Interviews

Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw of sister site The Escapist provides his scathing take on Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures in his latest video review.

You can find the review here.

Age of Conan devs have told buyers of the Collector's Edition that they may finally use their buddy keys. The buddy key program will allow a friend to try the game free for a week. Check out the details after the jump.

Age of Conan's "Testlive server" has been updated with a new patch with big changes to PvP and the new Notoriety System. See what's in store for those intrepid souls on the test server by clicking below.

The Age of Conan forums (EU version) are featuring a look at what is in store for fans in the next little while patch-wise. See what they have to say by clicking below.

This week in RoleCraft, Jim Moreno looks at ways for roleplayers to deal with the Fairer Tongue of Elvish.

I had a chat with the king of Aquilonia this month, and while I was impressed by King Conan's hospitality, I was left wondering, "WWCD?" What Would Conan Do?

"You take your blade in one hand and your balls in the other, by Crom, and you cut them down, one by one, and if Crom wills it you will have their heads on a pike like a Stygian shish!"

This month, it's a satirical look at life on an open PvP server and raiding a beast on command of the king!

Massively.com caught up with FunCom Product Manager Erling Ellingsen at E3 this week for an interview on their sophomore MMO, Age of Conan. The interview covers the launch of Age of Conan, as well as what plans FunCom has for patch timeframes on upcoming content, fixes, and even an expansion!

Source: Massively

Patch Notes for the July 17th build of Age of Conan are now live! The patch was re-scheduled from its normal Wednesday drop date to Thursday the 17th.

The full patch notes can be found here or hit the jump!

Funcom and Age of Conan have confirmed their presence at this year's Comic-Con to be held in San Diego, California later this month. Find out the exact details after the jump.

Jonathan Steinhauer continues his application of the writings of Carl Clausewitz to MMOGs, this time looking at what happens when victory is yours.

Age of Conan Developer "Twicer" has provided an update on his earlier announcement that tradeskill fixes and tweaks were in the works. This latest update goes into more detail on whats to come and their status.

You can find the update here.

Age of Conan director Gaute Godager has penned a letter to fans outlining developers' plans for the immediate future. See what's in store by clicking below.

Funcom has announced that Age of Conan is now available for digital download with mirror/purchase locations in both Europe and North America/Oceania. Get the links by clicking 'read more'.

Patch Notes for the July 10th build are now available! Amongst a myriad of bug fixes and tweaking are class changes affecting the following classes: Herald of Xotli, Necromancer, Ranger, Assassin, Barbarian, Dark Templar, and Priest of Mitra.

You can find the notes available here, or hit the jump for the full deal.

The notes for the latest Age of Conan patch have been posted at the official forums. To see the extensive list of changes and enhancements, click below.

This time on RoleCraft, Jim Moreno wants to hear from you roleplayers out there.

After deploying the latest patch, Age of Conan servers went into a tailspin resulting in a crash lasting most of the day. In compensation, Funcom is adding a free day to player accounts. Read all about it after the jump.

Age of Conan's Game Director, Gaute Godager speaks with Rob Fahey at Eurogamer about Conan's post launch success, challenges, and future in this latest interview.

The interview can be found here.

AMD Zone has posted benchmark results for Age of Conan using slightly higher than average settings. Check out their findings by clicking below.

The latest patch notes for Age of Conan have been posted. The list of fixes, enhancements and improvements seems slightly less-lengthy so things must finally be smoothing out for developers. Check it out by clicking below.

Age of Conan has undergone a massive patch including big changes in PvP among other bug fixes and improvements/balances. Check out the full list by clicking below.

After spending 30 days in Hyboria, I decided it was time to check-in with myself and reflect on what has been so far:

"Personally, I've not been left disappointed by what I have experienced in the game so far... I wonder what the next 30 days are going to teach me."

In this edition of Mitra's Method, I take the time to stop and smell the roses.

In this installment of RoleCraft, Jim Moreno looks at an interesting idea from WoW RP Realms: Full Immersion Roleplaying (FIRP).

Jonathan Steinhauer continues his study of Clausewitz and examines the art of the kill.

The Age of Conan test server has been updated with a host of bug fixes/improvements scheduled to go live on Monday, June 16th. Spend the weekend giving it a try and help devs squash a few bugs now rather than later. See what they've got planned by clicking below.

Funcom has published a letter outlining their plans for the immediate and less-immediate future. In it, devs acknowledge that the launch of AoC is only the beginning and they lay out their plans point-by-point. Check it all out after the jump.

Patch notes for the June 12th update have been posted at the Age of Conan site. It's a laundry list of fixes and improvements and it's all yours for the viewing after the jump.

Erling Ellingsen aka "Lord Orion" teased the Age of Conan community today with a tease post on the official forums.

Not too much to go by at the moment, according to Ellingsen he wasn't supposed to show us any of this stuff until Friday, what a rebel!

Psst... I'm not supposed to show you this until Friday, but hey.

Just don't tell anyone.

The post contains some concept artwork of what appears to be a new dungeon or perhaps a re-vamp of an existing one. He follows up again with another revealing post, displaying what appears to be a quite sexy new set of Ranger armor

The full thread can be found here.

Funcom has released word that the Age of Conan soundtrack is now available for purchase or digital download. The music length is the equivalent of 2 CDs and features full orchestral numbers and several special tunes by Turbonegro. Get the details after the jump.

The Age of Conan forums are home to a letter from Svein Erik "Sharom" Jenset containing lots of information for those wondering or complaining about in-game mounts. If that's you, you'll want to click below to see what he had to say.

According to a recent study by a US-based psychiatrist, admitting to sex-addiction is preferable to revealing one's addiction to MMOs. Dr. Jerald Block has even gone so far as to press the American Psychiatric Association to enter "Internet Addiction" as a new diagnostic term. Read some of what Block has to say about it all by clicking below.

The Age of Conan patch notes for June 9, 2008 have been released. It's a laundry list of changes/updates but, most importantly, there is now a level up sound effect. If that news isn't dizzying enough, there's more after clicking below.

Age of Conan has published an in-house interview with composer Knut Hausen. The interview covers the process for composing AoC's score as well as other topics. Check it out after the jump.