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Very rarely do I get so stoked about anything that I feel the need to make a web page about it. But the downloads section of Dungeon Siege's official web site had a link to a web site developing kit with pictures and logos and stuff, so that was enough to push my stokitude past the point of no return. And the point of web site creation. And with Dungeon Siege begins a new ongoing feature to the Fireteddy site - the Stoked About... single-page site where I go on ranting about what I want at that specific times. Expect to see everything from hardware to movies to games to action figures here, because my stokitude does not draw any distinction between forms of entertainment.

This also begins the usage of a new word, stokitude, which will no doubt be in Webster's within mere seconds of me using it for the first time. Yep, there it is. Each title will be assigned a stokitude rating from one to five stokes, indicating just how stoked I am. Find that rating in the info box to the right! Stoke is one of those words that makes no sense if you use it too much, like I do, so don't use it as much as I do. Mmnkay?

Now, after that introduction, on to the stoke!

As you all may or may not know, I am the world's biggest Diablo whore. I have finished the original Diablo on original and nightmare mode with all four characters - including the expansion pack. I beat the regular mode of Diablo II with all seven, and slugged my way through nightmare mode with the Barbarian and the Druid. And, of course, like any self-respecting Diablo fan, I was eagerly awaiting the inevitable Diablo III. That is, of course, until I heard a few winks more about Dungeon Siege - this game is just about exactly how I pictured Diablo III in my mind, albeit without the universe, but with a much better engine than even I could attribute it in my mind.

First off, it's due out April 5 - right near the middle of Fireteddy Stoked Month 2002, a very apt release date, no doubt premeditated on the part of Taylor. Second off, no requirements have been released - but a somewhat shady source informed me that they would probably be around the order of a PIII333MhZ processor with 128 megs of RAM and an 8 meg 3D accelerator, so they're not obscene - specs like that would place the recommended ones at around 600, which is more than reasonable for anyone who has bought a PC in the last two years or so. I do have some doubts about those specs, though - based on how nice the game looks, the code would have to be incredibly tight to run at a playable fps on a 333. But I've faith in Taylor's kickassery, and we'll see how well he comes through. Alls I know is if it doesn't run on my 1GhZ laptop, I'll be uberpissed. I bought a GeForce2Go for this bastard just for this game.

The art is pretty sweet, too - monsters, players, and scenery are wickedly detailed and are an absolute joy to look at. Customizability is apparently very important to Taylor, because at every step you can change what you want when you want. Need your Nature Mage to be a fighter in a little bit? No problem - just give him a sword and instruct him to hack at things until he's up to snuff in combat skill. Want to play as a male character instead of the female "farm girl" constantly seen in screen captures and descriptions? Go nuts - hell, even change the guy's hairstyle while you're at it. I intend to make my first character look exactly like either my girlfriend or Brad Pitt so I'll have something sexy to look at while I play if I ever get bored, which doesn't look damn likely at this point.