The author of Stay Awhile and Listen, David Craddock, has a wonderful piece of Blizzard trivia for you. In writing his book about the company, he spoke with numerous former employees who, at some point, divulged information about a game that was never released.

"After [Diablo II], the company split into separate teams: a Diablo team, and a 'We love Diablo but it's time to try something new' team," Craddock told Shacknews. "They started and scrapped more than half a dozen ideas before a few team members suggested making a Diablo clone, but set on a space opera stage."

Apparently, the game garnered the unholy nickname of Starblo. "Like Diablo II, Starblo would take place over several acts, but rather than journey across a single world, players would board their customizable spaceship and travel to new planets, killing and looting the space creatures they found there. By the time Dave Brevik and the Schaefers left Blizzard North in summer 2003, the Starblo team had produced a few playable builds of the game, but still hadn't come up with a proper name."

I'll admit it -- upon first seeing the headline for this story, I had a good laugh at the premise. Craddock's description actually makes it sound like something I'd enjoy playing, however; particularly the cross-planet exploration bit. On that note, anyone remember Darkspore?

Author: Blizzard prototyped Diablo in space [Shacknews]