Jonric: With D&D Online now in beta and aimed at a Q1 2006 launch, what is the status of development, and what major hurdles remain to be cleared? What caused the date to shift from 2005?

Jeff Anderson: D&D Online looks and plays great. Likewise, it is really gratifying to the team to see how much everyone is enjoying the beta. We have had almost 300,000 people trying to get into it, and more are signing up every day. It is astounding. I personally have never seen anything like it.

The date change is an easy question to answer. We moved the date because we wanted to make a great game.

As for major hurdles, there is just one thing left - BUGS. Gosh, it is amazing how many things need to be fixed and polished all along the way. Slight changes in one thing will mess something else up. It is a constant game of two steps forward and one back, but it's par for the course, and the team is doing an incredible job of clearing out their bugs. We have completed all of the development work at this point, and are really focused on fixing the last remaining problems.