It's impossible to think of Robert E． Howard's iconic Cimmerian barbarian without also thinking of the brutal, lawless, and lewdly wanton Hyborian Age in which Conan dwells． That's exactly the tact Norwegian-based Funcom plans to take with the upcoming Age of Conan： Hyborian Adventures, a fully fledged massively multiplayer online role-playing game in which players delve into a world lorded over by Conan the king．

According to Funcom, the investment will be used to ramp up marketing and operational capacity prior to the game's anticipated October 30 launch date． The developer also announced it plans to investigate the casual MMOG market, though it did not mention any specific titles．

Gamers have been waiting a long time for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game Age of Conan： Hyborian Adventures． Originally slated to be released in the first half of 2006, the game has finally gone gold after repeated delays, and is now due in stores on May 20 in the US and May 23 in Europe．

The famous barbarian roars into the UK with Age of Conan： Hyborian Adventures． This massively multiplayer online role-playing game for the PC has been long awaited by fans． Developed by Funcom--the creator of Anarchy Online--it was revealed at the start of the week that a total of 700,000 copies of the fantasy game were due to rampage amongst the general public on release day． Preorders of the Collector's Edition have now completely sold out--despite a second print run to cope with demand, bringing the total to 110,000．

SAN FRANCISCO--It wouldn't be the 2008 Game Developers Conference without games to show, and we took the opportunity to take an updated look at Funcom's Age of Conan： Hyborian Adventures． The upcoming online game takes place in the savage, brutal fantasy world Age of Conan created by author Robert E． Howard, and it's continued to show progress along the course of its development over the past four-and-a-half years． We had a chance to revisit the character creation process, which leads to your first adventure on the island of Tortage and will put you on a path to, as game director Gaute Godager put it, "peeling back the layers of an evil onion," since, over the course of the game, you'll encounter evil factions and monsters who seem threatening enough, but when defeated or escaped, may prove even graver threats．

Nevertheless, it really is about the combat, whether you prefer to beat up tarantulas or other players． Should you choose to play on a free-for-all player-versus-player server, be prepared for frustration． On those servers, you will be killed--often--by archers camping spawn points and "griefers" who get their jollies from punishing new players． But if you'd rather avoid the unfriendliness of such realms, you still have options． Instanced PVP battles are the most immediate outlet for your spellcasting prowess, and you can play a team deathmatch or capture-the-flag variant against others simply by adding yourself to the match queue．

The single-player questing offered within the first 20 levels isn't the only pacing adjustment Age of Conan introduces, though not every adjustment is as successful as others． For example, you can only learn crafting skills once you hit level 40． While the focus on combat is deliberate, crafting activities would have been a welcome way to mix up the early levels, especially given that you can gather resources before you can craft． The prospect of new loot, often a major reason to push forward, isn't as exciting as you'd hope, either． As you level, you'll find that few looted items are helpful, and the limited inventory space (even after buying an extra bag) can make dropped items more of a nuisance than a pleasure． The flow of new abilities is also inconsistent, since rather than bringing brand-new spells, new levels more often reward you with more powerful versions of existing spells and combos． Fortunately, the feat points you begin to earn at level 10 can be spent on new abilities and upgrades from one of three specialization trees．

Durham, USA - May 19, 2008 - Funcom is proud to announce that the Collector's Edition of Age of Conan is now completely sold out in all markets． The exclusive edition was announced in January, and has since topped retail charts at numerous retailers． In some markets, the Collector's Edition has been sold out for weeks, and as a result additional boxes were made． These are also sold out, and the total print run stands at 111．000 units．

In the wake of Blizzard Entertainment's 10-ton (and 10 million player strong) gorilla, World of Warcraft, it's difficult to accurately measure the success of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game． However, as several recently launched MMOGs can attest, just getting the first hundred thousand in the door can be a daunting feat． Of course, no challenge is too great for Conan the Barbarian．

Norwegian developer Funcom has released its latest set of financials along with an update the Age of Conan： Hyborian Adventures beta．