Do you plan on participating in the Aion beta this weekend? If not, you may want to reconsider, because NCsoft is offering a pretty amazing contest for those of you who decide to play. Here's the rub: North American players who log into the Aion closed beta this weekend (July 2nd to July 6th) and obtain level 3 are entered to win a trip to Seattle for themselves and a friend. This trip culminates at the Aion launch party at the Seattle Space Needle, where they'll also get to attend the PAX 2009 expo.

Pretty cool, right? We're sure that many of you would kill to get a chance to play Aion at all, let alone be entered into this contest. So make sure you get to at least level 3 if you're playing this weekend. You may as well if you're already going to play at all, right? And if you really want that beta key now -- but haven't had the luck to nab one -- preorder customers are given access to every beta event. You can find the page for preordering yourself a copy right here.

Join me as I brave my way through lands unknown in an adventure dictated entirely by you, the Massively readers! Vote for everything from game played to character creation to ultimate goal and watch it unfold in a series of journals and galleries here on the site. Then, as the ultimate goal is reached, we'll do it all over again in a new game!

When last we saw our Guild Wars heroine, she had just finished exploring every city in Kryta and was off to do the same in the Maguuma Jungle. According to your votes, Moira Zonk the Necromancer headed off to unlock each of the eight cities in the Jungle and ultimately reach the Amnoon Oasis in the Crystal Desert.

Now that she sits at the Oasis, recovering from her travels, she's ready to head off in whatever direction you'd like. Keep reading below for more on her travels and the newest poll where you can vote on where she ventures next.

NCsoft is hoping that the pairing of flight and fantasy in Aion will prove to be a hit in both North America and Europe. Gamers who were accepted into the betas have been asking the Aion team about which version of the title the Western markets will see at launch. NCsoft has announced: "Aion is planned to release with version 1.5, the third major game update, bringing the content as up to date as possible. The Aion team strives to keep the game content consistent between territories, and releasing with this game version brings us one step closer to this goal."

Our own Lesley Smith has been writing about her experiences with the game through Aion's various beta test phases, particularly the experience of becoming a Daeva as an Elyos or as an Asmodian; we recommend reading her hands-on series if you're interested in this title. Massively will continue to cover Aion leading right up to the game's September launch.

MMO players come in all shapes and sizes and boast a variety of personality traits. Picking a race, class, and faction combination in your favorite MMO can sometimes give an insightful look at the player behind the keyboard. At least, Paul Barnett thinks so: "Most of the people I've met who like Dwarfs basically look like Dwarfs."

That may be true because I'm a pretty tall and lean person and I hate playing Dwarves. Then again, my MMO history includes playing a number of Kobolds in Dark Age of Camelot and Goblins in Warhammer Online, so I could just be really strange.

While browsing the Aion community forums, we came across an interesting post. One of the board members has written up a quick and quirky guide for choosing one of the game's eight classes based on one's personality. Obviously, numbers and stats play a huge factor in making class decisions for many players, but this could be a more healthy approach.

At the very least, you will gain a better understanding of the kinds of people playing these classes, which could give you a strategic advantage when you run into them on the battlefield.

The folks over at Ten Ton Hammer have been cranking out a number of features that examine the various class archetypes and specialty classes of Aion. So far, they've produced two game guides showcasing the Priest and Mage archetypes and had four interviews with NCsoft discussing the Gladiator, Templar, Ranger, and Assassin specialty classes.

When creating a character in Aion, you must initially choose one of four available archetypes. Anyone who has played a fantasy MMO or RPG in the past decade or so will find them quite familiar. They are the Warrior, Scout, Priest, and Mage.

Once you reach level 9, you're sent on a quest to discover your true identity and ascend to daevahood. The quest is like Red Bull - it gives you wings. At this point you must choose a specialty class defined by your original archetype. Warriors become Gladiators or Templars. Scouts become Rangers or Assassins. Priests become Clerics or Chanters. Mages become Sorcerers(esses) or Spiritmasters.

By our count, TTH has covered half the archetypes and specialty classes so far, so keep your eyes peeled for the second half coming soon. We'll also bring you our own impressions of these classes when beta permits. So far, we've been limited to testing some pretty low level characters.

It's not everyday that we find a letter addressed to an entire company's audience when it's posted on a specific game site, but that's what NCsoft West's executive producer, Lance Stites has done with his recent letter to the Aion community.

To sum up his letter, it's been a busy series of restructuring the company and preparing for their next big release: Aion. While much of the focusing has been on Aion, the company isn't looking away from Lineage, Lineage II or Exteel. Those are still high on the company's priority list, according to Stites.

But things are going along smoothly for Aion, as more voice overs are currently being recorded, the localization is continuing smoothly, and tutorial videos are in production. It sounds like Aion really is the golden game of the studio, but it's also nice to hear about all of the staffing changes going on with the other games.

For the full letter and all of the nitty gritty of what's going on with the studio, head on over to Aion's website and check out Stites's report.

