NCsoft and ArenaNet officially announce Guild Wars 2 and the Guild Wars: Eye of the North expansion, following the PC Gamer Magazine confirmation (story) of a rumor about both projects (story). Here's word on Eye of the North, expected in the third quarter of this year, and Guild Wars 2, which is expected to reach beta testing by the second half of next year:

Tuesday 27th March/...NCsoft® Europe and ArenaNet® today revealed their exciting plans for the future of the hugely successful Guild Wars® franchise. The companies announced that development already is underway on a full sequel to the original Guild Wars games. Guild Wars 2™ will draw from the game mechanics that made the original Guild Wars one of the most popular online games ever and will add a fully persistent world. It was also revealed that, like its predecessors, Guild Wars 2 will not have a subscription fee. No launch date was announced, but the ArenaNet team anticipates that Guild Wars 2 will go into beta sometime in the second half of 2008.

In addition, ArenaNet developers are working on the first true expansion for the Guild Wars franchise, Guild Wars Eye of the North™. Due to hit store shelves during the Q3 2007, Guild Wars Eye of the North™ will require at least one of the previous Guild Wars campaigns (Prophecies™, Factions™, or Nightfall™) in order to play. It’s a game that will benefit long-time players of the Guild Wars games, with all of the content targeting existing Guild Wars characters.

“We felt it was extremely important to reward those people who have been playing Guild Wars since the game first launched in 2005,” said Jeff Strain, co-founder of ArenaNet. “Those players have seen three very large campaigns created in a little under two years and so we think it’s time to begin filling in the details of the existing world and to provide more content for current characters. We are thrilled to focus our time on something that our players have been asking for.” Set largely in the dungeons and caverns of the lands of Tyria that players first explored in Guild Wars Prophecies, Guild Wars Eye of the North will have 18 large, multi-level dungeons, 150 new skills across all 10 Guild Wars professions, 10 new Heroes, 40 new armor sets, and even more items, weapons and titles. And for those looking even further down the road at Guild Wars 2, Guild Wars Eye of the North will provide a Hall of Monuments where players' accomplishments are memorialized and eventually inherited by their Guild Wars 2 characters, unlocking exclusive items and bonuses in Guild Wars 2.

“It’s the payoff we hope players will appreciate as we continue to build on the Guild Wars franchise,” said Strain. “We’re excited to announce these two new products and we want players to know that Guild Wars has an extremely exciting future in the months and years ahead.” More information on the Guild Wars franchise can be found at http://www.guildwars.com.