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Age Of Conan

age of conan

New Age of Conan Videos Show Braless Demons

Age of Conan is going after World of Warcraft in the MMO space. It's also a vehicle for getting those hot babes Roy Thomas drew in Savage Sword of Conan into 3D animation. Seriously, the Conan franchise's sensuous representation of bodies in combat is absolutely one of its drawing cards, acknowledged or not. So developer Funcom has gone to it with gusto, looks like. More »

age of conan

Ping-Pong Horses Make Conan MMO Look Real

Multiplayer, always on the prowl for an interesting angle, recently posted a story about how Age of Conan managed to make their horses look so real. Tracey John says they actually did horse motion capture and even got the proof to back it up.

Pretty nice results if you ask me. Check out the full post for plenty more pics of Ping-Pong laden horses and neato graphics.

A Horse Covered in Ping Pong Balls — The 'Age of Conan' Mo-Cap Shoot


age of conan

PVP In The Age Of Conan

From here on out, game trailers lose points with me if they don't have a guy green-screened over the gameplay footage, pointing out features like some gaming weather man. Witness Age of Conan product manager Erling Ellingsen (whose name does amazing things to the tongue) discussing the finer point of PVP in the game, from the PVP level system to the different locations available for wholesale slaughter of your fellow players in Hyboria. I love how he calls them PVP mini-games. Makes me think that at any moment Wario is going to pop out and demand you pick his nose in under three seconds, which is a feature that would completely sell me on the game.

age of conan

CD Projekt Adds Polish To Age Of Conan

The company behind the PC RPG The Witcher is taking another stab at the swords and sorcery gig as Funcom announces a fully localized Polish release for Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures to be handled by CD Projekt, due out in the second half of 2008. The Polish developer, publisher, and distributor will handle the localization and running of the game, including customer service, in-game support, websites and the game's community, while Funcom handles the back end. Age of Conan will be the first subscription RPG to be fully localized in Polish. Says Michał Kiciński, joint CEO of CD Projekt:
"We are committed to providing a new level of game experience through the use of local game masters, community managers and customer support. For years we have waited for the right MMO game to come along and now it is here, in our hands."
CD Projekt has worked with Funcom in the past, localizing and distributing The Longest Journey, and also localized the Baldur's Gate series and Planescape: Torment. I'm liking this company more every minute. More »

mmos

Age of Conan Is Priced In Gold

In a Funcom investor briefing, the company has spilled the pricing strategy for their MMO Age of Conan. United States gamers will pay $59.99 for the game and $14.99/month for the subscription. (Meanwhile, European gamers will pay 49.99 Euro and 12.99 Euro/month.) A quick skim through the briefing reveals some other interesting factoids, like that the game has already gone gold, Funcom expects 500,000-600,000 active subscribers at launch and internal surveys show that a "large proportion" of beta testers would like to buy it. Anyone out there considering cheating on their WoW account?

AoC Briefing [TenTonHammer via Maxconsole]


beta watch

FilePlanet Presents The Age Of Conan Open Beta

Funcom, Eidos, and IGN are proud to present the 'open' beta for Age Of Conan, coming to a PC near you on May 1st, if you're lucky. Members of FilePlanet are invited to sign up for the open beta period, with 50,000 slots on the line for a chance to put the game through its paces. In order to make sure people are focusing on actually testing it, the lucky thousands will be restricted to level 13, so don't think you're getting that much of a leg up on the pile.
"The IGN and FilePlanet audience has consistently told us that Age of Conan is one of their most anticipated games of the year, and we are very pleased to partner with Funcom and Eidos on the Open Beta," says Senior Vice President of Consumer Products at IGN, Jamie Berger.
Sign ups should be active soon, so keep an eye on the FilePlanet AoC mini-site. More »

preorder deals

Preorder Age Of Conan And Get Early Access For $5

The release of Funcom's Age of Conan is a little over a month away, and preorder offers are in full swing across North America, Europe, and Oceania. Players who preorder will get exclusive in-game items, such as the War Mammoth and Killer Rhino mounts (accessible after level 40), and a special storage belt dealie. As a special bonus to those who reserve themselves a copy, Funcom and Eidos are offering a three-day head start, where you'll be able to play the game before those suckers who didn't put down some cash, all for the low, low price of 5 USD (or 5 EUR). What, you have to pay? Not quite sure what world that makes sense in. It doesn't seem to be referring to the $5 you put down for reserve either. You get 30 days free play in the box, why make players pay $5 for the first 10 days? It boggles the mind, but hey...a head start is a head start. Hit up the Age of Conan website for details on participating retailers.

