The first game was well received, picking up countless positive reviews from critics and ending up with a user Metacritic score of 8.2 which obviously isn’t bad. A potential sequel has now come out of nowhere though, as the PaulGaleNetwork is reporting that this game is indeed a reality, and aside from PS3, Xbox 360 and PS Vita releases, the game will also come to the Nintendo Wii U as well.

MercurySteam is once again on development duties and additional details by Paul Gale reveal that the Wii U version may even be ‘superior’ to PS3 and Xbox 360 versions. Just to refresh your memory, Paul Gale is no ordinary rumor leaker – he was the first person to release details on the PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. At the time he referenced the game under a codename of ‘Title Fight’ and released the first image of SweetTooth from Twisted Metal.

Obviously all of those details turned out to be true, so it looks like yet another E3 secret has been blown wide open. A console sequel to Lords of Shadow is great news, but we’re more impressed to see that a PS Vita version is in the works. How much will they be able to squeeze into the portable version from console? We have seen with Uncharted: Golden Abyss that the PS Vita can deliver console quality games in 3D, so it’s very exciting.

The first Castlevania game on the PS Vita is a mouth-watering prospect and if you have been playing the franchise since the days of the NES, you’ll know that this could turn out to be a massive game for Sony and Konami. If you played and loved the first game, let us know your thoughts on the upcoming sequel. Expect details at E3 next month.

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If you have been trying to play the game within the last few hours, there’s a good chance that you have run into a fair amount of error codes. error code 37 seems to be the one that is occurring the most frequently for players, whilst we’ve also heard that there’s a series of other error codes that is ruining your first experience of the game as well.

The good news is that Blizzard is already aware of the server problems. Aside from posting regular support updates on two official Twitter accounts, we’ve also spotted a useful thread over at the Diablo 3 forums, which explains the error codes that you’ve been getting in more detail.

For example, if you are continuing to see error code 37, it means that the server is simply full and you just need to keep trying to see if you get in later. Amusingly, we’re pleased to see that many of you are seeing the humorous side to the error 37 code. We’ve seen comments on Twitter such as ‘the hardest boss is currently error 37′ and ‘there used to be a Diablo 3 server, then it took an error 37 to the knee’ – a brilliant reference to Skyrim if you’re not aware.

If you’re having problems with error codes at the moment, head to the official forum here for some useful information. Are you seeing error 37 the most, or have you run into different error codes? Launch problems for huge game releases almost seem to come hand in hand these days – Diablo 3 is definitely the latest victim.

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Currently people seem most hyped about Grand Theft Auto 5, and rightly so, previous games in the series have received great reviews from critics and earned multiple ‘Game of the Year’ accolades, but if you think it’s going to be a one horse race think again.

A recent article over at EuroGamer is an interesting read, here we get a chance to see what games game developers are looking forward to, luckily they don’t mention their own upcoming titles – which means we get a true representation of what will be hot in 2012. This allows us to build upon our article back in October which was titled: ‘Best game of 2012, GTA 5 most anticipated?’.

Greg Kasavin at Supergiant Games is most looking forward to BioShock Infinite and Matthew Prior from EA Sports agrees, whilst Ivan Buchta from Bohemia Interactive can’t wait to get his hands on Dishonored as he thinks it will be very imaginative. Lee Perry from Epic Games is most looking forward to Mass Effect 3 and David Jaffe from Eat Sleep Play is most looking forward to Darksiders 2. Craig Duncan at Rare is most excited about Kinect Star Wars (which surprises us, but perhaps he is just looking forward to seeing Kinect being used for a more serious game genre), whilst Dino Patti from Playdead and Geremy Mustard from Chair Entertainment are keen to see how good a job Team Ico’s developers do with The Last Guardian. As you would imagine GTA 5 didn’t go without a mention – both Peter Molyneux from Microsoft Game Studios and Stewart Gilray from Just Add Water think this is the game which they want the most.

