It's been 12 years since Blizzard last released an installment of its popular Diablo franchise, but judging by the enormous demand that today's release of Diablo III is seeing, it might as well have been yesterday.

The game unlocked at midnight Tuesday. Despite the late hour, however, players quickly overwhelmed the game's servers, extending the pain of people who have been waiting to wear out their index fingers on the clickfest.

Diablo III launched in multiple territories, which caused the Battle.net servers (required to authenticate the game before owners can play it) to buckle. That resulted in a dreaded "Error 37" message, forcing players to log in again, a stalling tactic to make the queue more orderly.

Not so fast...With the circus-like E3 expo less than three weeks away (listen closely and you can hear the collective gaming industry screaming in excitement/terror), you'd think the focus would be on 2012.

But with game sales on track right now to hit a six-year low, developers and publishers certainly want this year to end on an uptick, right? Well, of course, they do, but more and more, 2013 is looking like the year where things are going to get really interesting.

Square Enix's decision to delay the reboot of Tomb Raider until next year was the second big push back this year. Last week, Take-Two Interactive Software announced that Bioshock Infinite would miss its original October 16, 2012 release

(Credit: Getty Images)The Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3 have done well for themselves, as over half of all U.S. households own a modern video game console. That also means, however, that a good chunk of the country still isn't playing along.

With whispers of next-generation systems swirling -- and one confirmed to launch later this year -- deciding whether to buy a current generation system isn't an easy one. Should you spend the money now, or should you wait and be a part of the cutting-edge in the months to come? Systems have typically hit the sweet spot in pricing, and there's a tremendous catalog of games to choose from (many at discount prices, thanks to "Platinum editions" of top-selling games).

With that in mind, here's a look at whether you should grab a system today or hold out for the next level.

Casey's Contraptions (Not Amazing Alex, officially)After flinging ticked off toucans at egg-stealing pigs for the past three years, the developers at Rovio are ready to spread their wings and fly away from the nest.

The creator of the massively successful Angry Birds franchise has a new game on the way, with nary a bird in sight.

Amazing Alex is in the works right now, a game centered on a young boy (go on…guess his name) who loves to build things. It's expected to hit the App store in the next two months.

Credit: Exeter CathedralAt a cathedral in England, congregants will pass around a PlayStation 3 Sunday as part of collaborative gameplay meant to enhance the spiritual journey.

By Leslie Katz, CNET

Put down the hymnal and pass the PlayStation. A British cathedral plans to incorporate a video game into worship services this Sunday.

At the Exeter Cathedral in Devon, England, the congregation will collaboratively play the PS3 game Flower, passing the Sony controller around until the first level is completed.

What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?

Fireballs, for one thing. Also Dragon Punches, Shaolin Spin Kicks, and Phoenix Smashers. And if you don't believe us, then you've yet to play Street Fighter X Tekken.

A big hit on the consoles (the Xbox 360 version earned an 83  Metacritic score), the game mashes together the two famous franchises, letting players mix and match the likes of Ryu, Ken, Paul, Tiger and about 35 other burly characters. Deep gameplay, stellar graphics — it's a beast of a fighting game, and it's uppercutting its way to PCs today.

Kinect Star Wars (LucasArts)Four months of 2012 are over. And not one of them has held good news for video game publishers.

Total video game sales came to $630.4 million in April, down 32 percent from $930.9 million a year ago. Video game software sales were especially lousy, down an astonishing 42 percent, coming in at just $292 million. Hardware sales were down 32 percent, according to The NPD Group, which tracks the numbers. The numbers are significantly worse than analysts were expecting, more than double the 19 percent drop Wedbush Securities' Michael Pachter had warned of.

Diablo III (Blizzard)Releasing for the PC and Mac on May 15, Diablo III is just around the corner. Passionate fans have been waiting years for this -- it's been over a decade since Diablo II first stormed shelves -- and with midnight sale launch events occurring all over the country on Monday, there are going to be millions of red-eyed gamers dragging themselves to work Tuesday morning. Those who don't phone in sick, that is.

But why the fervor? What makes this particular action/role-playing romp such a big deal? Here are five reasons: