Battle.net: Blizzard To Release Desktop App?

Ever wish you could talk to your "WoW" buddies and plan a raid while at work without having to install the game while also letting your "Starcraft 2" crew know that you'll be unavailable? It looks like you may be able to do just that soon. Blizzard's official support pages make multiple references to a Battle.net desktop client. A job opening at Blizzard's career page reveals that a version of Mac OSX is also in the works.

MMOChampion claims that it has obtained screenshots of a Beta version of the client, though the site cautions that "many" things could be changed if and when Blizzard chooses to release it.

Features of the desktop Battle.net soft include a news feed, in-app updates of installed games, in-app chat, customizable backgrounds, avatars and more. The below screenshot makes reference to three of Blizzard's most relevant games: "World of Warcraft," "Diablo 3" and "Starcraft 2." There doesn't seem to be support for "Diablo 2," though it still has a fairly large player base for a game that's roughly 13 years old.

We love the idea of a desktop Battle.net client. We only wonder what took Blizzard so long to get around to an idea that seemed like such a no-brainer once Battle.net took off in the '90s. We can only hope that equivalent mobile apps for iOS and Android are soon to follow.

What do you think of the desktop Battle.net app? Does it sound like something you would use? What features should it include and what features are you looking forward to using most? Sound off in the comments below.