Battle.net Platform Rivals Steam
Battle.net has launched an electronic games distribution system to rival competitor Valve’s Steam platform. If you head over to Battle.net and sign up for an account, you’ll find a gorgeous online registry for storing your games and serial numbers:
If you click on one of your games, you are presented with the CD key and download options to download the game for Windows or the Mac:
Currently, the Battle.net game management platform supports World of Warcraft accounts and StarCraft, StarCraft Battle Chest, StarCraft Anthology, Warcraft III, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, Warcraft Battle Chest, Diablo II, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, and the Diablo II Battle Chest.
I don’t see a way to purchase games directly from Blizzard, but it’s obvious next step. Once you can buy Blizzard games online at the Blizzard Store and have them automatically populated into your Battle.net account for download, I’ll be happy. For now, Battle.net provides a nice backup system in case you lose or damage the game discs. No more mailing for replacements!
Diablo 3 announced by Blizzard
Wow, you need to head right over to Blizzard’s new Diablo 3 page right now, where they’ve announced the next version of the famous RPG Diablo, and new classes, the Witch Doctor and Barbarian! There’s a new trailer, which is also pretty interesting. Check it out:
From the writings of Abd al-Hazir
Most believe the fearsome witch doctor of the umbaru race a legend, but I have seen one in battle with my own eyes. And it was difficult to believe, even then. He dispatched his opponent with terrifying precision, assaulting his victim’s mind and body with elixirs and powders that evoked fires, explosions, and poisonous spirits. As if these assaults were not enough, the witch doctor also had at his command the ability to summon undead creatures from the netherworld to rend the flesh from his enemy’s body.”
In my journey to catalogue the various denizens, civilizations, and fauna of our world, I have traveled far and wide, but never before have I been struck with such dismay as when standing upon the ramparts of the ancient fortress of Bastion’s Keep. I came to see firsthand the barbarians, those near-legendary, immense, relentless, dual-wielding furies of combat dwelling upon their sacred Mount Arreat.
