Derzeit ist die CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas in vollem Gange - Natürlich auch unter Beteiligung der Flagship Studios. Die Kollegen von Gamespot.com haben im Rahmen der Messe einen Blick auf den aktuellen Build von Hellgate: London geworfen:

Roper walked us through character creation. You can create a male or female character with an extensive amount of customization options, ranging from body features to build and height. Then he showed off the opening levels, including a beginning quest to recover the prosthetic leg for a poor little boy. The only problem is that the leg is the possession of a giant demon. You'll have to venture to the surface and battle hordes of demons to recover it, and that gave Roper a chance to show off the randomly-generated levels, so each game of Hellgate: London won't play the same way twice.

The big news is that Flagship officially announced Monday morning that Hellgate: London will ship this summer. Roper told us that the company plans to launch a closed "friends and family" beta test by month's end, with plans to expand that to a broader audience afterward. Asked if he felt good that Hellgate's release is on the horizon, he explained that Flagship won't have much time to rest, as the company plans to create a steady stream new content for subscribers in the form of monthly and quarterly updates to the game.

Interessant ist hier vor allem der letzte Abschnitt, da er nun offiziell bestätigt, was viele schon geahnt haben. Der erste, vermutlich interne, Betatest, soll Ende diesen Monats stattfinden. Außerdem kann man hier die bereits desöfteren wiederholte Infomation, dass dies nicht der einzige Betatest bleiben soll, herauslesen. Zusätzlich erfahren wir einiges über die geplante Produktpflege für Hellgate: London. Regemäßige Updates sind seitens der Flagship Studios geplant - Jedoch für "Subscribers", also Abonnenten. Man kann also mit erhöhter Wahrscheinlichkeit vom bewährten Abo-Modell für den Onlinemodus ausgehen.

Auch die Kollegen von Eurogamer.net haben die CES besucht, und ein Zitat von Flagship CEO Bill Roper mitgebracht:

"Really the biggest thing for us is wanting to reach out to the Diablo players," he said. "I think that people that play MMOs - whether it's Everquest, or WoW, or Asheron's Call, or whatever it is, they're really going to find something they like about the game... But I do think it's really important for us is to make sure we reach out to those millions of Diablo players, that really love the Diablo gameplay mechanic, that were really excited about Diablo and want to have that kind of gameplay experience again."

Hellgate: London ist also auch in den Augen der Entwickler ein neues Projekt, soll aber alte Tugenden der Diablo-Reihe, allen voran das Gameplay, aufgreifen. Beide Artikel findet ihr im Original unten verlinkt.