”

“As of last night, specifically 11:50 PM PDT on May 15, all systems have been online and running relatively smoothly,” Bashiok reports. “We’re continuing to monitor performance globally and will be taking further measures as needed to ensure a positive experience for everyone. This includes some maintenance to implement additional improvement s for each region.”

As a result, the real-money auction house has been delayed from its estimated May 22nd release date.

|Source: Blizzard

What’s in a name? ArenaNet tackles that question by launching a name reservation program for their upcoming MMO, Guild Wars 2.

Guild Wars 1 players can preserve their character name into Guild Wars 2 simply by being an active player. During Guild Wars 2’s Headstart Access period, account holders must create a Guild Wars 2 character with the same name as their Guild Wars character in order for the process to work.

And voila, a hero is reborn!

|Source: ArenaNet

Before its June 2012 release date in Japan, Pokémon Co. is (re)introducing fans to Pokémon Black and White 2’s characters with a 5-minute anime movie.

While the movie is ultimately an ad and won’t be used in the game, it does tantalize viewers on what to expect from the sequels. i.e. Gym Leader battles, Team Plasma’s return, pre-Generation V Pokémon, returning characters, etc.

|Source: Andriasang