If you're making any plans on disappearing off the face of the earth anytime soon, make it happen sometime later because Blizzard has just announced that the beta test for Diablo 3 will begin in the third quarter this year—specifically between July and September.
If everything goes according to plan, prospective players will be invited to participate in the game's external beta test.
"We began internal company-wide testing last week," said Mike Morhaime of Blizzard. "The game looks great, and we're currently targeting a Q3 launch for external beta testing."
The studio-publisher is targeting a release window prior to the end of the year, but it's unlikely that the game will hit the store shelves before 2012.