I want one. Strike that, I need one. My soul cries out for it, but not so badly that I am willing to spend more than of $US 600 to snag one off of eBay. I’ll just use the old model-swapping technique. Sure, no one else will see him and he’ll make panda noises, but the screenshots will be fantastic.

Tyrael Mini Pet, Blizz Auth, Blue posts [MMO Champion - Thanks Jim!]

The pet itself will be a miniature version of the Archangel Tyrael of Diablo 2 fame who will travel with you on all your grand adventures in Azeroth! Pictures of this amazing new pet will be available on the official website soon for everybody to check out.

That’s right, Archangel Tyrael from Diablo II, who now graces the main page of the Diablo III website. I need him, if only to counteract the evil forces of my Collector’s Edition mini-Diablo. Sorry Leslie, nothing personal!

Worldwide Invitational In-Game Pet Redemption [WoW Forums via WorldofWar.net]

Kotaku: So, Jay, what can you tell us about the storyline of Diablo III?

Jay Wilson: In the previous two games, Diablo and his two brothers, Mephisto and Baal, were the three Prime Evils of a world called Sanctuary. Where we start off in Diablo III, it’s twenty years later (after Diablo II: Lord of Destruction) and the brothers are gone, they’ve been vanquished. Essentially everyone was kind of geared for Hell to actually invade. At the end of Lord of Destruction, the Worldstone was destroyed, it left a giant crater and everyone was expecting the hordes to come pouring out of it and nothing happened. So, Deckard Cain is one of our main characters from the first two games, he’s spent the last two decades trying to find out where the last two Evils are, what they’re doing and why the invasion didn’t happen. A lot of the rest of the story focuses on Tyrael, the Angel of Justice, and what’s happened to him since that event as he was actually the angel who destroyed the world.

Kotaku: From a lore point of view, the mythology of Diablo seems just as complex as it is for Warcraft or Starcraft, do you think this is important?

Jay Wilson: Yes, absolutely, it’s one of our main focuses of the game. What was funny was that when I gave you the synopsis of the game, it feels so simple! We love the story.

Kotaku: You said earlier that you’d been working on the game for what, four years? Do you think that taking longer over a game improves the final product significantly?

Jay Wilson: Four …. or five, somewhere in that area. I think taking as long as a game needs to take guarantees that it’s a good game. It’s hard to say whether it improves the end product but sometimes it’s necessary. Blizzard only releases great games so if it’s not great we just don’t release it. One of the things I would want to say, especially to our most patient fans – the ones that have been hoping for Diablo III – is that I hope they see it’s a testament of our love for the franchise that we wouldn’t release it before it’s good and ready. We’ve really spent this time trying to make a sequel that was worthy of them.

Kotaku: In the demo you showed during the Opening Ceremony, you gave us a glimpse at the Witch Doctor class which seems to use several spells similar to those found in World of Warcraft. Do you worry that some fans will think you’re just copying aspects of WoW?

Jay Wilson: No. Do I think people will say that? Yes, I think they will. One of the things I like to remind people is that it’s okay to steal from ourselves. A good idea is a good idea and a good skill is a good skill and so when we look across all our games we borrow from each other all of the time. But the really key and important thing is do we play like World of Warcraft? No! We don’t play anything like it, Diablo has a different feel to it and that’s fine. If we look at the history of Blizzard games, at Warcraft I and II, the spell Blizzard appeared, it also appeared in WoW and Diablo II. I almost think it’s more like a signature but as long as a game has enough original stuff that it stands on its own and plays like its own game, that’s what matters.

Kotaku: In that case do you think that this might work in your favour, that WoW players, for example might be persuaded to try Diablo III?

Jay Wilson: Yeah, actually, I do think that. I think players like things that they are familiar with and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with them saying: “Oh, this class is like the warrior in WoW. Cool, I wanna play that!” Especially if it’s going to get them into the game. I think we gain as much as we could lose, people love to see something familiar and the reaction to Whirlwind was a great example.

Kotaku: You only joined Blizzard recently, does your passion for Diablo stretch back further than that?

