Welcome back to Aion. Yes it's Closed Beta Test 2 weekend and this time round I'm rolling Asmodian to explore a very different side of the shattered planet of Atreia. During CBT1 we showed you the lower half of the planet, a land known as Elysea and home of the angelic Elyos. I walked you through the character creation process, the first ten levels as a frail mortal, the Elyos ascension quest and those first steps into Sanctum and Verteron. Now it's time to visit the upper half and home of the Asmodians, the continent of Asmodae.

Stereotypes and ingrained perceptions can be frustrating to deal with, but let's face it -- some stereotypes do exist for a reason, and this can certainly apply to games as much as to anything else. There have been no small amount of Asian import MMOs that have been localized poorly for the western market, and this has certainly left a bad taste in gamers' mouths. Localization is a major challenge for any developer, and there's a rather wide chasm between what makes a game popular in an Asian market like Korea and what players embrace in the west. The westward-bound MMO that many people are focusing on right now is Aion, from NCsoft.

The westernization of Aion is the subject of another solid interview at The MMO Gamer by Steven Crews, who sat down with Aion producer Brian "Xaen" Knox, the person largely responsible for NC West's localization of this title. Knox talks about what he sees as being the best aspects of both East and West in terms of game development, and how some western influences on Aion's design have actually proven to be successful in Korea. It's a fairly in-depth interview and hits on a number of Knox's ideas about how a game can begin to bridge the game culture divide between East and West, seen in the context of Aion. Check it out over at The MMO Gamer.

With only two days to go before the next leg of the Aion beta (aka CBT2), CM Ayase has posted more information on this weekend's event but also gone into a little more detail (much of which we already knew) about the on-going beta. However he also mentions what amount to the briefest of build notes letting us know about changes such as sever queues, NPCs fixes and 'culturalized content' (I chose to read that as 'lore') specifically for Asmodians.

Ayase also reveals the subject matter of CBT3 which will focus on leveling an Asmodian from 1-20 while CBT4 will allow players to pick a side and level their avatar to 25. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the post is not what we're getting now but what is promised on the horizon including localized voice overs for cut scenes, localized tutorial video, in game pre-rendered movies (of which we saw a little in the first beta event) and more culturalized content for Asmodians and the Elyos. I'm excited already.

Heads up European Aion fans because NCsoft have just announced their pre-order plans for the game. From today you'll be able to pre-order the either the standard steelbook or special collector's edition (limited to 15,000 copies in Europe and Australia) of the game via selected outlets. Trust me, you really want to do this because you'll get special bonus in-game items and the ability to reserve your character name along with early-access to the servers.

The pre-order will be especially relevant to those of you not yet in the beta (the next stage of which starts this weekend). Pre-ordering will get you a key which will allow you access to all the upcoming beta tests. You will also get access to stat-boosting items including the Lodas' Amulet, the Black Cloud Hat and one of four Ancient Rings of Power as well as being able to play the game two days before the rest of the world. Actually I think that alone makes Aion worth pre-ordering but whatever you do, don't forget to stay tuned to Massively this weekend when we'll be posting a first look at the Asmodian leg of the beta.

We just received the official word from NC West and can confirm that the North American NDA has dropped for Aion. This is great news for the 5% of testers who exhibited enough self-control to uphold the NDA, while the other 95% spoke freely as if it didn't exist at all. Some bloggers even took the loophole approach and downloaded the Chinese client so they could share their early impressions without breaking the NDA.

We can expect to see all sorts of new goodies release now that the NDA is no more. One such tool is called the Aion Armory, which is a database project partnership between AionSource and Curse. Anyone familiar with WARDB or WOWDB will find themselves quite at home on this site. AionSource also opened a new free guide subforum you may want to check out before participating in the Asmodian beta event taking place this weekend.

An early September release is looking more and more likely every day.

Renewed speculation about Aion's North American release date began swirling when a couple online retailers listed it at September 1, 2009. We have now come across some interesting information in the July issue of Beckett Massive Online Gamer that suggests NCsoft may indeed meet the target. The magazine lists these key dates:

• June 19-21: Asmodian closed beta capped at level 10
• July 3-5: Asmodian level cap increases
• July 17-19: Abyss only with unrestricted flight and hopefully a lot of PvP
• August 14-17: First open beta
• August 19-23: Second open beta

The dates are listed as "accurate as of press time" and may be subject to change, but we can confirm the Asmodian beta will commence this weekend and that it will be capped at level 10. You can definitely be sure of one thing: Massively will be there to cover each and every Aion beta event from now until release.

[Via: Keen and Graev]

After leveling your stunning avatar to level 9, ascending to Daevahood and getting your wings, it's time to go out into the world -- well Verteron at least. But first, let's talk a little about the glorious city of Sanctum and what your new Daevic powers really mean. Join us after the jump as we take a closer look at Aion's hub city of Sanctum, the zone of Verteron and the basics of flying.

The team here at Massively have piled on the Aion coverage over the weekend, giving you a fairly in-depth look at this upcoming NCsoft title. While some feel this is just a shinier version of other games we've already seen ('Lineage 2 without as much PvP' is one we've heard quite a bit) others are really looking forward to the next beta test. That said, we have this lovely image sent in to us by Wade, who we can only assume is another writer not under NDA since he's sending images in to us. He explains what this image is about: Final group goodbye to Aion, after the dance party, just seconds before the world ended for the 1st North American beta preview

If you're in a beta not blocked by NDA (or aren't under NDA due to being a writer) we'd love to see your screenshots! Not in an open beta? No worries -- we love screenshots from all games! Just send them to us with a brief description of what we're seeing along with your name and the name of the game to oneshots AT massively DOT com. We'll post up your virtual postcard for everyone to enjoy and give you credit for sending it in.

In the last two days, we've walked you through character creation in Aion: Tower of Eternity and introduced you to the starter zone of Poeta. Now it's time to get to the interesting bit, the Ascension quest where you finally transcend your frail Elyos form and become a Daeva. While this ascension can take place any time after you ding level 9, there are a number of campaign quests which must be completed first These begin much earlier, around level six when you befriend the Forest Lord Daminu and gain the amusing title Tree-Hugger.

Becoming a Daeva and earning your wings -- literally in this case -- is one of the reasons players have been so excited by Aion. It is your destiny and an inevitable part of the game play but it has some caveats. We'll get to those in a bit but first, join us after the jump, when we take a deeper look into the Ascension quest itself.

MMOs fall into two main categories: eastern (titles like Aion and Perfect World International) and western (AoC, WoW and EVE Online). I've noticed over the past week's Daily Grind columns and a piece I did on Perfect World International that a lot of our readers seem naturally wary of any MMOs not made in the west, barring familiar franchises like Final Fantasy.

Now part of this I can understand, eastern MMOs usually have very anime-like visuals and often borrow from unfamiliar Asian mythologies. This can often scare off western players. At the same time, players in Asia seem to lap up western MMOs like WoW. I'm curious, readers, do you judge an MMO the location of the company which made it? Do you prefer western MMOs or are you just as curious to try eastern games which other players just don't get?

Yesterday, we showed you the character creation process for Aion: Tower of Eternity and today it's time to enter Elysea. The lower portion of the fractured world of Atreia, Elysea is, for the most part, as beautiful as its inhabitants. Poeta is a starter zone (actually more of an island) where the Elyos level from 1 to 9 on their journey to become Daeva and choose a subclass. It is where you learn how to play and are gently introduced to the mechanics which make Aion a very different kind of MMO.