• DiabloII.net - Continued Coverage. (12/29)

DiabloII.net has posted an overview of its coverage of Diablo II from its trip to Blizzard HQ.  This overview contains a great deal of information and detailed explanations of many of the elements in Diablo II.  You can start your reading here. 

                - Landarth (Newstracker)
                 

  • Screenshot of the Week... (12/28)

Blizzard has released a new Screenshot of the Week, this one featuring the Amazon taking on some black Razorbacks with her trademark Freezing Arrows: 

As we all know, Diablo II isnīt going to be out for a few months, and many people are searching for something, anything really, to busy themselves until its release.  Christmas always bring a crop of new games out to try, and I myself received several games this Christmas from my loved ones.  Hereīs a few ideas of some games that have been approved by the ShadowSpiral Staff so far as fun-factor goes:

  1. Nocturne - A great third-person game with a dark atmosphere.
  2. TZAR: Burden of the Crown - Very much like WarCrafr or StarCraft with a historic bend. (still in demo form)
  3. WarCraft 2: BNE - If you havenīt purchased this yet, you should.  Excellent as always.
  4. Quake III - We enjoyed it a little more than Unreal, but itīs really a matter of preference.
  5. StarCraft Battle Chest - StarCraft, Brood War, and a strategy guide for $19.99, how can it be wrong?

There are many more games out there, to be sure, but these are some we have played in-house and found to be excellent.  Happy hunting! 

  • Merry Christmas! (12/25)

We here at ShadowSpiral Diablo II would like to wish everyone the merriest of Christmas and would like to thank them for their support and participation in both our site and the Diablo II Community at large. 

                - The ShadowSpiral Staff

  • New Screenshot. (12/24)

Me! has responded to DiabloII.netīs challenge to present more pics, but he has only met one of the demands.  He gave a clear shot of the Character Selection screen with the Necromancer selected, but it is still not enough to prove that he has a pirated copy of the game.  See his presented shot below: 

There will be a demo version of Diablo II for Macintosh at the next MacWorld Expo.  This show will be happening in San Francisco on Jan. 4th - 8th, though online signups will be December 30th. 

  • Blizzard Christmas. (12/23)

You can easily tell itīs the Holiday Season by giving Blizzard a visit here to download all the wonderful Christmas shots featuring Blizzard game characters as well as a warped 12 Days of Christmas song featuring the characters from StarCraft (also available in Downloads). 

  • Gamespyīs Wishes... (12/22)

Gamespy wrote an article about the RPG games they are looking forward to the most: Vampire: The Masquerade, Pool of Radiance II: Ruins of the Myth Drannor, Neverwinter Nights, and last but definately not least Diablo II.  Read about it here. 

  • New Screenshot of the Week. (12/21)

Blizzard has released the latest Screenshot of the Week, this one featuring the Sorceress taking on some new enemies in Act III: 

Over at Gameslice there is an article on the best of the best for the next millenium, and Blizzard is suspected to be flying high with their releases of Diablo II and WarCraft III.  You can read the entire article here. 

                - Landarth (Newstracker)
                 

  • JudgeHype Interview... (12/19)

The Fansite Interview that was conducted with Judge Hype has been posted on their site, and you can read it here.  The interview contains several new bits of information, all of which are stored at our Compendium. 

                - Landarth (Newstracker)
                 

  • Vote at PC.IGN.COM. (12/18)

It is a rather slow news day and all we have to report is the presence of an RPG vote over at PC.IGN.COM.  The poll is already dominated by Diablo II, but also has slots to vote for Final Fantasy VIII, Baldurīs Gate II, Vampire: The Masquerade, Dues Ex, Neverwinter Nights, Anarchy Online, Pools of Radiance, Summoner, and Arcanum.  Go and vote for your favorite of this litter. 

  • Copy Protection... (12/17)

The Adrenaline Vault reports that Havas (the company that owns Blizzard) is going to incorporate the Macrovision SafeDisc copy-protection technology into their newest games, and this will include Diablo II when it is released.  For more information you can see AVaultīs news post on this here. 

  • Necromancer Video Analysis. (12/16)

We have analyzed the newest Necromancer Gameplay Video and archived in our Archives section.  You can read the analysis directly here though, and it accompanied by some shots from the video itself. 

  • Necromancer AVI. (12/15)

Blizzard has released the newest Gameplay movie, this one for the Necromancer.  You can find them in our Downloads section for both the PC and Mac.  We will have an analysis up as soon as we can download the movie. 

