Blizzard Entertainment will release Diablo III at midnight on May 15, 2012. Some retailers are offering special store hours for people who don’t want to wait until the sun rises before getting their hands on the game.

Diablo III is the long-awaited sequel to the hit dungeon crawler action RPG game series. It’s available for both OS X and Windows.

“Twenty years have passed since the Prime Evils were defeated and banished from the world of Sanctuary. Now, you must return to where it all began – the town of Tristram – and investigate rumors of a fallen star, for this is the first sign of evil’s rebirth, and an omen that the End Times have begun,” explains Blizzard.

Five hero classes are included with the game, which sports randomized 3D environments, guaranteeing you’ll have a different experience each time you play. A “real money auction house” has been set up to let you buy and sell rare items for real world currency.

The game is already available for digital pre-sale: customers can download the game and activate it at midnight. But if you’d like to mill about with other Blizzard fans, the company has coordinated launch events at retailers throughout the world. A special launch event site has been set up with details.

System requirements call for Mac OS X 10.6.8 or later, Intel Core 2 Duo-equipped Mac with Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT or ATI Radeon HD 2600 or better, 2GB RAM, 12GB hard disk space, DVD-ROM, broadband Internet connection and 1024 x 768 resolution. The game is rated M for Mature by the ESRB.