During the week Activision Blizzard announced that it would be releasing two games between now and the end of 2012. The obvious candidates are Diablo III and StarCraft II: The Heart of the Swarm, although there has been speculation as to which will come first, and whether or not we will see either this year.

When asked by Kotaku about Diablo III in 2011, Blizzard’s executive vice president of game design, Rob Pardo, said “We really, really hope so. That’s our goal.”

His follow up statement was a typical Blizzard one, “But you know, at the end of the day, we are going to get it right. That’s more important.”

“We’re going to promise, we’re going to get it out there when it’s awesome. And, we’re crossing our fingers, maybe it will be this year.”

When asked if Diablo III will be too simple for today’s gamers, Pardo said, “The thing Diablo has always done really well is broaden the RPG market. It brought people into it, who might not have come into it before. It’s there for anyone who wants to have fun for 15 minutes or three hours.”