Hey everyone, we thought we would share the news we just sent out to the Press this morning!

August 26, 2011 – Seattle, WA - Runic Games, Inc. ("Runic Games"), a specialized developer of PC-based interactive entertainment software in the United States, made two announcements this morning in conjunction with the Penny Arcade Expo 2011, beginning today in Seattle.

Runic Games unveiled the price point for Torchlight II today, and as promised, the studio continues to champion the model of affordable games with great value. Torchlight II will retail for $19.99 USD, the same price as the original Torchlight.

"It has always been our goal to provide exceptional value for the price," says Max Schaefer, CEO of Runic Games. "Everyone who wants to play Torchlight II will be able to comfortably afford to do so, and they'll be able to play with their friend online or via a LAN, or play single player offline, all with no further purchases."

Runic Games also announced the fourth playable class of Torchlight II, the magic-wielding Embermage. The mysterious Embermage joins the previously announced Engineer, Outlander, and Berserker classes. This marks the culmination of a month long buildup introducing each class to players.

Torchlight II will release for PC in 2011.

Last week we posted the video of Max getting a new tattoo in honor of Torchlight surpassing 1 million sales. We also kicked off the #TastyTorchlight contest for your chance to win one of our customized Jones Soda bottles from the party.

You told us what you liked about Torchlight, hash-tagged it #TastyTorchlight, and tweeted us @RunicGames! We got a great response from the community and it was really fun to see your responses.

The winning entry was drawn, and it goes to Brett W. of Minnesota, for this tweet:

@RunicGames #TastyTorchlight I love that Torchlight shows what a small dedicated team can do with a vision. Amazing replayability and fun!

— Brett W. (@AtriusUN) August 3, 2011

Congratulations Brett! We'll be in contact soon and will make arrangements to get you a bottle of Alchemical Apple!

Thanks everyone for playing! Stay tuned for the next Class Introduction on the Torchlight II official site this Friday, August 12th.

News is still trickling in from our showing of Torchlight II at E3 this year, where we were nominated for six Best of E3 awards, including Best RPG, Best PC Game, and Best of Show. If you missed the headlines, here are some of the highlights:

"Here's the short version: Torchlight II is better in every way." http://www.the-nextlevel.com/preview/pc/torchlight-ii/

"There's no doubt that Torchlight 2 will be a bigger, deeper game than its predecessor." http://www.gamefront.com/e3-2011-torchlight-2-hands-on-berserker-class-reveal/

E3 Hands On Lives up to Expectations: Torchlight II is on its way to be just about everything its many fans want. "…Torchlight II looks and plays like the game that I was hoping for as a huge fan of Torchlight/Diablo/Titan's Quest/Dark Alliance/every other title in the subgenre." http://www.gameinformer.com/games/torchlight_ii/b/pc/archive/2011/06/08/e3-2011-hands-on-lives-up-to-expectations.aspx

Ten Ton Hammer Hands on from E3: "The original Torchlight is among the all-time greats of the genre, … regardless of what type of gamer you are at heart, Torchlight II is one title you'll want to keep an eye on… something tells me that it's going to be huge." http://www.tentonhammer.com/torchlight2/e3/2011/hands-on-preview

"I couldn't be excited for more Torchlight to head my way." http://www.g4tv.com/games/pc/64390/torchlight-2/articles/74829/Torchlight-2-E3-2011-Hands-On-Preview/

"It's just plain awesome." http://www.maroonersrock.com/2011/06/e3-2011-torchlight-ii/

"… we'll get right to it: It's great. All of the things you loved about the first Torchlight are back, polished and updated, along with one of the most long awaited features of the game, co-op multiplayer." http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/08/torchlight-2-preview-embers-only/

"Not only is action RPG Torchlight II bigger and better than its predecessor, but you can play it with friends." http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/06/torchlight-2-hands-on/

"Torchlight II is an impressive-looking upcoming title … Runic should have another winner on their hands." http://www.rpgfan.com/news/2011/1705.html

PC Gamer interview at E3 with Max: Torchlight, piracy, and DRM http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/06/09/e3-2011-torchlight-pirated-over-5-million-times-in-china-runic-ceo-thats-fine-with-us/

"This is the biggest addition to the game: the ability to play with your friends through the game's campaign." http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/06/torchlight-2-lan-play-confirmed-new-class-announced-mods-incoming.ars

"The game is addictive, beautiful, and fun and it took only 20 minutes to get addicted" http://www.co-optimus.com/article/6232/e3-2011-torchlight-2-co-op-hands-on-preview.html

Torchlight II will be showing behind closed doors at gamescom in Cologne, Germany (Aug 17-19) and playable for all at PAX Prime in Seattle (Aug 26-28) 2011.