Prepare your couch and consider fortifying your living room, because on September 3, Diablo® III will unleash hell on both the PlayStation® 3 and Xbox 360®! It pays to be prepared against the forces of the Burning Hells, so get your preorder lined up for the PS3™ or Xbox 360, as added bonuses are in store for those who take the fight for Sanctuary to their big screen TV.

Xbox 360® and PS3™ Preorder Items:

All preorders of the Xbox 360 and PS3™ versions of Diablo® III will include the following diabolically enticing items, available to all five mortal heroes of Sanctuary—be it the Witch Doctor, Barbarian, Wizard, Demon Hunter, or Monk (players who’ve been keeping on top of console-related news will notice that the bounty for preorders has expanded):

• "Infernal Helm" – Wearable at level 1, the console-exclusive Infernal Helm in-game item confers a +EXP bonus to help you whip your new PlayStation® or Xbox characters into shape
• "Angelic Wings" – Taunt the forces of the Burning Hells by sprouting a cosmetic pair of glowing angel wings
• "Bottled Cloud Dye" – Dye your armor sets a cloudy white with this heavenly dye
• "Bottled Smoke Dye" – Dye your armor sets an eerie smoky black with this sinister dye

Exclusive PS3™ In-Game Items:

Players who purchase Diablo® III on the PS3™ will also receive five additional PS3-exclusive in-game items:

• "The Hero’s Journey" – A Legendary shoulder item that includes a “Journey” style scarf
• "Drake's Amulet" – A Legendary amulet that bears a striking resemblance to the ring that Drake wears around his neck in Uncharted
• "Leoric's Gauntlets" – These Legendary gloves summon a ghostly skeleton to fight for you
• "Crimson Angelic Wings" – This cosmetic enhancement calls forth a set of red Angelic Wings
• "Leah's Ring" – A Legendary ring, originally given to Leah by Deckard Cain, that's usable at level 60 and provides bonuses to Magic Find, Gold Find, movement speed, and defenses

Please note that console preorder bonuses and PS3-exclusive in-game items cannot be transferred across platforms, and players will need a connection (to Xbox LIVE® or PlayStation® Network, respectively) in order to receive these items.

The fate of Sanctuary rests in your hands, and the PlayStation® 3 and Xbox 360 versions of Diablo® III will be out before summer's end, so make sure to place your preorders with your local retailer soon.

Ready your reflexes and prepare your thumbs for the demon onslaught ahead!

We’re continuing the Battle.net®-related testing we mentioned previously. As part of this, we’re now inviting beta testers to help test and refine a new desktop app for Battle.net designed to improve the launcher experience for all Blizzard games and streamline the ability for players to get into their games.

If you’d like to help us with the testing, head to your Battle.net Beta Profile and opt in to at least one of the game universe beta tests (if you haven’t done so already). We’ll be inviting players to the beta test in waves — if you’re selected, your Battle.net account will be flagged automatically and you’ll receive an email with additional details.

For more information, check out the FAQ or visit the beta test forums.

Break out those storyboards and load up your editing software: the BlizzCon Movie Contest is back!

Every year, we see some truly terrific tales from aspiring auteurs, and we can’t wait to see what you bring to the screen for this year’s show. To enter, all you have to do is create an original movie (up to 3 minutes in length) based on Blizzard’s game universes using live action, animation, footage from our games, or a mix. Winners will be announced and shown live on stage at BlizzCon. Your moment in the limelight awaits!

Submissions are now open, and you can visit the contest page for rules and prize information. All entries must be received by August 23 and meet the formatting requirements in the official rules to be eligible to win.

Ready your pens, paints, pencils, and tablets: the BlizzCon Original Art contest is back!

Simply submit an original work of art (Photoshop manipulations don’t count!) based on the Warcraft, StarCraft, or Diablo universes—or a mix if you’re in a Blizzard All-Stars kind of mood—by August 23, and you'll be entered in a global contest for a chance to win great prizes and have your artwork showcased at BlizzCon 2013.

