Age of Conan Given Green Light for Xbox 360 [Archive]

fitbabits

12-12-2006, 07:02 AM

Durham, USA – December 12, 2006 – Funcom announces that ‘Age of Conan’ is approved for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console. The announcement means that the highly anticipated Massively Multiplayer Online game (MMO) has received the green light from Microsoft, and that Funcom can start official development of an Xbox 360 version of the game.

“This is a groundbreaking leap forward for Funcom. The fact that we now get the chance to develop ‘Age of Conan’ for the Xbox 360 means access to a potentially whole new and large MMO market,” said Trond Arne Aas, CEO of Funcom. “The fast-paced and innovative combat system in ‘Age of Conan’ will suit the demanding console audience perfect. We believe the amazing online capabilities of Xbox 360 will be a great match for MMOs like ‘Age of Conan’, and as one of a handful officially approved MMO games for the console we aim to create a unique, brutal and powerful online gaming experience.”

The Windows version of ‘Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures’ is a Showcase title for Windows Vista, and the game won ‘Best MMO of E3’ awards from IGN, GameSpot, GameSpy and Yahoo. The game was a runner-up to the ‘Most Innovative Game of Show’ E3 award from Gamespot, and PC Gamer US named it as one of their top 10 most anticipated PC games. More information, screenshots, newsletter sign-up, forums and a welcoming community portal can be found on the official website www.ageofconan.com .

Information about publisher, release date and potential console specific features will be revealed at a later stage as Funcom starts production of the Xbox 360 version of ‘Age of Conan’.

Lord Nerdious

12-12-2006, 07:03 AM

Sweet, maybe an MMO worth playing on the 360.

Vandabo

12-12-2006, 07:12 AM

Nighthold

12-12-2006, 07:17 AM

I wonder if you can crush your enemies, because it would be kind of cool to see them driven before you. And if they had some sort of system so that you could hear the lamentations of their women, that would definitely interest me.

Damnit.

I didn't get that into the thread fast enough, and you beat me to it.

If this makes it onto the 360, it will consume my life. I know it.

Wyrm

12-12-2006, 07:23 AM

If I could play WoW on my 360, I doubt I'd even eat.

Buddha Lotus

12-12-2006, 07:27 AM

Keyboard Support Keyboard Support!!!!!

J3DI

12-12-2006, 07:43 AM

I've yet to have gotten into a MMO. I played some of the beta for FFXI that was it. Are they really that good and worth the amount of money it takes to keep playing them? I just think that if you buy a game you shouldn't have to continue to keep paying for it... Its almost like renting an apartment vs. buying a home IMO.

J Arcane

12-12-2006, 07:45 AM

H.Bogard

12-12-2006, 07:47 AM

Helloooo consolization!

Royal Fool

12-12-2006, 07:48 AM

It still amazes me how many people are actually excited about this game.

Guys, it's bloody Funcom. Whose only previous project is the MMO so bad they had to start giving it away just to get people to play it.
And The Longest Journey. And Dreamfall.

Regardless, I think Age of Conan has potential if they can deliver what they promise.

lockwoodx

12-12-2006, 07:57 AM

Ahhhhh good old Funcom, the guys who put the FU in fun!!

But on a more serious note I've been following age of conan for a while, and even did some anarchy online back in the day. These guys are true gamers who really have the heat for what it takes to make a great MMO, they just run off of euro budgets and quirky kinky shit.

Age of Conan for the PC is gonna have an Adult rating with upper nudity and decapitation. If your not sold allready why the fuck do you play games?

Wslove

12-12-2006, 07:58 AM

I have one question and one question only...

What is best in life?

lockwoodx

12-12-2006, 08:02 AM

To crush your enemies, and hear the lamnetation of thier women as you drive them before you!!

<edot> I just got back from a killer networking final this morning and I'm hitting the whiskey early to celebrate so don't mind the typos and dammit WoW is down.

Morangie

12-12-2006, 08:02 AM

Age of Conan for the PC is gonna have an Adult rating with upper nudity and decapitation. If your not sold allready why the fuck do you play games?
You are everything that is wrong with gaming.

lockwoodx

12-12-2006, 08:03 AM

You are everything that is wrong with gaming.

Hey the nudity and decapitation is in no spacific order so it's all cool.

Mortis

12-12-2006, 08:05 AM

I would give it a go on the 360 for sure.

lockwoodx

12-12-2006, 08:06 AM

I would give it a go on the 360 for sure.

Yeah I've hel off on getting a next gen system for a while now waiting for the Wii, and this will deffinatly be the deciding factor for getting a 360 over a PoS3.

Klade

12-12-2006, 08:14 AM

I've been waiting for this game for a while now but I can't say I'm too happy about this change of events. If the 360 folk play on the same servers as the PC folk I'm not going to be a happy camper. At the very least though there will be a few months of blissful PC play before the kiddies come in to ruin it.

As for this being a funcom title and thus inherently crapy.. Well I don't really think thats the case. Anarchy Online had a LOT of problems at release but the underyling story and the feel of the game world was always fantastic. These days it seems anyone can make a MMO and their gameworlds all feel incredibly boring and generic. Funcom is one of the few that has actually created something that keeps peoples interests years after release.