Jay Wilson: Yes, I am a Blizzard fan. My first Blizzard game was Rock N’ Roll Racing so yeah. Warcraft I, II, StarCraft – I’m a huge StarCraft fan, Diablo I and II; Diablo used to be spoken of in hushed tones in my house because I was so excited and I pretty much played Diablo II since the day it came out. It’s one of those games that’s great to go back to.

Kotaku: Why do you think Diablo has captured so much attention?

Jay Wilson: I think you could pick out a lot of things: the setting’s darker and people like that, especially now. I actually think Diablo II wins on the fun scale. All of the Diablo games, they’re fun to play and that’s important. You could take the most flawed game in the world and as long as it’s fun it’s okay. Diablo II’s super easy to play, you could teach your grandmother to play it in five seconds.

Kotaku: With the popularity of WoW and other online games, Battle.net seems to have nearly disappeared into the background. Do you think Diablo III will breathe new life into the service?

Jay Wilson: I can’t really talk about Battle.net but I will say, Battle.net will not be a background. I’ll be huge, the next version will be absolutely Blizzard’s focus. Everyone is going to be thrilled when they see the kind of stuff we have planned! It feeds into our overall focus of providing a really great service for our players.

It’s a sound that World of Warcraft fans will be very familiar and it was during the Closing Ceremony Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain finally leveled up, becoming Level 72, 74, 76, 78 and finally Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain.

The Closing Ceremony marked the first time the heavy metal rock band – which is comprised of Blizzard staff and fronted by Blizzard’s art director Samwise Didier – has performed in Europe and over the course of their five song set – which included ‘Power of the Horde’, ‘Terran Up The Night!’, ‘Rogues Do It From Behind’, ‘I Am Murloc’ and a new song inspired by Diablo III entitled ‘Raise Some Hell’ – the band dinged (complete with a shot of a WoW avatar surrounded in light and amended promotional artwork – until they finally hit eighty, officially becoming Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain.

Each member of Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain has an in-game World of Warcraft avatar and the band performed outside Shattrath City during last year’s BlizzCon and the band can now be found killing time between gigs within Horde territory in Silvermoon City with their manager. The band were originally named after the maximum level achievable by a Tauren in Warcraft III and returned with World of Warcraft as Level 60 Elite Tauren Chieftain, levelling to seventy with the announcement of The Burning Crusade so their name-change was not completely unexpected.

The event was the first part of the Worldwide Invitational Closing Ceremony and the band’s performance was greeted to rapturous applause and a heavy Horde bias. Didier also invited the crowds to accompany ‘I Am Murloc’, their final song, with some audience participation: making what he called the ‘Murloc mating call’. He quickly explained: “Do you know why it’s called the Murloc mating call? It’s because when you hear it, you know you’re screwed!”

Wallspace is given to the three major IPs along with Blizzards older games that even the most hardened Diablo fan might not of heard of, titles like The Lost Vikings and Battle Chess II. Between each section are large flat screen TVs showing looped movies for World of Warcraft and their other projects. Everything is here, from the novels to the artbooks and prints of the individual coverart for all their games. There’s even a replica of an orc and wolf statue which fans might recognise as identical to one that appeared on eBay a couple of months ago and a scaled down version of the one on Blizzard’s campus.

So the splash screen mystery has been solved, at least on the surface but embedded underneath the screen was a second file – a CSS file containing of all things an evil-looking purple penguin. As of writing, the reasons for this bird’s inclusion. Fans of World of Warcraft instantly linked the bird to Wrath of the Lich King, especially as images of a penguin pet — believed to either be the WWI pet or one from the Collector’s Edition of the next expansion — has been circulating on the interweb for nearly a month.

Journalists have been just as perplexed, even asking Jay Wilson about it during the EU press conference. Even he seemed genuinely unaware of why it was there. I made a point of asking both the EU and US PRs about the splash screen only to be answered with cagey denials, ‘I don’t knows’ and the instant classic ‘There is no penguin level’. But why go to so much trouble to place a hidden file if it didn’t hold some significance? Theorists are going nuts and while the official word is still ‘this is Diablo III’s day’, Blizzard could still announce something at tonight’s closing ceremony.

The question of the penguin is certainly something to be asked at this afternoon’s interviews. We’ll be sure to let you know if and when the mystery surrounding this ugly, hunchbacked bird is solved.

