Tabula Rasa Goes Gold, Launch Date Announced

Although we already reported about the newly revealed release date for Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa, I figured some of you may be interested in checking out the official press release.
NCsoft Announces Launch Date for Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa

Gaming legend's widely anticipated online space adventure to launch October 19

Austin, Texas, September 6, 2007 NCsoft®, the world's leading developer and publisher of online computer games, announced today that Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa® has reached gold master status and will launch commercial service in North America and Europe on October 19, 2007. Pre-order customers will begin their three-day head start on October 16.

One of the most anticipated PC games of the year, Tabula Rasa is gaming legend Richard Garriott's newest title, which combines a vast, persistent game world and rich storyline with fast paced action. Set in a near-future science fiction storyline, players create characters that must fight to save humanity against hostile alien enemies while trying to gain control of the universe. The game introduces several innovative elements to massively multiplayer online (MMO) games, including a Character Cloning Systemâ„¢ that allows players to explore different character classes without having to create a new character, and dynamic battlefields where players experience the frenetic action of combat in an ongoing war.

(It has been a heck of a journey,) said Richard Garriott, the game's executive producer. (The fact that we are getting ready for the final stretch towards launch feels great, but it is also just the beginning. I think we've managed to do something truly unique and I hope that the gaming community likes it as much as we do. Now, I am looking forward to a really fun gnd of beta event' for our incredible testers, and focusing development on new planets and innovations for future expansions of Tabula Rasa.)

The standard edition box of Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa will be available at major online retailers at an expected retail price of $49.99 and at the PlayNC® store (https://secure.plaync.com/cgi-bin/Store.pl). Customers will be able to purchase the recently announced Limited Collector's Edition box from major retailers at an expected retail price of $69.99. Both products include the first month of online game play. After the first month, players will be charged a monthly subscription fee of US$14.99. Sixty-day game time cards will also be available at many North American retailers for an expected retail price of US$29.99. The game is rated Teen by the Entertainment Software Rating Board.

For more information about Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa go to http://www.rgtr.com. For more information about the Limited Collector's Edition go to http://www.plaync.com/us/news/2007/08/ncsoft_reveals_2.html.

About NCsoft Corporation
NCsoft North America is headquartered in Austin, Texas and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Korea-based NCsoft Corporation. NCsoft, with its own development and publishing offices in Texas and California, also works with other NCsoft subsidiaries and third party developers throughout North America to develop and publish innovative online entertainment software products. The company has successfully launched multiple online titles in the last three years and continues to support its franchises, which include Lineage®/Lineage II, City of Heroes®/City of Villains®, Guild Wars®/Guild Wars Factions™/Guild Wars Nightfall™/Guild Wars: Eye of the North™ and Dungeon Runners™. More information about NCsoft can be found at www.plaync.com.