In addition to a Guild Renown leveling system for guilds, inc Gamers reveals that Update 6 will introduce Thoth-Amon's stronghold as Tier three raid content. The big bad guy himself lies at the center of the dungeon surrounded by his allies — many of whom most players haven't seen before.

"As far as the encounters go we don't really want to give away too much. But who knows: perhaps someone will have to pay the ultimate price, having the Mark of Acheron reapplied, and maybe washing up on a beach near Tortage, again? Ok, so maybe we won't do that. We do hope the encounters will prove a fun and interesting challenge for everybody. I'd dare say the foundation we're building our raid encounters on has improved radically since Wing 3 was released, and I think that will be reflected in the encounters."

Update 6 also lets you fight along side Conan himself in a plot-related quest that ties up a major story arc. But details on that are more closely guarded than the secrets of Thoth-Amon's stronghold.

The only thing I'd like better than that is a Thulsa Doom dungeon modeled after the one in the film, Conan the Barbarian. I know, I know — Thulsa Doom is a Krull baddie by canon, not a Conan villain. But James Earl Jones was awesome in that movie and the snake orgy scene would be a great player versus player environment.

Age of Conan Update 6 Preview [inc Gamers]
Image Cred

Age of Conan launched to a massive response last year, only to quickly begin hemorrhaging players due to a lack of promised features and an end game that wasn't quite there. The developer has spent the better part of a year working on those issues, losing a game director in the process, and now they feel they are ready to give it another go. From now through July 22nd, lapsed payers can visit the AoC re-evaluation website, returning to Hyboria for up to two week's worth of barbarian battling.

"For anyone with an inactive account who ever thought about giving it another try, this is your chance," says Morten Larssen, Vice-President of Sales and Marketing at Funcom. "After the hugely successful launch last year we immediately started working on updates that would make the game better and provide more content for players, and that is what we have been doing this past year. With the most recent update just out the door, this is the time to ask players to come back and see the results!"

It's a very enthusiast, upbeat way of saying please please please come back to us. Come on guys, they miss you.

Funcom just announced that they have signed an agreement with 1C to fully localize the voice and text for a Russian version of Age of Conana: Hyborian Adventures. 1C will also operate local customer service, which I believe requires a gun license, deal with the community websites and in-game support for Age of Conan in Russian. Funcom still plans to take care of the back-end tech and server infrastructure as well as handling all future development for the game.

The companies plan to build a dedicated Russian realm to allow the Russian community the chance to stick together and communicate with each other in their native language. Didn't Czar Nicholas II try to create a Russian realm once? I'm pretty sure it didn't end well.

“1C Company is a clear leader in the Russian speaking regions, and we are confident we have found the perfect partner,” said Trond Arne Aas, CEO of Funcom. “We have already shipped a substantial amount of English boxes into Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, but we know that the real key to success is achieved through localized servers and services. Together with 1C Company we will do our uttermost to make Age of Conan a success for many years to come.”

“We are happy working together with Funcom on bringing Age of Conan to Russia. The game has already gained success here, reaching top places in many retail charts. With an already established fan base in Russia I’m sure it will become even bigger after the localized version appears on the market,” said Nikolay Baryshnikov, International Sales Director of 1C Company. “Age of Conan is a great mix of action, RPG elements and adventure. I believe that the game has potential to become a big hit in Russia.”

Official Age of Conan Website [Funcom]

If someone were to post naked pictures of me on the Internet, I'm not sure if the word "tribute" would be the first to come to mind. But if that someone were Playboy, and that Internet were Playboy magazine, maybe I would feel differently (don't worry, I'm joking and would never do anything to hurt pornography). See the KSFW but probably NSFW promo pics after the jump (you pervs).

Just Kidding.

Playboy's Annual Girls of Video Games [via n4g]

"It is time for the gloves to come off," says Game Director Gaute Godager. "This is the first time we will let consumers get their hands on the game at a trade show and we are kicking off by letting them experience the intensity of player-versus-player battles. This is the true Conan experience - bloody and barbaric!"