Submissions are open, and you can visit the contest page for rules and prize information now!

Remember: all entries must be received by August 23 and meet the image-formatting requirements (high-resolution JPEG no greater than 5MB in size) in the official rules in order to be eligible to win.

The Lord of Terror is at it again! Attendees of this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, being held at the Los Angeles Convention Center on June 11-13, will be the first to try the multiplayer experience of Diablo III on PS3™ and Xbox 360. Brave E3-bound souls ready to battle the hordes of the Burning Hells can head over to the following booths to experience the fight first-hand (and be sure to bring a few of your buddies):

• Activision Blizzard -- #647, South Hall
• Microsoft -- # 4030/4100, West Hall
• Sony Entertainment -- #4522, West Hall

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For the legions of heroes who aren't going to E3 in person, we'll be sharing live streams, posting photos, and providing updates about all the latest Diablo III news coming out of the show floor here at diablo3.com as well as on our official Facebook and Twitter channels. Be sure to check back during the event to find out more about multiplayer, as well as additional information about Diablo III for the PS3™ and Xbox 360!

On September 3, evil will be reborn on console systems throughout the world with the release of Diablo® III on the PlayStation™ 3 and Xbox 360® games and entertainment system from Microsoft. That's right, Diablo III will be unleashing hell on both Xbox 360 and PS3™ before summer's end, so lock in your preorders with your local retailer soon.

As an added bonus, all preorders of the Xbox 360 and PS3™ versions of Diablo III will include the exclusive Infernal Helm (in-game item only. . .though we have to admit it'd look pretty sharp IRL). Wearable at level 1, the Infernal Helm confers a +EXP bonus to help you whip your new PlayStation™ or Xbox characters into shape. Plus, it looks sweet as hell on all five mortal heroes of Sanctuary—be it the Witch Doctor, Barbarian, Wizard, Demon Hunter, or Monk. Keep in mind that the redeemable key for the Infernal Helm, which you will find in your preordered console copy of Diablo III on launch day, requires an Internet connection to be redeemed and cannot be transferred across platforms.

Be sure to get your preorder lined up for the PS3™ or Xbox 360 versions of the game and prepare your thumbs to do battle against the sinister forces of the Burning Hells.

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Please note that as the Xbox 360 version of Diablo III was announced today, it may take retailers several days to set up their product pages for this new version of the game. Be sure to check back if you don’t see Diablo III for Xbox 360 listed on retailers' websites.

My name is Josh Mosqueira, I am the new game director for Diablo III, and I want to take a moment to say "Hi" and introduce myself.

I'm a writer, designer, and lifelong gamer, and I got my official start designing games back in 1996. That's when I had my first real break as a writer for White Wolf (makers of the Vampire: The Masquerade pen-and-paper role-playing game), when I co-wrote Constantinople by Night and Montreal by Night while serving in the Canadian army and finishing university. After that, I went on to work on a number of popular game series, including Homeworld, Company of Heroes, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, and FarCry. However, 1996 is a key year for me for another reason, because it's when I, like many of you, was introduced to Diablo.

Having a heavy background in pen-and-paper design—specifically in telling stories and building worlds set in realms of horror and fantasy—I was immediately drawn in by Diablo. While the game's dark, gothic setting hooked me, it was the intense, fast-paced action gameplay and the thrill of finding awesome loot that kept me coming back for years after.

That's always been the magic of the game for me. It starts with a setting that pits epic heroes against the teeming, endless hordes of the Burning Hells, in an adventure filled with nonstop, intense action. It's in players facing off against enemies like the Butcher and Diablo, villains who truly capture the essence of evil. And having the alluring promise of new and more powerful treasures around every corner doesn't hurt either.

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When I joined Blizzard, I was entrusted with the responsibility of helping to determine whether it would be possible to create a console version of Diablo III and working on what that might look like. I took this responsibility extremely seriously as I wanted to ensure that the legions of players new to the series on console could experience the magical combination of action and treasure hunting that Diablo is known for. It was important to me that we retain that essential core that is Diablo—every player who has ever roamed the shadowy halls of Sanctuary's dungeons, hunting vile demons and looting their corpses, knows it well. My goal has been to help keep that core magic formula going strong with Diablo III, and to continue refining the game, initially for the console version, and now for the game as a whole.

