Diablo III launch overwhelms Blizzard servers

Gamers all around the country have been anticipating the launch of the third game in the long-running Diablo franchise.

As you may recall, the first title in the franchise was unveiled way back in 1996, with Diablo II hitting store shelves in 2000 and Diablo III announced in 2008, only to launch four years later on May 15, 2012.

Yes, Diablo III went live at midnight as hoards of fans waited in long lines around the country to get their hands on the game.

It should be noted that Blizzard allowed gamers with a Battle.net account to download Diablo III early after paying a cool $60. However, the game was unplayable until its official launch date.

If you haven’t purchased the game yet, be aware that an Internet connection is required for installation on both Windows and OS X.

Diablo III – which puts players back in the infamous dark horror realm – features computer-controlled characters in single player mode, while allowing players to cooperate during online play. The controls are typical RPG fare, meaning mouse and keyboard shortcuts are used for third-party action.

One interesting aspect of Diablo III is that players can alter their special abilities in real-time, allowing them to use whatever powers are required for a particular task or battle. The game also supports separate section of Auction House to facilitate the easy purchase of weapons and upgrades with real money or an in game currency market.

Unfortunately, some gamers have noticed problems playing Diablo III today. Many are getting an error from Diablo servers that reads: “The servers are busy at this time. Please try again later. (Error 37).”

This error is effectively keeping some people from being able to play the game. Presumably, the problem is server overload from the hordes of gaming fans trying to play the game on launch day.

Indeed,  200,000 players reportedly attempted to  log in during the first 30 minutes after Diablo III went live.

Blizzard has responded to the above- mentioned error, tweeting that if you’re getting error 37 give it some time and try to log in again.

However, logging in isn’t the only challenge. Geek.com reports that once some players managed to log in and navigate to the hero creation screen, they were unable to move forward and the game eventually crashed – spitting them back to the login screen. Blizzard attributed the second error to server overload.