Diablo III coming to consoles

[Queasy]

It's been rumored for about a year based on comments from Blizzard employees but now it looks to be all but confirmed.

New job listings on Blizzard's websites indicate that Diablo III will likely to be ported to home consoles like the Playstation 3 or Xbox 360.

Diablo III coming to consoles would signal a huge shift for Blizzard as they have previously only limited themselves to the PC platform since the relatively unsuccessful ports of the original Diablo to the PSone, WarCraft II to the Sega Saturn and PSone, and StarCraft to the Nintendo 64 from 2000 and earlier.

The current job listings show that they are looking for a Lead Designer, Lead Programmer and Senior Producer for a console port of Diablo III. The Lead Designer job listing is looking for someone that has "Experience with shipping or porting multi-platform games" and "Strong sense of what makes a fun and compelling experience for console titles and games in general." Meanwhile the Lead Programmer position is seeking an "experienced engineer to lead console development on the Diablo team."

This falls in line with Blizzard's previous discussions about bringing the action RPG to consoles since all the way back in October of 2009 when Blizzard president Mike Morhaime said that a console version was being considered.

"Every game we have the discussion about which platforms make the most sense," he said.

"As Diablo III takes shape, I think we'll do an evaluation. I think there is a pretty good argument to be made that that type of game might work very well on consoles. There might be some technical limitations though that we might need to get past."

Clearly it looks like they've worked past some of the limitations and are moving forward with a console port of the game.

 

[roguerower]

So long as it's a port from PCs TO consoles as opposed to the other way, that sounds ok. It's the other way that sucks.

 

[Kabob]

...

YEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I told myself I'd upgrade my PC for Diablo 3, I might just grab it for the 360 assuming it plays well. Although if I have to use a controller we'll see. I've been waiting for this game for YEARS!

 

[Malak]

If they allow for keyboard and mouse use on the PS3, I will purchase it. If not, I don't see it being any more successful than Diablo was. I'm not buying it for PC.

 

[Josh123]

I really don't see why it wouldn't work on a console controller. A buddy and me rented Diablo for his Playstation and it was fun. All you really do is button smash so it's not really difficult using a controller. Plus the co-op would be awesome especially at a high resolution.

 

[Kabob]

I tried D1 on the PS, it was pretty bad. You really need a mouse and keyboard for this sort of game...which the Xbox doesn't have (grrr). With D2 especially there was lots of long range selective targeting, spell casting, etc. I think it'd be rough with a controller.

 

[GrantMeThePower]

This is great news if they can get the controls to make sense!

 

[cixx79]

If the implementation of the console version is up to snuff, I'll jump on the bandwagon. I'ts going to be an excruciating couple more years til it comes out. /sarcasm

 

[AstroManLuca]

I tried D1 on the PS, it was pretty bad. You really need a mouse and keyboard for this sort of game...which the Xbox doesn't have (grrr). With D2 especially there was lots of long range selective targeting, spell casting, etc. I think it'd be rough with a controller.

This is great news if they can get the controls to make sense!

All comes down to how they do the controls. They may totally revamp the way the controls so a controller becomes just as easy as a mouse and keyboard. I wonder if it'll be anything like a twin-stick shooter (Geometry Wars)? The hardest part would be targeting a specific monster with a ranged attack - using a button to cycle through targets would be too slow, but a stick might not be precise enough (and it wouldn't be precise at all if you're using a guided attack).

We'll see. I don't think you can point to control problems with PS1/N64-era games as a reason to be nervous. Game developers have learned a ton in the past decade.

 

[Rage187]

I'll care when I can play it on my iPad.

 

[JoPh]

im still going pc. i just built a new computer in hopes of diablo 3.

 

[Tristicus]

They might allow KB/M support on Ps3.

 

[Dumac]

Ugh hope this doesn't mean the D3 will be consolized to death (although honestly it already pretty much sounds that way).

That said, I did enjoy playing D1 on the PS1, simply because I didn't have my own PC at the time.

 

[herkulease]

so when shoudl we expect it? 2015?

Diablo 3 isn't likely to hit the PC until next year if we're lucky.

I suspect next year blizzard will be pimping out some Starcraft 2 expansion.

 

[spaceman]

this type of game can work wellon console
baldurs gate DA 1+2
champions o' norrath
very diabloyee and alot of fun

 

[darkswordsman17]

Yeah, I think hack 'n slash is great for consoles. Its also been fairly sorely lacking in quality games in that genre for a while now too.

Plus, this could be the bridge to them putting legitimate MMORPGs on consoles.

 

[warcrow]

Diablo 3 is one title I will happily double-dip for, mainly for the MP. Well, that and so my wife can play it on the console while I play it on the PC.

I'll be interested (and, frankly, hopeful and optomistic) in finding out if they can get the PC and console version to play together--that would be rad.

 

[Queasy]

I'll be interested (and, frankly, hopeful and optomistic) in finding out if they can get the PC and console version to play together--that would be rad.

With Microsoft and the 360, never. With Sony and the PS3 maybe. They've shown a willingness to open up to Valve's Steam so who knows.

 

[Aikouka]

With Microsoft and the 360, never. With Sony and the PS3 maybe. They've shown a willingness to open up to Valve's Steam so who knows.

I don't think Blizzard would want to exclude Battle.Net support for any version of their game. The whole point of it was to keep people connected.

 

[stlcardinals]

Your thread title is way off: it should read a Diablo-related concept might be coming to consoles.

http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=27607509731&sid=3000&pageNo=1

 

[bl4ckfl4g]

awesome. I'm sure I'll primarily play it on PC but I'll get this too.

 

[Thraxen]

Your thread title is way off: it should read a Diablo-related concept might be coming to consoles.

http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=27607509731&sid=3000&pageNo=1

That means it will still be tied to Diablo and doesn't preclude that it could be Diablo III itself (i.e. there's a difference between Diablo-related and Diablo-like). So the title appears to be fine.

 

[Queasy]

Your thread title is way off: it should read a Diablo-related concept might be coming to consoles.

http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=27607509731&sid=3000&pageNo=1

As of last night, when I posted it was accurate given the info at hand. I was just coming to update the original post with the blog post made by Blizzard.

No need to get all "Your thread title is way off" especially when it is pretty clear that Blizzard has some intentions of bringing Diablo to consoles in some fashion based on their comments over the last year and the job listings posted yesterday.

 

[Kabob]

Liar! Grab Queasy quick, time for the tar and feathering!!!

 

[warcrow]

With Microsoft and the 360, never. With Sony and the PS3 maybe. They've shown a willingness to open up to Valve's Steam so who knows.

Dude, are you forgetting Shadowrun?