Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Aieee! Seems Age of Conan devs Funcom aren’t in the rudest of health – they’ve just announced 20% of their workforce is being let go, and their hopefully-incredible MMO The Secret World has been delayed by “some months.” Conan’s upcoming expansion isn’t affected, apparently. Best of luck to those who’ve lost their jobs, and, selfishly, let’s hope The Secret World doesn’t have to compromise itself as a result.

The Secret World is fast becoming the most promising MMO title on the horizon. The first handful of images are here, and you can click on any of them for a hi-res version of the full thing. For more information check out our older interview here and brand new PvP, combat, and faction info here.
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Yesterday we spoke to The Secret World project lead Ragnar Tørnquist. He revealed a whole bunch of new information about the urban fantasy MMO of monsters, secret societies and mysterious evil, which is now sounding increasingly awesome: a (sort of?) real-time combat system for PvP, a subterranean city for the secret societies for fight over, and a mutual war against evil and darkness in the real world. Along with the three factions he’s revealed a little about their HQ buildings, the share social hub for each faction, and the PvP impact of guilds, or cabals as they will be known. More promising, perhaps, is an MMO that eschews traditional vertical structure of RPGs, opting for a “horizontal” advancement that will allow people to contribute to higher end PvP stuff from the very start. Yes, there’s every reason to believe that Funcom might finally be on the right track. Read on for our chat with Tørnquist, or go here for our previous interview.

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FunCom is soon to release a wad of new information about its MMO The Secret World (check out psychological profile for your faction recommendation), after being shown at PAX, but currently it’s still being kept secret by The Man. The moment we can kill them all we’ll have all the details, but until then you’ll have to make do with this really rather pretty CGI trailer. Clearly it reveals nothing of what happens in-game, but it suggests a lovely spooky atmosphere. And a pretty girl fighting a weird bird beast. Which is enough.
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To all good things, a sequel. To pretty much all things, an expansion pack. News breaks that Funcom are releasing an expansion for Age of Conan. GODSLAYER! Which is the sort of thing which demands capital letters. The add-on pack promises “more brutal, sexy and savage adventure” which is something that RPS is all very fond of, except Walker who prefers kindly, affectionate and sensitive staying-in. The game site is here and you’ll find a screenshot gallery over at Blues. The press release follows…

Update: Added in trailer.
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Funcom send word that they are promoting the encroaching one year anniversary of Age Of Conan with a chance for lapsed subscribers to see how the game has changed in the past months. And it’s expanded fairly extensively, with a region full of giants, a “cityscape”, and loads of tech fiddling, including the DX10 stuff. The re-evaluation offer apparently contains no subs obligation, and will be entirely free for Age Of Conan owners for the next two weeks. Here’s the link.

Funcom’s contemporary dark fantasy, The Secret World, is an MMO with a cliffhanger ending. So says its creator, Ragnar Tørnquist. In fact, it’s claims like this that make this one of the most significant MMOs currently in development. Hell, with CCP not having released any details at all for World Of Darkness, this is probably the most interesting forthcoming MMO we’re aware of. Anyway: braving the nightmarish audio confusion of my echoing speakerphone interview setup, Funcom’s project lead took some time out to talk about the game, with its conspiracy theories and modern mythologies, and his feelings about high heels. Of course I didn’t start by asking any relevant questions, and asked about Anarchy Online instead.

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Where do you go after Conan The Barbarian? To a contemporary conspiratorial supernatural setting with a cute girl and a horrific monster, of course! “A world where magic is real and monsters roam…” Funcom’s next MMO is The Secret World, and it is revealed in a whirl of internet magic beyond the jump. Not revealed by us, of course, because we’re too wee, but by the all-seeing eye of GameTrailers. There’s two bits, so watch the first one first, as it’s got the beautiful Ragnar “Dreamfall” Tornquist talking about his creation. “Fight rising darkness!” Anything for you, Ragnar. “This is an MMORPG without classes, without levels, this is completely skill-based,” Ragnar, now you are teasing us! You naughty beast!

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Dreamfall Chapters news comes rarely, and often without detail, but Funcom’s Ragnar Tørnquist has sneaked out a couple more bits and pieces. Bits and pieces he’s quick to stress are unofficial, from him, and not representative of Funcom. First and foremost, that it definitely still exists. In the sense that it hasn’t been given up on. While Funcom is in a bit of turmoil, making a sizeable loss and losing their CFO, it’s good to know that Tørnquist and his The Secret World team (who have a lot in common with his Dreamfall team) are still continuing at full speed. And it’s good to know that the thinking is long-term, and that Chapters is still to come. Now a few more details about how Chapters will work have appeared.

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Remember Age of Conan? That MMO everyone was dead excited about until it turned out to be just a less compelling and slightly broken version of mmmpmmmpphgggrraaamppphmmmle [gagged by his fellows to protect him from death at the hands of Angry Internet Men]?
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