Diablo 3 Finally Releasing – Blizzard Opens Presales

After a multitude of rumors and delays, Blizzard Entertainment finally announced the release date of its most-awaited game Diablo 3.

The dungeon crawler will hit both physical and digital store shelves on May 15, confirmed Blizzard. And, the digital presale of the game has already opened on Blizzard's Battle.net.

The critically acclaimed action role-playing game series has a strong fan base and knowing the demand of its fans, Blizzard has announced that gamers with a thirst for fast-paced action and adventure will be able to purchase Diablo 3 at retailers throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.

Fans residing in Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Brazil will be able to buy Diablo 3 digitally via Blizzard's Battle.net Web site, the company informs.

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 III over the next two months and delivering the ultimate action-RPG experience to gamers worldwide starting on May 15.

The company also added that Diablo 3 will be headed for both Windows XP/Windows Vista/Windows7 and Mac. While the retail DVD-ROM version and the digital version sold directly from Blizzard is priced at $59.99 USD, the Collector's Edition will be sold exclusively in retail stores at a retail price of $99.99 USD. The Collector's version will include the full game on DVD-ROM, a behind-the-scenes Blu-ray/DVD two-disc set, the Diablo 3 soundtrack CD, a 208-page Art of Diablo 3 book and a 4 GB USB soulstone (including full versions of Diablo II and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction) and corresponding Diablo skull base, as well as exclusive in-game content for Diablo 3, World of Warcraft and StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty.

Diablo, known for its simplicity and addictive storyline, is a dark fantasy themed action role-playing game. The game was developed by Blizzard North and was released by Blizzard Entertainment on Dec. 31, 1996, and a new wave in the dungeon crawling genre began with this game.

Fans were already awaiting the part 3. Rumors about an April release were floating in the market a few weeks prior to the announcement. But now Blizzard has put all that speculation to rest.

Diablo 3 has received a Mature rating from the ESRB.