It's about to get very cold on the retail shelves as Blizzard unleashed its fabled Nox-clone Diablo 2 to a reported (and unheard of) 1.5 million preorders last Wednesday. This on the heels of Interplay announcing that their Diablo-clone Icewind Dale is completed and is heading for stores soon. Interplay seems to be banking on Diablo 2 fans getting bored relatively quickly and wanting something new. Experts believe this to be foolhardy. We here at Beatdown conducted an informal poll to get an idea what pundits are thinking (we also asked Alex "Sharky" Ross but he was watching Soccer and wouldn't answer).

"Icewind has better graphics and probably a fresher outlook than Blizzard's game, but it'll get buried fast in the crunch." ~Brent Tard, Computer Game Gamer Magazine.

"Icewind Dale will win. Diablo 2 is dark and scary, and nobody likes that. Besides, Blizzard is tiny, Interplay will crush them with their financial might!" ~Gerry Brucek, GameSport.

" Um... are you hiring?" ~Shawn Stand, Insite PC Games

"DAMN fine stuff. If you can overlook the overly crude, disgusting stuff here and there, that even makes guys like me go 'ugh, God, did they have to show that' (while your [sic] laughing so hard it really doesn't matter anyway), then you'll dig this show. Great stuff. Not sure if it's better than Dumb and Dumber, but up in that so-called region. Very, very cool stuff...'the future of web'...um, crap, I can't think of something to go along with that." ~Billy "Whacked Out" Wilson, Hoodoo Extreme.

"Both (Diablo 2 and Icewind Dale) are nothing compared to the mighty and grand Nox. Keep playing Nox! Nox rules! Yay Nox!" ~Hecubah, Westwood Studios

"Icewind what? Dude, Diablo 2 is here. I'm playing it now! Get out of my office!" ~Chris Kreamer, PC Daily Raider

Ion Storm's big conspiracy theory shooter has landed, proving once and for all... Ion Storm is in big, big trouble. It's not that Deus Ex is bad, far from it actually, but its reliance on the non-Unreal Tournament tweaked Unreal engine guarantees it isn't exactly as fun as it should be for anyone who owns a Direct 3D dependent card. Which is to say a whole lot of people! Not considering this major problem implies to me that the development team is likely as intelligent as the game's AI. Which is to say, not intelligent at all. One more thing, it's pronounced "Day-us Ex." Not "Doo Sex." Got it?