Could this be the release date?!

[Spriggs]

https://twitter.com/#!/Bashiok/statu...34805407989764

Why can't he gives us a straight answer >_<

[sizzlinsauce]

Why can't he gives us a straight answer >_<

NDA says so.

and did anyone else notice one of the posters here has a profile pic of a naked chick...

[ImpTaimer]

We have to wait for Korea to stop crying to get a proper release date.

GG world-wide releases...

[Spriggs]

NDA says so.

and did anyone else notice one of the posters here has a profile pic of a naked chick...

Yes, I did notice that.

So he can't even say it's fake or incorrect?

[dope_danny]

Hurm.

Personally i can wait for it, so im not eager to jump on things. However the best buy signs with the clocks are apparently being spotted in uk and french stores to-albiet dated feb 3rd instead of 1st. so who knows. Plus im on the wow annual pass so release and preorders dont apply to me to work me up about the date.

That said, Runic games must be sweating after pushing torchlight 2 back form december of '11, no?

[ComputerNerd]

Every wow expansion, and Starcraft 2 both had dates on them from multiple stores which were then put back multiple times as they came and went.
Seems that having a date, even an innacurate one is a requirement for pre-orders.

[Waaldo]

its legitimate. blizzard sends those types of things out to stores. so yes that sign is correct. too bad the scrub with the camera has the flash on the exact date.

The timer says 25 days = Feb 1st!

[Clockwork Pinkie]

Yes, I did notice that.

So he can't even say it's fake or incorrect?

He might not be able to comment because he just straight out doesn't know. Or he does and the NDA won't allow him to. Or he's just a blizzard employee and that's how they talk, avoiding straight answers. Either way, we'll find out in the coming weeks, if that's the real date, or something silly Best Buy is doing.

[LordRayken]

Bashiok is a dumbass for treating us like juveniles when dealing with this.

He's also ignorant for even commenting with such ludicrous information. "A PRESS RELEASE."

Last I checked, Best Buy isn't "press."

Whatever the case may be, I've seen retailers go so far as to put out the product for sale days early ahead of launch, especially places like 7/11 and White Hen that go so far as to sell some games, it's NO surprise that this particular Best Buy messed up by putting out a launch poster early.

To simply claim someone at Best Buy, the marketing head of the entire company, would release this with a false release date, especially Diablo 3, is even more hilarious. I just find it absurd that Bashiok would comment something so mundanely stupid and wrong. Retailers and companies blindly lie to their customers all the time, but Bashiok lying like this is pathetic.

"Traditionally, software release is considered to be a handshake between engineering and business. Engineering passes on the tested code to business, which in turn promotes it to the market, thereby completing the cycle. However, with Agile, software release could be bucketed into two categories of internal and external releases. This helps in creating a loose coupling between the two. Internal releases are made by engineering and business has the option of using one of them as an external release."

I also know for a fact that Best Buy had copies of Halo days before it was actually launched, as do most other retailers with huge midnight release games. To claim retailers don't have special spots over the "community" and "press" is just absolutely asinine. The people you funnel your products through are definitely privy to information the community isn't.

If Furniture and Car stores worked like Blizzard lies and claims their marketers do, it'd be a different world where everybody tells the truth always and internal and external releases and prices are known. The price on the car would be 12,000, not 17,500 that you have to argue down to 14,000 if you get lucky.

Hell, I bet Blizzard also claims that each boxed copy of Diablo 3 costs them more 5 cents to produce.

[Mang]

couple months back I could of swore I read feb 27 and then last week I was browsing IGN 'pc previews' and noticed D3 was to be released march 15... so who the hell knows whats going on and of course Blizzard doesn't say a word. Seeing as beta is still open I highly doubt it will be released in 25 days...

