Diablo 3 - "No Mods, Online-Only, Cash Trades"

The embargo has lifted on a recent Blizzard press event and details on Diablo III are flowing as a result. The quote in the heading is from Rock, Paper, Shotgun, who obviously don't like some of the revelations:

The morning brings a trio of horror-news about Diablo III. I’m outright bewildered about what Blizzard have done, and shuddering about the likely reaction in comments. I won’t muck around here, and instead shall just wade straight into the things that are probably going to end up being PC gaming’s biggest controversy of 2011.

1) The game requires a constant internet connection. It cannot be played offline.
2) Mods are “expressly prohibited.”
3) Items in the auction house are bought and sold for real-life money.

Uh-oh.

Eurogamer has a full preview and the real-money-Auction-House is also a critical part of their coverage:

The big shock is an officially sanctioned real money auction house - an in-game eBay - where players will be able to sell loot to each other in their local currency. This development is so daring, complex and potentially controversial, we'll discuss it separately in a full article soon. There'll be a separate but functionally identical auction house where players can trade using game gold.

IncGamers has a summary and Diablo Fans also has a preview.

Thanks, Kris!