Age Of Conan Buddy Codes Are Go

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.

Funcom suggests you allow your friend to use your game DVDs, as that not only allows you to spend quality time together, but also helps them avoid the $2.99 charge they'll incur from downloading the trial client (though they do get an extra 3 days to make up for the cost).

Zero Punctuation Takes On Age Of Conan Naked

Yahtzee plays through the first 30 or so levels of the game as a naked Stygian woman, and if that doesn't give you the complete Age of Conan experience, I don't know what will.

Zero Punctuation [The Escapist]

Age Of Conan - A Million Shipped, 700K Registered

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.

While 700K is nothing to sneeze at, it's still a great deal less than a million. Just something to ponder the next time you see one of those snazzy shipping number press releases. Speaking of press releases, hit the jump for Funcom and Eidos loving on some sales charts.

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

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.

It all starts out later this month with a major PVP update, which they are calling "To The Death." The update will institute consequences and rewards for engaging in PVP battles, including the promised PVP leveling system and a Fugitive system, that will make it easier for other players to hunt you down the more lower-level characters you kill.

Other planned updates include guild alliance warfare, allowing guilds to team up and even form alliance keeps while fighting over "wonders of the world" that grant special powers, a system of in-game achievements called Powerpoints that will reward players for completing various tasks with points they can spend on special gear and powers, new areas to quest in, and a combo-based dancing system motion captured from professional dance artists. Joy! Hit the jump for more details on the evolution of Age of Conan.

Age Of Conan Biggest MMO Launch Since WoW

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.

“Sales data shows that Age of Conan is the biggest MMO launch since World of Warcraft,” says Funcom Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Morten Larssen. “The numbers are very promising, and we are very proud to be one of the fastest selling PC games ever in a launch month and the biggest simultaneous Europe/US MMO launch in history.”

I honestly never thought Age of Conan would do this well. Before I actually got my hands on the game all I had seen was some rather under impressive videos and a few lovely screenshots, but now here we are. Now let's see if they can get the promised features like PVP leveling turned on and get the bugs ironed out before they lose a good chunk of that million.

Update on the Conan PvP Fiasco

I was gonna try to get this up yesterday but then we had our site meltdown. However, I know all of you are interested in the online civil rights of Something Awful MMO guild members, and Funcom has stepped in to assure they will not be griefally profiled now or in the future on Age of Conan.

Reader Allison sends a chuckleicious play-nice — "just my advice, nothing official" warning— from an Age of Conan GM to a Something Awful guild member. (.jpg of the chat after the jump). Remember that large-scale player-vs-player? Well, just don't make it too large-scale.

Yes, Age Of Conan Is Having Problems

I've spent a lot of time on Age of Conan this weekend, mainly because I am quitting smoking (4 days now) and it gives me something else to obsess over. I've met many new friends, though none of them are quite as cool as this guy here, who I met while exploring the Stygian desert landscapes.

What I like best about him is his no-nonsense approach to his work. He isn't a male poultry facilitator, or a rooster entitlement manager. He's the Cock Handler, and by gum he's proud of it.

I just wish that he could come with me on my adventure instead of being stuck in one place all the time, but he's happy there, and I'm happy out there killing hyenas. It's the natural order of things.

I'll never forget you, Cock Handler. You taught me so much.

Yes yes I know, that's a rather cheap shot right there, but having played Funcom's other MMO Anarchy Online on and off for several years I am entitled. Age of Conan is now up and running, and despite some extended server downtime over the early morning hours that had a certain Kotaku writer falling asleep in his computer chair waiting for the game to come up (*cough*) things are running particularly smoothly. There are bugs, to be sure, and some folks are experiencing random freezes now and again, but for the most part the servers are full of aggressively helpful beta testers and early release players giving the newbies helpful tips in that borderline prick fashion all early players seem to slip into upon release.

Word in the OOC channel indicates that between the beta test and the game launch, the devs at Funcom worked some kind of programming magic, resulting in a game that runs much better than it did mere weeks before.

My early thoughts on the game, pre-full impressions? I'd definitely recommend you try out the game if you are looking for something a bit more mature and visceral in your MMO diet. It's dark...it's brutal...it's Conan.

Despite having the odds stacked against me, I managed to secure a spot in the Age of Conan early start. While I missed the server opening by an hour due to Narnia-related activities, I did manage to spend a substantial amount of time playing over the weekend, creating several characters to try and decide which of the 12 initial classes was for me. After going through the initial beginning of the game at least six times, I decided to document the experience for those of you who either didn't get in or aren't sure about the game.

Mind you, this will completely spoil the beginning of the game for you, but if you're anywhere near as alt-crazy as I am you'll soon be sick of it anyway.

Age Of Conan DX10 Version Delayed

Age of Conan's collector's edition is completely sold out, all over the world! This is the gist of the press release issued today, which points out that they actually printed more copies of CE, bringing the total to 111,000 units, which were all sold out, preorder numbers were astronomical, the game is set to be a tremendous success, and oh, the DirectX 10 version of the game isn't coming out this week.

Wait, what?

Buried in the last few paragraphs of the press release, Funcom...well I suppose it still counts as revealing despite being buried at the bottom...Funcom reveals that the DX10 version of the game needs more work, and will now be premiered at Games Convention in Leipzig this August. The extra time will be used to add in new features and focus on "building a DirectX 10 version worthy of Microsoft's great vision for the future of PC gaming". We'll be looking forward to that then. Hit the jump for the full press release. Remember to scroll all the way down.

Age Of Conan Early Start Preorders Sold Out, Dammit

Just two days ago I switched back to DSL after a brief foray into the world of really slow apartment cable internet, which made it nearly impossible to download the 12.59 GB Age of Conan beta installer. I finally got the file downloaded yesterday with speedy DSL goodness, just in time for the whole thing to end. In my desperation, I ran out to GameStop to snag a preorder so I could at least get into the early start of the retail version.

No dice. Sold out. Funcom had to cut things off because of the logistics involved with having too many people trying to download a 12.59 GB file all at once. It might tick some folks off, especially those that preordered the game and didn't get the code, but look at it this way...you saved $5.

Needless to say, if you haven't preordered your copy of Age of Conan yet, you aren't going to be playing until the game launches in the middle of next week, so you can spend your entire weekend wondering how far those damn early birds are getting in the game while you...I dunno, log in to World of Warcraft and halfheartedly stab at murlocs. I'm right there with you.

Celebrate A Million Age Of Conan Beta Sign Ups With Women In Leather

New Age of Conan Videos Show Braless Demons

PVP In The Age Of Conan

"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."