Kotaku: Age Of Conan

This Is Why Games Are Going Free To Play

Luke Plunkett — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 06:45:00 EDT

Wondering why going "free to play" is so trendy right now? Consider MMO Age of Conan. In May, it launched a F2P version. It's since doubled its revenues and increased subscriber numbers. More »

The Manly Video Game Art of Ville-Valtteri Kinnunen

Luke Plunkett — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 07:00:00 EDT

Barbarians. Knights. Tribal warriors. All very manly men with their armour and swords and scowls, all very much a speciality of Finnish concept artist Ville-Valtteri Kinnunen. More »

Now Age of Conan is Free-to-Play

Luke Plunkett — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 06:30:00 EDT

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Massively-multiplayer game Age of Conan has just jumped on the bandwagon and is releasing a free-to-play version. More »

Age of Conan is Now Free to Play

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 25 May 2011 04:34:00 EDT

Massively-multiplayer game Age of Conan just went free-to-play. For more details (and more hyphens!), check out the official FAQ. [Age of Conan] More »

Age Of Conan's Godslayer Has Risen

Mike Fahey — Tue, 11 May 2010 12:20:00 EDT

Funcom's Age of Conan triumphantly returns to store shelves two years after its debut, as the Rise of the Godslayer expansion pack goes live. More »

The Godslayer Rises On May 11

Mike Fahey — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 11:20:11 EDT

After two years of tweaking the main game, Funcom has nailed down a May 11 release date for Rise of the Godslayer, the first full expansion pack for massively-multiplayer online role playing game Age of Conan. More »

Cry Your Way Through Age of Conan's Asian Empire

Brian Crecente — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 10:00:00 EDT

Wolf and Tiger mounts, choices and consequences that roll out branching storylines and bosses that need to be conquered with emotional outbursts are just a few of the new concepts coming to Age of Conan later this year. More »

Visit Age Of Conan: Rise Of The Godslayer's Lovely Chosain Province

Mike Fahey — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 21:00:00 EST

New screens for Funcom's Age of Conan show off the distinctive Asian flair of the Chosain Province, the new area being introduced in the Rise of the Godslayer expansion pack. More »

That's The Biggest Damn Cover Disc I've Ever Seen

Luke Plunkett — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 23:40:00 EST

As seen by me, while shopping for chocolate milk. More »

Age Of Conan Slightly Free Until 2010

Mike Fahey — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:20:00 EST

Download the Age of Conan free trial between now and January 1st and you can level characters up to 20 for free until the end of time - or at least the end of Age of Conan. More »

Funcom Demos Age Of Conan Expansion Live On Monday

Mike Fahey — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:20:00 EST

Funcom is letting fans in on the Rise of the Godslayer action, showing off never-before-seen content in a live gameplay demo of the Age of Conan expansion on Monday, December 7th. More »

Come Back To Conan For The Secret World Beta Access

Mike Fahey — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:40:00 EST

Looking for early access to Funcom's intriguining new current-day MMO The Secret World? Is it worth three months of Age of Conan to you? More »

Funcom Brings The Fun To Montreal

Mike Fahey — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:20:00 EDT

Incentive programs, an excellent talent pool, and that famous Canadian hospitality has MMO developer Funcom setting up a new development house in Montreal. More »

Champions Online Combat Preview: Challenge Accepted

AJ Glasser — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:40:00 EDT

After some hands-on time with Champions Online earlier this month, I pronounced myself skeptical of the combat system. More »

Age Of Conan Expands At GamesCom

Mike Fahey — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:20:00 EDT

A work in progress for the better part of a year, Funcom is finally ready to take the next step with Age of Conan, teasing an expansion announcement to take place in Germany next month. More »

Age Of Conan Ventures Into Tarantia Commons

Mike Fahey — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:40:00 EDT

Funcom has just launched Update 5 - Gangs of Tarantia for their massively multiplayer online roleplaying game Age of Conan, introducing a whole new area, new storylines, and fundamentally changing how the game is played. More »

Age Of Conan Fighting On, Attracting New Players

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 19 May 2009 04:30:00 EDT

For a while there, it appeared that Funcom's Age of Conan was on its last legs. Players were leaving, servers were closing. But still, the game lives on! More »

Funcom "Opens The Floodgates" With Conan Free Trial

Mike Fahey — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:20:00 EDT

Funcom really, really wants new players to come try out Age of Conan, releasing a persuasive video and a free trial offer to try and make that happen. More »

