NCsoft has reported its earning for the first quarter of 2009 and the company has seen sharp quarter-to-quarter increases in sales, operating profit and net profit. According to a press release, on a consolidated basis sales came to $107.7 million, which is a 34% quarter-to-quarter increase; operating profit came to $34.3 million, a 221% increase; and net profit came to $27 million, a 422% increase.

In first quarter sales by region, Korea brought in $72 million, which is incredibly high compared to Japan's $14.6 million and North America's $8.7 million. According to the release, "The successful launch of Aion influenced sales growth in Korea and expected sales of the Lineage series increased the significance of Japan. On the other hand, a decrease in Guild Wars sales due to no retail expansion package releases this quarter led to a drop of sales in the North American and European regions."

Quarter-to-quarter sales of Lineage and Lineage II increased 23% and 33%, respectively. Sales of Aion jumped up 34%, while sales of City of Heroes and Guild Wars stayed low at 5% and 3%, respectively. You can read the full press release after the jump.

As you may remember, Richard Garriott announced his departure from NCsoft in November 2008 following his flight to the International Space Station as part of Operation Immortality. Soon after, it was announced that Tabula Rasa was shutting down. Well, as Kotaku found out, Garriott is suing NCsoft for fraud to the tune of $27 million in damages.

The suit was filed in the Texas Western District Court yesterday. GamePolitics has a copy of Garriott's actual complaint. Basically, as GamePolitics puts its, the complaint "alleges that he lost millions when NCsoft manipulated him into cashing out stock options earlier this year after firing him late in 2008."

Yes, Garriott is saying he was fired and didn't leave the company voluntarily after all. Here's the wording straight from the complaint: "In... November 2008, Chris Chung, President of NCSoft's North American operations, informed Mr. Garriott that NCSoft has decided to 'part company.' Although Mr. Garriott objected to his dismissal, Mr. Chung insisted that the decision was final - Mr. Garriott had to go."

Garriott claims to have suffered more than $27 million in damages and is accusing NCsoft of breach of contract, fraud and negligent misrepresentation.

We've had a lot of news to share recently regarding NCsoft's Aion, from exclusive screenshots to an interview with Associate Producer Chris Hager. Well, now we can also introduce you to Community Manager Lani Blazier, the newest addition to the Aion team. Her journey into the world of gaming began early with "Oregon Trail" and quickly took a professional turn:

She continued to play games through high school, with a strong appetite for FPSs. Having completely broken the balance of game time with homework, she had finally played enough competitive Half-Life : Counterstike to be offered a position on Canada's first fully sponsored female CS team; the same sponsor that sent Team Canada to the World Cyber Games in 2002.

Some other fun facts include she speaks Klingon, has the Klingon empire symbol tattooed onto her back and has won numerous Star Trek trivia competitions. You can find out more about Blazier here as she gets to know the Aion community.

As we mentioned on Monday, NCsoft gave us the chance to talk with Chris Hager, Associate Producer of Aion, about some of the games more notable features. Unfortunately, they're still unwilling to talk about crafting which is somewhat of a concern considering how far along the game is. Hopefully they're holding out for good reason. It'd be a shame if Aion was a disappointment to the crafting community.

Tamat : Hello Chris! Thank you for sitting down with us to talk Aion.

Chris : Hi Tamat. Thanks for the chance to tell you and your community more about Aion.

Tamat : Can you give us some information about the games back-story?

Chris : The world of Atreia was once a peaceful place inhabited by a single, enlightened race.  Long ago, that race entered the great Millennium War against the evil Balaur, and the resulting cataclysm literally ripped the world apart into two halves.  Over the centuries, as the races of each side developed physical differences to suite their specific environments, they also developed a bitter hatred for one another.  The Asmodians live in a cold and shadowed land, and their hearts grew to match their new landscape.  The Elyos enjoy a green, vivid world covered in sunlight. This only helped feed their arrogance over who is to blame for the shattering of the Tower of Eternity that once joined the two lands as one.  Each side blames the other for the great cataclysm and the shattering of their once peaceful world.