There might be another week until the next stage of the Aion beta but NCsoft are ramping up the excitement surrounding their next big MMO. Today they released a video showcasing yet another part of the rich world of Atreia. Profiling the Asmodian zone of Beluslan, the short video offers an eagle's eye view of what we can expect when the game goes on sale in September.

Join us after the jump for NCsoft's take on the zone as well as the video itself.

Guild Wars and ArenaNet community manager Regina Buenaobra has announced that due to issues with the Xunlai House Tournament point distribution on June 18th, the decision has been made to temporarily halt Xunlai until the error has been completely resolved. Apparently, some players were getting the incorrect amount of points, while others weren't getting any points.

According to ArenaNet, they have the correct point amounts for May and will be making sure everyone gets the proper amount, whether or not they reported a problem with their points. Currently, there's no date on which Xunlai will be restored, but Regina makes it very clear that they're working hard on getting the issues ironed out.

It's not a fun situation for anyone, but we'd just like to say good on ArenaNet for jumping on the issue like a frenzied lion on a juicy antelope. Hopefully the dates for May point reissues and Xunlai's reopening aren't too far in the distance.

We've always operated under the assumption that City of Heroes was designed in such a way that power customization would be very difficult. So a recent forum post hinting by lead designer Matt "Positron" Miller showing that it's apparently happening makes this news all the more interesting.

Of course, all we get are a couple screenshots of purple and blue imps to tease us, but then again what else do you really need to know right now? Well okay, we suppose you could know how colorization works and if it's something that's done only during character creation or at any time while playing. It would also be nice to know the extent that powers could be customized, too.

We'll just have to wait until July to hear more about Issue 16. So until then, dream about City of Heroes in whatever color you like -- even made up ones!

The hype surrounding Aion has certainly increased in the last month or two, particularly due to the hands-on time the public has had with recent beta events (you can see all of our coverage of the ongoing beta here). Whether the game has won you over or if you're just watching pessimistically from the sidelines, you're probably interested to know when it will officially launch in the western world. IGN is reporting that Aion will launch on the 22nd of September in North America, and the European launch won't be far behind on the 25th of September.

Other notable MMO launches in September include Champions Online, and Cities XL (for some European countries). Even with its recently pushed back release date, Champions will still be out well before Aion if its 1st of September goal is reached. Seeing as all three of these games aren't really very similar, their close proximity probably isn't too much of a big deal, but it does mean that some of the largest MMO launches of the year will be right next to each other.

Just a couple months ago a friend told me that Aion was the biggest and baddest upcoming MMORPG that no-one in North America knew about. It broke records and won awards when it launched in Korea last year, yet hardly anyone over here was talking about it. Well, things can change quickly.

As the September launch date approaches, NCsoft has been kicking Aion promotion into high gear. Their latest marketing effort is a four-part series of video podcasts hosted by IGN. The first part came out on Friday and serves as a crash course on the lore behind Aion, Atreia, and the three main factions called the Asmodians, Elyos, and Balaur (the NPC dragon race that sets up the PvPvE system).

The video really gives you a good look at Aion's very own fourth pillar (sorry BioWare, you might have some competition here) and is full of stunning in-game footage, cinematics, and staff interviews. Closed beta is currently in full swing and we're keeping tabs on it for you.

With our very own head honcho playing through Guild Wars, we're seeing quite a bit of Ascalon as it was during Prophecies. But what of those lands later into the Guild Wars storyline? Today's One Shots comes to us from Kateri, who gives us a bit of a spoiler (for those who haven't played further, anyway) into what happens in the timeline. Kateri writes in: [This is] my Ranger character in the Eye of the North expansion, scouting enemy territory. For people who turned Ascalon from a pastoral idyll into a ruined wasteland, the Charr certainly keep their own lands looking pretty!

When you're out and about in your favorite MMO, why not snap some screenshots and send them our way? It's always appreciated as we love to have lots of different worlds to show off. Just email them to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the game the image is from, and a brief (or long) decsription! We'll post your image for people to enjoy both as part of the column, and in our massive One Shots gallery - now well over 575 images strong and counting!

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.

Join me as I brave my way through lands unknown in an adventure dictated entirely by you, the Massively readers! Vote for everything from game played to character creation to ultimate goal and watch it unfold in a series of journals and galleries here on the site. Then, as the ultimate goal is reached, we'll do it all over again in a new game!

You voted and I listened, as this week's adventure took me through every town and outpost in the entire Krytan area. Eight cities later, I'm here to beg for more!

I found it very interesting that the readers wanted me to stay in Kryta and finish out the exploration of this area. It either means that you want me to take my time and do things the right way (although I did run down to Sanctum Cay and Riverside Province from Temple of the Ages), or you simply want my time in Guild Wars to last a bit longer. Either way, I'm here to do your bidding! Speaking of that, it's time to vote for next week's goal! Click through after the jump and let me know what will be next for our beloved Moira Zonk. Also be sure to check out her ongoing in-character journal and gallery, starting this week as she leaves Lion's Arch.