Amazon.com is now listing both the standard and the collector's editions of Rift along with the release date of March 1, 2011. While retail release dates are notoriously unreliable, Amazon has been more accurate than most and the timing seems to fit the beta phases currently underway. We'll keep you posted as to any official word we receive.

welcome to last month, old news is old news and nowhere near official as they have changed it twice already

Well not 1st march , but around March was my speculation .

why March WoW cata fallout is around that time the biggest , since Rift is set up to offer disgrunted WoW players finally a alternative in finished and polished product .

The biggest question is can they maintain them , but it will sell a lot of boxes ...

Well lets see how Cata is holding players after januari the month most guild will start raiding .

If small guilds are not satisfied with the progression or bored with it , people will shift games .

Actually, as of last Friday, there was no CE listed and no release date either. It does appear to fit the timeline, IMO.

So it's a change, regardless. ;)

The release date is definitely close.  Trion also had their site down for most of yesterday doing updates to the acount management and soon to be store.

keep pushing them for that rel date ;)

I think that 1st march feels about right based off beta progress ect.

Gamestop has 1 March 2011 as Rift release date for the past week.

Just in time for the first few waves to be quiting cataclysms.  This game is going to be do very well financially.  

Gamestop has had a march 1st release date for weeks if not longer.  It fits to be honest.  Rumor is theres 7 beta events the 4th event is this weekend so we would get 2 more in january most likely, then 1 in feb, a 1 week open beta then no one plays until head start for preorders.

So timeline wise. 

Jan 7-10 4th Event

Jan 21-24 5th Event

Feb 4-7 6th Event

Then you can either do 7th event the week afater that or that same week then do open beta anywhere from 11th to 20th.  Then headstart 2-3 days before the 1st. 

I believe there will not be any headstart, when they release the CE version information it never mentioned having a headstart.

Could be a good time to release. WoW raiding will be a couple of months old, and there will be plenty of folks who ask themselves why they are going down the same treadmill again. GW2 and SWTOR will most likely not be until the end of this year, so Rift will have little competition in terms of other new releases. The class system and Rift system are fairly unique featues, especially compared to many recent AAA releases. Spring Break is in March and plenty of folks who aren't travelling might be looking for something to do.

I want Rift to just not suck...so that we have something newer and nice out there.

Originally posted by Bentwick

I believe there will not be any headstart, when they release the CE version information it never mentioned having a headstart.

 

 There is a headstart it was offically announced by Trion and its on there preorder page. 

• Founder’s Pricing: The opportunity to sign up for our limited-time, discounted subscription plans.
• Shrouded Sourcestone Rune: Grants +3 Endurance and +10 Death Resist.
• Companion Pet: Each character you create can choose from one of three unique pet.
• Beta Access: Play in the remaining beta events.
• Head Start Access: Play the game before it hits store shelves.
• Complimentary Game Time: Thirty (30) days of subscription service for new accounts.

Its offcial March 1st 2011

http://www.facebook.com/notes/rift/rifttm-set-to-launch-march-1-2011/176097145764087

it seems i stand corrected, first of march is definatly somewhat suprising

Decently priced and the 6 month founder sub is great, $9 a month.

I'm all in.

Abigale a community manager on the Rift forums seams to confirm this .I don't know how official this is though judge for yourself .

http://forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?19136-Rift-Set-to-Launch-March-1-2011

It seams to be supported by other sources online with a 4 th March release for Europe .