"We will be researching an online-only continuation of the epic 'Longest Journey' saga, and we very much look forward to develop new chapters to the Dreamfall gaming community," said Trond Arne Aas, CEO of Funcom. "To see the Norwegian government take such an active role in nurturing the local game development industry is impressive. In return for their trust we aim to deliver a modern adventure game with unique qualities."

Funcom awarded grant from Norwegian Film Fund

- The 'Longest Journey' saga continues in episodic format -

Durham, USA - March 1, 2007 - Funcom announces that the Norwegian Film Fund has awarded Funcom a grant which will partially finance research and initial development of 'Dreamfall Chapters'. The grant enables Funcom to establish a core technology team which will research online-only delivery methods of episodic content, as well as lay the foundation for a later pre-production phase of 'Dreamfall Chapters'.

The online-only business model is a natural evolution of Funcom's strategy. Through the research Funcom also aims to find new ways of expanding the brand value of 'The Longest Journey', while reducing the chance of piracy. As Funcom seeks to further strengthen an already established IP, the potential for a future 'The Longest Journey' MMO increases.

"We will be researching an online-only continuation of the epic 'Longest Journey' saga, and we very much look forward to develop new chapters to the Dreamfall gaming community," said Trond Arne Aas, CEO of Funcom. "To see the Norwegian government take such an active role in nurturing the local game development industry is impressive. In return for their trust we aim to deliver a modern adventure game with unique qualities."

The grant is part of the Norwegian government's active endorsement of the Norwegian game development industry. Since the inception of the program in 2004 the government has supported a wide range of games, including 'Dreamfall: The Longest Journey'. Funcom naturally welcomes the continued cultural acceptance of computer games as a medium comparable to film and television. With the aid of the program fans can now look forward to new online chapters in one of the most popular adventure sagas of all time.

Each new installment of 'Dreamfall Chapters' will initially be delivered as online-only content, but there may be retail releases with combined chapters, both for console and PC, at a later stage.
Funcom will not release any additional information about 'Dreamfall Chapters' for the time being.

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ABOUT "DREAMFALL CHAPTERS" - 'Dreamfall Chapters' begins right where the critically acclaimed and award-winning 'Dreamfall: The Longest Journey' ended, continuing the epic saga of the twin worlds of science and magic in a brand new format. Through thrilling episodes, players will embark on an amazing and exciting journey through worlds both familiar and fresh to meet fascinating and surprising characters, explore beautiful locations, experience a deep and intriguing storyline - described by critics as one of the best stories ever written for a game - and enjoy uniquely varied modern adventure gameplay in a whole new way. And at the end of the road waits the greatest mystery of them all - one that will bring the groundbreaking saga to a surprising and stunning conclusion.

Sadly, the first episode of the Longest Journey is not yet available from the Steam store, something we hope will be rectified in the future. Gamers out there looking for an engrossing adventure (or something for the typical non-gamer in your house) ought to check it out. I know I did a lot of shoulder-surfing and gaming by proxy for the first entry in the trilogy and found it fascinating. Michael McWhertor

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey [Steam]

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

If I had to choose my favorite PC game of the year, this would probably be it. As an older gamer I love the chance to take a break from having my ass handed to me by in FPS games by you young whippersnappers, and Dreamfall is an excellent way to do it. It combines the relaxed pace of Myst games with a little action thrown in here and there. The graphics are amazing, the characters intriguing, and the voice acting doesn't make you want to vomit, which is more than you can say for most adventure titles these days. If you decide to partake, I would highly recommend using a PC gamepad, as the keyboard controls are a bit wonky. Do yourself a favor and check it out! Michael Fahey

Download locations and press release follows.

Free trial of 'Dreamfall: The Longest Journey' now available

- Play the first two chapters of the "Adventure game of the Year" for free

Durham, USA - January 3, 2007 - Funcom announces the release of a free trial version of 'Dreamfall: The Longest Journey'. The free trial gives full access to the two first chapters of 'Dreamfall', giving players a chance to experience the first few hours of this amazing journey for free.

Ever since "Dreamfall" was announced the game has received incredible accolades and praises from world-wide critics and fans. To date the game has won more than ten "Best of E3" awards and fifteen "Best of the Year" awards. It received more than fifteen "Best of the Year" award nominations at world-leading websites like IGN, Gamespot, Gamespy and Gametrailers.

The free trial can be downloaded through numerous hosting sites:

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/adventure/longestjourney2wt/download.html?page=1&sid=6163598&part=rss&subj=6163598

http://www.fileplanet.com/172215/170000/fileinfo/Dreamfall:-The-Longest-Journey-Demo

http://www.gamershell.com/download_17064.shtml

http://www.3dgamers.com/dlselect/games/dreamfall/dreamfall_trial.exe.html

http://www.fileshack.com/file.x/10011/Dreamfall:+The+Longest+Journey+Demo

http://www.gamedaily.com/download/info/?packageid=0078701605

http://videogames.yahoo.com/gamefiles?cid=1991392743&tab=files&page=0&eid=-1

The free trial download contains the entire English version of the game, but only the first two chapters can be played for free. When the free trial is up players are prompted to purchase the game digitally. By following the instructions and entering payment details a code will unlock access to the entire game.
More information about Dreamfall can be found on the official website www.dreamfall.com
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ABOUT FUNCOM - Funcom is an independent developer and publisher of online games for PC, consoles and mobile platforms. Funcom has provided outstanding entertainment since 1993 and continues to expand its track-record of more than twenty released games. Recent games include 'The Longest Journey', 'Anarchy Online' and 'Dreamfall: The Longest Journey'. For corporate information please visit www.funcom.com. For information about Funcom games visit www.anarchy-online.com , www.dreamfall.com or www.ageofconan.com . Funcom is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker FUNCOM.

Excellent news, although we personally thought Dreamfall was a tad disappointing. Still, drooling adventure game nerds that we are, any new adventure game that isn't a pixel hunt through the game designer's anal-retentive inanity gets a big thumbs up.

Sequel to Dreamfall Already in the Works [Evil Avatar]

Anyway, we've been anxiously looking forward to Dreamfall, The Longest Journey's upcoming sequel. So we were pleased to see this fresh lathering of new Dreamfall screenshots over on Worthplaying. The art design certainly looks as beautiful as the first. Let's hope they got rid of the pallid, dead-eyed mutants in the cut scenes this time.

'Dreamfall: The Longest Journey' (Xbox/PC) - 29 New Screens [Worthplaying]