                - Landarth (Newstracker)
                 

  • Blizzard Responds... (12/15)

Tony Gervase of Blizzard PR has e-mailed all the official Fansites with a response to the report that there may be pirated version of Diablo II out there.  Hereīs what was said: 

    Thanks to the those of you have alerted us to the five mystery screen shots that have found their way to the web. We have become aware that there is a great conspiracy theory circulating around the fansite and gaming community as to the source of these shots. Despite rumors, we have no reason to believe that a pirated version of Diablo II is the source of the mystery shots. Since these shots are not official images released by the Public Relations department, we are currently tracking down where they came from to make sure that all screens get released in the proper manner.

                - Landarth (Newstracker)
                 

  • A Dubious Discovery? (12/15)

Itīs been claimed before, this person has a hacked or pirated copy of Diablo II on their website and so on... but not until now has someome produced evidence to back up their claim.  Me!, an anonymous gamer, has reported to Tazzz of D2Inferno that he has been in possession of a pirated build of Diablo II for quite some time.  As evidence he offers these screenshots:

You can easily tell that these shots arenīt faked, and several people viewed recent builds of Diablo II have verified their authenticity.  But, does Me! have a pirated build of the game or only a few leaked screenshots?  The challenge has been issued, letīs see what unfolds. 

  • Bitter Disappointment. (12/14)

This is what Gamespot must feel to write an article based on the biggest disappointments of this year, namely the delays of Diablo II and Vampire: The Masquerade.  Hereīs a small excerpt from that article:

    "Without a doubt, the biggest disappointment of 1999 has been the delay of the games I most wanted to play. Specifically, the fact that Diablo II and Vampire: The Masquerade have both had their release dates moved to 2000 has been somewhat frustrating."

You can read that article here. 

  • Two New Renders... (12/14)

Blizzard has also released two new wonderful Rendered Shots, one festive holiday on for the Official Diablo II Site and another more diabolical one for their main site.  See them both listed below: 

The newest Screenshot of the Week has been released, this one featuring the Paladin facing some fiery competition from the Zakarum Zealots: 

Daily Radar has posted their obeservations of the Diablo II Contest on their website, which you can get to here.  They have also posted two pictures of that fun weekend, one here and the other here.  This writeup doesnīt have any new info, but it is a good read. 

  • A Yegg Interview. (12/12)

Yeggīs Tavern has interviewed Sir Twist, one of the Daily Radar lucky winners who got to play Diablo II for a couple of days in the presence of Blizzard.  Although it comes with no new real information, he days give the game some inging endorsements, as well as some opinions as to how the game will be.  You can read it here. 

                - Landarth (Newstracker)
                 

  • More Diablo II.net... (12/12)

DiabloII.net has sent in more of the info they have gleaned from their weekend stay at Blizzard HQ in Irvine.  This update isnīt as much as the one for yesterday, but it does bring some more info to our Dueling Grounds section.  You may see this info on their site here.  Also, see the picture below for some laughs: 

A preview analysis of Diablo II has popped up on the Vault Networks.  It doesnīt contain new info as such, but goes over the game in detail of those of you who havenīt heard of it yet.  It is accompanied by a smattering of screenshots too.  You can find that preview here. 

                - Landarth (Newstracker)
                 

  • DiabloII.net News... (12/11)

DiabloII.net has reported what they have learned on their weekend visit to Blizzard HQ in Irvine, CA.  You can find out the news here or in our Compendium. 

  • Voodoo Extreme - Bioware Interview... (12/9)

What does this have to do with Diablo II?  Well, one of the questions asked in this interview is the irreverent: "Can Baldur's Gate II whip Diablo II's ass?"  Biowareīs answer to this question isnīt what one might expect, they donīt trash Diablo II or Blizzard, instead they praise them and their games.  Quite interesting, you can read it here. 

                - Landarth (Newstracker)
                 

  • Gamecenter on Diablo II. (12/9)

Gamecemter has released a prediction for Diablo II, part of their "Top Ten Predictions for 2000."  Diablo II is the 8th prediction in the series, and you can see what they think about it by clicking here. 

                - Landarth (Newstracker)
                 

  • Extended Information. (12/8)

Scorch of the Diablo II Darkness has created two lovely background checks on two of Diablo IIīs major characters, namely Baal and Mephisto.  They cover an intense amount of into from history concerning their origins and how they play into the game.  You can read them for Baal here and for Mephisto here. 

  • Accompanying Rendered Shot. (12/7)

The usual Rendered Shot has also been released, see below:

The newest Screenshot of the Week has been released by Blizzard.  This one features the Necromancer in Act III speaking with Asheara, one of that Actīs NPCīs: 

A major Fansite, DiabloII.net, recently got invited to spend some time with the Blizzard staff and see Diablo II in action.  As they report on the news they gather we will be sure to see a lot of new things, all of which will be dutifully dissected and archived. 

                - Landarth (Newstracker)
                 

  • Gamespot on Late Games... (12/7)

Gamespot has recently done an article entitled "Why are Games Always Late?"  As you could imagine, Diablo II is mentioned several time, as well as other famous examples of the ever-popular jumping deadline.  Itīs an interesting and humorous read. 

