14 DAY TRIAL // Video game developer Blizzard Entertainment has announced that the closed beta stage for its upcoming hack and slash title Diablo III is now open and that the development process for the game is now in its final stages.
The beta is only offered in English and will allow those who are selected to play through a small portion of the first act of the game, exploring a number of dungeons before facing off against the Skeleton King that fans know all to well from previous installments in the series.
The five character classes can each be used to complete the beta and a number of skills and powers will be shown for the first time.
In a statement Mike Morhaime, who is the Chief Executive Officer and one of the co-founders of Blizzard, has said, “This closed beta test is an important milestone for us as we enter the final stages of development on Diablo III.”
He added, “Our goal is to create the best action role-playing game experience to date, building on everything we've learned since the release of Diablo II and incorporating the powerful features of the new Battle.net platform. We hope players enjoy participating in the beta test and we look forward to hearing their feedback.”
Blizzard says that the closed beta stage will allow it to collect important information about the hardware that players use and about the way they play the game, which will then allow the team to tweak the final game experience.
Despite launching the closed beta Blizzard has not offered any new information on when Diablo III will be released, although the company mentioned that an announcement was coming later this year.
Diablo III has created quite a stir among the player base because of Blizzard's initiative of the inclusion of auction houses that will allow players to sell in game items for real world money.