An estimated 2,000 people attended the special midnight launch of Blizzard Entertainment’s “Diablo III” at the Irvine Spectrum on Monday night, a little more than a mile from the headquarters of Orange County’s biggest video game company.

WATCH VIDEO FROM THE LAUNCH

The last game in the “Diablo” series shipped in 2000 and is one of three mega-franchises from the game maker, including “Warcraft” and “Starcraft.”

The game is expected to break sales records and will bring new revenue streams to the Irvine-based game developer. “Diablo III” is built around players gathering virtual items to outfit their characters and includes an auctioning system that will let players sell, for real cash, rare and powerful items to one another picked up after defeating bad guys. Blizzard will tax each transaction.

The game sells for $60 along with a Collector’s Edition for $100, and some fans at the event had lined up more than 24 hours in advance hoping to get the game signed by developers as well as see some live entertainment.

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