More »

beta watch

Join GameSpot For Age Of Conan PVP Weekend

Do you want to spend a weekend with 14,999 not-so-close friends participating in ferocious Age of Conan PVP combat? Are you willing to sign up for a GameSpot account to make this happen? Eidos and Funcom have just announced a unique beta partnership with GameSpot that will allow 15,000 players to participate in a special PVP weekend the 18th-20th of this month. Select players will be able to create a character using the game's character generator, which Funcom will then transform into a level 20 powerhouse. They can then enter PVP lobbies, chat, and kill each other. To sign up for a chance at a spot have have to first be a GameSpot member, and then fill out the application located at http://www.gamespot.com/test/ageofconan. Those accepted will be notified by email on Wednesday the 16th. In other news, I just signed up for a free GameSpot account. Here's hoping I see some of you folks come PVP weekend! More »

behind the scenes

Age Of Conan's Fighting Is A Bloody Mess

I've gotten two things from this developer diary for Funcom's Age of Conan MMO. First off, it is open season on heads in AOC. If you have a head and plan on playing the game, I highly suggest you either reinforce it with a steel neckpiece of some sort, or perhaps pre-detach your head with some sort of velcro solution so it can easily be retrieved and reattached. Secondly, Funcom Senior System Designer Andrew Griffin has some amazing hair. You wouldn't think a guy with such great hair would have anything to do with all of this rampant decapitation, but there you go.

clips

High Fantasy Flourishes In Age Of Conan

This trailer for Funcom's Age of Conan MMO, currently due for a May PC release, features all of the hallmarks of classic high fantasy. Sweeping vistas, exotic locations, fantastic creatures, visceral combat, and a woman with a lovely voice singing nonsense words over powerful music. Of course it could just be a real language I am not familiar with. All I know is that halfway through I could swear she sang, "Manly Pepsi, thank you email now", and if my evil plan succeeds you shall hear it as well. Muhahaha!


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Age Of Conan GDC Screens

Funcon has broken out a new batch of screenshots for the Game Developers Conference, and the game is still looking far too pretty for a lagless massively multiplayer online roleplaying game, but I assume they know what they are doing. This batch features monsters both human and non, some elephant riding, climbing, and the worst rendition of Row, Row, Row Your Boat ever created.

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Shiny New Age Of Conan Screens

Age of Conan is looking as pretty as ever at CES this year, with a slew of new screenshots released for the event, mainly featuring party combat. Judging by the screenshots, Funcom has done an excellent job of capturing the look and feel of Hyborea, and the massive monsters seen here will certainly make for some memorable encounters - though I do worry a bit at the generic fantasy vibe I am getting from the characters. They just seem to lack...character somehow. I suppose it is really difficult to separate yourself from other fantasy games when your subject matter is what launched the genre in the first place.


delay of game

Age of Conan Pushed To 2008

If anyone in Denver today witnesses a pirate with long, flowing hair rampaging through downtown wearing a loincloth and wielding a 2-handed sword, this would be the reason. Funcom announced today that Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures has slipped from the originally slated October release to March 25th of next year. Disappointing, but given the stated reason I can' say I blame them.
"We naturally regret that we have to push back 'Age of Conan'. However, after careful consideration, and analysis of recent Beta feedback, we believe that the new release date is in the best interest of the gamers, our company and our owners," said Trond Arne Aas, CEO of Funcom.
In fact, I applaud their decision to listen to their testers despite the fact that their share prices fell a sharp 25% with the announcement (source: Oslo Børs - thanks Leonard!). While Funcom bounced back nicely from one of the worst MMO launches of all time with Anarchy Online, I don't think they want to go through that a second time. Crecente will just have to keep his loincloth in mothballs for a few more months. It's for the best. Trust me. More »

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Age of Conan Impressions


It's impossible to judge an MMO in a preview, even a hands-on one. (My
demo with Age of Conan today wasn't hands-on, but it was live,
run by three Eidos developers.) There are 185 square miles of terrain
in AoC, filled with enough content to "keep someone entertained
for about 10 months," said Eidos. There's no way to judge games of
that scope without dozens of hour of play.

But of course "just hold on until release" isn't very useful for a
preview, so let me just run down the list of stuff I really liked and
what gave me pause.

More »

by crom!

Funcom Secures Big Money For Conan

Funcom really really wants to make their Conan MMO launches successfully. So much so that they've secured additional funding to shore up their marketing and operational capacity for Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. Approximately $30 million in additional funding. What this basically means, ladies and gentlemen, is that Funcom isn't f***ing around when it comes to what has the potential to be the most successful game they've ever created.
"We're expecting the launch of 'Age of Conan' to create significant waves in the MMO gamespace," says Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas. "With the secured additional funding Funcom is in an even better position to make the launch of the game a success. This commitment from the financial market is reflecting the great promise and expectations for 'Age of Conan'."

I was a bit worried about how the company that's been keeping alive Anarchy Online's three servers for six years or so would handle a project the size and scope of Conan, but now I've a feeling they'll do just fine. More »

tattoo assassins online

Funcom Teases New Game, Cry Gaia

The company responsible for the games Anarchy Online, The Longest Journey and the upcoming Age of Conan has put up a teaser site for their next game which looks to be titled Cry Gaia. More »

age of conan

Age of Conan Hits 100,000 Beta Testers

More than 100,000 people signed up to help beta test the upcoming Hyborian massively multiplayer online game Age of Conan over the Easter weekend. More »

gallery

Gallery: Age of Conan Swords and Sorcery


Right here is why I might not be able to play Age of Conan. My survival instinct is much too strong to even virtually go toe to toe with one of these giant bastards. Even now the imagined smell of it is making me gag just a little. More »