Earlier this month, FunCom assured gamers that they are still planning on bringing Age of Conan to the Xbox 360 and it was currently being worked on and optimized. Today, FunCom spoke with GamesIndustry.biz about their other MMORPG game that has been slightly absent from the news as of late, The Secret World.

During the interview, CEO Trond Arne Aas stated that lay offs in the U.S. have nothing to do with game development only that the customer service was being consolidated to Europe. On that note, he also mentioned that the development process for The Secret World “continues and we are expanding the development team at a steady pace”. He also went on to add that the team working on it has drawn a lot of inspiration from Age of Conan along with the innovations and technology.

However, he emphasized that Age of Conan for both the console and Xbox 360 is still FunCom’s number one priority right now:

“The work with improving and expanding Age of Conan continues with relentless force, and we look forward to introducing a number of great updates in the months ahead. We are also putting a lot of effort into our launches in Russia and Poland, and we look forward to working more with the Asian markets.”

Arne Aas also stated that the Xbox 360 version of Age of Conan will have most if not all of the same content as well as the improvements made to the PC version.

That is good news for those waiting on the Xbox 360 version of Age of Conan, and hopefully good news for players of the PC version. It sounds like they are at least trying to get their act together.

You can read the full interview with Trond Arne Aas here.

FunCom is recruiting fresh players for its Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures by enticing them with a Snow Mammoth mount. This new winter themed mount comes with the Bag of the Mammoth Rider. This inventory container with expanded slots completes the Snow Mammoth package.

Age of Conan got off to a great start, but stalled early on. FunCom couldn’t update and get out new content fast enough. I’m not confident an in-game Snow Mammoth is enough of an incentive to bring in gamers who haven’t already decided to try Age of Conan out. Perhaps FunCom will have more luck if and when it finally delivers on a console version.

For those gamers that have been waiting for a deal like this, the Snow Mammoth in-game mount offer complete with the Bag of the Mammoth Rider is good from December 2008 on. You can order Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures from the official website.

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is gearing up to execute the promised server merges this December. FunCom has released an FYI article on its plans as well as a Server Merge FAQ.

Merges will be spread out over the month starting in the U.S. with ‘Bloodspire’ and ‘Hyperborea’. FunCom plans to have all the merges completed by the the Christmas Holidays. Detailed Server Merge Information is available on the Age of Conan Forums as is the Server Merge FAQ. Stay tuned for a list of servers merges and times to be published soon.

If you think it is funny to see a naked female “pet” running past you in Age of Conan on the PC, just wait until it hits the Xbox 360. That is, unless they cut stuff like that out–but it sure as hell would not be a “Conan” game without a bit of breasts if you want my honest opinion. Then again I have no problem with such thing, but that is for a different post.

Anyway, my inane ramblings aside, despite recent lay-offs at Funcom and no new information on the promised port for the Xbox 360, the developer of Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is sill planning on releasing it in the future.

According to a recent interview with Funcom Product Manager Erling Elligsen on MTV Multiplayer, the game is still in production for the console but they not “committing to any specific dates” at this point. Also Elligsen wanted to reassure players that the lay-offs happening at the company will not have any impact on the further development of the PC or console version:

“Our aim is for this to not affect development of Age of Conan, or any of our other games, at all. We are sticking firmly to our plans.”

Hopefully Funcom can fix the major gaming woes that players have experienced and get the console version of to a bang on launch day. Let’s all keep our fingers crossed.

(Thanks Shacknews)

1UP is appealing to gamers to take a 5-10 minute break from their games to fill out the 2008 MMO Gaming Study survey. Those who make time for this no fail quiz by December 1st will be entered in a Sweepstakes to win a $300 American Express Cheque.

Attention FileFront Community!
We want to hear about your MMO gaming experience. Help shape how MMO games are built and be entered in an exclusive sweepstakes drawing to* win a $300 American Express Cheque. * Survey only takes about 5 to 10 minutes and your input would be greatly appreciated.

In addition, you can earn additional entries into the sweepstakes. The first 500 completed surveys will earn a double entry into the prize drawing.

*Directions for the survey:*
1. Step#1: _[CLICK HERE TO START SURVEY]
2. Fill out the entire survey to be eligible for the drawing. *Please fill out the entire survey by December 1st in order to be eligible.*
One entry per household only, additional entries will be void. The winner will be notified as soon as a winner is selected.

Thanks again for your continuing support.

FunCom has rolled out a major content update for Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. Players levels 55-63 will now find Ymir’s Pass open. This new outdoor area features quests that include new storyline elements. The Amphitheater dungeon has been added as well. FunCom is promising the Age of Conan community “one of the most epic and memorable monster encounters ever created for the game.”

“This is an important update that opens up a lot of new gameplay content for players who have already passed the level fifty mark,” says Game Director Craig Morrison. “In the months ahead we will introduce even more new content, and coming up soon are two exciting new high-level dungeons intended for players who have reached the maximum level. At this stage adding more content and keeping people entertained is very important to us!”

There are many other tweaks including a solution to female avatars squinty eye issue. Its not as big a deal as the earlier breast reduction bug, but I’m sure it will be appreciated. Full update notes follow the break. Read the full article »

Jørgen Tharaldsen, the product director for Funcom, recently sat down with Strategy Informer and answered a few questions regarding Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures and its future plans for the Xbox 360 version, which has been expected for quite sometime despite a lack of a concrete release date. Unfortunately for console users who were hoping to get in on the MMORPG action set within the world of Hyboria, they may have to quite a while longer.

During the interview, when asked how the development process of the console port was going, Tharaldsen stated that it was not high on their list of priorities at the moment due to the PC version taking center stage:

“Development on the Xbox 360 version is not our key priority as there are a massive amount of PC gamers already playing the game, and we rightly have the focus on them. While there is a dedicated specialist project team working on Xbox, the PC version will remain our top priority for now.”