'Age of Conan' siege warfare unleashed at GC 2007

- Playable version available to gamers on the show floor for the first time ever -

Durham, USA - August 20th, 2007 - Funcom's highly anticipated massively multiplayer online game 'Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures' is getting ready to invade this year's Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany. Not only will the siege warfare system be demonstrated to select press behind closed doors, gamers will also be able to join in on the fun by playing against each other in brutal, bloody, and ferociously fast-paced player-versus-player battles on the show floor.

"It is time for the gloves to come off," says Game Director Gaute Godager. "This is the first time we will let consumers get their hands on the game at a trade show and we are kicking off by letting them experience the intensity of player-versus-player battles. This is the true Conan experience - bloody and barbaric!"

The siege warfare gameplay, one of the most anticipated features in 'Age of Conan', will be shown behind closed doors for select press for the first time ever. In the game guilds will be able to construct entire battlekeeps for themselves and they can even capture and destroy other guild's battlekeeps by going into battle against them. Players will enter into epic struggles for fame, fortune and land using swords, cavalry and catapults as they charge towards each other on the blood-soaked battlefields of Hyboria.

"In recent years the Games Convention in Leipzig has grown into one of the most important trade shows in the business," says Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas. "This is a great venue for us to show off new material from 'Age of Conan' and to let gamers play the game for the first time ever at a trade show."

Everyone is invited to come and play 'Age of Conan' themselves in the Eidos area in Hall 3, booth B20. Funcom staff will also be demoing the game at the Microsoft area.

'Age of Conan' is consistently mentioned as one of the most anticipated PC games in development. It has received numerous magazine covers and awards, including 'Best MMO of E3' awards from IGN, GameSpot, GameSpy and Yahoo. 'Age of Conan' is a key title in Microsoft's Games for Windows line-up, as well as being a showcase DirectX 10 title for nVidia. The game is currently in beta testing and everyone is invited to sign up for beta at the official website: www.ageofconan.com.

Hmm, these new screens showing the city of Khemi, capitol of Stygia, in upcoming MMO Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures look a little to generic for my tastes. I don't know, maybe I'm being unfair, but I was sort of hoping for a look that more closely resembled something from Frank Frazetta or, better still, John Buscema. Yes, I'm a big Conan geek, I can't help it. Brian Crecente

Sorry, Crecente. I know you were looking for a McWhertor on barbarian fantasy fix, but it just won't happen. Currently in "press lockdown," the game is on display in Microsoft's CES booth, but I was only permitted to look, not touch.

Funcom's product director J rgen Tharaldsen was nice enough to keep me away from the two demo units, talking me through the highlights and features of their MMO, already three and a half years in development. The game was running in DirectX 10 mode, which looks better than the rather flat screenshot above. Rich rich foliage and lighting made the game stand out as one of the most visually impressive MMOs in recent memory.

The attention to detail was evident in things like ornate armor and weapon design, a clean HUD and impressive animation. Tharaldsen told me that the reason that horse animation looked so realistic was that they actually got motion capture data from a real horse. I think we'd have been satisfied with a motion capture from a pair of dudes in a horse costume, but we'll take it!

If you're not familiar with the name Funcom, they're responsible for another well-known MMO, Anarchy Online. Perhaps you'd prefer to think of them for their PC and Xbox adventure games The Longest Journey and Dreamfall. Reader's choice, but it seems they're exploiting their strengths in both genres to make Conan a strong story driven MMO, rich with the mythos created by author Robert E. Howard.

Some of the highlights from Tharaldsen's expert pitch were dynamic hand-to-hand combat techniques, custom spell recipes, sieges on player-built cities, and an extremely deep character creation tool. How deep? Well, including the requisite muscle mass, hair coloring and cup size sliders, they even have customizers on the level of nose crookedness. Perfect for your giving your barfighting mage some street cred.

Fortunately for non-Vista upgraders, the game will be available for Windows XP and Xbox 360. While cross-platform play is not confirmed, the Conan team wouldn't rule it out. Keep your fingers crossed. We're going to get in the beta proper soon (we hope!) and hope to have some genuine gameplay impressions available soon. Michael McWhertor