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Diablo II Gets Native Mac OS X Installer

Posted by simoniker on from the huzzah dept.

Sutekh-Acolyte writes "Blizzard Entertainment just released a native Mac OS X v10.2+ Diablo II installer, so Mac users no longer have to use the Classic environment to install the game and its expansion set. At 25 megabytes, it's not a small download, because it includes patch files and installs as version 1.10b. PlanetDiablo has a set of screenshots of the installer in action. Download it from FilePlanet (login required) or directly from Blizzard."

9 of 57 comments (clear)

  1. Is there a market for this? by dbm1175 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    When did Diablo II come out? Three or four years ago? Is there still a market for this game such that they need to be spending a lot of time and development effort on developing an installer for another OS? I'm all for being able to play games on multiple platforms, but this seems like too little too late. There are much better games on the market now!

    1. Re:Is there a market for this? by gamgee5273 · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Yes, there is a market for this. In fact, Blizzard has said that an OS X installer of StarCraft is on its way pretty soon, too.

      Blizzard looks out for its old games, especially if they are the most recent in the series, hence the reason there is no OS X installer for WarCraft II (WarCraft III is already OS X ready), but Diablo II and StarCraft get ones.

      Frankly, this is what I consider strong customer service - Blizzard could have killed these games years ago, but they choose not to and they choose not to charge their users to keep the games updated (think of the various updates of Myst we've seen). I like that.

    2. Re:Is there a market for this? by Rappy · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Could you go into how there are better Dungeon Crawl type games that are out there that are better than D2? I've played Dungeon Seige, Beyond Divinity, and Sacred, but none of them are as fun to play as D2...but I wouldn't be surprised if I missed a hidden gem out there somewhere.

    3. Re:Is there a market for this? by gamgee5273 · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Well, let's keep in mind: Win 2K was not meant for home use. If you wanted to play games on it, you had to suffer the consequences that came with it or should have picked up Windows Me (not a grand solution, but that is what MS would have told you at the time). Win 2K is not a major installed base for Blizzard users. So, no, it isn't pressing. Sorry. Same reason for the OS X installer. OS X has been around for three years at this point.

      XP, obviously, is different. Now, not being a Windows user, I have no idea when the patch you mentioned came out in conjunction with XP's release. But, keep in mind, that most of the SC and Diablo players are probably still running 98SE or Me. I'm not defending their decisions to do so... but, as someone who runs a help desk, I can tell you that the Win 98/Me installs at home dwarf 2K and exceed XP.

  2. PC/Mac LAN Gaming by Puggs · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Can you play Diablo II multiplayer over a lan with a pc?

    If it doesnt I dont care.

    Im fed up of games that are ported to the mac, but not compatible with the same game on a PC played over a direct LAN connection. Im not a programmer (I know, I know...), but it seems to me that it shouldnt be that difficult, im presumably theyve come from the same codebase so they should be reasonably compatible.

    1. Re:PC/Mac LAN Gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      All of Blizzard's games have had cross-platform multiplayer. Even Warcraft II could use the same maps on both platforms.

      If you're fed up... I wonder what games you've been playing because they obviously aren't any of Blizzard's. Assuming you're a Mac person and you've never gotten any of Blizzard's games which have always been available cross platform, I question whether you're a gamer at all.

  3. Linux compataibility by SonicTooth · · Score: 1, Interesting

    will the installer work in linux? it can't be too far from OS X to linux in terms of compatability.

  4. Re:I've seen desperate game news before by DLWormwood · · Score: 4, Interesting
    this is such a sad little bit... screenshots of an installer?

    Since the game was ported first, most OS X users already did the old jury-rigged install process. So they may be curious as to what artwork Blizzard used for installer screens, since they are unlikely to see them. Blizzard tends to make even their installers a little high on the "eye candy" scale compared with most companies.

    --
    Those who complain about affect & effect on /. should be disemvoweled
  5. Brood War by Twon · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Hopefully they'll do this for Brood War soon, so I can do a proper install on my iBook (which is Classic-free), rather than ditto-ing my desktop install and being stuck with that CD-Key. They have an OS X installer for SC itself, but you can't patch to BW without Classic.