Aion’s release is right around the corner, and our anticipation is running high! The beards and hairstyles of the character creator are groomed and lined up, jostling against each other in eagerness to be picked for your characters in this coming weekend’s Preselection and Head Start Programs.

Preselection is a benefit available to anyone who preordered Aion. If you are not sure whether or not you are eligible, simply log in to your NCsoft Master Account to verify that your game account is listed and your account type is not designated as “Beta”.

Starting 12:00 p.m. PDT (more) on September 18, 2009, eligible players will be able to start their game clients and log in to create a total of two characters ahead of everyone else. You can name and create these two characters through the standard character creator and be ready to play with these characters right when the game Head Start Program begins (but not beforehand). Preselection will end 9:00 a.m. PDT on September 20, 2009 (more).

Don’t miss this great opportunity to claim your character’s name before anyone else does. It isn’t too late to preorder, even if you have been holding out.

GamerZines has a proud history of putting together content-packed and interesting Aion-articles. Gamerzines has taken this a step further by dedicating one of its magazines to exploring Aion. This downloadable PCGZine issue includes hands-on insights and insider tips from one of our own: Associate Producer Lani “Liv” Blazier.

We are closing to the end of open beta and are with that putting a busy week of testing, bug hunting and insistent server improvements behind us. We have come a long way since day one and very happy to see all the positive things you have to say about Aion, but we are still at a point where can do a lot to improve connectivity performance and make the game a better and smoother experience for everyone.

The frosting on this beta’s cake will manifest itself through a dazzling new patch starting distribution on Saturday 9/12/2009 at 5 p.m. CDT/11 p.m. BST (more). We want to make up for the lost playtime not only by a long list of improvements, but also by adding an additional 6 hours to the end of open beta. Open beta will end on Monday 9/14/2009 at 2 a.m. CDT/8 a.m. BST (more)

It will take us a while to implement all the tasty updates, but if Aion is with us, Atreia will once again thrive with players and life two mere hours later. For European players who prefer to leave night watch to our owl friends in the animal kingdom, this is an excellent chance to leave your launcher on over night to make sure Aion gets patched up and ready for Sunday! The patch checks in at around 630 MB, and you might want to consider doing this sooner rather than later.

Aion 1.5.0.5 Patch Notes

We hope you are looking forward to experiencing all these improvements as much as we do, and wish you will enjoy the 6 hour extension of open beta. Keep posting the same good feedback in our beta forums as you have done so far, and follow us closely on Twitter (@aion_ayase, @aion_xaen, @aion_amboss, @aion_liv). Our mission to communicate everything Aion and to keep you updated continues.

Fly safely.

Get a firsthand look at the NCsoft office in Seoul, Korea, in the third official Aion video podcast found exclusively at incgamers.com, Gamereactor.net, Gamona.de, EveryEye.it, Hardgame2.com and PowerUnlimited.nl! Join Associate Producer Lani Blazier, Lead Designer YongChan Jee, Lead Artist Hyung Jun Kim, and other members of the development team in your inside peek at Aion. The team talks candidly about how the design makes the game appeal to players across the globe, the future of Aion, and more.