Blizzard has announced that Diablo III will be released on May 15 worldwide (sans Latin America and Russia - those gamers will have to wait until June 7). The game will be priced at $59.99 for PC and Mac with digital pre-orders now being accepted through Battle.net.
In addition to the digital and standard edition retail versions, Blizzard will be making a special collector's edition available for $99.99. The Collector's Edition will include a 4GB USB drive modeled after a soulstone and a Diablo skull base. The USB drive will include full versions of Diablo II and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. Furthermore, a behind-the-scenes Blu-ray / DVD set is also included alongside a 208-page art book, Diablo III soundtrack and exclusive in-game content for Diablo III, WoW and Starcraft II.
Those who choose to subscribe to Blizzard's World of Warcraft Annual Pass before May 1 are still eligible to receive Diablo III free of charge on launch day. If you play WoW and plan to do so for the next year, this is a pretty good deal as membership also guarantees you a free Tyrael's Charger mount and beta entry into the next WoW expansion.
"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."
Gamers will be able to choose from five different character classes - barbarian, witch doctor, wizard, monk, or demon hunter - as they battle to rid Sanctuary from the evil forces of the Burning Hells. Unfortunately, players will have to wait a bit longer to battle each other as game director Jay Wilson recently announced that the title will ship without the promised player versus player arena.