Biggest news yet We've got a lot of great news this week. We've been very busy getting things in place and we're in the final stretch. The beginnings of the new Marion crypt are in place and people are having fun with the new Spectral Mummies. The CD artwork has been turned to film and is ready for printing. We have a few more things we'd like to change to the CD content, but we should be gold tomorrow with the manufacturer receiving the Gold Master on Monday. Brain keeps enhancing and balancing the gameplay. Everything's looking great! Shown below is the final CD artwork. Thanks again to our friends Barry Blair and Colin Chan for their wonderful work! Pre-Launch Announced! Being such a small company we are doing a lot of things on our own that we have not had to do before. This includes the billing system, something we want to make sure we do not make any mistakes on. We recognize that Meridian 59's past was often plagued by billing problems and we wish to avoid this. Given the limited time before we would like to launch the game and the potental flood of eager players that may come calling on opening day, we are looking for ways to keep the system running even with our anticipated demand. With this in mind, we've decided to offer the game early to a limited number of players during a special Pre-Launch period. This will give us some time to ease into our new business as an online gaming service. The Pre-Launch will last from the close of the Beta test until we are confident enough to move on to the full launch open to all players. In order to participate in the Pre-Launch, you will have to purchase one of the Limited Edition CDs which has been limited to a printing of only one thousand copies. Players that purchase the limited edition CD will also receive an additional character slot on their account above and beyond what normal subscribers will receive. These players will also receive free gameplay until the full launch. We are currently looking into including some other perks as well on the collector's edition CD itself. We understand that some people who had planned to download the client may be disappointed to hear this news. We estimate that players who do not wish to or who are unable to purchase a Limited Edition CD will be able to download the game and create an account to play within two to six weeks after start of the Pre-Launch period. The alternative to the Pre-Launch period is to not open the servers for subscriptions while we work in finalizing the billing system in two to six weeks. We hope you agree that allowing a limited people to play is better than allowing no one to play. As we said above the CD art is complete and we expect the CDs to go to print on Monday. Players planning on participating in the Pre-Launch can expect to be playing the full commercial version of Meridian 59 within a couple of weeks! We will put the CDs up for sale on our website and the official Pre-Launch date will be announced. The beginning of the Pre-Launch will be a few days after the first day of sales to ensure that all of the players that purchase the Limited Edition CDs receive them before the servers go online. Characters built during this Pre-Launch period will not be wiped and these are considered official commercial release accounts. Look for more details of the launch including an estimated sale date for the Limited Edition CDs, pricing information, and account cost information in next week's newsletter.
	Meridian 59: Resurrection The poll has closed and the players voted for Resurrection as the name of this chapter of Meridian 59. The poll ran last weekend with Legacy coming in second place and Undead barely making a showing. Thanks to all those that voted! Pictured below is the new splash screen created by Barry Blair and Colin Chan. Click on the thumbnail to view a full sized image.
	Brian's Bug Bashing Where once there were bugs and chaos, there is now ... ... fewer bugs and different chaos. Added casting messages for the caster of Minor Heal, Hospice, and Major Heal when the target is not the caster. Fixed minor bug that prevented text notification of Magic Shield wearing off. Finishing client changes and began focusing more on balance issues. Lowered Intellect allowance. You can now learn a bit less than before assuming an equivalent Intellect. Currently works out to be about 2 less spell levels overall. ...and Rob fixed some level bugs.

Source: Near Death Studios - Info@NearDeathStudios.com