For years, Blizzard faithful have been clamoring for a remake or remaster of Diablo II, and now that StarCraft's remaster is fresh out of the hatchery, they have only gotten louder. One fan is trying to give them the next best thing.

A few years back, games artist Toby Lewin had an image he drew for a Blizzard contest go viral. You see it all over the internet these days, from posters to mouse pads, but this week it turned up in the real world on ... a war memorial in the Ukranian capital Kiev.

This is an excerpt from my upcoming book, BLOOD, SWEAT AND PIXELS, which comes out on September 5. You can pre-order the book at your favourite bookstore.

Back in February, Blizzard announced that it would stop supporting Windows XP and Vista "later this year" for a swathe of its games, including Hearthstone, Diablo 3 and Heroes of the Storm. Well, "later" has transformed into October, giving players on older operating system a good deal of time to upgrade.

Anime Expo is usually home to some of the year's best cosplay, and 2017 was no exception. While we'll be providing a bigger roundup of the whole show next week, I wanted to go early with this incredible shoot featuring a Nintendo x Diablo crossover.

About an hour into taking Diablo 3's new Necromancer class for a spin, I encountered a turgid, hulking monster called a Grotesque. I had already massacred several of the small bats preceding it, and by using my class ability Corpse Explosion, I did enough damage to the Grotesque for it to inflate and rupture. Out of its body poured wormy parasites. And I killed them by making the Grotesque's corpse explode, too.

In video games, we're used to being heroes, saving hapless innocents from villains, monsters and their own demons. Sometimes, though, we need a hero to save us. Here are stories of daring rescues that happened in video games.

There was rumours for years that a secret cow level, a homage to Diablo, was hiding in World of Warcraft somewhere. There wasn't. But as part of the 20th anniversary celebrations for Diablo, there now is.

Diablo 3's 2.3.4 update hit the public test realm today, giving PC players a chance to play through a 16-level retro dungeon packed with bosses from the 1996 original. It's not quite a remake, but it hits all the right notes.

Methyl Ethyl Cosplay isn't just doing Diablo III cosplay here, she's paying direct tribute to some of the game's early concept art by Blizzard's Glenn Rane.

Well, that's one way to give your action-RPG a shot in the arm! Not that Path of Exile from Kiwi studio Grinding Gear Games needs help -- it's managed pretty darn well so far -- but to get one of the fathers of the modern hack'n'slash David Brevik on board is quite the coup no matter how you cut it.

Dayshot: His Majesty King Leoric of Khanduras was already a decently badarse-looking boss in Diablo III, especially considering his lowly status as the game's first unique boss. Well, here, he's on a whole other level.

Players couldn't log into games like World of Warcraft and Diablo III for several hours last night thanks to a series of DDoS attacks that flooded Blizzard's servers, the developer said. Blizzard says they have since thwarted the problem, though some login issues could linger this morning.

They have been called many things over the years. Isometric RPGs, hack'n'slash RPGs, ARPGs, Diablo clones. But one thing is certain: They wouldn't exist if Diablo didn't come out in 1996. Diablo and its sequels spawned a whole catalogue of isometric action RPGs.

Dayshot: This Baal is more like the Baal I'd imagine after dying over ten times in Diablo II Act V's Worldstone Chamber.

They were originally conceived as a way for developers to get credit for the games they worked on. But Easter Eggs are now a way for developers to tip their hat to their fans, a way to joke about the past, surprise alternate endings or a way to interact with their audience in diabolical ways that go beyond the game.

Easter Eggs are now a staple of video game design, so to help celebrate the long weekend let's look back on some of the best Easter Eggs ever made.

This is how history was made.

Well, that's certainly a skin that wouldn't work in Diablo III, but is completely fine in the casual environment of Heroes of the Storm. Act III's "Lord of Sin" from Diablo III now has a slam dunk-ready alternate, called... Azmodunk!

Video: Deckard Cain might not be a powerful hero of the Blizzard universe, but still, Diablo's fan favourite NPC is one of the most wanted characters for Heroes of the Storm. Carbot made an awesome animation playing with the idea of what the wise old man could do in a MOBA.