Aion nears open beta in Korea

By Oli Welsh Published 29 October, 2008

Western version being "culturalised".

NCsoft has announced a date for the Korean open beta test for its forthcoming MMO, Aion: Tower of Eternity. The beta will begin on 11th November.

The company also took the opportunity to update us on the status of the US and European version of the game, although it stopped short of giving any timeframe for beta or release.

"We are currently in the process of localising and culturalising the game for the western market in order to reach the same level of quality that the game provides and are in heavy planning for our testing phases in North America and Europe," said the post.

"We are taking the utmost care in the localization process and we're dedicated to releasing the very best product in NCsoft West territories. With the ball now rolling, expect to hear much more, and see much more out of Aion in the coming months."

In other words, they're not rushing it, but it sounds like the game is still on course for its projected release in the first half of 2009.

Aion is NCsoft's concerted attempt to make a game that will appeal both to Lineage-obsessed Asian players and the World of Warcraft hordes of the west. It features the beautiful character models and intense, factional player-versus-player conflict of Korean MMOs, with the rich questing and more easygoing mechanics of Western tradition. Also: flying.

Check out our Aion preview for more.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (9) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • ZuluHero #1 4 years ago

    im really looking forward to this. It looks so beautiful.

  • kallenai #2 4 years ago

    If its been marketed and developed for the Asian market you can guarantee it will be a grind-a-thon of epic proportions, some how I don't think WAR and WOW need to worry.

  • ZuluHero #3 4 years ago

    but but... "...with the rich questing and more easygoing mechanics of Western tradition"

  • Chimpy #4 4 years ago

    I hope it's not another RF online.

  • ZuluHero #5 4 years ago

    Stop trolling. Has any of the information you've read, or any of the videos you've seen even pointed to that? No.

    RF online isn't even in the same league as Aion.
    Edited by ZuluHero at 29/10/08 @ 12:16

  • makeamazing #6 4 years ago

    wow calm down its only a game. :D

  • Slipstream #7 4 years ago

    Had my eyes on this when it was announced like...2 years ago, lost sight of it of course, and now it appears to have resurfaced.
    Really hope they can pull this off!

  • Hypercube #8 4 years ago

    What I'd really like is a game with the vast explorable world of World of Warcraft, optional RvR mechanics like WAR, graphics like Aion and boobs like Age of Conan. Now that would be cool.

    And fishing. It's got to have fishing.

  • CapnCloudchaser #9 4 years ago

    It's not made by the same people who made RF Online o_O

    Anyway, I've been looking forward to this for ages now, it's the only upcoming MMORPG that has me interested. I hope they stick to early 2009, cos I'll need my student loan then to buy a super hi-tech PC! ;)