It's possible d3 may even be delayed again with this whole Korea fiasco

[LordRayken]

couple months back I could of swore I read feb 27 and then last week I was browsing IGN 'pc previews' and noticed D3 was to be released march 15... so who the hell knows whats going on and of course Blizzard doesn't say a word. Seeing as beta is still open I highly doubt it will be released in 25 days...

The thing that makes the most significance here is that a physical product was produced to announce the midnight launch of Diablo 3. It was not only produced but it was up on store shelves with a timer counting down the days.

Honestly, it sounds like retailers got word of this last week, around the same time the photos of the instruction manuals leaked, and instead of waiting until the "Press Release" date, someone at this Best Buy made the mistake of putting up the promotional items too early. You simply don't produce promotional items with dates if all you have is a filler date. For Blizzard to claim it's a filler date is asinine because no company creates items advertising "guesses" on their dates. It's very possible only heads of the Best Buy franchise (the owner of that particular store) were supposed to know what was in these boxes, and it slipped out at this location.

What -really- solidifies this is the countdown timer. That says it all. No one would set that timer to a random date and time that's not actually confirmed by someone higher up.

[Funwad]

I'm surprised nobody has noticed that February is spelled incorrectly

that being said, Wal-mart (who had a shipping date of 2/07/2012 about 5 days ago) now has a shipping date of 3/31/2012. Not saying it's fact but it does seem that multiple suppliers has release dates that remotely correspond to each other.

[LordRayken]

I'm surprised nobody has noticed that February is spelled incorrectly

Tons of people have noticed it.

It doesn't matter that it's spelled incorrectly. Joystiq already called and confirmed the poster is real at that location.

[Aerialslayer]

No I don't think it is the release date. Blizzard would of announced it. When they announce games they usually announce it a few months before release. Feb 1st is way to soon.

[LordRayken]

No I don't think it is the release date. Blizzard would of announced it. When they announce games they usually announce it a few months before release. Feb 1st is way to soon.

What are you, daft? They did this with their most succesful game ever - WoW.

They announced World of Warcrafts release date, which was November 23rd, 2004, on November 4th, 2004.

[Moshots]

I compare diable 3 to duke nukem. Didnt Duke forever get a release date like 2 weeks before release?. why because it was so many people waiting so long. Diable 3 is the same I think anything over 3 weeks notice is stupid waste of time we could be playing.

[letzrock]

Feb 1st could be the date Blizz announce the actual release date.

[LordRayken]

I compare diable 3 to duke nukem. Didnt Duke forever get a release date like 2 weeks before release?. why because it was so many people waiting so long. Diable 3 is the same I think anything over 3 weeks notice is stupid waste of time we could be playing.

That's pretty good logic. For a game that's been in development for 4 years, I would think they could state the release date and release the game a month away rather than say "The games coming in 3 months."

[Mang]

The thing that makes the most significance here is that a physical product was produced to announce the midnight launch of Diablo 3. It was not only produced but it was up on store shelves with a timer counting down the days.

Honestly, it sounds like retailers got word of this last week, around the same time the photos of the instruction manuals leaked, and instead of waiting until the "Press Release" date, someone at this Best Buy made the mistake of putting up the promotional items too early. You simply don't produce promotional items with dates if all you have is a filler date. For Blizzard to claim it's a filler date is asinine because no company creates items advertising "guesses" on their dates. It's very possible only heads of the Best Buy franchise (the owner of that particular store) were supposed to know what was in these boxes, and it slipped out at this location.

What -really- solidifies this is the countdown timer. That says it all. No one would set that timer to a random date and time that's not actually confirmed by someone higher up.

It's entirely possible but it could just be an employee(s) being smart asses and putting the display out as a joke.

If I remember correctly the BF3 open beta was from sept 29 to oct 10 and the game came out on the 25th, so unless Blizzard makes an announcement this week I think it's highly unlikely it will be released in just over 3 weeks.

[Beazy]

There is no way Diablo 3 will be released in 3 weeks. Its not possible.

If the release date doesnt come from Blizzard. . . its not a release date.