Blizzard will soon be ditching PC-exclusivity..

[Galaxy613]

Coming from Gamasutra:

The developer, also behind World of Warcraft and StarCraft, is hiring "lead designer, console," "lead programmer, console" and "senior producer, console." The newly-posted positions are under "Diablo III." Gamasutra has contacted Blizzard for comment on the new ads.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/31551/New_Blizzard_Ads_Seeking_Diablo_III_Console_Devs.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GamasutraNews+%28Gamasutra+News%29

This is very surprising, but at the same time, not very considering the way Blizzard has been growing itself lately... I guess they are now looking to spread to consoles.

 

[mad825]

no surprise, Ye Olde bobby here wants MOAR money.

I don't really care tbh so long as they don't doing console ports for the PC.

 

[Weaver]

You know they've released console games in the past, right?
Or am I the only one who remembers BlackThorne, Rock & Roll Racing and Lost Vikings?

http://www.diablo3.nl/blizzclassic/

 

[Aeshi]

Does this mean they might start working on Starcraft:Ghost again?

 

[Hateren47]

I kinda saw this coming with the health/mana orbs thing. Simplifying the game for the controllers. I'm appalled but not really shocked.

Let's hope this is wrong.

 

[Rusty Bucket]

how?????????????? I mean what one of the games they design would port well at all to the consoul. I mean I thought thats why they had not already done this is because all the games they design would be terrible ported..

I mean could you imagine a wow port and how gimped it would have to be ot be playable on the xbox.

No one said anything about WoW. The jobs are listed for Diablo 3, which woould work just fine on consoles.

 

[oplinger]

The first diablo had a playstation version.

Really not surprised they'd try another console version for it

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well the only one that could really work on consoles is Diablo 3, and in 2015 it will be awesome
I just hope they don't go the "dumb it down" route where all others seems to steer.

 

[Rusty Bucket]

how?????????????? I mean what one of the games they design would port well at all to the consoul. I mean I thought thats why they had not already done this is because all the games they design would be terrible ported..

I mean could you imagine a wow port and how gimped it would have to be ot be playable on the xbox.

WOW has pretty low specs, I don't see why the 360 couldn't run it.

I do think it's a mistake though for Blizzard to start making PC games for the console. Look what happened with Morrowind and then Oblivion. Morrowind was a PC game first that got ported to the XBOX. It was a bad port considering the load times alone but they apparently got more sales on the box than they did on PC and as a result Oblivion was built around a console and then ported to the PC with console menus.

Well, the Blizzard that made games with Spawn and LAN support is no more. Why not expect this?

Why do you immediately assume that Blizzard would gimp the game for consoles? They're one of the most respected PC developer around, and it's painfully obvious that the PC is their primary platform for Diablo 3. How about we don't jump to conclusions? At least wait for some actual details.

 

[pyrosaw]

Soon, console people without PC's with succumb to Blizzard's will. Blizzard already has control over Pc owners, now console owners with fall beneath there wrath. All hail Blizzard!JK.

 

[Johnnyallstar]

WOW has pretty low specs, I don't see why the 360 couldn't run it.

Just because it has low specs doesn't mean much. There would have to be a special controller scheme designed for it... I.E. a mouse and keyboard, because the controller is very limited. After that, well, there is an issue with space on the older systems. The whole of the game is bigger than the space of the original 20gb hard drive.

But Diablo, I can imagine that working out quite well on console, though I think I'd still prefer it on PC. Point and click movement would suck on console. I hope it's changed to wasd.

 

[GiantRedButton]

You know they've released console games in the past, right?
Or am I the only one who remembers BlackThorne, Rock & Roll Racing and Lost Vikings?

http://www.diablo3.nl/blizzclassic/

Yeah and Diablo 1 for the ps1 missed a few features but consoles at that time didn't have a harddrive^^ 360 still doesn't have a propriatory one so they got shitty textures in dao

 

[meglathon]

If the quality stays the same, it could realy boost the console market

 

[oplinger]

WOW has pretty low specs, I don't see why the 360 couldn't run it.

Just because it has low specs doesn't mean much. There would have to be a special controller scheme designed for it... I.E. a mouse and keyboard, because the controller is very limited. After that, well, there is an issue with space on the older systems. The whole of the game is bigger than the space of the original 20gb hard drive.