So the first day of Blizzard’s Worldwide Invitational is over: Diablo III is official and fans stream out into the streets of Paris to rejoice. Of course the Opening Ceremony wasn’t the end of the event; merely the beginning.

The ceremony itself took place on the main stage which was jam-packed with over 3,500 people and many more standing. Attended by press from all around the world as well as several special guests such as the VPs of Global Finance and Human Resources (yep, we were all humbled too). Hosted by pop star China and stand up comedian and film star Anthony Kavangh, the event saw Blizzard co-founder Mike Morhaime take to the stage and congratulate the gamers of Europe as well as reminding all those present that this is the first time an invitational has been held outside of Korea. He took us on a trip back in time to last year’s event in Seoul – a movie which includes a classic sound bite in the making from a teenaged Korean fan: “It’s fun because Blizzard made it.” Morhaime also commented on the Activision-Blizzard merger, provoking laughter when he said they’d ‘leveled up’.

The ceremony concluded in a musical fashion, in keeping with last year’s Korean pop idols. A troupe of Fire Dancers who performed to composer Russell Brower’s latest composition from the soundtrack of Diablo III. With the conclusion of the ceremony, the attendees scattered with the journos heading to a press event with leader designer Jay Wilson and VP/co-founder Frank Pearce.

Because of the top-secret-but-everyone-knows-about-it announcement about Diablo III, the panels weren’t announced until after the ceremony had concluded and suddenly the convention floor was flooded with plans detailing the numerous talks, several of which focus on, yes you guessed it, Diablo. There were also some dev panels focusing on the present and future classes of World of Warcraft and several StarCraft panels.

Interspersed between was the chance to watch ace European guild Nihilum raiding in Sunwell Plateau trying to down Kil’Jaeden or watching a huge selection of pro-gamers battling it out for top spot. Esports is a big part of any invitational so they are running nearly none stop over the two day event and each team of professional gamers was paraded on the main stage as part of the Opening Ceremony.

Split across two floors, there are also numerous booths such as the Blizzard Museum and the famous Darkmoon Faire, complete with life-sized scantily-clad Night Elf, a mail box, meeting stone and a turtle mount. The event sponsors – who include Intel and amBX – also had their own booths but it was the Starcraft II and Wrath of the Lich King areas which seemed to attract attention, with an even longer line than the one for the food vendors, although not quite as long as the one at the main entrance. Unfortunately the Wrath computers were suffering technical hitches meaning they kept freezing, very handy if you’re trying to explore Howling Fjord but what’s an event without a technical hitch or three? Check back tomorrow for hands on preview of both games.

Other fun activities were available such as an Armourer and the chance to get made up as a World of Warcraft character and have a photo taken against a suitably Azerothian background. But for many the biggest photo opportunity was the life-sized Frozen Throne, complete with Arthas’s creepy crown. Very in keeping, despite the lack of Wrath-related announcements.

Check back tomorrow when we’ll be bringing you more coverage from the WWI, including coverage of the epic closing ceremony and WoW and StarCraft Q and A.

If last year’s BlizzCon is anything to go by, it won’t be too long before the goodies (and the bag itself) given to attendees at this year’s WWI start appearing in auction sites. Sad but true, some people will just put the swag straight on eBay in order to make a quick buck or two. But how much should all this swag set this back and is it worth the £55/€70 ticket or the even bigger sum you might end up paying via an auction site?

Fortunately, as Blizzard have a shop selling many of these exclusive goodies, we can tell you.

Blizzard’s concept of a shop, however, is not something you’d recognise instantly; with one per floor they only stand out thanks to the humongous sign and the enormous, never diminishing queue. Rather than go in an browse, attendees can drool over items for sale which are handily displayed in several glass cabinets, they then fill in an order form, wait in the queue for what must seem like for ever, hand over fistfuls of Monopoly money (sorry, Euros) and depart with their goodies.

A glance at this form reveals very little by way of exclusive goodies, much of the goody bag can be purchased if you so inclined and, aside from a few event-specific items like posters and T shirts, many of the items – like the Trading Card Game – can be purchased from anywhere.

