Diablo 3 Officially Arrives in May, Says Blizzard
It's official, and it's not in April, sorry.
The wait is almost over, as Activision Blizzard has announced that Diablo 3 will be officially released from the Burning Hells on May 15, 2012. The PC game will be available in physical form at retailers throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. The digital edition will be available via Battle.net in the same territories as well as Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Brazil.
"Players in the listed Latin American countries and in Russia will be able to purchase Diablo 3 at local retail locations starting June 7. Digital availability for the Russian version of the game will also begin June 7," the company reports. "In addition to the English version, Diablo 3 will be fully localized into Latin American Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, European Spanish, Italian, Polish, Russian, Korean, and Traditional Chinese."
Starting Thursday (today), fans can pre-purchase the digital version here. Current World of Warcraft players are also encouraged to sign up for the World of Warcraft Annual Pass which provides a free digital copy of Diablo 3 when paying for a 1-year commitment to the popular MMORPG. The long-awaited game will be playable immediately whereas the Annual Pass will provide an in-game mount for World of Warcraft as well as access to the Mists of Pandaria beta test. This offer will no longer be available as of 12:01 am PDT on May 1, so head here to get into the cool club.
Diablo 3 will arrive on Windows XP / Windows Vista / Windows 7 and Macintosh at a suggested price of $59.99 USD for both the retail DVD version and the digital version sold directly from Blizzard. Of course, a PC game release wouldn't be complete without a special version for the trinket collector, and Blizzard doesn't fail to deliver. A special alabaster-white Collector's Edition, sold exclusively in retail stores at a suggested retail price of $99.99 USD, will include the full game on DVD, a behind-the-scenes Blu-ray/DVD two-disc set, the Diablo 3 soundtrack CD, and a 208-page Art of Diablo 3 book.
But that's not all! The Collector's Edition will also include a 4 GB USB soulstone -- which includes full versions of Diablo 2 and Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction just itching to be installed on your rig -- and a corresponding Diablo skull base. The Collector's package will also include exclusive in-game content for Diablo 3, World of Warcraft, and StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty.
"After many years of hard work by our development team and months of beta testing by hundreds of thousands of dedicated players around the world, we're now in the homestretch," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "We look forward to putting the final polish on Diablo 3 over the next two months and delivering the ultimate action-RPG experience to gamers worldwide starting on May 15."
Need to change your pants now? Really, we totally get it. It's OK. Those long hours of clicking into the early-morning hours are about to begin, so now's a good time to start stocking up that little mini-fridge sitting under the desk. You have until May 15, so get busy.
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Seriously, we should create a guild for Diablo 3. What would be a good name? Jane's Addiction?
Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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A year ago I was super hyped to buy D3, and getting the Collector's Edition! But after finding out about the credit card auction house, the removal of PVP, not just Arena but the random world PvP that made D2 so great; and then getting into the beta and finding isometric spam click isn't what it used to be; I am not buying it at all now.Reply
I played D2 for hundreds if not thousands of hours, but D3 looks to be less then D2 was and D2 compared to todays RPGs like Skyrim really wasn't much in comparison. All D3 looks to me is a bunch of spam clicking mobs to get loot that is only good for spam clicking more mobs to get more loot, all of which you could just buy off the AH with your credit card for a few bucks.
Whats the point of having the best gear if you can't use it to kick the ass of other players? Or if you could just buy it on the AH?
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stm1185, they didn't disable pvp, it just doesn't come with the game on release.Reply
Also, the spamfest only seems like it because the beta is very easy to beat. Once you up the difficulty on the released game, it should be a lot more challenging and fun.
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bystander stm1185A year ago I was super hyped to buy D3, and getting the Collector's Edition! But after finding out about the credit card auction house, the removal of PVP, not just Arena but the random world PvP that made D2 so great; and then getting into the beta and finding isometric spam click isn't what it used to be; I am not buying it at all now.I played D2 for hundreds if not thousands of hours, but D3 looks to be less then D2 was and D2 compared to todays RPGs like Skyrim really wasn't much in comparison. All D3 looks to me is a bunch of spam clicking mobs to get loot that is only good for spam clicking more mobs to get more loot, all of which you could just buy off the AH with your credit card for a few bucks. Whats the point of having the best gear if you can't use it to kick the ass of other players? Or if you could just buy it on the AH?Reply
How was D2 not spam clicking? -
gnesterenko Already preordered and client downloaded. :D Come May gooodbyyyyyeee productivity and social life...Reply -
maxinexus I'm already preparing my wife to be a widow for few weeks lol Finally, we have date settled! April was a little too soon.Reply
stm1185 who cares don't buy if you don't like - me like me wanna play till early morning me go to work a zombie me sleep in bus and miss the stop me walk home me play again till my eyes bleed and me play till my wife takes and hides a keaboard or power cord...dammm she so good at hiding things :D