What?!

Ok, the fucking internet just won.

"The sanctity of this blog has been fouled..."

After 8 years of wondering, confusion, wishing, dreaming and endless nights of weeping in the fetal position of my bathtub...it has finally come.

Diablo 3.

Back in 1996 when I began to take my first step into a long journey of working in the game industry, there was one game that took a hold of me and would never let go, even 10 years later. This game had me enchanted, bewildered and under a long dark spell that resulted in endless nights of amazement and carpal tunnel.

The game was a masterpiece. This was Diablo.

From the dark gothic undertones and fables of a strange enchanted world overcome by a menacing evil, to the beautiful soundtrack provided by the talented Matt Uelmen, the game was a masterpiece. I was lucky enough to have been accepted into the very limited beta program for this game. I was stunned at the quality of the game for its time, the online coop modes and the depth of simple gameplay it had offered, was nothing short of fantastic.

This was the first game I ever worked on and I was hooked.

I then landed the arduous task of working officially on the add on pack, Hellfire for Diablo 1. Unfortunately I was not a fan of this add on. It was not an officially sanctioned add on from Blizzard Entertainment. It was simply a hack job that Sierra had put together using existing assets from Blizzard. This was done through the sister partnership that Sierra had with Blizzard as they were both owned by Davidson and Associates, which was later bought out by CUC International.

The add on really took away from the story and changed the feel of the game, I was not a fan of this. I still have my copy sitting on my shelf where it will remain though I hear it's pretty hard to come by these days.

A few years later I was salivating for more and Diablo 2 was unleashed onto the world. This meant I was again slapping my arm to find a vein to inject liquid hot Diablo into my body for years to come. Girlfriends and jobs came and went, but Diablo 2 remained. My addiction had worsened when the Lord of Destruction add on came out for Diablo 2.

However, after my long Diablo 2 career was over I was left wanting more. Where is 3? There were no hints, no suggestions by Blizzard that Diablo 3 was even a possibility. This went on for 8 long years. Yes, 8. I worked on the original over 10 years ago, in fact I still have my original copy from then, including the beta.

After one of the heads of Blizzard, Bill Roper, departed Blizzard it seemed that Diablo 3 was going to be a long wait...and this worsened when the original team, Blizzard North was essentially disintegrated. It seemed that Diablo 3 would never happen.

Until...

Two weeks ago, Blizzard started displaying teaser images on their homepage. It was an evolving image that would change every 24 hours to reveal something else within the image. There was a great deal of speculation in regards to what the reveal was going to be. Websites sprang up all over the place, dedicated to unraveling yet another Blizzard mystery.

On July 28th in Paris, France during the World Wide Invitational held by Blizzard, the final image was revealed, and it showed us that Diablo 3 is indeed coming.

Diablo 3 has apparently been in development since 2004. In fact the game has gone under 3 strong revisions to get it right, which is something Blizzard is notoriously known for.

Now I wouldn't normally make such a long and involved post about a video game. However Diablo holds a very special place in my heart. It was the first game I ever worked on. It was the game that made me want to work in the industry, it was my inspiration of things to come.

And now, I get to endure endless, sleepless nights and carpal tunnel for the 3rd time.