Funcom Loses Big, Chief Financial Officer Bails

Mike Fahey — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:20:00 EST

The Age of Conan has been rather rough on Funcom, whose fourth quarter financials reveal an operating loss of $23.3 million, possibly prompting the departure of chief financial officer Olav Sandnes. More »

Age Of Conan Servers Closing, Game To Be Issued Last Rites

Luke Plunkett — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 09:00:00 EST

We've heard how Age of Conan is in a state of decline. Now let's look at how it's in a state of decline. In particular, how over half the game's servers are to be shuttered. More »

Looking at "The MMO Crash of 2008"

Owen Good — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 17:00:00 EST

Hellforge posits that 2008 was the worst year on record for MMOs. But the "collapse" had nothing to do with the genre's viability, and everything to do with hubris and poor decisions by game-makers. More »

Age Of Conan Features Festive Goat Killing

Mike Fahey — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 14:30:00 EST

The festive folk at Funcom have managed to pull off a gaming event involving killing a goat that won't get the gaming community upset as part of the holiday festivities in Age of Conan. More »

Age of Conan Tanked. Here's Why

Owen Good — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 20:00:00 EST

With Wrath of the Lich King out, everyone's forgotten Age of Conan ever existed. But Funcom's level design gave its own title a head start to the trash can. More »

Age Of Conan Adds A Massive Chunk Of Content

Mike Fahey — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:40:00 EST

One of the major criticisms of Funcom's Age of Conan when the MMORPG first launched was a considerable lack of high-end content. Now the developer addresses that issue directly with the release of the largest gameplay content addition since the game went live. The update introduces a huge new outdoor area, Ymir's Pass, that promises loads of new quests, new characters, new enemies, and a new storyline to follow along with. Also going live with the update is new dungeon The Amphitheater, that's supposed to hold "the most epic and memorable monster encounters ever created for the game." More »

Age Of Conan Tries Its Luck In Korea

Mike Fahey — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 10:40:00 EST

Funcom's Age of Conan MMO started off strong here in the states but quickly lost steam, due in no small part to not actually being a finished product. Developers are working hard trying to turn it around, but it could very well be too late for the game in North America. So where can a pretty yet not fully realized MMORPG go to find an audience in these rough times? Oh yeah, Korea! Korean online publisher Neowiz Games will be in charge of bringing Hyborian Adventures to the Korean peoples. More »

AoC And WAR Players Flocking Back To Azeroth

Mike Fahey — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:20:00 EST

Each of the seven or so times I've canceled my World of Warcraft subscription over the past few years, I've found it curious that they ask your reason for leaving. What could they possibly do with said information? Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime answered my question for me during yesterday's earnings conference call to investors, during which he put the information to good use. More »

Age Of Conan Noteriety System Coming Very Soon

Mike Fahey — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:40:00 EDT

A little while ago, Age of Conan developers Funcom added the first portion of their player versus player overhaul, putting in place incentives to PVP such as the PVP leveling system that rewards you for killing other players. Unfortunately that half of the overhaul didn't contain consequences for just murdering anyone who happens by, bringing back memories of the early days of Ultima Online, where chopping wood resulted in "OooOooOOoOo" nine times out of ten. Now game director Craig Morrison tells Eurogamer that the Notoriety System, which makes it significantly less attractive to kill everyone, could be in place as early as next week. More »

Surprise! Age Of Conan Servers Merging

Mike Fahey — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:00:00 EDT

It happens to every well-marketing MMO (except WoW) sooner or later. Craig Morrison, Funcom's new game director for their well-intentioned but badly-implemented MMO Age of Conan has indicated via the game's official forums that a server merge will soon take place across US and European servers. More »

Age Of Conan Game Director Quits Dissatisfied

Mike Fahey — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:20:00 EDT

Age of Conan Producer and Game Director Gaute Godager has resigned from Funcom, stating his dissatisfaction with the game as the key reason for his departure. Anarchy Online Producer and Game Director Craig Morrison will be taking over the vacated position. Gaute was with the company for 16 years, and will be sorely missed by the Funcom and fans of their games alike. More »

Age Of Conan Invades GC

Mike Fahey — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:20:00 EDT

Don your loincloth, polish your bastard sword, and get ready to invade Germany as Funcom announces their plans for Age of Conan at next week's Games Convention in Leipzig. They'll be showing off new locations, new content, and new features of their massively-multiplayer swords & sorcery title during live stage shows at the convention, with Blue Orb on hand to show players how to work the game with a gamepad and the TripleHead2Go guys granting hands-on time with the game on a three-screen setup. There's also loot to be had in the form of free game trials, limited edition game DVDs, and inflatable swords - because giving out real swords would have been pricey, and things would have gotten ugly rather quickly. More »

