Boasting of their hugely successful launch, Blizzard has announced that Diablo 3 has set a new record for PC games, having sold more than 3.5 million copies by first 24 hours of its May 15 launch -- a figure the publisher is quick to point out, does not include the additional 1.2 million copies of the game that were included in World of Warcraft subscribers' "Annual Pass" promotion.

Notably absent from the release however, are any figures pertaining to Mac OS player numbers.

As of the first week of the game’s availability, that number had already grown to more than 6.3 million.* The above figures also do not include players in Korean Internet game rooms, where Diablo III has become the top-played game, achieving a record share of more than 39% as of May 22.†

“We’re definitely thrilled that so many people around the world were excited to pick up their copy of Diablo III and jump in the moment it went live,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We also regret that our preparations were not enough to ensure everyone had a seamless experience when they did so. I want to reaffirm our commitment to make sure the millions of Diablo III players out there have a great experience with the game moving forward, and I also want to thank them for their ongoing support.”

As for the state of the game itself, the server issues plaguing the initial launch seem to have subsided and Blizzard are getting on with the balancing tweaks and the game's first hotfix notes describe some notable adjustments to both the Monk and Wizard classes.

For more on Diablo 3, swing by AusGamers' own in-depth review.

So in order to ensure there's been no influence in our final decisions for judging the recently held "Hell is Coming" Diablo III competition, we've held off showing you any of the entries until today (judging date).

What we have for you now then, is a selection of entries that didn't quite make the cut, but some of these are pretty funny and we wanted to share them with you, regardless. There was an abundance of Witch Doctor and Demon Hunter entries, and a lot of the same types of entries, especially about things like magic wands and slaying pants demons, respectively, for the two most popular dateable classes.

So without further ado, comedy ensues:

• Witch Doctor - Ja wun ta be seein' mai big mojo?
  
• Wizard - Hydras are red Blizzards are blue let's play hardcore in bed till the Cow King goes moo.
  
• Witch Doctor - Ask her out using the line "Is that a toad in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?".
  
• Witch Doctor - How about you and I stir the cauldrons and make some poisonous charms.
  
• Barbarian - You have a very big sword ;) ... wanna punch stuff in the face together?
  
• Wizard - I'm a wizard too, why don't you come over tonight and I'll show you my wand?
  
• Witch Doctor - I would definitely date the witch doctor, I'd strut up to her, give her a wink and say "hey goodlookin' I got a love sickness for you that needs to be cured".
  
• Monk - Hey baby, I heard you know all the hidden techniques, care to show me a few moves? ;)
  
• Wizard - How about you polymorph into a sheep and I make like a New Zealander?
  
• Wizard - If a fat man puts you in a bag at night, don't worry I told Santa I wanted you for Christmas.
  
• Witch Doctor - So, you do voodoo? I love voodoo, and I love you... so why don't you and me voodoo too?
  
• Barbarian - Hey baby! You can drain my fury any time.
  
• Wizard - Hey beautiful, seeing as all hell is breaking loose, mind putting a little bit of magic back into my life?
  
• Barbarian - How would you like to wield my two-handed broadsword?
  
• Demon Hunter - I wouldnt have a pick up line. I would just crawl to her on my hands and knees, wearing a collar with a lead attached, holding the grip in my mouth. Surely she needs a new pet?
  
• Monk - I've got something righteous for you to see ;)
  
• Demon Hunter - You are the most interesting person here. Can I buy you a drink? Perhaps exchange stories of our adventures. I might even tell you about the time i took an arrow to the knee!!

We had heaps and heaps of entries for this one and the above are just a slight selection of some of the entries, all in all though, the quality of pick-up lines thrown our way makes me worried for the single world out there ;)

Thanks everyone for your entries, and thanks again to Blizzard and Steelseries for the mad prize hookups.

It's the biggest thing in the world at the moment, and despite all the Error 37 memes, jokes and tears, anyone actually getting into Diablo III is having fun, and if they're not then, well, they can always go back and play Diablo II.

We've dabbled in the game since release though, and while many of Blizzard's decisions regarding skills, abilities, UI and more have polarised the Diablo community, we think a lot of it is for the better, as we explore in today's extensive review. As a rewarding experience, always-online requirement aside, there's not much that offers the length of replayability as Diablo III does making the game, in our opinion, well worth your investment.

Read more in our review.

Yesterday's news of Australian retailer GAME entering administration left an uncertain fate for customers that had paid pre-orders for upcoming games, including today's launch of the hugely anticipated Diablo III.

We've had reports that some customers have received notification of delivery, however it seems some unlucky hopefuls are still in the dark.

