IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 21, 2001--Blizzard Entertainment® today announced that Diablo® II: Lord of Destruction(TM),
the vast new expansion set to the company's number-one selling Diablo II(a) series has gone gold.
The expansion, with initial orders of 2 million copies, will be available at retail outlets worldwide in English, French, German,
Spanish, Italian, Polish, Korean, Japanese and Chinese language versions, on June 29, 2001.
"We are delighted that Diablo II: Lord of Destruction is complete,'' stated Mike Morhaime, Blizzard Entertainment president and
co-founder.
"We have worked very hard on increasing the gameplay and depth of Diablo II with this expansion and are quite proud of our
accomplishments. With the addition of new character classes and areas to explore, we believe we have created a truly
compelling product that will appeal to both avid Diablo players and novice gamers alike."
In Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, players travel to the Barbarian Highlands of the North in pursuit of Baal, the last surviving
Prime Evil. Traveling with a horrific army of demonic minions, Baal plots to corrupt the powerful Worldstone that protects the
whole of the mortal plane from the forces of Hell, thus damning the world for all eternity.
Key features of the expansion include two new character classes, the Assassin and the Druid, each equipped with 30 unique skills
and spells. Players will also enjoy the opportunity to take their favorite Diablo II characters on the new quests found in Diablo
II: Lord of Destruction.
A new Act set in the Barbarian Highlands, complete with six new quests and hours of further challenges, unfolds as players
strive to stop Baal and his followers from destroying the world. Diablo II: Lord of Destruction also features support for
800x600 resolution, giving the player a larger field of view and superlative graphic detail.
To aid players in combat, thousands of new weapons, armor and magical items, including class-specific, crafted items, Rune
Words and Elite Unique items have also been included. To secure these new armaments, the amount of storage space in the
player's private stash has also been doubled, giving them the ability to maintain a much greater supply of items.
Adding to the gameplay experience is an extensive list of more than 50 new monster classes, with 7 innovative boss monsters.
Single-player, multiplayer TCP/IP and Battle.net Realm games are supported.
Debuting in June 2000 Diablo II has dominated PC game charts with sales of 4 million copies worldwide according to PC Data and
key retail accounts around the world. The game has also been awarded several accolades including the prestigious Computer Game
of the Year, Computer Role Playing Game of the Year and Game of the Year for 2001 by the Academy of Interactive Arts and
Sciences.
When the original Diablo released in 1997, it was considered a critical success and reached number one on PC Data during its
first month in stores. The game has sold in excess of 2.5 million copies worldwide and was honored as the number-one selling
computer role-playing game in 1997 as well as named Game of the Year by Computer Gaming World.
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction was developed by the Blizzard North design team and will support Windows®95/98/2000/XP/NT and
Macintosh® formats. The hybrid Macintosh format will be available on June 29, 2001 in English and Japanese language versions.
A retail copy of Diablo II is required to play Diablo II: Lord of Destruction.
Available at most computer and software retail chains worldwide, the expansion set will sell for approximately $35. The game
will also be offered directly from Blizzard at 800/953-SNOW and
www.blizzard.com. The game has received a Mature rating from
the ESRB.
Best known for blockbuster hits including the Warcraft® series, StarCraft® and Diablo(TM) series, Blizzard Entertainment®
(
www.blizzard.com), (a division of Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing) is a premier developer and publisher of
entertainment software renowned for creating many of the industry's most critically acclaimed games.
Blizzard's track record includes four consecutive number-one selling games and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company's
free Internet gaming service Battle.net® reigns as the largest in the world with millions of active users.
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