Massively^™

The official Age of Conan website is carrying the news that a huge launch party is planned for the soon-to-be-released MMO. May 13th is the date, and the location is beautiful Oslo, Norway. It's slated to be held at the Nobel Peace center, Latter Aker Brygge. Most of the seats are reserved for game journalists as part of a several day launch event, but some lucky Oslo AoC fans will be able to make it in too.

We got a look at the press invite, and it sounds like a swinging time. The journalists who are there for the long haul get the full monty, including:

• Huge in-game events, including large-scale raiding, social aspects, the dancing game, Spellweaving and Conan's role in the game. All of these features will be demonstrated in a full-scale movie theater.
• Fjord Boat Ride – A "scenic tour of one of Norway's most beautiful geographical phenomenon".
• Live Soundtrack Concert – The orchestra that recorded the game soundtrack will be on-hand for a live performance.
• In the evening a festival is planned in the area of Holemkollen. It sounds like plans have changed a bit from the original, which had this fest taking place in an ancient fortress. From the original invite we looked at: "Norwegian death punk band, Turbonegro, will be on hand for a private concert in the fortress courtyard. Conan himself will be on-hand, offering his army of slave girls to meet the needs of every guest."
  

Somehow the Nobel Peace Center and an "attack on a wizard's tower" sounds a bit tamer.

Everyone knows Age of Conan is all about the martial combat -- or at least that's what everyone seems to think. While it's true that the up-close and personal fights in Age of Conan are pretty intense, magic isn't getting the cold shoulder from Funcom.

Magic users in AoC will be able to use Spellweaving, a trance state that will allow the combination of different spells in order to create more powerful magical effects, spells, etc. The trade-off is that the longer a magic user ( in the case of Spellweaving: Demonologist, Necromancer, Tempest of Set and Priest of Mitra) stays in this trance, the more stamina they lose. Once the stamina bar is emptied, health begins to drain instead -- lose that and a digital dirt nap is your final destination. While it's possible to gain positive buffs during a spell weave, there is just as likely a chance that a negative buff will manifest itself. Positive buffs will last for the duration of the weave, while negative ones can last beyond your trance state.

Everyone seems to be aware of one or two great features coming with Age of Conan, but we realized that not everybody has a complete view of some of the coolest ones -- which has led us to sort of a blind men and the elephant situation. So in an effort to give a more complete view of why Funcom's newest title looks exceedingly cool, we've gone and thought of six reasons to truly be excited about Age of Conan. Our barbarian urges are beginning to take over, so we'd better get to the good stuff before we run into the hills and slaughter a bear or something.

Take a look by simply clicking the image above or the gallery link below.