Activision-Blizzard: More Remastered Versions in 2018 - Diablo 2 or Warcraft 3? - MMORPG.com News

SBFord · February 2018

Activision-Blizzard: More Remastered Versions in 2018 - Diablo 2 or Warcraft 3? - MMORPG.com News

According to Activision-Blizzard's latest SEC Filing for the time period ending in December 2017, the company plans to release a number of expansions, events and DLC for existing products, but also includes the news that the company also plans "releases of remastered versions of titles from [its] library of IP". In addition, there are at least two new mobile games coming from ATVI, including one "social casino game" from King".

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koljane · February 2018

It is like with the music, the moment you start remastering something that was good back in the days means you are stuck with creativity and ideas. As a pioneer in gaming due to my age I can say that gaming industry is in hard spot right now. I just hope that going back to roots will refresh their approach in the future.

Vrika · February 2018

koljane said:

It is like with the music, the moment you start remastering something that was good back in the days means you are stuck with creativity and ideas.

I think it's very different from music. Old games won't often work on new computers at all, and remastering is the only option to keep it available. It makes much more sense to remaster games than it makes with music or movies.

Rosenborg · February 2018

Vrika said:

koljane said:

It is like with the music, the moment you start remastering something that was good back in the days means you are stuck with creativity and ideas.

I think it's very different from music. Old games won't often work on new computers at all, and remastering is the only option to keep it available. It makes much more sense to remaster games than it makes with music or movies.

Yeah, it's kinda bad analogy. Better would be Hollywood remaking films..

But it also does make sense to remaster old music and movies, better sound and picture quality.

BruceYee · February 2018

I'm hoping both.

Phry · February 2018

There are a number of games that i wish would work on modern systems, the trouble is that the original studios are unlikely to be able to offer a remastered version that does, most of them are no longer around and their IP so to speak, has either been picked up by another studio/publisher or has just 'gone'.
As for Diablo 2, but more so for Warcraft 3, would i personally pick up a remastered copy if it was available, er.. yeah, more so for Warcraft 3 i'll admit, but remastered games from yesteryear that works on modern hardware+ OS's, the only thing i'd be concerned about is if they decided to change things too much

cheyane · February 2018

I would definitely buy it if they did ....hurry and make it happen.

[Deleted User] · February 2018

The user and all related content has been deleted.

immodium · February 2018

Remaster Blackthorne

Margrave · February 2018

Remasters. Means they are out of any ideas.

The day creativity died?

Wizardry · February 2018

Why didn't they make those games better at the time,they certainly had access to better quality everything from textures to dx libraries,they chose to go low end because it was faster,cheaper and easier but now they see a trend in easy money to claim remastered but in reality we almost always see VERY little in way of remastered other than a new skin.
Adding a new skin does take some work and time but you would only employ a handful of people like maybe 5-7.

"out of ideas"Has Blizzard shown any creativity of late,they have been copying since the days of Wow "copied EQ" and aiming at markets and even then SLOW to the party,like with moba and OW is incredibly slow to the party,we were already playing Quake and UT and they were in the worlds first cyber games championships in Korea in 2000,so yeah like almost 20 years slow to the party.
Even HEarthstone is very late to the party,they also seemingly moved in right after SOE's TCG shut down.

Sovrath · February 2018

Margrave said:

Remasters. Means they are out of any ideas.

The day creativity died?

I really disagree.

Those are great games. Video games, unfortunately, don't age well. Why should great games not be played years and years and years into the future? Why do they only have to have a few years of shelf life?

I say good on them and any game company that keeps their work fresh and viable for more people to discover how awesome they are.

Also, I agree with Vrika, it's not like "remastering" or rearranging music.

[Deleted User] · February 2018

The user and all related content has been deleted.

ShaddyDaddy · February 2018

Wizardry said:

Why didn't they make those games better at the time,they certainly had access to better quality everything from textures to dx libraries,they chose to go low end because it was faster,cheaper and easier but now they see a trend in easy money to claim remastered but in reality we almost always see VERY little in way of remastered other than a new skin.
Adding a new skin does take some work and time but you would only employ a handful of people like maybe 5-7.

"out of ideas"Has Blizzard shown any creativity of late,they have been copying since the days of Wow "copied EQ" and aiming at markets and even then SLOW to the party,like with moba and OW is incredibly slow to the party,we were already playing Quake and UT and they were in the worlds first cyber games championships in Korea in 2000,so yeah like almost 20 years slow to the party.
Even HEarthstone is very late to the party,they also seemingly moved in right after SOE's TCG shut down.

Holy hell, you have to be kidding me. Diablo 2 came out in 2000 and Warcraft 3 came out in 2002. Better graphics? Hell, I remember playing those games and thinking they looked amazing! As far as copying other games, yeah, they sure did. Just like most of the developers in the business. Hell, taking a product and improving it is something most software companies try to do! You claim hearthstone is late to the party, yet that tcg had been WILDLY successful. Good Lord man. Simmer down on the hate.

Xingbairong · February 2018

If they make a remastered D2 or WC3 I'll be really happy. Hands down my 2 most favorite games of all times. Would be even better if they release WC4. Personally I don't care about the story. What I want is to play the amazing game WC used to be.
Also who knows? If they release a remastered WC3 or even better a WC4 we might get lucky and get another amazing genre like how we got MOBAs and TDs(TD not quite a genre, but you get what I mean :P) from the custom game creators.

Coolit · February 2018

Smart move, Blizzard have seen how effective Square Enix is with Final Fantasy remasters by keeping fans engaged and invested when the main franchises have content droughts.

Rosenborg · February 2018

Wizardry said:

Why didn't they make those games better at the time,they certainly had access to better quality everything from textures to dx libraries,they chose to go low end because it was faster,cheaper and easier but now they see a trend in easy money to claim remastered but in reality we almost always see VERY little in way of remastered other than a new skin.
Adding a new skin does take some work and time but you would only employ a handful of people like maybe 5-7.

And I thought I was smoking the good stuff..

Here's David Brevik talking about remastering Diablo 2

http://www.ign.com/articles/2018/02/21/diablo-creator-says-bringing-diablo-2-to-modern-pcs-would-be-extremely-difficult-a-ign-unfiltered

darren28 · February 2018

Rosenborg said:

Wizardry said:

Why didn't they make those games better at the time,they certainly had access to better quality everything from textures to dx libraries,they chose to go low end because it was faster,cheaper and easier but now they see a trend in easy money to claim remastered but in reality we almost always see VERY little in way of remastered other than a new skin.
Adding a new skin does take some work and time but you would only employ a handful of people like maybe 5-7.

And I thought I was smoking the good stuff..

Here's David Brevik talking about remastering Diablo 2

http://www.ign.com/articles/2018/02/21/diablo-creator-says-bringing-diablo-2-to-modern-pcs-would-be-extremely-difficult-a-ign-unfiltered

Yea I don't think Wizardry knows what the f*** he is talking about lol.

Darksworm · March 2018

Wizardry said:

Why didn't they make those games better at the time,they certainly had access to better quality everything from textures to dx libraries,they chose to go low end because it was faster,cheaper and easier but now they see a trend in easy money to claim remastered but in reality we almost always see VERY little in way of remastered other than a new skin.
Adding a new skin does take some work and time but you would only employ a handful of people like maybe 5-7.

"out of ideas"Has Blizzard shown any creativity of late,they have been copying since the days of Wow "copied EQ" and aiming at markets and even then SLOW to the party,like with moba and OW is incredibly slow to the party,we were already playing Quake and UT and they were in the worlds first cyber games championships in Korea in 2000,so yeah like almost 20 years slow to the party.
Even HEarthstone is very late to the party,they also seemingly moved in right after SOE's TCG shut down.

These games were developed in a time when:

1. Windows NT was virtually unusable for gaming. Most people were on Windows 95, 98, or Me Windows 2000 was only available in Professional Edition, and most people were NOT going to pay $200+ for that (not to mention the awful driver issues it had on release, and the inability to run DOSmode Games and development tools and games that required exclusive hardware access, cause it was NT. NT didn't become a really viable, widespread, gaming platform until Windows XP.

2. In 2000, many people were lucky if they had a 16MB discrete graphics cards. Integrated GPUs were a pipe dream back then. Either you had a[n expensive] Discrete GPU, or you didn't have one at all.

3. Majority of people were still on Pentium - Pentium II platform in 2000. Some were still on 486, even. They were still using CRTs at VGA, SVGA, or 1280x1024 resolution. Making HD textures for a game in the year 2000 not only made it not run on almost anything available back then (due to resource constraints), but it was an absolutely waste of time and effort. Half the people who played D3 wouldn't have been able to play the game if it had higher system requirements. Blizzard knows this. This is why they made WoW have low system requirements, and clearly it worked for them - in comparison to EQ2 which had people complaining even before launch about how they weren't buying a new PC just to play SOE's new MMO.

