The wait for Blizzard Entertainment's eagerly anticipated dungeon crawler Diablo III is about to come to an end after a May 2012 release date was confirmed.
Originally announced in 2008, the sequel to 2000's iconic Diablo II will see players once again choosing between different fantastical character classes - including barbarians, witch doctors, wizards and monks - before embarking on epic quests.
The PC game will feature revolutionary online gameplay options via the Battle.net platform, including the ability to trade in-game items for real-world currency in a secure environment.
Diablo III will be released in a special collector's edition that includes behind-the-scenes material, a soundtrack CD, a 208-page art book and a 4GB USB soulstone that includes full copies of Diablo II and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction.
Mike Morhaime, co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment, said: "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 home stretch."
Fans of Blizzard have grown used to waiting for quality, with the team's most recent blockbuster StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty launching in 2010, 12 years after its predecessor.