Guild Wars expansion dated

After the release of World of Warcraft's expansion pack The Burning Crusade, and the Shores of Evendim update for Lord of the Rings Online, Guild Wars is the latest massively multiplayer online role-playing game to be getting itself some new content.

Guild Wars: Eye of the North follows on from the story started in the original Guild Wars campaign and is set in previously unexplored parts of the continent of Tyria. New features include 18 multilevel dungeons, 150 new skills across the 10 Guild Wars professions, 10 new heroes, and new armor sets, weapons, items, and titles.

The expansion will have no subscription fee, like the original Guild Wars, and can be used by anyone who owns the expansion plus any of the three previously released games--the original Guild Wars, Guild Wars Factions, or Guild Wars Nightfall. Although it will be the first expansion, the two previous stand-alone campaigns were released in 2006. Guild Wars 2 is also due for release on an as-yet unnannounced date in 2008.

Guild Wars: Eye of the North will be released for the PC in the US and Europe on August 31, costing £24.99 in the UK, and 34.99 euros in the rest of Europe. The game will be available at retail, as well as being downloadable from the NCSoft store, and the Guild Wars in-game shop.

For more on Guild Wars: Eye of the North, check out GameSpot's interview with ArenaNet game designer Ben Miller.