Blizzard has officially announced today that Diablo III will be pushed back to 2012.  The announcement came today over at Diablo's Battle.net site and Blizzard's main site.

"For Diablo III, we were aiming to launch by the end of 2011. As we're announcing globally today, our new target for the game is early 2012." said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment.

Morhaime also announced that they will be extending the beta.  No word yet on when the new end date will be.

"We're still moving ahead at full pace, and we'll be keeping you fully informed of any news and developments here at Diablo3.com, including the specific release date when the time comes, so stay tuned."