4. Computer equipment was extremely expensive back then. Everything was ridiculously expensive. We were still using Floppy Drives when D2 was released... routinely. In 2004 (I still have old Sony, etc. catalogs) 128MB thumb drives were prices in the HUNDREDS. Large ones (and by large, I mean... 512MB, 1GB) were $500+. This gives you an idea of just how much it cost to "upgrade" a PC. RAM was expensive. Storage was expensive. Displays were expensive. GPUs were expensive (though today with the mining, you're getting a taste of that!). This is why AMD became so popular as a budget CPU manufacturer. People were desperate for lower prices! The GPU market was pretty much monopolized (duopolized?), back then.

It wasn't until very wide internet proliferation and online gaming became a thing that vendors lowered prices to make up for it with sales volume.

It's great to sit here 17+ years later saying what they should have done. However, market conditions back then made what you're talking about completely inviable. The enthusiast market willing to spend as much building a PC to run what you are describing back then was not enough to justify developing Diablo II. The market of people willing to tinker with upgrading PCs manually, etc. was not enough to justify developing Diablo II; especially when setting up drivers meant editing CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files just to get your GPU and Sound Card to work properly.

koljane · March 2018

Vrika said:

koljane said:

It is like with the music, the moment you start remastering something that was good back in the days means you are stuck with creativity and ideas.

I think it's very different from music. Old games won't often work on new computers at all, and remastering is the only option to keep it available. It makes much more sense to remaster games than it makes with music or movies.

How many young ppl you know who liked remastered old songs.... not much. New players don`t like old games we played in the 80`s and 90`s. As much as we don`t like it future in gaming is going toward Phones and Tablets. PC is close to lose battle with this remote devices. Personalty, I would love to play Warcraft 3 but I wanna see improvement in AAA department. Right now only place i can find a solid game that brings memory is in indi department.

malikhigh1978 · March 2018

I think if they just focus on launch of the WoW expansion, Diablo 4, OW 2.0, HotS content, and possibly a survival mmo. Lets say, a maximum of 1000 players per server. And be able to craft loads. Hopefully they would open up their code to modding as well. It could be loads of fun.

sayuu · March 2018

I love how everyone overlooks that Blizzard might not be remastering anything at all because it could be Activision just remastering more CoD titles. . .

Vrika · March 2018

sayuu said:

I love how everyone overlooks that Blizzard might not be remastering anything at all because it could be Activision just remastering more CoD titles. . .

Blizzard has been hiring people to work on their classic games.

Activision could also be remastering something, but we're talking about Blizzard because we know they've been hiring and therefore must definitely be remastering something.

sayuu · March 2018

Vrika said:

sayuu said:

I love how everyone overlooks that Blizzard might not be remastering anything at all because it could be Activision just remastering more CoD titles. . .

Blizzard has been hiring people to work on their classic games.

Activision could also be remastering something, but we're talking about Blizzard because we know they've been hiring and therefore must definitely be remastering something.

I wonder if WoW classic is under the remastered umbrella. .

and Blizzard is always hiring engineers and artists that means nothing in regards to what they are working on. . .

Vrika · March 2018

sayuu said:

Vrika said:

sayuu said:

I love how everyone overlooks that Blizzard might not be remastering anything at all because it could be Activision just remastering more CoD titles. . .

Blizzard has been hiring people to work on their classic games.

Activision could also be remastering something, but we're talking about Blizzard because we know they've been hiring and therefore must definitely be remastering something.

I wonder if WoW classic is under the remastered umbrella. .

and Blizzard is always hiring engineers and artists that means nothing in regards to what they are working on. . .

Blizzard has job offers with text like:

"Compelling stories. Intense multiplayer. Endless replayability. Qualities that made StarCraft, Warcraft III, and Diablo II the titans of their day. Evolving operating systems, hardware, and online services have made them more difficult to be experienced by their loyal followers or reaching a new generation.

We're restoring them to glory, and we need your engineering talents, your passion, and your ability to get tough jobs done."

Source: https://www.pcgamer.com/diablo-2-remaster-hinted-at-in-blizzard-job-posting/

Ozmodan · March 2018

Personally, I think Diablo II is still better than III. I would still play it if I had not worn out my DVD.

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