In a recent report from Penny Arcade, it has been confirmed that Diablo 3 will be playable offline on Playstation 3 and the Real Money Auction House from the game has been removed entirely.
Oh, boy…
Diablo 3 is a popular PC title, but there are a few decisions in the game that elicited fan rage. One of those is the always-on element of the game. In order for PC players to play, they need an internet connection. This created a slew of issues upon launch and thereafter.
However, it has been confirmed by Penny Arcade at PAX that the upcoming Playstation 3 version of Diablo 3 will be entirely playable without an internet connection. In fact, 4 people can play on the same couch at the same time. Right now, Blizzard aren’t talking about the Playstation 4 version, but its entirely possible that could be the same.
“It’s so much fun,” Joshua Mosqueira, the game’s lead designer, said when I asked how the couch co-op played. “On a big couch, with four of your friends, drinking beers, it’s almost like a party atmosphere. There’s this really awesome social moment with a legendary drop, and everyone is cheering. It feels very collaborative.”
Its also been confirmed that the Real Money Auction House has been scrapped completely. It’s gone.
“The ecosystems on the PC and console are very different,” Mosqueira explained. “There were some technical reasons we had to go with offline, but again once you have an offline experience, even if we wanted to bring in the auction house, it just becomes problematic. How do you validate? How do you make sure there is no duping or any of that stuff?”
We really felt that playing offline, and being able to move your console from the living room to your bedroom, which a lot of players do to play, is really important,” Mosqueira said.
While Blizzard weren’t talking about everything, they’ve also confirmed that Diablo 3 is ‘not necessarily a Sony exclusive’ – Which likely means it will end up on the next Xbox as well.
What are your thoughts on these big changes for the console Diablo 3? Are you a PC player? Do you feel irked?
(Source: Penny Arcade)