Trion Worlds has entered into an exclusive agreement with Asiasoft to release Rift in six Southeast Asian territories: Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand. This follows the recent announcement of exclusive partnerships with CJ E&M Games and Shanda Games to bring Rift to Korea and China respectively.
 
"Trion has a global view when it comes to delivering  premium games, and our initiatives to bring Rift to Asia through some of the industry’s biggest collaborations sets Trion apart from other Western game developers," said Lars Buttler, Founder and CEO, Trion Worlds. "Asiasoft, with its deep reach into Southeast Asian countries, is an ideal partner to realize our goal of bringing original connected experiences like Rift to gamers everywhere."

The partnership appoints Asiasoft to exclusively distribute and resell the English version of Rift, and be responsible for its marketing and PR in all six territories. The partnerships with Asiasoft in Southeast Asia and Shanda Games in mainland China showcase Trion’s continued growth and expansion into Asian markets following the unparalleled success of Rift since launching last March. The company saw more than a million accounts activated in just four months and North American and European revenues of more than $100 million.

"We are delighted to be working with a company as innovative as Trion Worlds and are certain that this will be a mutually successful relationship that will benefit gamers in the region,” said Sherman Tan, Chairman of Asiasoft Corporation PLC. “We are very happy to introduce @Cash as a payment mode in order to allow more gamers in the region to enjoy the deep, immersive online gaming experience that Rift brings."

@Cash is AsiaSoft Online’s unique credit system used by AsiaSoft Passport. According to their website, AsiaSoft Passport members will be able to use @Cash to redeem for in-game cash that can be used in all games published by AsiaSoft Online.

Today’s news follows the company’s recent announcements of an $85 million round of strategic growth equity financing and a full-scale publishing and development platform, code-named Red Door, set to debut later this year. More details regarding the launch of Rift in Southeast Asian territories, including launch timing, will be announced at a later date.

The North American region shards will be coming down for an update tomorrow, February 21st, at 8:00am PST. The estimated downtime is 30 minutes.

Here's our handy Time Zone Conversion Tool to help you plan.  See the complete patch notes below the jump.

Love PvP? Come to the player-organized* weekly tournament on the Test server!  The third weekly tournament is this coming Monday.  Check out some of last week's fast-paced action: participant videos are below the jump!

• When: Sunday, February 19th at 5:30PM Eastern Time.  Here's our handy Time Zone Conversion Tool!
• Where: South of Ember Watch on Alpha PTS
• Events:  Best in Class title take away!!! 
• Rules: Matches will be best 2:3 you can only challenge the title holder once, you lose, better luck next week!
  Rules will be determined by both sides prior to the match!
• Conduct: Gentleman rules apply.

For more information or to sign up, see this thread in the PvP & Warfronts section of the official forums.   

As we've previously reported, Trion set themselves a lofty goal: set a world record for the most in-game marriages in a 24-hour period. The Ascended stepped up to the challenge!  Officially recorded for the Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition®, 21,879 marriages were confirmed between 9am PST, Feb. 14 and 9am PST, Feb. 15.

“Establishing this record was a monumental achievement for our development team and community of passionate players, and I couldn’t be more proud,” said Scott Hartsman, Executive Producer on Rift and Trion’s CCO. “Ascended Weddings were a great way to lift the veil on Rift’s new ‘Gatherings’ feature, social experiences that bring players together in new and interesting ways.  We look forward to expanding this great new gameplay element in the always-evolving world of Telara.”

Gaz Deaves, Gaming Editor for Guinness World Records, said “It’s great to see the seeds of love blooming in virtual worlds, and particularly impressive to see so many gamers getting together to say their vows for one event like this. The evidence submitted was of a very high standard and we even witnessed some of the ceremonies ourselves, so this achievement will definitely be considered for the next Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition.”

It's not too late to get married in Rift! See our Wedding Guide if you'd like to get hitched.

source:  Trion Press Release

Traversing Telarais an exclusive series of articles from Trion Worlds that explores Rift's lore and gameplay mechanics through the eyes of one intrepid adventurer. It's a great read and a fantastic introduction to the world of Telara. Even if you're a veteran of Rift, you might enjoy hearing about the game from another perspective! Read on for Issue #3: New Beginnings!

Catch up on all the past issues of Traversing Telara here!

Remember that you have only two more hours left to be a part of RIFT's Push for a World Record for "Most In-Game Marriages in a 24 Hour Period!" The event ends at 9am PST today!

In Episode #99 of the BFF Report, Mike B. decided to check out the RIFT Mobile App and to spend a little time in Telara for Valentine's Day! With Trion Worlds making that big push for a world record, Mike decided to pitch in by getting married with random strangers and then spending the rest of the day crashing other weddings and eating their celebratory feasts. I wonder how the divorce rates will look after this event, but for now, you've got two more hours left from the posting of this article to get in there and get married!

Watch Episode 99 of the BFF Report now!

At 1:00pm PST on Monday, February 13, 2012, the NA region shards will be coming offline for a brief update. In addition to general fixes it also includes some needed backend prep for upcoming events and world events! The estimated downtime is 30 minutes.

The patch notes are available after the jump.

To celebrate RIFT's new wedding features, and with Valentine's Day just a few short days away, we've decided to host a RIFT Valentine's Day Giveaway! We're giving away some fantastic prizes this Valentine's Day, including a Sharkoon X-Tactic SP Gaming Headset, and a Sharkoon X-Tactic True 5.1 Surround Sound Gaming Headset!

But that's not all! No Valentine's Day Sweepstakes would be complete without a little love, so we've also got a unique prize addition: an arrangement of flowers to be sent to a recipient of your choice! Surprise your Valentine this year with some pretty posies, or just send them to someone you think deserves a sweet surprise on this romantic day! The contest ends on February 14th, 2011, so get entering!

Also remember that from February 14th, 2012 to February 15th, 2012, Trion Worlds will also be making a push for a world-record for "Most In-Game Marriages in a 24-Hour Period," so spend some time in Telara on those days and make MMORPG history!

Who didn't see this coming? Eight months ago, Trion Worlds and CJ E&M Games announced that they would be bringing Rift to South Korea, and today an even bigger domino falls in that key Asian demographic. Just now, Trion Worlds has announced that they will be partnering up with Chinese publisher Shanda Games in order to bring Rift to China.

Alongside Trion's announced $85 million secured in new funding (announced last month), we may see this award-winning MMO gaining significant traction in 2012 and beyond.

As most of you already know, when Rift Patch 1.7 was introduced the PvP souls were integrated into the new Plane of War planar attunement. Our Soul Tree Calculator experienced some side effects with these changes, causing some issues with a few of our older build links.

Addressing these issues is our top priority and our developers have put together a stop-gap solution while we make the needed adjustments.The majority of the builds should now be displaying correctly but please let us know here if you see any errors or broken links.

We appreciate your patience and will keep you updated when the changes are complete!