The intimate moments of the Battlefield Hardline beta

Battlefield Hardline is a much more intimate Battlefield. The take on cops and robbers from Visceral takes the Battlefield formula and layers it onto the streets of LA. Instead of jets, tanks, and boats, Hardline fits the mold of the Battlefield series onto urban environments that will only appeal to a fraction of Battlefield fans, but those fans are in for a treat.

Diablo III Beta Coming This Year

During today’s Activision Blizzard Q1 financial conference call, Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime revealed some details about the upcoming Diablo III Beta.

Morhaime said during the call that the Diablo III beta will begin in Q3 of this year, meaning sometime before September 30. "We began internal, company-wide testing this week," he said, "The game looks great, and we're currently targeting a Q3 launch for external beta testing. The development team is working hard to try and launch Diablo III this year." He concluded by reinforcing Blizzard's mantra of not committing to release dates, "We will not compromise the quality of the game in order to hit a window."

Blizzard confirmed later in a post that Q3 refers to calendar year, not fiscal. "The 3rd quarter reference in the earning’s call today was a calendar quarter, meaning that we’re aiming to launch the Diablo III beta between July 1st and September 30th.

Diablo III is in active development and no release date has been announced yet. Speculation currently places it for a Q4 of 2011 or Q1 of 2012 release."