Take the huge mouse mat depicting the official event artwork, that’s on sale for €20, the notebook is €13 for an Alliance or Horde version, rather than the actual exclusive Diablo version found in the bag. The signed Miniature is the only other proper exclusive as the game doesn’t launch until later this year; how much you’d pay depends on how much you like Orcs. The bag itself isn’t on sale and it’s one item which is genuinely worth buying, a sturdy satchel emblazoned with the WWI logo which would probably set you back around €45 if it were to be sold. The TCG starter pack retails in the WWI shop for €15 but the really important item – the one which sends the price skyrocketing – is the Beta key and in-game pet.

A staple of such events the beta key is actively sought by many fans dying to get an early look at the next big game and expansion. Except Blizzard haven’t even announced when and what owners of the card will be able to play. The pet on the other hand is equally as mysterious. Believed to be a penguin by some, the unnamed pet won’t go live until later next week with the introduction of patch 2.4.2 and the lack of confirmation will either enhance the worth or send it plummeting.

While the WWI is not about the freebies given to attendees, it’s clear from the interest in items as well as the number of people on the official forums obsessing over getting their hands on one that the goody bag is on a par with the announcements which come out of the event. Whether it is worth shelling out a small fortune for these ‘exclusive goodies’ remains to be seen.

by Lesley Smith

Blizzard Entertainment President Mike Morhaime formally announced Diablo III during the WWI’s opening ceremony this morning, not that this will come as a surprise to anyone with the Diablo III forums already active on the official Blizzard site and rumours running rampant for nearly a fortnight.

After recapping on the success of the previous Invitational held in Korea, Morhaime premiered a trailer and then demoed a level playing as a Barbarian and a Witch Doctor, showcasing some of the improvements over the original game as well as giving attendees a hint at what they can expect from the final product. This includes a new UI in place of the potion belt and the ability to play the game just by using a mouse. Similarly the health system has been augmented by God of War and Devil May Cry style red globes which replenish not just the health of the character but also those near by.

After the Fire Dancers had left the main stage and the crowds has dispersed, many jubilant, I headed for the jam-packed press conference where journalists got to give Blizzard’s Jay Wilson (Lead Designer on Diablo III) and co-founder Frank Pearce a grilling about Diablo III.

“It’s been in development for a few years. About four.” Wilson admits and of course, when asked the next Big Question: a release date, he gives the typical Blizzard response. “When it’s done,”

Blizzard co-founder Frank Pearce was quick to add that, even after four years, “it’s far too early in development.”

Despite being vague on many points such as how much of the game was complete – a process Wilson described as ’super fun’ – and the specifics of the storyline, He revealed the game is set twenty years after the War of Destruction and the events of the original games have become regarded as myth, indeed even those who were alive (and that’s not many) are either insane or convinced that nothing happened.

Unlike Warcraft, this is not a game about crafting your own unique virtual persona. Other than the classes and the gender, avatars aren’t customisable; instead the idea is to “dive right in and get to the monster killing”.

Being a Diablo title, it really wouldn’t be right unless there were plenty of monsters to slaughter and bosses to defeat. The monsters themselves are huge but even the obese charging abomination we saw steam-rolling towards a Barbarian – a giant in its own right – was just a mob. But the most impressive aspect was not the size of the mobs – it was a wall of zombies which managed to elicit cheers from the crowds.

While the assembled masses were shown two areas, a dungeon and a grassy wilderness, that was more than enough to show off some of the more interesting aspects of the Barbarian and Witch Doctor. The first, for example, uses a special attack called Whirlwind to send zombies and other trash flying to their deaths while the Witch Doctor makes use of pets who do their bidding. They can also summon swarms of locusts who devour enemies and anyone nearby. Like World of Warcraft’s priests and warlocks, they also have the ability to send enemies running using an ability called Horrify as well as mind control which is going to make for some interesting fights. Even more so when you consider that maps aren’t all static, some are random meaning the exit and entrance to an area might not be in the same place each time.

Oh, and for those of you wondering what really was with that Blizzard splash screen well the Diablo theorists were right. Wilson confirmed that the design of the splash screen was meant to hint at Diablo III but doesn’t know anything about that purple penguin.