Diablo 3 Singapore Launch Recap

Just a quick post recapping today’s event before we all go straight to the Burning Hells.

The AsiaSoft-organised Diablo III launch took place this morning starting 9am Singapore time. An estimated 15,000 folks were expected to show, though given the amount of body heat defying Funan Digitalife Mall’s air conditioning and the jammed 3G network, we wager there were many more. The first person in line, Seth Chan, a 24 year old clerk who took two days off just to queue for and enjoy the game of the year, had been there since 6am Monday morning. And in case you’re wondering, no, he didn’t cry when he got his Collector’s Edition.

Most of the event consisted of queuing, since the queue to verify your identity card and preorder cards stretched all the way outside the building and looped around itself several times. Gamers who turned up at 0830hrs only got verified close to noon, and later were only able to collect their game at approximately 1730hrs. That’s an entire working day spent queuing…

All in all, the AsiaSoft Diablo III launch event was hot, sticky, and for many we spoke to: upsetting, as very few people understood why AsiaSoft required two queues for the launch event.

“They should have done it on a first come first serve basis,” said 22 year old Xu Hongshan, who had been there since approximately 0845hrs.

In spite of that, we thought the countdown to 3pm GMT +8, equivalent to midnight PST in the States, was pretty cool. It was fun counting down with the rest of your fellow gamers, and the sparkles that exploded when the timer ticked down were a nice touch. Of course, we don’t envy the cleaners…

We were also given the opportunity to interview Marc Messenger, Blizzard’s Brand Director of Cinematics, at the event. Check back in the next couple of days for that interview, a more comprehensive post-event story done when we’re all Diablo-ed out (Ed: sorry, but Diablo 3 beckons), as well as for our glowing review of the game!

In the meantime, we’ll see you in Sanctuary.