NCsoft has been developing a game called Aion for quite some time now, and though our news coverage of the game has been constant, we haven't had the opportunity to show you anything new and exclusive for quite some time. Fortunately, the studio has granted us an interview and has sent us some exclusive, never before seen images from the beautiful world of Atreia.

In our first exclusive look of 2009, it's easy to see that the game is well on its way to a US launch. In fact, with beta in it's later stages, I wouldn't be surprised to see an open beta happening sometime around the end of Q1. Until then, you'll just have to wait with the rest of us.

Check out all of our exclusive screenshots here and make sure to stay tuned for the interview with Associate Producer, Chris Hager, which will be making its way to our front page tomorrow afternoon!

Richard Garriott, Lord British himself, has recently given an interview to GameDaily. He discusses having lost the massively-multiplayer battle, and even offers a bit of conjecture as to where he went wrong.

“But I'm also not what I'll call terribly surprised, either, that the company would choose this path. I think NCsoft looks at it as an opportunity cost issue -- where they put those resources and people on that, or something new. They chose something new.”

He gave it the old college try, we can all agree to that. Now whether or not Tabula Rasa was, indeed, a “winner” is up for debate. Regardless, we are sad to see it go, and hope Lord British continues onward, in haste and in good style.

Source: GameDaily

We brought you the first two ads, and coming at us hot and fast is a third in the series of possibly the best Massively Multiplayer ads to come out in a long time.

Many of you recall the first ad, titled “I'm a Hero. I'm a Villain,” and probably laughed at the blatant copying of Steve Jobs insulting Bill Gates. The second ad was based on the Day Jobs feature, and of course everyone can tell this is a terribly dull Day Job.

The third and latest video portrays a hero and his sidekick, or perhaps a villain and his henchman. Regardless of who it is, it does point out that City of Heroes has made a leap to Mac, and it is always more fun to play with a friend. Now, for us to go get out our spandex and fly about the town...

Source: City of Heroes Online

Over the years many of us have fallen in love with Lineage. I have some extremely fond memories from the L2 beta and in many ways, it lead to my first job in the industry over at WarCry. So what's going on with the genre nowadays? Quite a bit actually! We had the chance to sit down with Sam Han, Lineage II Producer for NCsoft West and Young Park, the original Lineage Production Assistant for NCsoft West to talk about it.

Tamat : Hello there! Thanks for joining me to talk about the Lineage franchise.

Sam Han : Hello Allakhazam!

Tamat : When did you start working on the Lineage franchise?

Sam Han : I’ve worked on Lineage 2 since 2004. Like many producers in the MMO industry, I started as a GM (Game Master) and worked my way up to a producer position this year.

Richard Garriott announced today through a letter on the Tabula Rasa Web site that he will be leaving NCsoft. His recent trip into space has sparked new interests, which triggered his departure.

Many of you probably wonder what my plans are, now that I have achieved the lifelong dream of going to space. Well, that unforgettable experience has sparked some new interests that I would like to devote my time and resources to. As such, I am leaving NCsoft to pursue those interests.This news is difficult for me to deliver. I am honored to have worked with the team I've had and I'm grateful to the community who makes this game so unique and fun.

Read the full letter here or below.

Take a great look back on Tabula Rasa's first year (Happy Anniversary!) with this Feedback Friday!

First of all, thank you to everybody who helped us contain the invasion on Sunday night. It was an amazing display of unity in the face of adversity and a great opportunity for General British to come back and join our fight all the way from Russia.

While we have a ton of courageous Soldiers fighting for the common good every single day on Foreas and Arieki, there are also a lot of people out there who haven't had the opportunity to experience the universe of Tabula Rasa. They haven't seen it grow and develop into what it is today, so here's a little recap of what you can expect to see in today's Tabula Rasa!

    * Tabula Rasa is all about the survival of Humanity, but you can still get a taste of what other species are like. The solution: become a Hybrid.
    * Enjoy our new Crafting stations: simple yet efficient

It's been quite a year, and there's more to come!.