Fortunately for them, Blizzard continue to live-up to their stellar PR reputation and are offering affected GAME customers (that can provide evidence of their pre-order and afford to be temporarily out of pocket a little more), a copy of the digital-download version of Diablo 3 -- allowing them to get online as soon as the game activates this evening at 5pm AEST. Here's the juice:

Australian GAME customers with a valid preorder/prepurchase receipt dated before May 15, 2012 can do the following:
1. Purchase the digital version of Diablo III from http://www.diablo3.com now or anytime before May 21, 2012.

2. Download and start playing when the servers go live!

3. Submit your GAME Australia preorder/prepurchase receipt to us before June 30, 2012.

4. Receive a credit from Blizzard, for the amount you paid in advance to GAME Australia for Diablo III. This credit will be applied to the payment method used for the digital purchase.

For more details on how to exactly go about submitting your receipt, hit this thread on the official forums.

To help celebrate the release of one of the year's most anticipated games, Diablo III, Blizzard and Steelseries have combined forces to give us a swag of prizes to giveaway to five lucky readers, with a grand prize consisting of the country-wide sold-out Collector's Edition.

As usual we've put together a 50 words or less entry mechanism for you, this time with a bit of flavour though:

If you could go on a date with any one of the Diablo III classes, who would it be and what would your pick-up line be?

There're a tonne of great prizes here, and we're only running this one until Friday, so you might want to get in now!

Click here for more details.

For those still not sure on what exactly Diablo III is, Blizzard has today revealed a new trailer titled "What is Diablo III?" which gives players an inside look at what to expect in the upcoming hack-and-slash title.

Diablo III is an action role-playing game that takes place on Sanctuary, a dark fantasy world.

You play a hero who engages in fast-paced combat that tests your reflexes and rewards tactical decisions. As you slay hordes of monsters and challenging bosses, you grow in experience and ability, learning new skills and acquiring items of incredible power.

Check out the trailer below (HD over here) for a sneak peak into what Diablo III is really about. If you haven't yet, can also check out our recent interview with Lead Designer Jay Wilson on everything you could possibly want to know.

As if pitch couldn't get more fevered for the release of Diablo III, Blizzard has one-upped themselves by teaming up with acclaimed director, Peter Chung (Aeon Flux), and animation studio, Titmouse (Metalocalypse, Afro Samurai), to bring us just under seven-minutes of pure animated bliss, telling the story of "a fundamental moment in the battle between the High Heavens and the Burning Hells".

There's also a neat behind-the-scenes video with the likes of Nick Carpenter, Chris Metzen, James Waugh, Wrath director Peter Chung and Titmouse president Chris Prynoski to give Diablo die-hards an inside look at how this animated short came about.

Watch Diablo III: Wrath embedded below, or click here for a direct link.

Blizzard has been compiling some neat info for both Diablo III and StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, the forthcoming expansion for their space-age RTS series.

First up, in the Diablo III camp, the team has put together a launch preparation guide that outlines all the basic steps required to get you into the experience as quickly and efficiently as possible including purchasing the game, creating a BattleTag, pre-installing the game and more. You can check it all out right here.

With StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, Production Director, Chris Sigaty, has chimed in with details on what the team has been working with in regards to the expansion. The list details:

• Multiplayer resume from replay
  
• Global Play
  
• Multilanguage support
  
• Clan/group system
  
• Unranked matchmaking
  
• Multiplayer replay viewing

The update goes into detail on each design point, all of which you can view by clicking here.

And in case you missed it, you might want to check out our in-depth chat with Diablo III game director, Jay Wilson, right here.

Diablo III is due to hit PC and Mac on May 15.

AusGamers had a chance to cap off an amazing two weeks of high-end developer access (Assassin's Creed III, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2) with a chat to Diablo III game-director, Jay Wilson, ahead of one of the year's most anticipated game releases.

It's hard to filter through all the questions Diablo III-related that have been asked to Jay and his team, but we managed to get some seriously great answers out of him regarding components such as PvP, patch releases, Linux support, game difficulty, the potential for D1 or D2 being re-released in HD form and whether or not he knew the release date of Torchlight II (plus heaps more). It's a big interview at 20+ minutes, but we think well worth your investment.

Click here for the full video interview feature.

While we count down the days until the release of Diablo III, many gamers eager to start destroying their mouse buttons are still wondering where the best pre-order deals are. Knowing your pain, AusGamers has compiled a comprehensive run-down of all the major retailer offerings as well as a digital version for those not interested in retail copies. All pre-orders listed below are both PC and Mac versions.

Retail Pre-orders

Game are listing their standard version for $89.

JB Hi-Fi has their standard version listed for $69 and their collectors edition (which is now sold out) was available for $137.

Harvey Norman is currently offering a standard edition for $68, which seems to be the cheapest of the retailers.

If you'd prefer to get it straight from Blizzard (Austraila-tax included, but the only digital-download method guaranteed to be delivered on launch day), a digital edition is available for $79.99 from the battle.net page.

Diablo III is coming to PC and Mac on May 15th 2012.