Enjoying the nice weather with a few teammates (left), and our PAX East crew celebrating an epic convention (right).

For me, first as a Blizzard gamer and now as a game designer at the company, I've always felt that one of the things that sets Blizzard games apart is our passion and commitment to support our games well after launch. Many of the people I've worked with here have been at Blizzard since the early days of the company, and our heavy focus on putting the games first is the culture they helped create and that everyone here lives by. That's why we didn't call it a day after launching Diablo III and move on to the next project—the care, dedication, diligence, and ongoing effort from our development team continued full steam ahead as we listened to and acted on your feedback. We don't just ship a game and leave it at that; we make sure that it grows and evolves after launch.

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In the year since Diablo III launched, we've made good strides, but there are still things we can improve and new surprises in store for everyone. As Travis mentioned earlier, itemization is one of our big focuses for Diablo III moving forward. We want items to feel more meaningful, and we want players to be excited about the next loot drop. Our goal is to make the loot experience more enjoyable for ALL players. This includes reducing the amount of loot that drops while improving the overall quality, introducing targeted Legendaries, and giving players ways to directly customize their character's armor—both visually and mechanically. We're also looking into ways to reduce the impact of the Auction House. While we think the feature does provide a lot of value, it shouldn’t feel like the end-all-be-all force driving character progression.

We've built a solid foundation for the future of Diablo III and we're focused on staying true to the core essence of the game, while pushing boundaries to evolve gameplay in ways that will keep players like you excited. We hope you'll agree that with each update, the game keeps getting better and better, and we're only just getting started.

In the future, we'll be focused on preserving the core fantasy by cultivating the roots of the Diablo storyline, fine-tuning the heroes for what lays ahead, and creating new monsters and demons that will once again plant the seed of fear in your hearts. While some Diablo players out there are just looking for a fun single playthrough of the game, for many others, part of the appeal of the game is coming back again and again to test their mettle against challenging foes in an ongoing search for rare treasures, with the goal of making their heroes more and more powerful. We want to give those players, and really everyone, even more reasons to keep coming back to Sanctuary, and we have some great ideas brewing for ways to address randomization, what our endgame should offer, and how to make playing online with friends truly fulfilling.

To this end, you can expect to hear more from our designers, producers, and directors about what we have in store.

Thanks for being a part of the Diablo family, and we'll see you in Hell!

From the highest pillars of Caldeum to the harsh snows of Arreat, champions from the far corners of Sanctuary have come together this year to defend their homelands against the forces of the Burning Hells.

Like these stalwart heroes, artists from around the world heard the call and readied their artistic weapons of choice to join with us and celebrate the day that the Lord of Terror returned to Sanctuary!

"A Piece of Cake" by Crimson-Nemesis

To commemorate Diablo III’s one-year anniversary, talented members of the community have submitted an array of stunning fan art. Feast your eyes on some new and exciting pieces by artists from all over the globe!

"Diablo 3 Anniversary - Inarius and Lilith" by Ziom05

by Jihun Lee (Jihun)	"Diablo III Anniversary - Gargantuan Witch Doctor" by StaplesART - Making-of Video on YouTube

"The Journey" by Yuan

"Diablo 3 - Anniversary Fan Art" by DeivCalviz	"Diablo III 1 Year" by Daye Kim (NAG)

"Imperius, Archangel of Valor" by Tamplier - Making-of Video on YouTube

"Diablo" by Toxic Panda	"Happy Birthday Diablo 3" by Reagan Kim (Mistaryx)

"Desolate Sands - Cave of the Betrayer" by UnidColor

"Diablo 3 1st Birthday" by Subin Lee (SuriSuri)	"Witch Doctor (Diablo 3" by d1eSELxxxx

"Azmodan, Lord of Sin" by VanLogan

by Boban

Make sure to check out the artists on their respective sites listed above for even more revelry and eye-catching goodness!

