Gaming: Diablo 3 Roundup

Posted by NiteFenix on May 18th, 2012

Here is a roundup of all the Diablo 3 related news that accompanied the game’s release this past week in South Africa and International markets.

Tuesday May 8 2012 (The precursor)

LazyGamer reported that Blizzard has said in a press release that delays of up to 40 seconds may be expected to accomodate the massive amounts of players who will be logging on to the servers.

Full Article: Blizzard might impliment login delays for Diablo III Launch

Monday May 14 2012

Several retail shops and companies are preparing for a Midnight Launch. The major ones are Kalahari.net, ZAPS, BT Games Stores and many more.

Tuesday May 15 2012

Midnight. Release day. The game is released and millions of Battle.net subscribers flood the servers. Within minutes the servers are brought to the crippling halt, thus beginning the Error 37 debacle.

People struggled for 30 minutes with this boss.

Full Article: Diablo III’s servers are struggling to keep up, but Blizzard is on the case

Despite problems plagueing the game, someone actually manages to finish the game, in 12 hours no less!

Full Article: Someone has finished Diablo 3 already

Players who were able to play the game discover a game breaking bug.

Full Article: Avoid the Templar: Game-breaking issue found in Diablo III

Blizzard reveals that all the hokey pokey around the ads they put up looking for console developers was just dabbling with ideas and not actual implimentation ideas.

Full Article: Blizzard “Not Experimenting” With Console Version of Diablo III

Wednesday May 16 2012

Some of the reviews for the Diablo III launch events start to trickle through.

Kalahari.net Launch (Courtesy: LazyGamer)

Kalahari.net Launch (Courtesy: ZombieGamer)

Kalahari.net Launch (Courtesy: El33tOnline)

Look & Listen Fourways Launch (Courtesy: ITF Gaming)

BT Games Eastgate Launch (Courtesy: LazyGamer)

Cosplayers converges at one of the many launch events.

Blizzard announces via their forum that the US servers are still experiencing problems. The EU servers seems to be working fine now, however I encountered a glitch whereby my character spontaniously dissapeared.

Later in the day however another announcement was made that the US servers had been brought back online and that Blizzard was monitoring everything.

Blizzard’s Forum Article

Dorkly Bits also released this awesomely funny cartoon:

Thursday May 17 2012

Approximately 2346 users on Meta Critic slam Diablo III with a 3.5 score.

Full Article: Diablo 3′s 3.5 User Score Justified?

Blizzard extends a press release apologizing for everything.

Full Article: Blizzard apologises for Diablo 3 server issues

The Whimseyshire secret level is revealed

Not really what the level looks like, but close enough.

Full Article: Whimseyshire is Diablo III’s Cow Level

Some more Launch reviews trickle through.

Mweb GameZone Mcave Launch (Courtesy: ZombieGamer)

Mweb GameZone Mcave Launch (Courtesy: Ozone)

Mweb GameZone Mcave Launch (Courtesy: LazyGamer)

Blizzard anounces that real money auction house has been postponed.

Full Article: Blizzard: Our Diablo III preparations didn’t go far enough

Another annoying bug is found: Achievements dissapear.

Full Article: Diablo III Gives Gamers One More Reason to Rage Quit With Disappearing Achievements

A french web site offers free pocket rockets to the girlfriends of those afflicted by the Diablo 3 phenomenon.

Full Article: French company offers free Battery Operated Boyfriends to Diablo 3 widows

Friday May 18 2012

The Error 37 Meme phenomenon takes off.

Full Article: Error37 Explained; 10 Best Memes

Hayibo strikes again in this satirical news piece about Diablo 3.

Full Article: Video game characters condemn gratuitous demonic apocalypse in ‘Diablo III’

Blizzard begins emergency system restarts to try and resolve some of the game’s lingering issues.

Mweb’s GameZone TV reports on the Mweb Diablo III Launch:

The first review hits the SA Gaming Community:

Full Article: Diablo III Review – More than 37 ways to skin a demon

In retrospect, this has been one of the most eventful weeks of 2012. Diablo 3′s launch has had one of the most controversial moments and has been met by lots of criticism, but at the same time it’s launch was met with great welcome and love for fans and newcomers alike.

I have yet to complete my own review for this game for ITF Gamer, so I will be revealing my own thoughts on the game early next week.

Until then I just want to give credit where credit is due. This list would not have been possible without the help of the following web sites, so thank you to them.