Rush posted about the current issue of US PC Gamer with their D3 cover story a few days ago, but I wanted to compare the UK and US editions of the magazine. Both use the official Blizzcon 2008 artwork, but as you can see in the thumbnails, they have different captions. The US cover is on top (larger view here). It says, “Diablo III leads the top games of 09” a caption clearly designed to spur debate over whether or not D3 will be released in this calendar year. There doesn’t seem to be anything new about D3 inside the issue, unfortunately: .“None of the info in the article is new, but they do have an interview with Rob Pardo on the next page discussing other Blizz games.”
Here’s the UK cover, with the same image but a different caption. It says, “Why Blizzard Rule 2009.” The specific focus on D3 isn’t there, despite the articles inside the magazine being much the same. One is posted online, and it gives a general overview of why (in PC Gamer’s fluffing opinion) Blizzard games are so great. Here’s the intro:
In 2002, Blizzard dedicated their entire development staff to producing World of Warcraft. Other projects were put on the back burner as the sheer scale of MMO development was realised. But in 2009, they have a triple threat to unleash. Diablo III: the sequel to the clickiest RPGs in history. Starcraft II: the sequel to the game that became Korea’s national freaking sport. And more WoW - no expansion packs, but more cool updates and ideas.
How do they do it? We caught up with the team fresh from the launch of Lich King, to find out.
It’s not a huge mystery, but it’s an interesting question. Why the difference in the PC Gamer cover story approaches? Controversy sells more in the US? US gamers are more impatient and must be promised (by media, if not Blizzard) that games are coming out much sooner than they actually will? Diablo III is a bigger draw in the US while UK games are more interested in Blizzard on the whole?