But Diablo, I can imagine that working out quite well on console, though I think I'd still prefer it on PC. Point and click movement would suck on console. I hope it's changed to wasd.

It could be adapted to controller. Final Fantasy MMO's are and I don't see that things are really so different.

As for space, well, a bigger HDD would be required for some people but now that the 250GB is standard and they are cheaper for the older models...it would be acceptable. Remember, the PS2 needed a HDD to play FF XI and alot of people were willing to do that.

Not that I think they should move WOW to the console, I am just saying they could.

FFXI was designed for the PS2, ported to PC, not the other way around.

Also WoW still uses the WC3 engine, which has been heavily modified to use higher resolution textures, dynamic shadows, and now many other visual effects. The engine uses a very harsh brute force method to render most of it, it would make a 360 cry. They'd have to turn off many of the advanced effects they added into the game just so the RAM on the 360 could be used. It's more than just a control scheme.

 

[Kurokami]

You know they've released console games in the past, right?
Or am I the only one who remembers BlackThorne, Rock & Roll Racing and Lost Vikings?

http://www.diablo3.nl/blizzclassic/

I don't remember rock & roll racing, but Lost Vikings were fucking awesome, as was Blackthorne.

 

[Johnnyallstar]

WOW has pretty low specs, I don't see why the 360 couldn't run it.

Just because it has low specs doesn't mean much. There would have to be a special controller scheme designed for it... I.E. a mouse and keyboard, because the controller is very limited. After that, well, there is an issue with space on the older systems. The whole of the game is bigger than the space of the original 20gb hard drive.

But Diablo, I can imagine that working out quite well on console, though I think I'd still prefer it on PC. Point and click movement would suck on console. I hope it's changed to wasd.

It could be adapted to controller. Final Fantasy MMO's are and I don't see that things are really so different.

As for space, well, a bigger HDD would be required for some people but now that the 250GB is standard and they are cheaper for the older models...it would be acceptable. Remember, the PS2 needed a HDD to play FF XI and alot of people were willing to do that.

Not that I think they should move WOW to the console, I am just saying they could.

Space isn't an issue anymore, agreed, that's why I said older consoles. But still, the control scheme would have to either see a major overhaul, or there would have to be a mouse&keyboard type setup, or some serious Fang work done.

Another issue would be the chat channel setup. Because lets face it, talking is fine and dandy, but being in multiple channels at once, such as guild and trade at the same time, using voice chat in them at the same time is a horror story waiting to happen. A keyboard would somehow have to be implemented, if only for ease of communication.

 

[tomtom94]

Because consoles are more popular than PCs in the ever-growing convenience culture and businesses are set up to make money. Don't tell me you honestly didn't see something like this coming.

 

[Stalk3rchief]

Well good. Honestly I'd love to have the chance to play Diablo III on my 360, since I'm too poor to keep my PC up to date hardware wise. Plus I can see that game as being fairly console compatible. Besides, Blizzard own the world at this point, so who would dare speak against them in this decision?

 

[Altorin]

I wouldn't say Blizzard was ever really "PC Exclusive".

They put games where they are best suited, and try not to water down the experience to get a broader market share.

Warcraft 2, Starcraft and Diablo were both put on the Consoles, the latter of which was actually half-decent. It was no Diablo on the PC, but it was functional.

Diablo is actually their one franchise that would probably be pretty good on a Console. I doubt it will be successful if they put D3 on the Console - they have a horrible track record on the medium, but it would be more playable then 70% of hack and slash action RPGs.

Another issue would be the chat channel setup. Because lets face it, talking is fine and dandy, but being in multiple channels at once, such as guild and trade at the same time, using voice chat in them at the same time is a horror story waiting to happen. A keyboard would somehow have to be implemented, if only for ease of communication.

It would play like a console game, so it would have integrated voice chat. Blizzard certainly would just take Diablo 3, rip it up and put it down into the Console, they'd set it up to be optimal on the system.

 

[LightOfDarkness]

If the quality stays the same, it could realy boost the console market

Because it needs even more after Black Ops and Reach?