Diablo III Starter Edition and Other News

Diablo III launches tomorrow.. woop!

For those who aren’t planning to buy the game right away, there will be a Starter Edition and Guest Pass!

Information about this was originally leaked, as Battle.net account holders discovered they had access to the Diablo III beta client.. and that they were able to create characters tagged with a Starter Edition label.  Blizzard have since taken the beta down to address “an issue affecting the beta accessibility”. (more…)

Blizzard appealing Valve’s use of the DOTA trademark

Blizzard are appealing against Valve’s use of the DOTA trademark, on the grounds that the trademark carries with it all the goodwill generated for the original DOTA mod and Warcraft III, which it was based on.

Valve are currently developing DOTA 2, which will be a standalone game available on Steam.

In the appeal, Blizzard argue that they supported the original DOTA mod, and that it was built using the Warcraft III engine, characters, items, spells, artwork and textures, and that Valve should therefore have no right to use the name.

Blizzard are currently developing their own version of DOTA: Blizzard DOTA, a custom game for StarCraft II.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx1JDEnrVK8]

Like other DOTA-style games, this is a team-based competitive game where each player controls a powerful hero with unique abilities, and must work with their teammates to invade the enemy’s base.  More information is available in the DOTA FAQ.