00:00Peggy 18
00:15Sony's been an extremely great partner for us in moving to the console.
00:19At Blizzard, our heritage was actually console games.
00:21Obviously, we'd been away for a while, so we had a little bit to learn.
00:25And we looked across all the franchises to see, you know, which one would really be the most appropriate to
00:30bring across.
00:31And we felt that Diablo was by far the easiest win.
00:35It is the granddaddy of action RPGs.
00:38You know, when the first one came out in the late 90s, it really said, you know, RPGs don't need
00:42to be this slow, sort of pondering, epic.
00:45They can be these, you know, rock concerts.
00:47And you can sort of like just smash things and kill a bunch of monsters and get a whole bunch
00:51of epic loot.
00:51It just connects you to that experience.
00:53And I think it's super important for us that the player feels that they are in the screen with their
00:58character.
00:59And partly because our players on console are sitting 10 to 15 feet away from the action.
01:05So the more we can make them feel that they are the action, they are the barbarian, the more epic
01:09and visceral the experience is.
01:11So for us, the thing that's exciting about the new console is actually the controller.
01:15That's where it all begins.
01:17That's where you develop that relationship with your character on the screen.
01:20You know, at Blizzard we have this sort of philosophy that control is king.
01:25And working on a console version for Diablo 3, for us that means the controller is king.
01:30You know, this is not a mouse.
01:31This is something different for us.
01:32And it's something exciting that we haven't had a chance to work with on Diablo.
01:35What was surprising was that the second I got a controller in my hand and started playing around,
01:39and there's a difference here between an indirect control where I'm pointing around with a mouse cursor,
01:44and a direct control, an intentional control, where I say,
01:47I'm pointing this way, I'm attacking that way, I'm rolling this way, and that just sings.
01:51It was really surprising, even to me.
01:52There's an intimate connection between the player and their character.
01:56And that's something that we really wanted to leverage and build the Diablo 3 version for the console,
02:03specifically around the notion that we call pick up and slay.
02:07On console, you know, pick up the DualShock for it.
02:09When you flick the right stick, your character actually performs a sort of dodge move that is unique to the
02:16console.
02:16And we added that thing first because, you know, our PlayStation players, you know,
02:22are going to have this expectation that, as a console game, I should be able to do that.
02:26I should be able to have this cool sort of dodge mechanic, and we wanted to give them that.
02:30We also wanted to have the ability to quickly reposition in combat to give the game not just a cool
02:35action feel to it,
02:36but add a sort of tactical element to it, and it's worked out really well.
02:39One of the things that we're excited about with the controller is the touchpad.
02:42Diablo is a pretty deep game, and we don't like a lot of overload on the buttons.
02:47We wanted to keep it really simple so you can get to the things that you need to get to
02:50fast
02:51because you need to do it because the monsters are pouring at you no matter what.
02:54We think the touchpad is going to give us a lot more opportunity to make that interface a lot easier.
03:00You know, we now have a different way that the player can interact with the game.
03:04A game like Diablo 3 that has a lot of sort of cool inventory things you're doing, your equipping items,
03:08just the possibility of the trackpad is really exciting and we really can't wait to dive into it
03:13and sort of make it as awesome as we can.
03:16What we didn't want to do is simplify the experience because at the end of the day,
03:21Diablo is awesome because of all the different items you can get and all the different powers those items have,
03:26so we didn't want to sacrifice that.
03:27What we wanted to do is streamline the experience
03:31so the players can decide when and how they wanted that level of information.
03:36So we really built the inventory and all our UI screens from the ground up.
03:40These are screens that are specifically designed to feel great when you have a DualShock in your hands
03:44and the way you navigate them.
03:46So we moved into a radio style menu that allows, first of all, your character to be nice and big
03:50on screen.
03:51But I think one of the magic of working on a game like Diablo at Blizzard is we're very iterative.
03:57Like we constantly keep asking ourselves, how can we make this better?
03:59How can we make this more awesome?
04:01And our team and Sir Jason Bender have this really great idea for something we call the Quick Equip,
04:06which is without even having to open an inventory,
04:08you can just press up on the D-pad and quickly cycle through the items you've recently picked up
04:12and make a decision right then and there whether to equip it or not.
04:16So again, that's a great example of the way we wanted to streamline but not simplify the experience.
04:21What's great about Sony's decision to make the PlayStation 4
04:24and easier architecture for us to work with as developers
04:28is that it means that we can actually get our games into the hands of our players a lot faster
04:32and we're super excited about that.
04:35We have a lot of scalability in the PC version of the game
04:38and with the processing power of the GPU on the PlayStation 4,
04:42we're pretty confident that we're going to be able to get very high-res graphics
04:45and a super rock-solid frame rate.
04:47So something that you get on PC, not quite for free, but something that people are used to
04:51is the ability to do things like stream your experience.
04:54So you say, hey guys, they just changed the way that barbarians work
04:59or I just got a new axe for my barbarian.
05:02I wonder if I can do this whirlwind tactic that I've been doing on a harder difficulty.
05:05Let's find out.
05:06And so someone online will go, they'll take video of themselves doing it,
05:10saying, look, I can totally do it.
05:12It's totally easy.
05:12All I need to do is go to this area and get this skill and I can make it happen.
05:16And people learn and it's exciting.
05:18I think the share button, I think, has this potential to sort of really fundamentally change
05:24the way players interact with not just the game, but with one another.
05:30And there's always been a barrier to sort of bring that same type of experience to the console.
05:34But the fact that it's now on your controller, a button press away that you can, you know,
05:38you just found an awesome legendary and you want to share it,
05:41not just with your friends on your couch, but with the whole world.
05:44The fact that that's a button press away, it's just such a great thing to bring to players.
05:49And I think it's one of those things that, especially when we start talking about it
05:52sort of internally, is that we sort of get the potential,
05:55but it's not until we actually see it in action and more importantly,
05:58see players engage with it and see what they do with it.
06:01That's where we're going to see the true promise of the share button.
06:04come to life.
06:05But also, multiplayer is huge.
06:07I am able to sit there on the same couch with my friends.
06:10And you're going up against, you know, the legions of the burning hells.
06:13And it really makes the experience, as I said before, immediate and sort of very social.
06:17And then, of course, we can also play with people who are remote.
06:20So three of us might be sharing a view on the couch, looking at the same screen.
06:23Someone else might be playing from somewhere else in the country,
06:26and we can all play together.
06:27That is just great.
06:29Having that social experience and that flexibility is something that's really unique.
06:33That's what console gaming is all about.
06:35It's a more intimate experience right there in the living room,
06:38a shared experience, you know, with your friends, with your family.
06:41And we think that Diablo is a perfect game to allow you to do that.
06:44And we think that Diablo is a perfect game to allow you to do that.
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