It is reported that a man playing Diablo 3 suffered a heart attack after playing the game for three straight days.

According to iGN, 32-year old Russell Shirley was found dead at his apartment by his landlord after a three-day marathon playing Diablo 3. According to the report, Shirley suffered a heart attack while playing Blizzard's addicting PC game.

Russell was a writer for gaming website, Gameranx, and fellow writer, Dave Oshry, tweeted his demise. According to the tweet, it is the first Diablo 3-related death.

However, close friends and families quickly denied the reports and said that the media reports sensationalized Russell's death, as some of the facts were inaccurate. In the comments on the article of Gameranx, Russell's friends and families commented the real reason of his death.

"Unfortunately the events portrayed are not entirely accurate and are being sensationalized. Russell struggled with health problems for some time and did not commit to a 3 day marathon session of Diablo 3. Many were excited over the release. The night before he was out with friends until 1am." one family member commented.

Relatives and friends plead that Russell must not be remembered as an addict gamer but a kind and loving person. It seems that Russell suffered health problems that eventually led to his untimely demise.

Another commented, "Russell had struggled with apnea for the entirety of the decade and a half that I knew him, due to complications in that regard he'd had trouble managing his weight, but it was believed by the coroner that was at the scene that Russell had not died of a heart attack but instead died due to his apnea; it was an overzealous assumption on someone's part that he died of a heart attack, there was no fact backing the statement."

This may serve a warning to all gamers to moderate the time they allot in playing. Monitoring one's game time is of vital importance.

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