These images progress like the teasers

[hostileeffect]

Either its an ending cinimatic or this is the opening cinimatic, or its just a tease... maybe different versions of the artists vision?

Id post this in the comments under the news but I clicked something in Firefox and the window was gone before I realised what I clicked... so now everything is screwed up for me. :P

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/4137/31442diablo3art29fo2.jpg
http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/9359/31447diablo3art34yv8.jpg
http://diablo.incgamers.com/gallery/data/547/Watchmen_over_a_field_of_battle.jpg

[Hodl Pu]

i think its the other way around, the mountain shatters and an army comes out.

[Flux]

it's a flashback to the end of D2X, when tyrael destroyed the worldstone, mt. arreat exploded, and destroyed baal's army massed around it, preparing to destroy the remainder of the barbarian lands. At least that's the impression I've had since the D3 stuff was released, and it seems to be confirmed by the timeline info released today.

http://diablo.incgamers.com/n/690870/official-diablo-timeline

[Blood_And_Iron]

I think it's the Meteor from the D3 Cinematic. In sequence posted, the mountain rises out of seismic activities by the meteor.

I don't think the Worldstone explosion looks like this. There's nothing that explains the smoke.

[Thirty-Thirty]

But the meteor strikes the cathedral in Tristram, which we know is a playable dungeon?

Anything collapsing - like, say, an entire mountain - would probably leave enough smoke. I like Flux's idea.

[kemps]

Has anyone noticed that the new map of sanctuary has an "Arreat Crater" and islands where Mt. Arreat used to be? Take a look at the map of Sanctuary for DIII and compare it to the map contained in the DII manual. Apparently the destruction of the worldstone had quite an impact.