Blizzard Reveals Official Diablo 3 Global Launch Events
Blizzard's official Diablo 3 party will be at the Irvine Spectrum Mall, located in Irvine, California.
Blizzard unsurprisingly plans to kick off Diablo 3 with a bang around the world by hosting launch events on the eve of the game's release.
The company said on Wednesday that on the night of May 14, key retail partners in the U.S., UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Poland, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, and the region of Taiwan will welcome gamers who want to be among the first to purchase the upcoming PC game. Naturally specific times are up to the retailers who are actually willing to open their doors around midnight.
Here in the States, the official launch event will be hosted by Blizzard and GameStop in the Great Wheel Court of the Irvine Spectrum Mall, located in Irvine, California. The "festivities" will start at 8:00pm PDT on May 14 and include multiple giveaways, entertainment, and contests offering exclusive Diablo 3-themed prizes including laser-etched desktop PCs from Intel. The team will also be on hand to meet with players and to sign physical copies of the game.
Available at launch will be the Standard Edition of Diablo 3 which will have a suggested retail price of $59.99, and the Collector's Edition which will be priced at $99.99. The latter version will include the game along with the following goodies:
* Exclusive aesthetic artifacts for Diablo 3, as well as an exclusive World of Warcraft in-game fetish shaman pet and exclusive StarCraft 2 Battle.net portraits and army decal
* A behind-the-scenes Blu-ray/DVD two-disc set with over an hour of interviews detailing how the world of Sanctuary came together
* The Art of Diablo 3, a 208-page art book that catalogues numerous pieces of Diablo 3 art, from early concepts to final 3D renderings
* The official Diablo 3 soundtrack CD, containing 24 original pieces from the game
* A 4 GB USB soulstone, preloaded with full versions of Diablo 2 and Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction, and corresponding Diablo skull base
"In addition to the official US launch event, other retail locations around the country will open at midnight to support gamers looking to pick up their copy of the game the moment it goes live," Blizzard said on Wednesday. "Please check with your local retailers for further details."
World of Warcraft junkies wanting to get their hands on Diablo 3 without shelling out an additional $60 can join the more than 1 million players who have already signed up for the World of Warcraft Annual Pass. Through this promotion, with a 1-year commitment to World of Warcraft, players will receive a free digital copy of Diablo 3 -- which they'll be able to start playing immediately on May 15 -- as well as an exclusive World of Warcraft in-game mount and access to the World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria beta test.
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This offer will no longer be available as of 12:01 a.m. PDT on May 1, the company said.
Just like StarCraft 2, we expect to see GameStop and other retailers open their doors just before midnight in anticipation of selling all their copes of Diablo 3 at the stroke of midnight, especially the tasty Collector's Edition. As Blizzard stated, check your local favorite retailer for launch details.
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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Plasmid In game items purchasable with real life money ? No thank you, I'll pass. No offline mode for when my internet goes off when it rains?Reply
No money from me blizzard :) -
No kidding, I think he has more important things to worry about than writing a whiny comment on Toms.Reply
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shadowryche Just may go to WalMart and pick it up. When Crapaclysm released our local GameStop across from WalMart had a big launch event where 150+ people stood outside for hours in the cold waiting on their first 50 copies to become available. Walked into WalMart at midnight where me and seven other people did not wait for one of their 300 or so copies.Reply -
Plasmid arvalin_dakariaLol @ Plasmid, your internet drops when it rains? That sucks.Reply
God bless America and our internet monopolies (at&t) for their third world like service. -
4745454b Internet dropping out or needing to stay connected doesn't bother me. I am a MASSIVE TF2 junkie. There is no single player for that game. Its only multiplier so I'm used to being connected. Seriously, who isn't connected these days? I would like it if they provided some form of offline mode just in case something odd happens, but needing a net connection is fine with me.Reply
Spending real life money for virtual stuff does seem dumb to me however. But seeing as its not a requirement I don't have an issue. I'm sure we'll be able to play the game and never once go to the auction house if you so choose. To not buy it for that reason is kinda dumb as well.
No lan play, new classes, or different game play from Diablo 2 is what could hold me back. And the only one I'm really worried about is different game play. -
schnitter I'm gonna wait for the reviews. Something tells me this game will disappoint. Mist of Pandaria and Starcraft 2 are bad successors, lets hope Diablo III isn't.Reply -
siege_templar schnitterI'm gonna wait for the reviews. Something tells me this game will disappoint. Mist of Pandaria and Starcraft 2 are bad successors, lets hope Diablo III isn't.How is starcraft 2 a disappointment/bad successor? I would love to know, because I think is a great game and squeal, and it brought more people into the starcraft community, no more under ground bw communitys that are hard to find (apart from team liquid and what not.)Reply -
arvalin_dakaria schnitterI'm gonna wait for the reviews. Something tells me this game will disappoint. Mist of Pandaria and Starcraft 2 are bad successors, lets hope Diablo III isn't.And how is MoP a bad successor? Its not even close to coming out yetReply -
Goldengoose schnitterI'm gonna wait for the reviews. Something tells me this game will disappoint. Mist of Pandaria and Starcraft 2 are bad successors, lets hope Diablo III isn't.Played the beta weekend and i can't wait to play it. Playing with mates on skype, can't really beat it.Reply
I was worried about the online play, having to start at different points and such. but you can join at quest points rather than just enter a world so it's easy to play with mates.