New York Times writer Seth Schiesel recently got some hands-on time with Diablo III, the next industry crushing title from Blizzard Entertainment, and while Schiesel discovered a few new interesting morsels of information about the game proper, game director at Blizzard Jay Wilson gave millions of us a little more hope that this titanic new action RPG may see a 2011 release.

But first, the game proper: Wilson spoke about how Diablo III will encourage players to trade unique items with one another as most every weapon and piece of equipment found in the game will be imbued with randomly generated perks and buffs (like extra damage protection or better chances for improved loot drops), and the game will facilitate this trading system with community tools and its virtual economy.

Instead of the days of old trying to awkwardly trade special items you’ve found in the world with friends and other online adventurers, Diablo III will feature an auction house (think along the lines of World of Warcraft) powered by a virtual economy doing checks and balances in the background.

This is all very interesting… but when will Diablo III finally release? While no exact release date has been announced (still!), Wilson did admit that development on Diablo III has moved to the ‘crunch’ period – a traditional time in the cycle of a game’s creation that usually lasts a few months at most (if the developer is lucky…), all leading up to the grand finish.

Wilson said of Diablo III’s development:

“We’re definitely in the home stretch. We’re crunching. This is when the magic happens.”

Blizzard is traditionally stringent when it comes to the ‘polish’ stages of the studio’s game development, but with this information here at the tail-end of April 2011, we have every reason to believe (or hope!) that Diablo III will be released this year.

Source: New York Times