One set of guesses based on the splash screen of Blizzard’s web site has proved correct as Blizzard has officially announced the upcoming release of Diablo III at its Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Paris, France. Matt Peckham in PC World has write-up of the announcement, some screen shots and a description of game play changes. Gamasutra has some quotes from lead designer Jay Wilson:
Wilson admitted: “We could just make Diablo 2 again – and the fans would probably be happy with that,” but went on to say that in order to be worthy of Blizzard and worthy of the fans, the game had to be a significant step forward.
One of the overarching features that Wilson sees as doing this is the game's generative systems. “Is there randomness?” he asked - “absolutely there is" - citing random monster encounters and items as being a key part of the new game.
Usability and accessibility are also important to the team. “Better gameplay, less carpal tunnel,” is one way that Wilson described it, and he went on to say that the game will be usable by the casual, while retaining depth: “We have a saying – if you can click a mouse, you can play Diablo.”
“That’s not to say you won’t break some mice playing Diablo 3 – you will, it’s a mouse killer,” he reassured the audience. In fact, the team at Blizzard “...view Diablo as an extremely fast-paced combat game.”
Sounds perfect, I'm willing to sacrifice a mouse for Diablo III.