No Tech trees in Diablo III, no playing next year

For those of you that haven't heard, Diablo III will not be released next year. Sorry sports fans, better luck next time.

It also will not be using a tech tree system used in games such as WoW, as stated in an interview with Diablo Fans:

(natch) Wilson states, "About that, we've decided to remove the tree-type architecture and we are moving into a purely skill-based system." Wilson admits that their new skill system is still in the early design stages and that they wanted to try out a few new ideas. He adds, "It differs from the World of Warcraft/Diablo II type hierarchical styles and is more of a skill pool/path than a tree per se."

Ex- Pandemic Employees

So it turns out some recently layed off Pandemic employees did a tribute to office space on the way out the door. This should have been an EA logo

Left 4 Dead 2, Stalker Utility, Stardock

For the people who didn't know, Left 4 Dead 2 is now available via Steam. The game has been well received so far, getting a 9.0 from Gamespot, and 8.7 from 405 user votes (the meaningful one) and a 9 from a cumulative survey of gaming review sites.

In other news, the Developers of Stalker have released a utility that will basically help you figure out how well your computer will run on their upcoming sequel S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat. Available for download here.

And finally Stardock, one of my favorite developers, released a report detailing where all of the companies projects are at, in addition to creating a separate site for their Gamers Bill of Rights

Left for Dead 2 Live

A few hours ago the PC version of Left 4 Dead 2 did indeed go live on Steam. As stated the free demo for the zombie survival FPS sequel has now shut down. Sorry, no more demo for you.

Activision/Infinity Ward...OOPS

Via Bigdownloads:

Yesterday reports hit the Internet that the infamous "airport scene" in Modern Warfare 2's PC version had been removed from the game via a patch for Russian audiences. Today the game's publisher Activision has confirmed that is in indeed the case but said the decision was made on their own and not based on any reactions to the Russian government.

According to Eurogamer, Activision said that Russia does not have a formal ratings system for games. However they decided to pull the scene from the PC version of the first person shooter which depicts Russian terrorists mowing down civilians in a Moscow airport with the participation of the player character, "after seeking the advice of local counsel." The PC version is the only one that has been released in Russia. Previous reports that the console versions had been recalled were incorrect.

For those of you who were not aware, Modern Warfare 2 features a stage where you are sent to infiltrate a terrorist cell. During your time with them, you attack an airport in Russia and are givin the option of helping to slaughter civilians, sitting back and watching as they get massacred, or skipping the level entirely.

This obviously crossed a line with many people, and I'm surprised I haven't seen it on Fox News. In defense of it's critics however, it does seem to be out of place in the overall (poorly devised) plotline. So far the obvious conclusion people are drawing is that it was added to get the game in the news, and they are probably right.

In the games defense, people are saying that the single player campaign is a fun way to spend 6 hours.....I guess that's not a very good defense, seeing as the game costs $60, has no dedicated servers for multiplayer and only supports 14 players on a map (In the pc version).

Just by the first one if you haven't played it.

Want a cheap xbox?

According to an article on CNET, Microsoft's decision to ban xbox's modded to play pirated games from their live service has cause a flood of cheap xboxs to hit the market. Interesting, well see if this continues.