The current bestseller at Amazon.com is not Bioware’s Mass Effect, EA’s Spore Creature Creator or Funcom’s Age of Conan, but a little something called the Diablo Battle Chest. This edition contains Diablo, Diablo II and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction and its new popularity is without doubt due to the announcement of Diablo III. The standalone version of DIablo II is also going strong, as it reached as high as fourth place on the list.

These things just make me happy, and I’ve actually been in a similar situation before. When StarCraft 2 was announced, all the Zerg hormones in my body screamed at me to install the original game, and there was nothing I could do but obey. Trust me when I say that frustration came swiftly; the printed serial key on the back of the CD case had somehow disintegrated. I don’t know if it happened because of my poor handling of the case through the years, or if Blizzard intentionally makes notes that disappear into thin air, making us buy new copies every ten years.

Either way, I had to buy the game once more. I wonder why so many people buy Diablo II, is it because they’ve never owned it, or because they’re just as lumpish as I and don’t know where their first copy is? One thing is for sure, if an eight year old game can go on a selling spree, just imagine how it’s going to turn out for Diablo III and StarCraft 2 when those games are actually released. Let’s hope for more charming stories like this one in the future, and remember that positive news for PC gaming should be applauded at if we don’t want developers to lose all their faith in that area.

[See also: Diablo III gallery]