As you can see the opinions are pretty mixed, but one game came up more times than any other, this is Diablo 3. Ken Levine at Irrational Games, Richard Garriott (the creator of Ultima) and Brad Muir from Double Fine were looking forward to this game more than any other, the good news is that beta testing seems to be going well so Blizzard Entertainment should be able to stick to the Q1 2012 release plans.

Games which didn’t receive a mention include the next Call of Duty installment, Far Cry 3, Max Payne, Hitman: Absolution, Halo 4 and Final Fantasy XIII-2 – what games are you most shocked not to hear mentioned?

For years I have been looking forward to Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, but I must admit that I have spent so much time waiting I have lost my enthusiasm, also Ubisoft hasn’t done much of late to build the anticipation for the title, so I guess my most anticipated title of 2012 is a toss up between GTA 5 and BioShock Infinite – how about you?

More About: BioShock Infinite, Diablo 3, GTA 5

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One thing that has to be pointed out is the fact that the beta does not last as long as we had hoped, but it still provides enough to still show how well Diablo III has developed. The first and often most important aspect is the graphics. Not trying to worry you or anything, but NowGamer feels a little disappointed with what they have seen so far, which is not a good start to keep the hard core fans happy. However, it needs pointing out that this is still a beta version, and the developer still has a lot of work to do.

Fans had hoped to see more, but things like character models were very basic to say the least. The full release version should be very different, as we expect to see greater color and details than seen in Diablo II.

If there were anything more or as important as graphics, then it would have to be combat. It is this feature that draws the player in, so how does it fare in Diablo III? Blizzard has stuck with the simple concept of just clicking away, and this is certain to keep players happy. However, there is more to the game than just clicking away to turn an enemy into a skeleton, you also loot, various objects and much more.

The final verdict is that Diablo III is not going to blow you away with amazing new features, but what the developer has managed to do with this new version, is keep fans of the franchise happy.

More About: Blizzard, Diablo 3

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If indeed this is the name of the new expansion from Blizzard, we could expect to see the official announcement at this years BlizzCon which kicks off on Friday, October 21, 2011.

MMO-Champion, who usually datamines information such as this, released the news in the late hours of August 2, and show that the trademark was filled on July 28, 2011.

But why do they think that this expansion ties to the worlds biggest online MMO, World of Warcraft? MMO-Champion state that the international codes of 009 and 041 only seem to appear on Blizzard’s online games trademarks meaning that it is not tied to a book or something similar.

Not much can be gained from the title, but some are pointing it at a new Panda race that has yet to be introduced in Azeroth. If this is the case then could the Panda race be specificially tied to the Alliance or Horde factions? Some even say that the Panda race could be a neutral faction that could be played by both, or none.

This opens lots of doors for Blizzard to play around with. We could even see the Naga finally make it as a playable race, something that WoW fans have wanted to see since the rise of the game way back when.

Although this is not confirmed as the next World of Warcraft expansion, this is not the first time Blizzard has filed a trademark like this, much like Cataclysm was trademarked in 2009.

If the Mists of Pandaria is indeed the next expansion is the next in line for Blizzard, what content would you like to see? An expansion of Azeroth like Cataclysm or a space-filled adventure like Burning Crusade? A new class such as the monk? Thinking about it, this could also be Blizzard’s yet unannounced MMO? What do you think?

More About: Blizzard, Diablo 3, World of Warcraft

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Today, Blizzard announced that Diablo 3 will need a constant internet connection to play, and will offer no offline mode to players who have not got access to the world wide web. This may have come as a surprise to veteran Diablo players and console fans, but Blizzard has stated that they do have sufficient reasons for this as we will explain below.

Diablo III executive producer, Rob Pardo spoke of the situation and explained that if a player was to create a character away from the online environment, they would miss out on character progression bonuses and wouldn’t be able to be tracked to see if they are hacking the system.

When asked about the offline mode, Pardo explains; “We thought about this quite a bit. One of the things that we felt was really important was that if you did play offline, if we allowed for that experience, you’d start a character, you’d get him all the way to level 20 or level 30 or level 40 or what have you, and then at that point you might decide to want to venture onto Battle.net. But you’d have to start a character from scratch, because there’d be no way for us to guarantee no cheats were involved, if we let you play on the client and then take that character online.”

