Guild Wars Factions Ships Worldwide

ArenaNet, developer of the online role-playing game Guild Wars, and NCsoft Europe announced that one of the year's most-anticipated PC titles, Guild Wars Factions, has officially shipped. For fans of the game that revolutionized online role-playing, the wait is nearly over as Guild Wars Factions goes out today to retail stores worldwide.

Those who pre-ordered the game will be able to participate in the exclusive Guild Wars Factions Head Start Event beginning at 07:01 GMT / 08:01 CET on 27th April 2006. These lucky gamers will have access to the game for a total of 48 hours, including a full 24 hours before the game's global release. During the first 24 hours of the Head Start Event, ArenaNet has planned an exclusive in-game event titled "Day of the Tengu," in which players will join one-day-only "Day of the Tengu" quests, and earn exclusive in-game rewards.

"New features in Guild Wars Factions such as guild scrimmages, alliance battles, ranked character titles, and some surprises still to come all resulted from our drive to create a truly unique gaming experience for existing and new fans of the Guild Wars universe," says Mike O'Brien, co-founder of ArenaNet. "With a full year of development and a passionate design team, we think what we've created delivers on that and much, much more. Either played as a stand-alone game, or linked with your original Guild Wars account, Guild Wars Factions is a game we are thoroughly proud of and still carries no subscription fee."

Guild Wars Factions takes place on the Asian-inspired continent of Cantha, where players create a character from eight distinct professions - including the newly created Assassin and Ritualist - and join an epic quest that pits two warring factions, the Luxons and the Kurzicks, against an ancient evil, and against each other. As players become embroiled in this brutal war of conquest, new missions will provide both role-playing fans and competitive PvP players the opportunity to help determine the fate of Cantha.