Former Diablo Devs Shed Light on New Action-RPG

Nathan Grayson — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 03:12:17 -0500

Remember all that Flagship Games brouhaha that arose last year when the developer – composed of former Blizzard employees – went into a tailspin, taking the US edition of Hellgate: London with it? Well, a gaggle of those gifted men and women reassembled at Runic Games, where they’re currently making another run at Diablo’s throne with an action-MMORPG called Torchlight.

The game’s “plot” – if, at this early stage, one could even call it that -- apparently breaks down like this:

“Adventurers set out from the town of Torchlight into the nearby mountains in search of the magic ore that imbues their equipment with power, yet imperils their very existence."

Gotta watch out for those mountains. They’re medieval man’s natural enemy, clearly.

Chinese online gaming company Perfect World will publish this tryst between Mythos and Diablo, which boasts the support of Max and Erich Schaefer – two of Blizzard North’s co-founders – as well as Diablo I and II composer Matt Uelmen.

It’s Diablo, but with tiny cartoon skeletons so precious you’d sooner attach cute, misspelled captions to their visages than give ‘em a bit of the old hack ‘n’ slash. What’s not to like? Unless you’re holding out for Diablo III: “Realistic” Edition, Torchlight looks like one to keep an eye on.

2008 Nowhere to Be Found in Nielsen’s Most Played PC Games of 2008

Nathan Grayson — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:00:49 -0600

Research group The Nielsen Company recently released a list of 2008’s 10 most played PC games, but seeing as how you’re probably still scraping bolded numbers off your monitor after you last careened into our list sanctum, we nearly skipped it. However, as it turns out, Nielsen’s runway strut contained a pretty interesting anomaly, so we want you to look at it.

Top 10 PC Game Titles in the U.S.

World of Warcraft (2004) / Blizzard Entertainment 671 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.723% AU*
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007) / Infinity Ward 403 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.163% AU*
Halo: Combat Evolved (2003) / Gearbox, Bungie 295 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.092% AU*
The Sims (2000) / EA Maxis 213 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.09% AU*
The Sims 2 (2004) / EA Maxis 291 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.086% AU*
RuneScape (2001) / Jagex Ltd. 451 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.084% AU*
Diablo II (2000) / Blizzard Entertainment 313 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.065% AU*
Team Fortress 2 (2007) / Valve 371 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.063% AU*
Counter-Strike (2000) / Valve 282 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.062% AU*
Counter-Strike: Source (2004) / Valve 426 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.061% AU*

*AU is the percent of PC Gamers playing title in the average minute.
Data from Jan - Oct 2008.

Notice anything? Yep. Not a single game on the list was released in 2008 – except for maybe WoW: WotLK, but even then, this is telling sign of where PC gaming now needs to park its tuckus. Bottom line: Subscriptions and microtransactions. You’re welcome, industry. Our bill’s in the mail.

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Former Diablo Devs Shed Light on New Action-RPG

2008 Nowhere to Be Found in Nielsen’s Most Played PC Games of 2008