The famous Blizzard North Studio in San Francisco has closed it doors sadly. After losing a majority of the best Blizzard staff for Flagship Studios, plus this, I am one of those people who think Blizzard can't put out the quality titles they developed 3-4 years ago.

But all is not lost.

Diablo 2, despite being ancient, was given a new patch earlier this month. The hard work involved wasDiablo rewarded with Blizzard shutting down the offices of the people who made it.

 

Blizzard have closed their San Francisco office. The majority of the employees have been given packages to relocate to Irvine, California, and join the main office. (Note to minority: You have our condolences.) Said employees will be working on an unannounced project, which some seem to believe will be Diablo 3.

>>Joystiq

While very obvious something Quake related was going to be at QuakeCon. Well here it is.

As if you needed another reason to go whine about not being able to go to QuakeCon’s 10th event, id Software and Activision have made a joint announcement that, at the event, they will showcase Quake 4’s online aspect, which “is based on the speed, style and overall multiplayer feel found in the popular QUAKE III Arena.” That’s quite a statement since Quake III Arena, to me, was basically the most adrenaline-pumping, in-your-face, intense deathmatch experience (that is, until Unreal Tournament 2004).  I just hope they continue to be nice to the mod community and give out some good tools, because one of the most refreshing aspects of Quake III was its customizability.

 

Also appearing at QuakeCon is Doom 3: Resurrection for the Xbox, which is great and all, but… Quake 4.  That tends to overshadow anything else in my mind.

>>Joystiq

>>Quake 4 Offical Site

Gentlemen, get ready for your minds to be blown out of their heads yet again with another i.d. franchise.

A picture has surfaced of a possible version of Soul Calibur for the nintendo DS. Check it out. Of course this could be just some hoaxers crappy render of Kilik on his PC, but it does look fairly DS-esque. Click on the news title for the picture to decide for yourself.

>>Gamer's Report

*Note to all, Klilk was never in Soul Edge.

A few months ago, a Stargate: SG1 mod for Half-Life 2 was cease and desisted by MGM. Then, astargate few days later, came news of an SG1 game. Well, fans of the franchise will now have to wait longer for a game to satisfy their Stargate desires, because the game, Stargate SG1: The Alliance, is no more.

 

JoWood, the publisher, has bitchslapped the developer of the title, stating how they “have lost confidence in their ability to finish in time and sufficient quality.” Ouch! There’s more, and better, as well, but I don’t want to spoil the surprise.

 

Something tells me Perception won’t be getting much work for a while

>>Joystiq

>>Eurogamer