Blizzard Launches Free Open Beta Weekend for Diablo III

Thank you Blizzard! You not only make amazing games, but you have been great about supporting the Mac platform.

And from the looks of it, it still looks better on the PC. My bro says its because DirectX is much better compared to the aging OpenGL engine. I wonder how true that is.

I just wanted to clear this statement up for you (not in a mean way, just general information).

OpenGL and Direct X are not equal. OpenGL is a graphics API, where as DirectX is a bunch of different API's rolled into one. (API = Application Programming Interface, its how you program stuff to talk to hardware).

OpenGL can be compared more directly to Direct3D which is the graphics component of DirectX. Also OpenGL has a newer release than DirectX (unless you count DirectX 11.1 but thats only in Windows 8 beta as far as I know).

Now, as far as graphics capabilities, both are about equal, sometimes one comes out with something the other doesn't have and vice versa. For most applications you'll never see a difference.

OpenGL is used by almost all applications out there. High end 3D packages like Maya and Houdini use OpenGL. OpenGL is prominent on Linux, Mac OSX, and Windows.

DirectX is Microsoft specific and is used mostly for games. I am familiar with programming for both OpenGL and DirectX and I personally like OpenGL better (from both a programming standpoint and a performance standpoint) but DirectX has its merits too. Sometimes graphics card companies have specific DirectX drivers that help improve performance but its usually negligible.

As for Diablo 3 they looked and played identical for me on both OS's. You may have a different color profile on your monitor on one OS vs the other which is why you'd be seeing a difference.

Tried a bunch of times every 15 minutes or so.

Stress test: FAIL!

Next time maybe don't wait 11 years.

You seem to be missing the point of a stress test.

The login servers not being able to handle the load is a "success" as far as testing goals are concerned. This is exactly why they are running this test. They want as many people as possibly hammering the servers to figure out if their systems can handle the load, and they gain valuable data from it which they can use to improve their systems by the time the game is released.

Have you even tried to get in? It's a complete mess.

It's a pre-launch stress test to find exactly these issues early enough to fix them for May 15th. It's not like they can simulate the load of say, a million+ crazy folk who will spam the login button before, during and after the launch on their own.

And it serves as advertising for those still on the fence (and realize it is a stress test).

Of COURSE the first hit is free. This is an established practice among dealers.

EDIT: Yea, 'the server is bad' IS the point. they are basically launching a deniall of service attack on themselves.

Thank you Blizzard! You not only make amazing games, but you have been great about supporting the Mac platform.

Have you even tried to get in? It's a complete mess.

After having played the game a few times solo and with friends I am not really feeling the need to rush out and buy this game. I guess having not played D2 for so long that what I remembered is not what I feel when playing this game.

That and the fear I will need a connection to FUNCTIONING servers just to play the game solo at home.

Game's lagging just the slightest bit on 2560x1440 res on my imac. :(

I've got 2011 iMac with the 2GB Radeon 6970, and this is what I can tell you:

2560x1440, high settings + aa, 60 fps limit

OS X 10.7.3
-> outside - 10-25 fps
-> inside - 20-35 fps

Win7
-> outside - 40-55 fps
-> inside - 59-60 fps

OS X is not designed for games ;)

(Joined just to say this) If you notice the system requirements are higher for a Mac than a PC. Like many newer Mac games, the Mac version might be using some variation of wire or cider. The Mac version might just be an emulated PC version. Torchlight is a good example. So the Mac version might require a more powerful computer to play the game as well as a weaker PC.

The drivers for OS X simply just aren't as good as they are in Windows, which is the best gaming OS by far, both in terms of performance and variety.

(Joined just to say this) If you notice the system requirements are higher for a Mac than a PC. Like many newer Mac games, the Mac version might be using some variation of wire or cider. The Mac version might just be an emulated PC version. Torchlight is a good example. So the Mac version might require a more powerful computer to play the game as well as a weaker PC.

Blizzard games are all native, including D3.