Hacking can lead to players having an advantage and progress faster than other players, which is also apparent in other games such as World of Warcraft and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops.

Another point of note is that players who played the original Diablo and Diablo II, will have to start their characters all over again. They will not be carried on into Diablo 3 at any point, so this may frustrate hardcore Diablo players.

As stated, gamers who have ever bought a recent Blizzard game such as World of Warcraft or StarCraft 2 will know that this is the medium that they have been working towards for some time. It is not such a big deal in my eyes, as I like to have my character’s progression played out online so I can track achievements and what not, but the real question is does it bother you?

More About: Blizzard, Diablo 3, Diablo III

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If you are a fan of Blizzard and the games they create such as the StarCraft series, the World of Warcraft MMO, and even previous Diablo games, you should be aware of what they are trying to do with Diablo III.

First off, we have this awesome new video at the end of the article to show you that gives us over 7 minutes of pure gameplay bliss. You get to see different locations, spells, and abilities that have made it in to the beta, which we believe will be coming anytime soon!

The only real news that we have on the beta is that we are told it will be relatively small and only include a portion of Act 1, which could mean that the beta will only have a rather short life resulting in a quicker and closer release date.

As we stated, this cannot be confirmed, but DiabloFans have detailed the whole experience whilst attending the Press Event, where they talk about their experiences, and every little detail regarding Diablo III as they can possibly regurgitate.

Much of the information can be read in full via the DiabloFans link above, but many gameplay aspects were explained to us. Each class has 20 skills and 15 passives skills. There is a World of Warcraft-like hearthstone called a Stone of Recall, and Willpower has been removed.

As there are lots of points raised in the orginal source, we simply couldn’t include it all here, so remember to check out DiabloFans for the entire scoop. Be aware though, as some spoliers are included.

Now that you have had a glimpse of Diablo III, what are your feelings towards this latest release in the series?

More About: Blizzard, Diablo 3, Diablo III

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If you head over to GamaSutra, you’ll see the Ad there for the whole world to see, with Blizzard clearly requiring a Senior Producer for a console version of Diablo III.

The PC game had previously been rumored for consoles before, but it now looks likely to happen – how will it go down well with PC gamers? If they are planning to release all three versions of the game at the same time, will it mean a difference in graphics quality if Blizzard has to port to the Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles as well?

Then of course, there is the little issue of when it will actually come out. If the team are now working on console versions as well, don’t be surprised to see the game receive a delay to ensure all versions are finished at the same time.

So far, we’re only seeing the negatives for PC owners, as there’s little doubt that console owners will be delighted with the news. Then there may be the possibility of cross-platform play between PS3 and PC owners as well – remember Valve’s new partnership with Sony which kicks off with Portal 2?

Let us know your opinions on a possible console version of Diablo III.

More About: Blizzard, Diablo 3, Diablo III

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Recently Blizzard added three new positions to their list of jobs/careers, all of which are for their Diablo III team, the positions include console Lead Designer, console Senior Producer and console Lead Programmer.

As you would expect you need a lot of experience if you want to apply for any of these jobs, also Blizzard want gaming enthusiasts, especially people who have a passion for Blizzard Entertainment titles.

As far as I am concerned these three job positions confirm that a Diablo III or a spin-off is on the way, it will be interesting to see which console(s) it will come to.

Which console would you like to see Diablo 3 released on?

Source: JoyStiq

More About: Blizzard, Diablo 3, Diablo III

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Details of the new monster were down to the hard efforts of Diablo Wiki; they did this by going through hundreds of concept drawings as well as screenshots. Morlu Caster even appeared in the Monk Cinematic, so has been staring at us all this time.

As the new monster is still in concept art form and in a Monk’s cinematic movie not much can be said. However, we can tell you that it is humanoid and is a much higher level than Dark Cultist.

This is all the information that we have at the moment, if you have any more details then please share them with our readers.

More About: Diablo 3

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