Last Wednesday, game designers Wyatt Cheng and Travis Day joined Archon the Wizard in his anniversary stream on Twitch to chat about the game, address some popular community topics, and answer questions live from viewers.

In case you weren't able to tune in on May 15, you can still catch the full discussion below. There's about 4 hours worth of content, so (in the words of Deckard Cain)...stay awhile and listen.

(Warning: videos contain mature language.)

Thank you to Archon the Wizard for hosting this chat, and to everyone who stopped by to watch and ask questions!

Looking for a write-up of the stream? Be sure to head on over to Diablo IncGamers for a recap (courtesy of Flux) or check out this extensive transcript provided by diablo.somepage.com.

It's been one hell of a year.

Heroes have risen, angels have fallen, and the mortal realm of Sanctuary has once again been saved from the brink of despair. As Nephalem, your accomplishments are innumerable. You’ve saved a village from the risen dead, laid to rest the tortured soul of a dishonored king, solved the mystery of the Fallen Star, avenged the death of a powerful Horadrim, unlocked the secrets of the Black Soulstone, cast Belial from his throne of deceit, stopped a demonic invasion almost single-handedly, restored Hope, and vanquished the Prime Evil, preserving the sanctity of the High Heavens and ushering in a new age for the world as we know it.

But have you ever wondered how your deeds measure up in the real world? To showcase the strength of the Diablo III community and how awesome you all are, we've put together some interesting statistics.

How many heroes have been created? How many demons have been slaughtered in pursuit of treasure? And just how many times has the Lord of TERROAR Terror been killed? Find out below!

If you'd like to view the infographic in a separate browser, click here.

One year ago this week, we launched Diablo III in over 10 languages and 30 countries around the world. Since then, with the help our awesome community, we've made some significant improvements to the game, shipping upwards of 15 patches and implementing numerous hotfixes to make your battle against the forces of the Burning Hells that much more epic.

In celebration of Diablo III's anniversary, we wanted to take a look at the road so far, recapping some of the more notable changes made to the game since release and providing quick access to all the latest updates.

This is in part a retrospective, but mostly it's to help catch players up on anything they might have missed. So, if you haven't played in a while or are new to the realm of Sanctuary, definitely stay a while and listen!

- PARAGON LEVELS -

When a hero reaches level 60, experience earned from quests, monsters, and massacre bonuses will begin to count toward Paragon levels. There are 100 Paragon levels in total, and each level will reward players with a permanent bonus to Gold Find and Magic Find, as well as core stat increases (Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Vitality). For every 10 Paragon levels, players will also earn a new hero portrait border which will display in the in-game party frame. This border will not only become more impressive as you level up, it will also display your Paragon level in any place where your normal hero level is shown.

For more information on Paragon levels, click here or check out the game guide.

- INFERNAL MACHINE -

The Infernal Machine is a device that will allow level 60 players to battle "uber" versions of some of Sanctuary's most nefarious bosses. While the rewards for defeating these bosses will be great, some assembly is required. Only the most powerful Nephalem can unlock the secrets to building the Infernal Machine, but once forged the device can be used to open portals to special encounters featuring not one, but two bosses which have been augmented from their original versions, both in terms of difficulty and appearance. Defeating each boss pair will provide players with extra items and gold, as well as a chance to find components for a new Legendary: the Hellfire Ring!

For more information about the Infernal Machine event, click here or check out the game guide.

- LEGENDARY ITEM IMPROVEMENTS -

In patch 1.0.4, we made some changes to Legendary items to make them more powerful, more memorable, and ultimately more fun to use. Through the addition of spell procs, many Legendary items now have a chance to activate rare and unique abilities, such as summoning an angel to fight with you, conjuring an icy projectile, or igniting the very ground you walk on. Legendary items are also far and away more powerful, possessing higher damage and affix values than their predecessors. In addition, many Legendary items have had visual effects added to their original models, giving them a distinct and detailed flair.