Aion gold, ready for launch Sept. 22

NCsoft announced that its latest MMORPG, Aion, has completed its North American development cycle and has been released to manufacturing. Aion will be released in North America on Sept. 22. In advance of the game’s launch, Aion will be showcased at both GamesCom 2009 in Cologne, Germany, as well as the Penny Arcade Expo 2009 in Seattle, Washington. Both events will feature exclusive hands-on access to the 1.5 version of the game, which has yet to be unveiled to Western audiences. This version of the game introduces several new enhancements, including continued improvements to Aion’s character customization system that includes a host of Western styles, as well as new zones, instances, skills, quests and continued game balancing and improvements.

Aion has already built decent momentum among gamers across Europe and North America, with more than three million hours of gameplay logged in the game’s closed best testing. Additionally, the Limited Collector’s Edition version of the game is nearly sold out at retailers, and Aion is currently on the best-seller lists for PC games weeks ahead of the game’s launch.

Aion is available for pre-order from several participating online and brick-and-mortar retailers, including Aiononline.com, Amazon, Best Buy, EB Games Canada, Fry’s Electronics, GameStop, Steam and Target. For more information about Aion go to www.aiononline.com.