Diablo 3 officially announced!
YES!!!
From Ars Technica: Eight years in the making: Blizzard unveils Diablo III
An excerpt:
So far, two player classes have been revealed: the Barbarian and the Witch Doctor. As in Diablo 2, the Barbarian fills the role of basher, using weapons and might over spells to wade through hordes of enemies. The first new class, Witch Doctor, brings to the table a collection of fire spells, curses, mind-control spells, life-draining abilities, and controllable pets. Though speculation is running wild about which other classes will make the cut, many are looking back at Diablo 2 for hints. The original starting line-up for Diablo II was Amazon, Barbarian, Sorceress, Necromancer, and Paladin.
In addition to a brand-new story and as-yet-unrevealed new player classes, known improvements for Diablo III so far confirmed include a Havok-powered physics engine for object and cloth dynamics, as well as water and ragdoll, more side quests including class-specific quests, improved random dungeon creation, class-specific gear with class-unique art, gendered versions of each class, …
(emphasis added)
I know it’s a little thing, but reading that there’d be gendered versions of each class made me really happy. The Witch Doctor sounds like a cross between the necromancer and the druid. The ability to make a female barbarian makes the amazon — the token female warrior — a little less “necessary”. However, she was the ranged fighter; I assume that gameplay element will be represented. I also assume they will have some kind of elemental spellcaster.
I love story-driven RPGs, I sometimes roll my eyes at “action” RPGs, and I prefer 3D games. But Diablo 2 has a crack-like quality to it. Mr. Entity and I still play it from time to time. I hope they don’t screw up the formula.
The official site has a rather extensive gameplay demo.
Storm of Zehir!
Storm of Zehir, the next NWN2 expansion pack has been announced! YaaaaaAaaaaAAaaay!
RPGWatch linked to three interviews about Storm of Zehir: those at Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Strategy Informer, and Action Trip.
I’m interested to find out what story elements they will use to tie in with 4th edition D&D. I have mixed feelings about the new party system. On the one hand, it’ll be nice to be able to make a full party yourself: I rather enjoyed making my “Wheel of Time” party in IWD1. 
(Although character creation did get a bit tedious in the IWD games: by the time I got to the 4th character, I was getting really tired of going through stats). On the other hand, one of the things I enjoyed about the BG and NWN games was not only what adventures my character would have, but whom he/she would meet along the way. The interviews indicate that there will be some NPCs who can join your party, but that they won’t be as fleshed out as the MotB companions.
(I was going to say “the OC and MotB companions”, but really, were the OC’s companions very well developed?? No, I don’t think so. With the exception of Sand, of course.)
