(Urgh.. that headline was a very unintended pun, but I'm leaving it.)

Today marks the big launch of a big MMO by Trion Worlds called RIFT.  Numbers floating around claim pretty large initial player populations and there were a reported 31 new servers brought online for the launch, bringing the total up to a very impressive 99 server worlds split unequally between U.S. and European markets.  Pretty big launch, eh?

Rift has launched today (March 1, 2011) in the U.S. and will be available in Australia tomorrow, Europe on March 3rd and in the U.K. on Friday, March 4th.  Take note that their "Founder's Pricing" plans will provide for some discounts to long-term subscriptions if you sign up for them before March 15th. Details in the press release below.

The linked developer diary is worth a look to get some nice views into what the Rift team is striving for with this game: "This Is Rift" video developer diary.

Full press release after the break...