Since Tuesday’s launch of open beta testing in Korea, concurrent user numbers have already jumped to more than 170,000 players, making it the most popular beta event in Korean history. According to NCsoft officials, more than 11,000 people were logged into the game after only two minutes of open beta service. In less than an hour, that number had ballooned to 40,000. Currently the number of concurrent players has leapt up to more than 170,000.

To meet the unprecedented demand by gamers, NCsoft rapidly expanded to 25 servers over the first few hours of opening the beta. Even with the increased number of servers, tens of thousands of people were waiting to enter the game. By the second day of open beta, the game reached the top spot in Korea’s Gametrics web site that rates games that are played in Korea’s PC Café industry.

“The response we’re seeing in Korea is incredibly exciting,” said David Reid, president of publishing for NCsoft West in Seattle. “Our Aion community in North America and Europe is also rapidly growing. We’ve got aggressive plans for the western launch in 2009”.

In Aion, players are divided between those that are "The Chosen” and those that are “The Fallen.” The Tower of Eternity exists as a gateway into the Abyss, and acts as a portal between dimensions. When a great evil opens the gateways, it awakens the Dragons imprisoned within the Abyss, who seek revenge on both worlds. It is here that an epic conflict begins, as you take your first steps on a journey to bring salvation to the world.

A mighty Celestial War has torn the once peaceful world of Atreia apart at the seams. In the wake of this catastrophic battle, just a few will ascend into divinity and save their people from total annihilation.

Choose from four unique character classes, gain experience and advance in one of two specialised classes. Your decisions will determine your path through Atreia, make them wisely…

Discover the inside of a world broken in two, where the only thing that connects either side is an unstable and perilous ri known as the Abyss. Choose between two divine factions, the Asmodian or the Elyos, and save your people from an ancient evil that threatens to destroy everything in its path.

Battle for control of valuable strongholds and artefacts within the Abyss, a hotly contested ba le eld resting between the upper and lower halves of Atreia. Plan and execute raids against rival factions, earn special ranks and rewards through victory, and prepare for unexpected a acks by the Balaur, an ancient race freed from imprisonment within the Abyss.

Engage in a spectacular and evolving combat system utilising combos, skill chains, counter-attacks and spectacular aerial combat. Group with friends or fly solo in the Abyss, where attacks can come from any direction. Experience the thrill of combat like never before!

Totally customise your character through an incredibly in-depth character creation tool, advanced cra ing systems and detailed item customisation. Take individuality to a new level with the innovative Stigma system, allowing characters to utilise and combine skills and abilities not normally available to that p abilities not normally available to that particular character’s class.

Key Features

• A massively multiplayer online game featuring antagonistic relationships between angels, demons and a server-controlled NPC faction, The Dragons.
• The most amazingly beautiful and detailed MMORPG ever, that brings the realities of what you can imagine to life.
• The Crytec game engine is used to create unprecedented freedom of 3D movement for your character in the game world - climb sheer cliffs and fly through moving clouds.
• Powered by cutting-edge graphics technology, this game provides Hollywood quality cinematic control of scene and perspective.
• Control and transform the world – servers feature independently driven, player inspired storylines.
• Cultural boundaries are defied through this offering of art, story and style with global appeal.
• Asia’s top New Age musician, Yang Bang Ean, whose work includes compositions for television, feature films and anime series such as the “The Twelve Kingdoms™” (Juuni Kokki), provides an amazing original score for the game.
• Introducing PvPvE – an evolving conflict system that manages the complex relationships and alliances between realms, races and guilds, and also controls an NPC faction, The Dragons, who are the common enemy of all players.

Aion: The Tower is scheduled to launch in Korea within the year and launches in China, North America, Europe and Japan are planned for 2009.