In order to maximize our marketing and community efforts we have decided to reschedule and refocus our plans for Turbine Nation 2005. Events like Turbine Nation are best utilized as a way of facilitating communication between our live development teams and our subscribers in a more personal setting then message boards or e-mail. So this year we are separating the focus between games in development and games that are live.

This year we are planning to focus Turbine Nation strictly on our core fans and subscribers of the Asheron’s Call franchise. Turbine Nation will be held some time in the mid to late fall of this year and will very likely take place in Southern California. This event will be more like the previous Asheron’s Call Player Lunches, creating a more intimate setting for our players and developers to meet each other and hold discussions. We will be posting specific information about the new plans for Turbine Nation at a later date.

Fans who want to see and play DDO and LOTRO will have two opportunities to do so this summer. Both games will be featured as part of Turbine’s major presence at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) in Bellevue, WA on August 26th - August 28th. Having the event there allows us to meet our existing fans as well as reach out to new ones. It is very important to the long-term success of DDO and LOTRO that we begin building the communities even more, and a presence at an event like PAX is the perfect way to do this. PAX is a great event, attended by thousands of gamers. The event not only showcases video games, but also features pen-and-paper games, tournaments, and a host of other activities. We welcome everyone who was planning on attending the Rhode Island event to see DDO or LOTRO to meet us at PAX. We will have playable versions of DDO at our booth, as well as a few other surprises! You can read more about PAX and learn how to register by clicking this link - http://www.pennyarcadeexpo.com/.

In addition, DDO will be featured in Atari’s booth at Gencon-Indy on August 17-20 in Indianapolis. We will feature playable versions of DDO there, and fans will also be able to pick up other cool Turbine prizes.

Moving forward, we will continue to build awareness for our development projects (DDO and LOTRO) through attending appropriate consumer marketing-oriented events such as PAX and GenCon. We feel that is the best way to ensure the success of those two titles which in the long-run will benefit their communities as well. After these games are released we plan to hold community-oriented player events like Turbine Nation for them as well.

We apologize for the short notice and any inconvenience this change may cause. Anyone who has already made travel arrangements to Rhode Island and has trouble changing or canceling them please contact me directly at jhanna@turbine.com.

 

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