The lack of offline play in Diablo 3 was a point of consternation at the game's release (and before, and since). So the news that the recently announced Playstation release of the game will feature an offline mode for local co-op is a tad surprising. Previously Blizzard stood by their choice arguing that always-online play was "critical for the long-term integrity of the game experience".
Blizzard have not yet confirmed the offline mode for Playstation but in the Gametrailer interview below Blizzard's vice president of creative development Chris Metzen and production director John Hight mention it in a discussion of local co-op.
WoW Insider over at Joystiq spotted that about the 8.35 mark that Hight says "we're going to allow for local co-op as well as online co-op. So you can have four people on the same screen, no split-screen, and we just zoom the camera out, or if you're offline..."
Frustratingly, Hight is cut off by Geoff Keighley so we don't hear if Hight was t go more into this offline mode. Hopefully there is a chance that if the feature were coming to consoles then it may also appear on PC.
We've reached out to Blizzard for a confirmation.
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I got over 100 hours out of Diablo 3 most of it through hardcore mode where I found most of the reward (and frustration) through playing the game. I have little enthusiam for the genre now as the game seems to have sucked every ounce of it from me. This game is dead to me.
I am not really surprised of this console port idea considering Blizzard seems to be well and truely a puppet of Activision these days.
Activision literally owns Blizzard, so it`s not so strange that you think that.
I'm interested to see how Diablo runs on the console, four player local co-op could breathe fresh life into playing Diablo. Might be the same for you, Empyre.
Local Co-Op does sound like a nice addition to the game, though it will be interesting how they would go about it, as screen real-estate is quite important while playing an ARPG.
Good point. From the interview it sounds as though all four players will share a single screen, I'd trouble following the action when I was playing on my lonesome. With four players blowing demons to hell it could get a tad confusing.