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E308: Interview reveals name of new AoC dungeon

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Interviews, News items

At E3, MMO bloggers Keen and Graev caught up with Funcom Product Manager and all-around Age of Conan-spinster Erling Ellingsen. The Vault Network-hosted interview covers a lot of the same ground that we went over in our own talk with Ellingson, but there was one extra bit that we thought was worth mentioning. We know you don't want to miss a thing, so here it is!

Ellingsen mentioned that a new dungeon instance called "House of Crom." He didn't give any information about it apart from the name, although Keen's prose suggested that he was unusually excited about it. We'd like to think that this House of Crom is, in fact, the actual house of the deity Crom, atop a monstrous mountain.

We also find it fun to imagine that the name of that dungeon is basically a curse phrase. Crom's name is rarely invoked except in cursing and swearing in Howard's Conan novels. You don't want to attract Crom's attention, you know. He might kick your pathetic mortal ass.

Funcom endorses Age of Conan graphic fiction

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Lore, News items

GameZone is producing a series of original fiction set in Age of Conan's Hyboria, which deals with the world's characters and lore. The series is created by Michael Lafferty and is a blend of short fiction, comic art, and graphic panel storytelling using in-game screenshots. Lafferty has Funcom's blessing on this; an announcement at the official AoC community site leaves no doubt that they've given their express permission.

Lafferty's fiction begins with 'In Service to a King' and continues with 'Deliverance from the Sea' and 'In the Shadow of the Volcano.' More stories are to follow. GameZone has one caveat about the series, though: "Some of these stories may contain spoilers for quests, so by Crom, be forewarned!" It's doubtful that spoiler quests will keep people from checking out the series, so have a look at Michael Lafferty's work and sound off if you like what he's doing.

Age of Conan updates its official website

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, Trailers, Video, Age of Conan, Events, real-world, Launches, New titles, Previews, News items, Opinion


And man, it's an improvement! Outfitted with Flash and streaming video, if you weren't already excited for Age of Conan, this site would have you frothing in about 10 seconds. Everything's integrated nicely, and there's a ton of new media to be had as well -- screenshots, concept art, new hype video -- this site is just the cherry on the media sundae that we've been slowly nibbling at, trying to eke out as much information about the game as possible. That analogy may have been overwrought, but by Crom, I don't care! Go check out the new site now!

[Thanks, Dre!]

Age of Conan Product Developer interview, with gameplay video

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Video, Age of Conan, Anarchy Online, Events, real-world, Game mechanics, Interviews, Lore, Previews, Hands-on, Massively Interviews, Massively Hands-on

On December 5th, I was invited to the Eidos/Funcom Age of Conan press event, where I was privileged enough to be granted access to both the game itself and the development team. I was able to play the opening area, leading into the first town. I sussed out the combat and the conversation interface. I spoke with Jørgen Tharaldsen, the Product Developer, and he let drop a metric ton of knowledge upon my fevered noggin. I reprint here our conversation, interspersed with my handheld-shot video pieces, the first of which is shown above, which is where the game starts, with you as a survivor of a shipwrecked slaver ship. I'd like to thank Jørgen and the entire Eidos/Funcom team, all of whom I found to be gracious, witty, and enthusiastic about their game, which is refreshing to see. My take? The game looks incredible, and it's extremely immersive from the get-go. They say they're on schedule for an early 2008 release, so this is something to anticipate indeed.


More videos and the interview after the jump!

Continue reading Age of Conan Product Developer interview, with gameplay video

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