Conan GM Cybersexes Troll With Predictable Results

Owen Good — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 10:00:00 EDT

Click to viewOne of Funcom's Age of Conan GMs was duped into cybersex with a male player (playing a male avatar, too) and dismissed for spanking him/him/her with his big sword. The entire transcript went up to a MMORPG message board at the beginning of the month, and the incident is just now making the rounds. Put on your robe and wizard hat, and watch as one GM learns about virtual bodies, and what "fapping" means. More »

Age Of Conan Buddy Codes Are Go

Mike Fahey — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:20:00 EDT

Just received an email this morning from Funcom to let me know that the 7-day Age of Conan buddy codes that shipped with the collector's edition of the game are now ready to be passed out among your friends in a suitably lordly fashion. Unlike most MMORPGs, where friend codes tend to be active from launch, Funcom wanted to give players sufficient time to get acclimated to the game before flooding the servers with people that didn't care enough to buy it. It might seem to the outsider that the company was waiting until the game was in a more presentable state, but that's just crazy talk. More »

Zero Punctuation Takes On Age Of Conan Naked

Mike Fahey — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:00:00 EDT

While Yahtzee isn't that big a fan of the Ememorpagah (MMORPG) genre, he decided to suck up his general distaste and plunge into the world of Funcom's Age of Conan anyway, a fact I am sure has nothing to do with the fact that The Escapist currently looks as if it were being forced out of one of the game's distended orifices. These sorts of coincidences always happen with website advertising, such as the other week when my Coors Lite review went up. Awkward! More »

Funcom - Age Of Conan Reviewable In A Month

Mike Fahey — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EDT

I was visiting the Eidos area early, chatting with the man in the Age of Conan t-shirt waving a sword around about World of Warcraft, when a realization dawned on me. I never actually reviewed Age of Conan. I had done initial impressions, but I never deemed the game final enough for a full-fledged review. I asked the PR guy, but as the question left my lips, Age of Conan product manager Erling Ellingsen wandered by. You may remember Erling from the PVP video I posted a couple months back. Yes, he is just as glorious in real life. More »

Age Of Conan - A Million Shipped, 700K Registered

Mike Fahey — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:40:00 EDT

We often talk about the differences between 'sold' and 'shipped' announcements, generally coming to the conclusion that the numbers would be relatively close, but sometimes the gap can be a bit bigger. Early this month, Funcom announced that Age of Conan was about to pass the one million copies shipped mark, which is a lovely milestone to reach and all, but in their latest pat on the back press release they place the number of accounts at "more than 700,000". This means that somewhere between 25-30% of those shipped copies either a) haven't been purchased or b) have been purchased and haven't been activated. More »

Age Of Conan Director McRibs WoW

Mike Fahey — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:40:00 EDT

Funcom's Gaute Godager is pretty ballsy for a guy sitting on top of an unfinished MMO. The Age of Conan director cheap shotted his Blizzard rivals in an interview over at Eurogamer, where he compares World of Warcraft to fast food. More »

Age Of Conan's All-Dancing, All-PVPing Evolution Plans

Mike Fahey — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:40:00 EDT

So Funcom and Eidos released Age of Conan, and hundreds of thousands of players have signed up...what now? The two companies have revealed their plans for evolving Age of Conan over the coming months, with heaps of new content influenced directly by player feedback in the pipes. More »

Age Of Conan Gets Scandinavian Punk Rock Soundtrack

Leigh Alexander — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:40:00 EDT

Get ready for difficult-to-pronounce names. Composer Knut Avenstroup Haugen has done a two-disc soundtrack for Age of Conan, featuring a variety of Scandinavian musicians, including Helene Bøksle, folks from Norway's State Opera Choir, and three songs kicked in by rock group Turbonegro, who performed at the game's launch event. More »

Mounted AoC Camper is Patient, Contemplative

Owen Good — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 19:00:00 EDT

Here's a tip. If someone's astride a horse on a narrow ledge overlooking a deep gorge, and he's not faced to enjoy the view, you might want to, I dunno, not run behind him, or maybe just don't do PvP anymore. More »

Age Of Conan Biggest MMO Launch Since WoW

Mike Fahey — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 10:40:00 EDT

Funcom proudly announces that Age of Conan is now passing the one million copies shipped milestone, and with the game still selling out across the western world the number of subscribers should continue to grow at a steady pace. They're calling it the biggest simultaneous Europe/US game launch in history. Of course all of this success leads directly to the inevitable WoW-based marketing blurb. More »