| Bellevue, WASH., August 9, 2004 - ArenaNet™, creators of the highly
anticipated online role-playing game Guild Wars™, and NCsoft® the world’s
leading developer and publisher of online computer games, today announced
that they will host a World Preview Event October 29-31, officially kicking
off the game’s beta period. During the World Preview Event game players
from around the world will be invited to play Guild Wars and enjoy exciting
cooperative quests, challenging competitive play and robust guild support.
Guild Wars will be available for pre-order in September. Subsequent
monthly beta events will allow gamers who purchased the pre-order product
to return to play the Guild Wars beta during the first weekend of each
month.
“Beta events are a unique way for players to get a taste of Guild Wars
and participate in the crucial beta process,” Jeff Strain, Guild Wars
producer and ArenaNet co-founder said. “We welcome feedback from the millions
of players invited to join the events and plan to incorporate their input
as we polish, tune and balance the game.”
The October World Preview Event is the second time players have been
invited to play Guild Wars. The May 2004 “E3 for Everyone” event drew
more than 200,000 players from more than a dozen countries who experienced
Guild Wars first hand.
Guild Wars, a competitive online role-playing game that rewards player
skill, is the first title from ArenaNet, which was founded by key members
of the creative teams behind the hit games Warcraft®, StarCraft® and Diablo®,
and the creators of Battle.net®. In large, head-to-head guild battles,
cooperative group combat and single-player missions, players explore a
fantasy world while pursuing professions and acquiring skills to develop
their own personalized characters. Missions are not scripted adventures,
but are open battlegrounds where victory is determined by skill and teamwork.
More information about the October World Preview Event and subsequent
monthly beta events will be provided at http://www.guildwars.com.
About ArenaNet
ArenaNet, located in Bellevue, Washington, is a wholly owned subsidiary
of NCsoft and was founded by key members of the creative teams that developed
the hit game series StarCraft, Warcraft, and Diablo as well as Battle.net,
one of the most successful gaming networks in the world. ArenaNet is building
a state-of-the-art, interactive game network and developing premier multiplayer
online games for dedicated game players. More information about ArenaNet
can be found at http://www.arena.net.
About NCsoft Corporation
Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, NCsoft is a leading developer and
publisher of innovative and successful online games with subsidiaries
and joint ventures in the US, Asia and Europe. Founded in 1997 to provide
a leading-edge online gaming experience, NCsoft is constantly striving
to push the envelope of the online game experience with innovations in
technology, graphics and game play. NCsoft's fast-growing portfolio of
successful titles includes the currently released Lineage®, Lineage 2
and City of Heroes™ and the soon-to-be-released Guild Wars. More information
about NCsoft can be found at http://www.ncsoft.net.
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Stratics Central
