You can sign up for it here.

Hi Everyone! We’ve been busy squashing bugs and deploying patches – 8, in fact! – since our last update. The Torchlight II beta is going really well, and is nearing its end. But before we go, we’re going to do a wide network stress test this weekend! We’ll be sending out many more beta codes to those who have already made their Runic Games Account. Haven’t signed up yet? Go for it now! Creating your account is always your best chance to receive a beta invite – especially this weekend.

The Beta Weekend will start on Friday, May 18th at 11:00am PDT and go until Tuesday, May 22nd at 11:00am PDT. We will be staggering invitations to let participants know they have been chosen, but you will not be able to play until the start of the Beta Weekend on Friday. This is to help stagger downloading of the game client.

The beta will end shortly after this last big network test. We are going to get the last information we need for stress testing, and then get back to finishing the game! A longer beta means a longer wait until we can ship, and we are eager to finish Torchlight II and get it in your hands. Thanks to all our fans who’ve supported us, participated in, and promoted the beta. It’s incredibly fulfilling to see you guys play the game and enjoy it as much as we do.

Following on from the success of Tribes Ascend, SMITE - Hi-Rez Studies latest offering – is set to go into beta on the 31st of May.

So what is SMITE? Well, it’s a free to play DOTA for Gods!

Powered by the Unreal 3 Engine, free-to-play Smite will allow players to take on the role of their favorite mythical gods (as opposed to the non-mythical ones) in online arena battles “inspired by” DoTA-style battles. It looks like the actual combat will lean more towards action than the point-and-click real-time strategy genre that spawned DoTA in the first place.

“As a studio and as gamers, we love competitive multi-player games that reward teamwork and strategy”, says Todd Harris, Hi-Rez Studios COO. “With SMITE, we draw inspiration from DoTA-style RTS titles, but leverage the Unreal 3 Engine to introduce original action oriented combat mechanics, great graphics, and a mythology-themed setting.

Still not interested? Just watch the above video from Hi-Rez’s PAX 2012 offerings. If you are still not even a little excited and don’t want to at least just check this out, then you are brain dead!

Oh, and you’ll have to be quick – beta access is only available to pre-orders and apparently they are limited.

If you feel you can tear yourself away from Diablo 3 for a weekend, then there you go. You probably don’t though.

You can take a look at the mod and what it’s offering here, and marvel at the statistics that are being collected. That’s a lot of dead zombies, huh?

We’re always working to keep Rhode Island companies solvent, and that’s what we’re doing with 38 Studios

Quite what this means in the long term for 38 Studios is unclear, but I’m guessing the goal of creating an MMO based on Kingdoms of Amalur might be a bit further away than they had hoped.

The bug kicks you right out of the game with an Error 3006 and you apparently can’t get back onto the servers until Blizzard notice what’s happened and fixes it.

“What is it?!” I hear you cry as you nervously stop what you are doing, just in case.

Well here you go:

The bug is triggered when players interact with the Templar follower early in the game, equipping him with a shield. It does seem to only happen however if you upgrade the Templar before you have accepted him as a follower, i.e. before killing Jondar.

Players on the forums are recommending the following temporary fix :-

Do not equip the Templar with anything prior to accepting him as a follower.

You have been warned peeps.

We’ll try to keep up to date as we and others find these things. In the meantime however, keep an eye on our forums, Unitlost.com and if you experience anything yourself, hop on over and post it there, as I’m sure all the guys and gals will appreciate the heads up.

Diablo games, apart from the obvious story content, have always been about min/maxing, grinding for gear and getting the best out of your characters and whilst Blizz give you some info, to be honest they don’t go overboard in that department. When it comes to skills the beta showed you effects on the tooltips but little in the way of raw numbers and the stats screens give you raw numbers, but again little detail into exactly what it all means.

Well if you are like me, I want to know everything, but I’m also lazy and want it handed to me on a plate, so this afternoon whilst wallowing in the fact that I WON’T be playing at launch (grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!), I thought I’d scout around the interwebs and get some research done.

As you might guess there are a plethora of D3 sites out there right now, but where to go and also maybe just as importantly which links are safe to click in that google search. I came to one conclusion, Curse has always been my goto place for gaming info especially when it come to Blizzard games and MMO’s, ever since they did the first ‘professional’ addons for WoW, and today was no exception and nor was it a disappointment, Curse has a whole site dedicated to D3, aptly named diablofans.com and it has to be your goto place for D3 info, with articles, spoilers and a massive forum to search for information.

Want to know why you should or shouldn’t use a 2hander v dualweild or Sword and board well here it is along with alot of math the forum does give you the short answers too.

If you lot have any other resources you use and think others might like, post them in the comments or better still sign up to the forums and add them to the D3 thread @ unitlost.com.

Happy hunting guys and enjoy.

Activision Diablo III only £80

Better dealings than your current dealings.

By the way, it’s out of stock.

We’ve seen a few posts about our Australian friends being stabbed in the back when it comes to game releases or deals and with Diablo III/Game, here we go again! Kotaku AU reports that, as a result of Game going into administration, certain stores will not receive any D3 stock. Therefore, gamers who have pre-ordered the highly anticipated title will be left empty handed…good lord, let the angry barbarians step forward into these stores and unleash a devastating cleave!

So, they’ll be angry and left without a game to play on release. Well, that’s not all. You see, anyone requesting refunds will also be…hmm…****ing mad? I know I would be. Yup, no game, no money returned. What a complete joke. Best of all, none of this is illegal.

From Kotaku AU:

The following text message has been sent to consumers who have existing pre-orders with stores not receiving stock:

Due to the appointment of an administrator to our business this morning, it is with regret that I inform you all that our stores will not be receiving any stock of diablo 3. Because of this, we regrettably will be unable to fulfill any pre-orders. Also, we will be unable to refund any deposits paid towards a pre-order of diablo 3. If you need any more info, please email customerrelations@game.com.au

I can truly empathize with these customers right now. It must suck incredibly. I just hope they’re able to find a copy as soon as possible and get some blasting done…just over 6 hours left until we’re live!!!