Turbine announces a delay to the North American launch of Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited until September 9, after originally setting an August 6 release date for this subscription-free edition of their D&D MMORPG. Here's word on the delay and a refresher on what DDO Unlimited has planned:

“We’ve had a tremendous response to DDO Unlimited from the players and press who are participating in our beta program,” said Fernando Paiz, Executive Producer of DDO Unlimited. “We’ve been holding a series of live events as part of the beta program and have seen an unprecedented level of participation from players. While we are very pleased with the performance of the game and are excited about the response from the players, we are committed to delivering a high-quality experience. We feel that more time is needed to deliver on this commitment. As a result, we are delaying our launch to ensure that we can support the massive increase in players that we are expecting and deliver them a free to play experience like none other.”

DDO Unlimited will raise the level cap, introduce a new player class and add major new content, as well as make the game free to play for everyone. The new DDO Unlimited delivers heart-pounding game play featuring the industry’s best combat system, a massive world with state-of-the-art graphics and gameplay, and a rich set of features that until now could only be found only in premium subscription-based MMOs. DDO Unlimited will introduce an innovative new pricing model that allows players to download and play for free, purchasing adventure packs, items, and account services a la carte from the new DDO Store, or to subscribe to get unlimited access to all of the game’s content. Turbine will provide DDO VIPs early access to the game to beginning September 1, 2009 and will provide free, unlimited access to everyone on September 9, 2009.