The Aion team has made a couple of interesting announcements on the game's Web site. The first beta test weekend for Aion will begin on June 5 and run until June 7. It will give testers the opportunity to play as "the Elyos, who occupy the bottom half of Atreia, known as Elysea." Each subsequent beta event will give players a different taste of what the game has to offer.

Also, NCsoft has announced the limited collector's edition retail box for the game, which will be released later this year. It will be available in North America and Europe and include a hand-painted figurine of Aiva, in-game items and emotes, two dual-sided poster maps, and the official soundtrack. The box will cost $69.99 and come with a 30-day subscription. After that, the monthly subscription fee is $14.99.

Keep reading below to see an image of the collector's edition box and the Alva figurine. You'll also find the full collector's edition announcement.

We have the honor today of announcing Aion's Limited Collector's Edition - an exclusive and content-packed boxed version of Aion for those of you want to make sure you get the complete Aion experience.

When Aion launches later this year, players will be able to purchase the Limited Collector's Edition box through multiple retail channels both in Europe and North America. The centrepiece of the limited edition is a 6 ½-inch (16,5 cm) hand-painted figurine of the powerful Aiva, a female winged Asmodian Daeva. Aiva sports detachable wings and wields a removable axe. The Limited Collector's Edition features several exclusive in-game items, including the Black Cloud Wings, which greatly enhances a character's flight time, the Black Cloud Earring, which helpfully boosts health and mana while playing, and an exclusive title that will likewise enhance a character's abilities.

Additional in-game items include two exclusive character emotes, as well as a special dye colour to customize a player character's equipment. Opening the box uncovers two dual-sided posters depicting maps of Elysea and Asmodae, the home regions of the two player races. The box also contains the official Aion soundtrack by composer Yang Bang-Ean (known as Ryo Kunihiko in Japan), the Aion game client on two DVDs, a quick reference card, and a game manual.

You will furthermore find that even Aion's standard version will stand out of the crowd, as the first production run will be packaged in a premium SteelBook™ metal case which includes the game DVDs, a user manual and a quick reference card.

The Aion Limited Collector's Edition will sell at an anticipated price of US$69.99 (€69.99/£54.99), while Aion's standard edition will sell at an anticipated price of US$49.99 (€49.99 /£34.99). Both retail packages include 30 days of game time. After 30 days, a monthly subscription fee of US$14.99 (€12.99/£8.99) for the game service will apply. Other pricing options will also be available. Pre-order purchases, available at retail stores June 9th, can be applied to the Limited Collector's Edition or the standard edition of Aion. Be sure to know that details about pre-order benefits and subscription pricing options for Aion will be announced at a later date.

Don't settle with reading about all this - but make sure to head on over to our Aion Limited Collector's Edition feature page to get a good look at what the box and its content will look like!