Diablo News

Before I begin today, I have a bit of important administrivia: I will be at the Ad Astra convention in Toronto from February 8-10, the Guthbreoht sword at my side. With luck, I’ll be doing a reading from Demonsbane and the latest installment of Garwulf’s Corner. More information (along with registration forms) can be found … Read more

No doubt by now everybody is wondering why I’m not doing the old New Year’s thing of looking back at what happened over the past year in the column. Well, I’ve already done that with my one-year anniversary installment, and I’d like to do something far more interesting. So, I hope everybody had a happy … Read more

For a very long time, I have been fascinated by how language is actually used. It probably started back when I was in high school, and I noticed that some words just look and sound plain weird. It wasn’t too long before I started wondering where they came from. What can I say? I’m funny … Read more

Once upon a time there was a game titled The Four Crystals of Trazere. It was a little role playing game that ran on anything from CGA to VGA and could be fit onto a single modern floppy diskette. It was the standard fantasy formula: a group of four adventurers, each with their own special … Read more

Hello, my dear readers. Another seven installments, and it’s time for another Emails from the Edge column. I always love getting reader mail; I’ve said before that I have some of the most intelligent readers on the Internet, and almost every letter I get confirms it. On a personal note, I have to apologize to … Read more

Truth is stranger than fiction. I know it sounds like a cliche, but it’s true. Perfect example: there is a church near Prague that was used as the set for Jeremy Irons’ office in Dungeons & Dragons. Human bones line the walls and ceiling. The only decoration the filmmakers used on the set was a … Read more

This is it! The first anniversary of Garwulf’s Corner. When I started the column a year ago, I had no idea how long it would last, or how well it would be received. Now, however, I have a cadre of loyal readers, and twelve months of wonderful memories. So, I was thinking that to celebrate … Read more

Now…I don’t usually leave columns this close, but this has been one incredible week. Between polishing up a column for the very first English-language Malaysian computer game magazine, preparing for a new job, and preparing legal material in my ongoing battle against VerticalScope, I’ve barely had time to breathe. A little while back, I decided … Read more

So, it was the second week of August, Kingston had just come out of the sort of heat wave that melts the soles of your shoes faster than you can rush to the local corner store, and I was poking around on the Internet after playing a satisfying game of Counter-Strike at the local gaming … Read more

I know that I promised an installment on the history of computer games, but I’m afraid that will have to wait another couple of weeks. Instead, I’m going to try to make sense of the horrifying events that have occurred today. I was mailing off a panel interest form to WorldFantasyCon when I heard the … Read more

More than one person has asked me why I don’t like Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. So, here is the answer: despite Jordan’s remarkable skill with the written word, it plays a dirty trick on the reader. At the end of the first book, the story isn’t over. If you want to find out … Read more

Once again, my dear readers, it’s time for my favorite part of the column. Here I get to showcase some of the highlights that have landed in my mailbox, inspired by the opinions that I have convinced the website to let me shout out on a bi-weekly basis. Just before I get to the reader … Read more

IRVINE, Calif. – July. 26, 2001 – Blizzard Entertainment® announced today that Diablo® II: Lord of Destruction™ has surpassed 1 million units sold worldwide, according to NPD INTELECT* and key retail accounts from around the world. Over two million units of the game have been shipped to retail to satisfy demand for the fastest selling … Read more

[B]Touching Darkness[/B] I think I understand the player killer culture a bit more now. For the uninitiated, there actually is a subculture that has developed around player killers (strange, but true). I’ve so far been able to identify at least two levels: the player killer, and the player killer killer, who only attacks player killers. … Read more

[B]Back to the Beginning[/B] The date was early June, and while searching on the Internet to find some gainful employment (unfortunately, the life of a professional writer also contains the occasional dry spell; I was in the middle of one of those), I came across a name I hadn’t heard in almost a decade. Legend … Read more

[B]Fortuitous Ephiphaneia[/B] Drandimere wrote 17 installments of this column, before retiring in 2003 to spend more time with his remaining brain cells. He can still be seen lurking about the forums from time to time, most often in the D2 Single Player forum. Full column listing: Missing Time of an RPG-Kind—Nov 12, 2002 Moths to … Read more

[B]Fortuitous Ephiphaneia[/B] Drandimere wrote 17 installments of this column, before retiring in 2003 to spend more time with his remaining brain cells. He can still be seen lurking about the forums from time to time, most often in the D2 Single Player forum. Full column listing: Missing Time of an RPG-Kind—Nov 12, 2002 Moths to … Read more

[B]Shades of Grey[/B] A couple of days ago, I was toying around with my DVD player, watching a rather wonderful movie titled 2010. For those who haven’t seen it, I heartily recommend it. It is a sort of hard Science Fiction that is very rarely seen on the screen in this day and age. What … Read more

[B]Books for the Diablo Fan[/B] There is a certain atmosphere to Diablo, a sort of dark, epic, mythological feel that truly makes it worth playing. It’s something that I, at least, can’t help myself from coming back to, either in films, literature, or gaming. So, having already given you my recommendations for some good films, … Read more

[B]Small Matters[/B] I have a confession to make: I think I have an addiction. You see, there’s something I have to do in order to feel complete, to help give my life meaning. No, it’s not cigarettes. Nor is it alcohol, or sex, or Barneyphilia (a truly sick addiction involving a cute purple dinosaur). Instead, … Read more

[B]Through a Glass, Demonically[/B] In August 2000 I received the most challenging writing assignment of my life. In fact, I don’t really think I will ever write anything more difficult. Even so, I got to fulfill a couple of dreams, and have the time of my life. For those who haven’t worked out what I’m … Read more

[B]More Emails from the Edge[/B] Well, it’s that time again…time for me to write my favorite part of the column. You see, one of the reasons that I write Garwulf’s Corner (currently the only writing I do that I’m not paid for), is the reader mail. Not only do I get a lot of it, … Read more

[B]Hackers at the Gates[/B] I am now longing for the days when hackers weren’t a problem on Battle.net. Oh, they were a problem, but just not a problem. Sure, you got player killed by some hacker invoking an act of God (usually around some strange magic item, just to torment you). Occasionally somebody would walk … Read more

[B]Garwulf’s #12: The Devil in the Details[/B] So it’s early February, and I’m sitting around the house with nothing to do. Having just seen The Ninth Gate for the umpteenth time, I decide to wander onto the Internet and look at its official website. It’s a nice site, and there were some fairly interesting links … Read more

[B]Garwulf’s #11: Changing the Guard[/B] Well, as I write this, it is the day after Ad Astra, and I’m still processing some of what has happened. Let me just say that I had a wonderful time; I got to meet some of you, and I got to spend time with some of the better authors … Read more