Diablo III to offer cash auctions, can’t be played offline

By Derek Mead Published August 1, 2011

Image used with permission by copyright holder

MMORPG titan Blizzard has announced new information about the developer’s highly anticipated Diablo III title, and it’s sent the gaming community reeling. There are some big changes coming to the third major installment of a franchise that’s been hugely popular since its 1996 birth.

First, players can now officially buy and sell in-game items for real money. Diablo III‘s auction house will include both in-game and real life currency counterparts. Interestingly, all of the items in the auction houses will be listed by players who found them while playing; Blizzard won’t list any extra items which may give more stability to the auction economy. Blizzard plans on charging a “nominal” listing fee, although the exact price has yet to be decided, as well as taking another small cut when the item is sold. Both charges will be the same for any listing, not percentage based. Players can either deposit their money into their Blizzard account or cash out with third-party services for an additional fee.

Partly influenced by the new auction house, Blizzard has decided to only allow Diablo III to be played online. While this has proved shocking to some, Blizzard argues that it’s the only way they can be sure that people aren’t cheating. With real money on the line, it wouldn’t do to allow someone to level up extremely quickly by cheating offline before signing into Blizzard’s servers. The option to let players have separate offline and online characters was nixed by Blizzard, who deemed that players were unlikely to want to put in the effort to level up two characters. While that reasoning might be suspect, forcing players to only play online does eliminate one problem: piracy. Blizzard will now be able to authenticate every user who plays the game, which may mean a push to online-only gaming becomes more popular.

Finally, Blizzard has expressly prohibited game mods. Both the Diablo franchise and Blizzard games in general have a history of allowing modding, from custom auction house searches in World of Warcraft to advanced editing abilities that can fundamentally alter gameplay in StarCraft 2. With no offline option, there’s no place for gameplay experimentation, and Blizzard won’t allow potential advantages in the auction house with automated searches.

Photo via PC Gamer

Topics

PC Gaming

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Gaming

Ubisoft confirms Assassin’s Creed remakes are in the works

Basim perched on a ledge overlooking Baghdad

In a company interview with CEO Yves Guillemot posted on the Ubisoft website Thursday, the executive reveals that there are remakes of Assassin's Creed games in the works, although he doesn't specify which ones.

"Players can be excited about some remakes, which will allow us to revisit some of the games we've created in the past and modernize them," he says, implying that it could pertain to games made before Odyssey. "There are worlds in some of our older Assassin's Creed games that are still extremely rich."

Gaming

Surfaced patent shows what an Xbox streaming console would’ve looked like

An Xbox Series X sits next to both Series S models.

There have been a few Xbox devices that have never come to fruition, one of which was Keystone, a prototype for an affordable game streaming device you could hook up to your TV or monitor. Thanks to a surfaced patent, we've gotten an even closer look at what it would've potentially looked like.

The patent, first spotted by Windows Central, gives us a more complete view of the device. We've previously seen the Keystone in the flesh. Microsoft Gaming head Phil Spencer is known for hiding teases and interesting collectibles on the shelf in his office. In a 2022 X (formerly Twitter) post congratulating Bethesda on Fallout's 25th anniversary, you can see a small white device on the top shelf that's actually a Keystone prototype. Xbox told Digital Trends that it was a version of the device made before it decided to "refocus our efforts on a new approach.”

Gaming

Wordle Today: Wordle answer and hints for June 28

Someone playing Wordle on a smartphone.

We have the solution to Wordle on June 28, as well as some helpful hints to help you figure out the answer yourself, right here. We've placed the answer at the bottom of the page, so we don't ruin the surprise before you've had a chance to work through the clues. So let's dive in, starting with a reminder of yesterday's answer.
Yesterday's Wordle answer
Let's start by first reminding ourselves of yesterday's Wordle answer for those new to the game or who don't play it daily, which was "ORDER." So we can say that the Wordle answer today definitely isn't that. Now, with that in mind, perhaps take another stab at it using one of these Wordle starting words and circle back if you have no luck.
Hints for today's Wordle
Still can't figure it out? We have today's Wordle answer right here, below. But first, one more thing: Let's take a look at three hints that could help you find the solution, without giving it away, so there's no need to feel guilty about keeping your streak alive -- you put in some work, after all! Or just keep scrolling for the answer.

Today’s Wordle includes the letter D.
Today’s Wordle uses two vowels.
Today's Wordle can refer to a large number of animals, particularly livestock like cattle or sheep, that are moving together in a group.