  • RealPlayer Interview. (12/7)

Thereīs an interview with Bill Roper on Gamerīs Playground that deals with both WarCraft III and Diablo II.  The interview is works on RealPlayer, so youīll have to have a player in order to view it. 

                - Landarth (Newstracker)
                 

  • Winners of the Interview... (12/6)

Blizzard reports that Judge-Hype of Judge_Hype Diablo II has won Decemberīs Fansite Interview.  It is a non-English site, but they have promised to release the interview in English as well.  Congratulations to them, and we hope their interview goes well. 

                - Landarth (Newstracker)
                 

  • Diablo II in Yahoo Mag. (12/6)

Yahoo Magazine recently said a few words on Diablo II:

    "The ultimate in "Barbarians Abound" Diablo II [blizzard.com], the sequel to 1997's best-selling roleplaying game, is here. Adventurers can now select a persona from one of five new character classes, and explore four dangerous worlds populated by Netheads just like them. As with its beloved predecessor, Diablo II ships with free game play at battle.net. $50; PC only."

Sounds strange, like the game is already available (which it isnīt).  Anyway, it is good to see Diablo II hitting all varities of publications. 

                - Landarth (Newstracker)
                 

  • And the Winner Is... (12/4)

We have decided on the winners for the ShadowSpiral FanFic contest at long last.  You can find the winners on our Contests page.  Each individual entering the contest should have also been notified of this announcement via e-mail.  Congratulations to the winner and we wish to thank all those who participated. 

                - The ShadowSpiral Staff
                 

  • Daily Radar Winners... (12/4)

Daily Radar has announced the winners of their contest in which four lucky individuals get to spend 36 hours playing Diablo II and chatting with the Blizzard staff.  Here are those lucky winners:

    Troy LaFollette from Middletown, PA
    Nathan Cope from Peabody, MA.
    Gene Lane from Raleigh, NC.
    Tonia Hyrkas from Broomfield, CO.

Congratulations and we hope you have an excellent time playing Diablo II. 

  • Newsletter Sent. (12/4)

The twentieth edition of the ShadowSpiral Diablo II Newsletter has shipped and should be arriving in everyoneīs in-box shortly.  If you have any kind of problem with the newsletter, or you did not recieve your copy, please let us know. 

  • The New Look. (12/4)

We are back up, sporting a new layout, look, and organization to the siteīs design.  We arenīt finished quite yet, but enought to show you what we are hearding towards at least.  You will notice that the menu bar is somewhat different, having only six sections now, but under these are all the former sections that you are familiar with.  We have created a site design outline for those of you who would like to know where everything is now, that plan can be accessed here.  Also, if anyone experiences problems with the new layout, or would like to express their comments or questions, please drop us a line. 

                - The ShadowSpiral Staff
                 

  • Down for the Day... (12/3)

A warning: ShadowSpiral Diablo II will not be posting any other news today as all the members of the site staff will be involved in the process of updating the layout and planning a site reorginization.  We will still be taking news in and answering your questions on our Message Board though.  If the site should be unavailable times, do not worry, it will just be the staff changing things.

Also, we will be announcing the winner of the FanFic Contest tomorrow, so stay tuned for that as well. 

                - The ShadowSpiral Staff
                 

  • Game of the Millennium: Diablo. (12/3)

Diablo has taken the "Game of the Millennium" title for Action/RPG over at Gamerīs Central.  Its runners-up were Might & Magic and also Revenant.  In the traditional RPG category, Baldurīs Gate took the gold. 

  • Diablo II TV Commercial. (12/2)

A recent commerical for EBWorld.com showed the box for Diablo II in the course of the commercial.  While this isnīt much in and of itself, it does show an increasing awareness of Diablo II, and pressure from the retailers can prove beneficial in speeding development of the game.  All in all, itīs a good sign.  Thanks to Thaythilor for the lead. 

  • Weīve Archived Novemberīs News. (12/1)

The news for November has been placed in the News Archive, so if you feel youīve missed out on some critical news please feel free to look through our extensive archive. 

  • New Diablo II Ad. (12/1)

There is a new 2-Page Diablo II Ad spread, gratefully scanned by those wonderful folks at DiabloII.com.  This one is of Act III, featuring a wonderful close-up of the Sorceress casting a spell, as well as a few new screenshots branded into it that we havenīt seen yet.  You can see the spread below, but be warned it is over 500 KB: 

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Skill of the Week

Iron Maiden
Harkening back to an inquisitional torture, the Iron Maiden curse causes all damage an enemy does to you to be returned to that enemy as well.  Part of the Necromancerīs Curses, it is a powerful addition to his arsenal.

Counter courtesy of
TheCounter.com


 
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