Posted by: Jane Douglas

Good news for the PC gamers among us: Blizzard have revealed Diablo III, the newest entry in its popular action RPG series and follow-up to the award-winning 2000 game Diablo II.

The announcement was made during Blizzard’s recent weekend gaming event in Paris, the 2008 Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational, where a cinematic trailer and gameplay demonstration introduced the new game to the thousands of fans in attendance.

Plot
“We’ve wanted to expand on the epic story and gameplay elements of the Diablo universe for some time now,” said Mike Morhaime, chief executive and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment, on Saturday.

Diablo III will pick up the story 20 years after the events of Diablo II. Mephisto, Diablo and Baal have been defeated but the Worldstone, which once shielded the inhabitants of the world of Sanctuary from the forces of both the High Heavens and the Burning Hells, has been destroyed, and evil once again stirs in the city of Tristram.

Players will take on the roles of heroes from one of five character classes, the first two of which – the barbarian and the witch doctor – were shown as part of the recent Diablo III announcement in Paris.

Graphics and physics
The game will feature a custom 3D-graphics engine to render Sanctuary with a high level of detail. The game’s physics-enhanced environments will be interactive and destructible, offering traps and obstacles that create added threats for players and monsters alike.

These elements, along with a new quest system and random scripted events, will be integrated into the game’s random-level generator. Cooperative and competitive play will be available online through an upgraded version of Blizzard’s online gaming service, Battle.net.

Diablo III is being developed for simultaneous release on Windows and Macintosh PC platforms, and further information about the game will be announced as development progresses.

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