Monday, June 30, 2008

LAN vs MMO

When Blizzard made the Diablo 3 announcement, I started get a little excited about having an age old LAN party. I'm not talking about the type of LAN parties where 100+ people rock up to a hall and all play CS, WoW and Battlefield. I'm talking about having five 5 mates over for a long weekend, lots of junk food and caffeinated drinks and very little sleep. In my opinion, there hasn't been a good LAN worthy RPG released in over five years. My favorites being Baldur's Gate 2, Never Winter Nights and Diablo 2. I actually thought that RPG LAN games were being made extinct by MMORPGs. Is it possible that Blizzard has identified a niche in the market for an old school LAN RPG with Diablo 3? I certainly hope so.

Hands up those who were hoping for a Diablo MMO? Are any of you disappointed that it will most likely be a LAN / Online small group RPG? I'm not, for two reasons:
  1. There are to many MMOs coming out at the moment and the last thing I can handle right now is another WoW.
  2. LAN Party!! woot!!!
Although my love will remain with MMORPGs, I will always have a soft spot for LAN style RPG games. I just hope the genre isn't completely wiped out by the MMO market. Diablo 3 looks awesome, an I'm sure it will provide a welcome respite from the MMO world.

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