Blizzard isn’t resting on its laurels. After spending the weekend celebrating the announcement of HearthStone (described as the company’s “latest and greatest”), developers have also taken a little time to shed some light on the upcoming console version of Diablo III, which is headed to both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4.
Picture tells a thousand words, moving pictures tell even more, so here’s a trailer:
We’ve also learned that Diablo III for consoles will not include the controversial online auction house, taking the game back to a more basic level like the one we fell in love with in Diablo 2.
Instead, gamers are given an online/offline trading option. As long as gamers are playing in the same game, they’ll be able to trade using an in-game menu, a Blizzard spokesperson tells Polygon. We’re also promised “more details soon”.
As well as those obvious changes, Diablo III for console isn’t just a direct port of the PC experience. Keyboard + mouse-specific controls have, obviously, been scrapped in favour of PlayStation controllers. This has changed several gameplay elements – the player character is now directly controlled by the analogue stick, so enemies now attack and behave in a different way. The user interface has also been revamped, with new shortcuts and console-friendly radial menus.
No date yet for Diablo III on consoles, and also no mention of “exclusivity” when it comes to the PlayStation deal.