150°

Power Players. The people behind Diablo 2's black market economy.

If you've ever played Diablo II online, you've no doubt been swamped by advertisements for gold, items, and all manner of virtual services. How did this all come about? Bane Williams speaks to some of the biggest names behind Diablo II's black market to see how this amazingly popular secondary economy sprung up, how it works, and where it's going in the future.

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games.on.net
NeoTribe4516d ago

all those adds and spam ruined diablo2. Everygame ur in u get some gay bot that enters and just starts spammin the fuck out of the room.

DarkZane4516d ago (Edited 4516d ago )

Just because there is an auction house in Diablo III where people can sell their own items for real money doesn't mean this won't happen with Diablo III.

Some places will obviously sell their own items through a site and not only they won't go through the auction house, but they can obviously sell a little lower than auction house to entice more people to sell.

The reason they're gonna keep doing it also the fact blizzard get a cut on what you sell, those people won't want that.

Saladfax4516d ago (Edited 4516d ago )

They could relegate themselves to only selling to cracked and pirated versions of Diablo III, but otherwise they'll be pretty heavily bound by the economy of the auction house, which will probably have a pretty large ease of use factor to it and very minimal risk of getting ripped-off.

I'm guessing the Diablo II black market doesn't have much in the way of a customer service or complaints department. I, of course, never used it *shifty glance*

120°

Activision Blizzard Faces $23.4M Fine for Patent Infringement

Activision Blizzard ordered to pay $23.4M for patent infringement involving popular games.

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infinitestart.com
Skuletor33d ago

Another L for Xbox, when are they going to have good news?

MrDead33d ago

I would read the article but the giant pop-ups from the top and bottom of the screen made me close it.

Without reading $23.4 million isn't a deterrent for a company that size.

peppeaccardo33d ago

Boss: Let's fire a few people to recoup on that loss.
Slave: Cortana has decided to get rid of Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks.
Boss: Let's get those Firing Letters "Copilot Approved" and send them through the power of the cloud.
Slave: Long Live Phil !!!
ALL in the room: LONG LIVE PHIL !!!!

rlow132d ago

Well another troll company with a patent trying to extort money out of companies. Seems like they’re going to try and sue everyone.

PRIMORDUS32d ago

Not enough drain them for more, fuck Blizzard POS company.

90°

An Update on This Year’s BlizzCon and Blizzard’s 2024 Live Events

Blizzard writes: "After careful consideration over the last year, we at Blizzard have made the decision not to hold BlizzCon in 2024. This decision was not made lightly as BlizzCon remains a very special event for all of us, and we know many of you look forward to it. While we’re approaching this year differently and as we have explored different event formats in the past, rest assured that we are just as excited as ever to bring BlizzCon back in future years."

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blizzcon.com
PRIMORDUS47d ago

How about you not hold Blizzcon anymore period. You fucking POS company. I really hope Blizzard would just die.

260°

Microsoft has ‘let Blizzard be Blizzard’ following its acquisition, studio says

Microsoft has 'let Blizzard be Blizzard' following the acquisition of the veteran developer according to World of Warcraft's executive producer.

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videogameschronicle.com
Kaii55d ago

Diablo 4 storefront being a cash grabbing shitshow does unironically attest to that, kudos.

kythlyn54d ago

Microsoft needs to be guiding Blizzard to be what it USED to be, not allowing it to continue to be the greedy bastardization of itself that it has become.

XiNatsuDragnel55d ago (Edited 55d ago )

Okay i will be interested if they become old Blizzard but might as well be dead.

Rynxie55d ago

They will never be old blizzard. Most of all the OG's left from developers to those on the top (even some decision making folks left).

Vits55d ago

Shame most of the people that made Blizzard what they were, have already left a while ago.

ApocalypseShadow55d ago

I was about to say this. How can they be blizzard when they're no longer blizzard from yesteryear?

blacktiger55d ago

Rare was the thing I lost heart

victorMaje55d ago

Exactly. Blizzard hasn’t been Blizzard for a long time.
Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Knightofelemia55d ago

Blizzard is not the same Blizzard like it use to be.

PassNextquestion55d ago

Were you expecting Microsoft to hire everyone that had left Blizzard long before they purchased the company...

Microsoft has let the Blizzard company they purchased continue to be the Blizzard company they purchased.

thesoftware73055d ago

Wow, PassNextquestion,

You fully understand what that saying means, unlike some people on here who just have to say negative garbage talk.

When someone says, "Just let *blank* be *blank*, "they are just letting them operate how they operate.

It's pretty much how Sony "let Bungie be Bungie."

This comment section is full of outright haters, but you have to "let N4G be N4G"

GamerRN54d ago

This site leans so heavily in one direction...

BISHOP-BRASIL54d ago

I don't think people commenting are necessarily blaming MS for anything here, this is just collective longing for what Blizzard/Vivendi was before Activision's meddling.

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