He then went on to talk about how the console version will benefit from the different updates made to the PC version and the issues experienced by the team during the PC launch. Should the same thing occur when the Xbox 360 version is released, the team will have the upper hand by knowing how to deal with launch issues should they rear their ugly head. Tharaldsen also elaborated on the differences between the two ports in the area of design and how he feels Age of Conan will fair in the console MMO market:

“Seeing how a console and a PC is inherently very different in control input, HD space, patching cycle, available memory and so on, there are naturally many challenges involved in this work, and while we have overcome many there are more to go, not just from a design and tech standpoint, but also from business, community and marketing. The time will come for MMO games, or similar experiences, to do great on the consoles though, and hopefully Conan will be one of the pioneers in that regards.”

While Age of Conan has been experiencing some problems from the get-go and talks of server mergers are in the works, gamers and everyone in the gaming industry honestly wants this game to succeed, if not only for the fact that it is “Conan” related, but for MMOs in general. Not everyone plays PC games, and a console MMO would definitely pull more gamers into the fold with those who actively participate in online play. Hopefully Funcom can work these kinks out and become one the forerunners in that gene – however do not get your hopes up just yet, because Tharaldsen closed the interview by stating that gamers should not expect the game to arrive on the 360 anytime soon – at least not this year.

FunCom’s Product Director Jørgen Tharaldsen moved to assuage player fears about what the upcoming server merge might mean for Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. The future of the MMO is unclear despite an outstanding debut.

In an interview with Strategy Informer, Tharaldsen said the merge is meant to make it easier for players to find groups and play PvP.

“I think that people who are playing Conan are actually very happy about the news, and indeed it’s been one of the most requested things from our playerbase. The essence of any MMO is the social experience, and right now people are spread out a bit too thin across the servers. The merge will hence improve the overall fun-factor, and will make it easier to team and fight with and against other players.”

Tharaldsen readily admits that the server merge isn’t the answer to all of Age of Conan’s problems. It will help out existing players, but is only the first step in attracting new ones.

“In and by itself a server-merge won’t be a be-all end-all solution to get players, it’s not primarily a mechanism for that. It just helps to reinforce the fun and social factors for the many players in the game right now, which in itself is positive of course.”

FunCom will have to live up to its promises to provide new content and maintain high standards of customer service to keep subscribers. More players may come aboard when Age of Conan finally makes it to the Xbox 360. Hopefully it won’t be too late.

Craig Morrison, game director for Funcom’s Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, has confirmed via the MMO’s forums that the company is currently at work on merging the North American and European servers.

Morrison issued a two-part statement yesterday regarding some of the upcoming gameplay changes that will be occurring over the next few weeks, which mostly entail added content and an enhanced PvP consequence system which can result in a player no longer being welcome in certain parts of the game should they choose to gank another player. These changes have been expected for quite some time now, but the most interesting thing Morrison decided to address was the possibility of a server merge which had been discussed by gamers on the forums.

According to Morrison:

“I can today confirm that we are actively working on an approach to merge servers, both in Europe and North America. It’s important for us to ensure the best gameplay experience for you all, and more healthy populations on each and every server will make sure we maintain healthy communities for the game in the future.

That work has now started, and we are naturally making sure that guilds and players can get to new servers in the best possible way. We will come back with more info on this, but I hope that this will serve as a positive injection to the social scene in the game.”

This could mean one of two things. First, an easier way to manage the servers from an IT standpoint, or secondly, Funcom is loosing money on Age of Conan and it is more cost effective to combine the servers into one locale. I would almost assume the latter is the case because according to some research by Joystiq, stock in the company has fallen to $5 per share, which is down $20 since July and down $50 from Age of Conan’s pre-launch. Stock in Funcom was already headed downward before the current economic crisis.

Also mentioned by Morrison in the forum post was that the long-awaited DirectX 10 version of the game was almost ready for launch. This version has been kept on an internal test-server for quite some time now, but when the next update is made players can expect to see some DX10 functionality in the test environment.

“How long it will take to transition to live will depend on the testing of course,” stated Morrision, “But it’s starting to shape up nicely. Having done some reviews of it internally over the last few weeks I can admit that a few of the features really do give some added visual punch.”

Hopefully, both the merging of the servers and the launch of the DirectX 10 version will give Funcom the much needed boost it needs to keep Age of Conan going and draw newcomers to the fold, despite the plummeting stocks. I know a lot of gamers out there who actually enjoy the game, and I would hate to see an MMO with so much potential go by the waste side so soon after a promising launch.

EA Mythic has unleashed the dogs of war as players from North America, Europe and the Oceanic territories take the battlefield in Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. The battle is not only online in the Warhammer fantasy universe. WAR is competing for the hearts, minds and money of MMO gamers.

WAR has released its subscription plan which offers a discount for paying for several months up front. Here’s the break down from Business Wire:

• Monthly Subscription: $14.99 USD
• 3-Month Subscription: $41.97 ($13.99 per month) USD
• 6-Month Subscription: $77.94 ($12.99 per month) USD

WAR has met the three and six month discounts that World of Warcraft is offering, but I don’t think it’s enough to keep them competitive. The main problem WAR faces is that WOW has been around a lot longer. It’s faithful have been largely unfazed by many promising MMOs including FunCom hopeful Age of Conan.

Most gamers can afford only one subscription MMO at a time. It’s much easier to sell a new game to a new or solo player then it is to gamers that play with their friends. Since many PvP players belong to guilds, they often come as a package deal. WAR will have to do more than match prices to entice players to convert and bring their friends with them to compete with the entrenched WOW.