Age of Conan is consistently mentioned as one of the most anticipated PC games in development. It has received more than 25 covers on high-profile gaming magazines across the globe and more than 15 major awards, including numerous "Best MMO of E3" awards and the official "Best Online Game" award at the Games Convention 2007. Age of Conan is a key title in Microsoft's Games for Windows line-up, and a showcase title for nVidia. The game is set to launch in several territories on May 20, 2008.

May 20, 2008 - The U.S. servers for Funcom's long-anticipated Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures are now live and, based on our experience so far, things seem to be going fairly well. Launch periods are critical for any massively multiplayer online game, as there are plenty of other alternatives out there. Nobody wants to stick with something that's broken.

We won't have a review posted for quite some time since it's a gigantic game with myriad facets to consider. Over the coming weeks we'll bring you impressions of our experience as we check out the content after level 20, the open-world exploration, free-for-all player-versus-player [PvP] combat, arena PvP, and trade skill systems.

There are corruption and lotus branches of the feat tree. Assigning points to the corruption branch give the assassin unholy DoTs, life and stamina leeches, and they shore up his armor rating to a degree. Abilities triggered from this branch will require varying numbers of soul fragments, which are gained by successfully completing combos.

Jonric: First of all, to introduce yourself to our readers, what you are doing on the Age of Conan - Hyborian Adventures project, and how long you have been working on it? Gaute Godager: Hello! My name is Gaute Godager. I am the Game Director of Age of Conan - Hyborian Adventures. My job is to be in charge of the game's creative vision and direction. The Hyborian world - the dark, mysterious and brutal universe of Conan, for the people not knowing that - gripped my imagination more than 25 years ago, and you could say I have been letting it mull in my mind for all that time, envisioning how I (and others) could explore, adventure in and rule that universe. I have been working on this game for a bit over two years now.

I haven't played a true open PvP game since Shadowbane. So when I heard that AoC was boasting the same environment, I was naturally ecstatic. I love PvP when the only reward is the pride or shame you feel after the outcome.

Not only are the growing numbers a very strong indication on Age of Conan's popularity pre-launch, the entire development process is also reaping the rewards from the constantly increasing numbers of gamers signing up to join the beta test. This allows Funcom to thoroughly test numerous aspects of the game, contributing to a smoother launch and a more enjoyable gaming experience from day one.

by Benjamin J. de la Durantaye - June 15, 2008 As a long term MMOG player and a writer, my keyboards see a lot of use. I select them with care and a lot of thought. When I received the new Age of Conan keyset and Z-board in the mail, I was a little more impressed than I thought I'd be. Admittedly I'm a sucker for bright colors and pretty packaging and the Z-board had that. It was quite attractive. But would it hold up to a week of Age of Conan? Would it be intuitive and handy, or would I just end up going back to my old trusty Logitech G-15?

Funncom Product Director Jorgen Tharaldsen speaks to MMORPG.com Managing Editor Jon Wood about the Fileplanet Open Beta.

Funcom has announced that Age of Conan has been nominated for the Golden Joystick award in several categories, including PC game of the year, and game of the year.