ArenaNet announces that Guild Wars Nightfall is shipping, and the MMORPG follow-up should be in stores tomorrow, when the servers will go live:

Thursday 26th October/...Guild Wars Nightfall™, one of the most anticipated PC game releases of 2006, is on its way to retailers and will be available on store shelves in Europe and North America on October 27, 2006. Nightfall™ is the latest campaign release in the award-winning Guild Wars® franchise created by ArenaNet® and published by NCsoft® Europe, the world’s leading developer and publisher of online computer games.

Set in the land of Elona, an evil ruler is attempting to summon her outcast god, and the stout of heart are asked to answer the rallying cry to fight back the looming darkness that falls on the land. As you explore opulent cities, brave savage coasts, delve deep into ancient monuments, and find your way across poisonous deserts you will determine the fate of the new realm of Elona.

To aid you in your duty, Nightfall introduces exciting new features such as: · Heroes– customisable companions that level up with you, use weapons and skills of your choosing, and go forth with you into battle. · Hero Battles, the ultimate one-on-one challenge, this new PvP (Player versus Player) game play allows two players, and their Heroes, to compete against one another. · Templates will let players save, store, and exchange Hero builds, providing countless combinations to create the ultimate team of Heroes. · Along with the new features are new missions, hundreds of new skills, new armour, two fierce new professions, and endless replay ability.

“The response to the recent preview events has been over whelming, so much that Guild Wars Nightfall is already being heralded as the best of the Guild Wars series,” says Geoff Heath, CEO, NCsoft Europe. “Nightfall brings innovative new features to the game that revolutionised the online gaming genre and NCsoft is thrilled to launch this flagship game.”

Guild Wars Nightfall will be available in both Standard and Collector’s Editions. The Collector’s Edition includes the Guild Wars Nightfall game as well as a Making of Guild Wars Nightfall behind-the-scenes DVD produced by Gameplay HD, a collector’s art book, collectible skill pins, a character mini-standee, a poster-sized map of Elona, the Guild Wars Nightfall soundtrack CD, and more. Guild Wars, an instant bestseller in Europe and North America upon its release in April 2005, and Guild Wars Factions™, the number one game in both Europe and North America earlier this year, are global online role-playing games. With a suggested retail price of £29.99 and still no subscription fee, Guild Wars Nightfall will be available worldwide and servers supporting the new release will “go live” at 8:01 BST / 9:01 CET on October 27, 2006.