Diablo III makers Blizzard, has unveiled a Diablo III starter edition.  Some players who have pre-ordered the physical collectors edition may be able to download and patch the game tonight without having to go a store at midnight.  It seems some users have been granted access to the Starter Edition of the game although its unclear exactly what the requirements are.  This may have been a gift for beta testers or you may just simply have to have had an existing Battle.Net account.  The easiest way to check is to log-in to your account and see if Diablo III Starter edition is available to you for download.

In addition those who purchased the physical game will have an included guest pass that you can give to someone else which will allow them to download the Starter Edition.  The Starter Edition will be available via guest pass for 30 days at which point the SE will be open to all.  

Content for this version of the game is basically the same covered in the beta, users can play in Act I up to the Skeleton King with a level cap of 13.  Multiplayer is restricted to those with the same version of the game and the real money auction house won't be enabled.