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Tower of AION MMORPG Lets Gamers Play as Captain Harlock

In conjunction with the upcoming release of the Space Pirate Captain Harlock movie, Japanese players of NCsoft's Tower of AION MMORPG will have the chance to play as Captain Harlock himself, or crew member and eventual captain Kei Yuki.

Between September 3 and October 1, players logging into the game for the first time will have the chance to fill out a survey. In exchange, they'll get One Piece of transformation candy, which allows their characters to take on the appearance of Captain Harlock or Kei Yuki, depending on the gender of the character, for one hour.

During that one hour, transformed characters get a stats boost, too. For magic-class users, magic attack power increases by +15, while physical-class users get an attack power boost of +3. Both types of users will also receive +60 in accuracy, and a 4% increase in attack speed, casting speed, and movement speed.

The transformation candy can't be stored in any of the warehouses or sold, but if you want to play as Harlock or Kei again, the candies can be purchased using in-game currency (three for 200 kinah, or ten for 600 kinah). A new bonus item will also be announced on Sept. 17.

In the meantime, there are plenty of other Space Pirate Captain Harlock in-game tie-ins to keep players occupied. This weekend and next weekend (Sept. 7-8, 14-16), certain locations within the game will allow players to view the first three episodes of the classic Captain Harlock anime.

There are special Harlock-themed quests as well, allowing players to earn special skull and crossbones tokens that can be traded in for a special pirate toolbox, which contains items that will assist the player in a special adventure.

The new Space Pirate Captain Harlock movie will open in Japanese theaters on Sept. 7. The 3D CG anime film is directed by Shinji Aramaki (Appleseed, Halo Legends) and was produced by Toei Animation. It is currently Toei Animation's highest budget movie, ringing in at a US equivalent of over 30 million dollars.

In Leiji Matsumoto's now-classic, original 1977-79 manga, the title character rebels against Earth's inept government and fights for humanity with his crew of 40 aboard the invincible space battleship Arcadia. The manga inspired a 1978-1979 television anime series, a few features, and the sequel Arcadia of My Youth: Endless Orbit SSX.