Players are now one step closer to the release of the year’s biggest massively multiplayer online (MMO) game, Aion.

Within the next four weeks, NCsoft will treat European and North American gamers to two opportunities to jump into the world of Aion and explore Atreia as Asmodian or Elyos characters ahead of its release in Europe on 25nd September and North America 22th September. Aion’s Open Beta Test featuring version 1.5 will take place 6-13th September and will include numerous Western enhancements, including improvements to Aion’s innovative character customisation with a host of Western styles, as well as new zones, instances, skills, quests and continued game balancing and improvements. Open Beta will retain a level cap for both Elyos and Asmodians characters at 30 allowing players to focus on getting to the same level so they can explore the lands of Atreia together, as well as the Abyss.

Players who have pre-ordered Aion will be treated to a Pre-Select and a two-day Headstart period giving them the opportunity to explore, organise and progress through the game prior to the official launch. Pre-Select will take place on 18th September, while Aion’s Headstart will begin 20th September. Players can still participate in the Aion’s Pre-Select and Headstart programs by pre-ordering the game through several participating online and brick-and-mortar retailers. For a complete list please go to www.aiononline.com.

Unlike any MMO before it, Aion is a uniquely crafted online experience where flight offers much more than just a way to explore the landscape – it is a strategic and integral part of combat, quests, and exploration. Players will dive into battle and plunge through thousands of unique, story-driven quests, all while trying to save a world literally shattered in half from centuries of brutal conflict. Using one of the most flexible and in-depth character customisation systems ever featured in an MMO, players will be able to create genuinely distinct characters and explore a visually stunning world of ethereal beauty brimming with otherworldly inhabitants, mysterious enemies, and ancient secrets.

For more information about Aion, go to www.aiononline.com.

With the 5th phase in the closed beta almost here, we have the details on what’s new! There’s loads of great stuff in this phase so be sure to check it out. You can see the original topic here or just read below.

We had a blast showing off Aion to the enormous crowds of people and potential robots at Comic-Con in San Diego last week. It was a crazy event that spanned five days - but we are now back in the office, getting ready to launch a brand new beta event that is sure to tickle your curiosity. Read on.

Closed Beta event #5 (CB5) is incoming, ladies and gentlemen, and it’s coming with a respectable shipment of fixes, improvements and fine additions which we have worked hard to complete since the previous event. To give you an overview, please find below a pure list of things to expect for this coming weekend:

• New Sound files have been added
  • NPCs should now have a greet and farewell voice
  • Cutscenes will now have voice
  • Race Prologues are now available when you create a new character for Elyos and Asmodian
  • Tutorial videos are now available in game via the help menu
  • Player voices are now available at character creation
  • System voices are now available
• New NPC Dialogue/Quest text for Theobomos and Brusthonin
• Various Localization fixes
  • Broken HTMLs have been fixed
  • Various grammatical errors have been fixed
  • Various Glossary term fixed
• 2 New servers added for each territory

Especially exciting for us is to introduce a first round of English audio, allowing you all to have a small taste of a more completely localized version of Aion. As we have announced before we are committed to releasing Aion with all its content adjusted and culturalized into top-notch English, including character voices and voice-overs. Keep in mind that these are currently implemented as a beta feature and that they will contain minor irregularities and bugs. Bear with us as we work to polish this and extend the volume of content even more in the foreseeable future. You will be able to log in to the game no later than on Friday noon PDT (8 PM BST, 9 PM CEST), marking the exciting dawn for two entirely new game servers for each territory. In order to promote newcomers to join these new servers, character creation will be disabled on all other servers during the beginning of the event.

Meanwhile, the much asked for beta forums will open for responsible posting again on Thursday 30th noon PDT (8 PM BST, 9 PM CEST). Don’t miss it, as constructive feedback means a lot to us and allows us to make even more accurate improvements to the game before launch.

Let us thereupon extend a hopefully helpful recommendation as conclusion to this announcement. The audio-rich patch for CB5 is definitely a big one, and it’s advisable for you to boot up your patcher as soon as possible in order to get the game ready for the weekend. Waiting until the last minute to download all the new content we’re pushing out for this event could mean that you miss out on a good amount of enjoyable playtime!

That’s all for now, see you in Atreia!