You got game?

Some gaming news that I have to report on

First and foremost, it looks like the gnomes at Blizzard are gearing up to do a lot of hiring. No word on what the title might be, but there are a ton of clues if you know where to look. I'm betting it's the latest in the drug addiction that is the "Diablo" series.

Blizzard is best known for creating the real-time strategies "Starcraft" and "Warcraft" as well as the aforementioned RPG "Diablo." One ad seeks a Lead Game Designer with experience making RPGs to lead the team that designed the first two Diablo games. A few years ago, Blizzard had a lot of defections from its organization, casting doubt on the future of the "Diablo" series. When Blizzard announced a couple years it was going to break with tradition by developing a game for a game consoles and not the PC, it sent gamers into a tizzy, wondering what was happening with the company.

But Blizzard is nothing but methodical. They develop titles for their licenses usually in order. Which makes me think a Diablo title is under development. After all, Blizzard last year put out the online RPG version of its human-versus-orc Warcraft license, "World of Warcraft." Currently, it's working on that tender piece of space-faring vaporware for the game consoles,"Starcraft: Ghost." That leaves only Diablo left out. Piece that together with the text of the ads and it stands to reason in that casual letter-to-Santa-please-please way that Blizzard is about to come up with something sword and sorcery.

Two things that trouble me, however (outside of the fact I could be dead wrong)
1) Diablo II and its expansion pack came out for the Mac at the same time as the PC. I don't know if Blizzard will make that happen again. I live in dread of a PC-only release of Diablo 3.
2) Blizzard is notorious for taking ice ages to develop its games. If they were looking for staffers now, Diablo 3 probably won't hit for a few years. Example: "Starcraft:Ghost" has been in development for years, and had been pushed back numerous times. It's now rumored "Ghost" won't show up until the next generation of consoles roll out late 2005/mid-2006.

Speaking of dates

What kind of world do we live in when Doom 3 will ship for the Macintosh (March) before it ships for the Xbox (April 4)?

Disposable heroes

Xbox.IGN.com has an article up about yet another game looking to dethrone the urban chaos experience that is the "Grand Theft Auto" license. Titled "Fear and Respect," the game is "a realistic take on life in South Central Los Angeles from collaborators Snoop Dogg and John Singleton."

In other words, it's a clone of "GTA: San Andreas." That, in and of itself, isn't a bad thing. The market works like that. You get a smash hit and everyone races to copy it to cash in on a splashback effect in sales.

What bothers me is this (from the article): "Fear & Respect is more about "A day in the life" and less about run and gun, kill everything in site with no consequences. In the real world, you don't run through LA, stealing cars and shooting whomever you want. Gunfights will be more true to life, you can't just stand in the open and start shooting, you'll need to take cover and be smart in gun combat. We are also creating "dramatic moments" to bring the character and the game to life."

What bothers me is this: Interurban life, and all peripheral violence, is becoming a game to be played by anyone. What is a tragedy every night in America's cities is stripped of its malevolence and brutality and turned into entertainment. What bothers me is that John Singleton, who directed the visceral "Boys in the Hood," has traded cpaturing the hard-hitting misery of life in south central Los Angeles for a vision into disposable violence. Get killed by a gang banger, just reload from the safe point and try again. It's the same with World War II games, giving players a faux-experience of the terror of war, where each step could be your last. I won't get into the further objectification of young inner city African American males as gun-toting killers, but it does make me wonder what the marketing of this title is going to be like, as well as the target market. Is it going to be "street cred" cool for white suburban kids who think they're hip-hoppers? Will inner city kids want to play something that's supposed to represent their lives? Are gang members the next World War II soldier: the prefered player class for committing violence for a good cause? Is gang violence supposed to be fun?

I know: It's just a game, but there are some serious questions here. It's one thing to shoot a Stormtrooper or a Covenant, both fictional creations who seek to kill you first. It's another when the pixels get a little too real, the locale just a little too familiar, and all the activity is plausible. When the screen resembles when you walk out the front door, you have to start wondering about how much realism is good for entertainment.