Mdot23

12-12-2006, 08:37 AM

i'm not a big PC gamer but i was tracking this for a while after E3, so this is good news for me. hopefully it doesn't take forever to come out.

Sternn

12-12-2006, 08:47 AM

I wonder if you can crush your enemies, because it would be kind of cool to see them driven before you. And if they had some sort of system so that you could hear the lamentations of their women, that would definitely interest me.

the game is based on the books, not the movie, but you just wanted to use that quote didntcha? ;)

alienchild

12-12-2006, 08:48 AM

It still amazes me how many people are actually excited about this game.

Guys, it's bloody Funcom. Whose only previous project is the MMO so bad they had to start giving it away just to get people to play it.

I almost got fooled a little by their talk about that prologue/single-player dealie, and I'm sure the license is a big pull for some.

But well, seriously, doesn't past devel record mean anything to you guys? And you are aware that licensed games of any stripe tend to be rather hit or miss, and that the record of licensed MMOs is pretty much all miss?

Haha fuck you asshole, go get a clue. That MMO was actually GAINING subscribers after WoW came out, and right now is doing better financially than ever.

And their track record is fantastic. Worst MMO launch ever turned into (another one of the) long running MMO game with not only stable amount of players, but still rising after 5,5 years (look at stock reports to confirm).

As for the game itself, there is nothing quite like it. After having played AO for some time now, everything else is too simple. I guess you just couldn't wrap your sorry excuse for a brain around the concept of how the game worked.

bean19

12-12-2006, 08:50 AM

If you guys have not been following Age of Conan, it is going to be an Action MMORPG. One of the features will be performing attacks in certain directions in order to unlock combos that deal more damage, etc. I'm guessing that even many of the PC gamers will thus be using controllers to play.

I'm curious to find out if accounts will be locked to the PC or 360 versions. I'm also wondering if the 360 version will support voice when you group as I don't want to have to set up a keyboard in front of my couch. I have hardwood floors, and I don't have a coffee table, so I'd have to purchase a mat of carpet and a coffee table PLUS a keyboard (hopefully wireless). That could get expensive. Also, with AoC's focus on PvP, the game has to support voice or I wouldn't be interested in the 360 version.

This port has been a somewhat open secret for some time now. I wish they had more of the details.

J Arcane

12-12-2006, 08:55 AM

Haha fuck you asshole, go get a clue. That MMO was actually GAINING subscribers after WoW came out, and right now is doing better financially than ever.

And their track record is fantastic. Worst MMO launch ever turned into (another one of the) long running MMO game with not only stable amount of players, but still rising after 5,5 years (look at stock reports to confirm).

As for the game itself, there is nothing quite like it. After having played AO for some time now, everything else is too simple. I guess you just couldn't wrap your sorry excuse for a brain around the concept of how the game worked.
It's pretty easy to gain subscribers when you're giving the thing away for free. And considering that you're automtically subscribed for the rest of your life when you sign up, it means those subscription numbers can go nowhere but up.

The game is shit. Hideous, bland, poorly animated, awkward nightmare of an interface, and a game engine and servers so incredibly laggy as to be unplayable. I'd go play EQ again before I tried that godawful mess.

Now fuck off you insolent fanboy.

The Continental

12-12-2006, 08:59 AM

The 360ization of Age of Conan kind of solidifies my doubts about the game. The more I see of the PC version, the more it looks to be a bunch of super instanced content with an in game lobby mechanic akin to Guild Wars or Phantasy Star. While I have nothing against these games, they just don't deliver the true MMO feeling of a totally persistent world in which you can travel freely.

If anything, I'm glad it's coming to the 360 as I can give it a rental rather than plunking down money for a PC version I may not care for.

vash

12-12-2006, 09:01 AM

i just hope that the versions are seperate for 360 and pc. i think that a gamepad would be good for all the moves in melee fighting. but bad for everything else. targeting enemys not in range or for ranged attacks would suck compared to mouse/keyboard. also what about the community? since typing is gonna be a pain in the ass with a joypad how will i communicate with other people. headset? well i imagine running trough a major city with hundreds of people talking at the same time will be fun
imagine orgrimmar and you can hear everybody ^^
sure they could make communication to require some sort of agreement but this is gonna be a whole different kind of pain in the ass besides the fact that i sure as hell dont want to actually talk to everybody i would nomally write to in an mmorpg;)
so if it is the same version on 360 and pc i excpect a serious dumbing down of the game.

also are they gonna charge extra money on the 360 and how? buy *** points all the time edit: on top of the money already spent on gold membership? if so how does ms the justify gold membership and vice versa if no extra payment is required how do they justify the difference to gold of the nominal cost of 10-15$ monthly subscription fee for the pc version? ^^

Telefrog

12-12-2006, 09:27 AM

also are they gonna charge extra money on the 360 and how? buy *** points all the time edit: on top of the money already spent on gold membership? if so how does ms the justify gold membership and vice versa if no extra payment is required how do they justify the difference to gold of the nominal cost of 10-15$ monthly subscription fee for the pc version? ^^

I suspect any subscription fee would be handled in the same way it currently works in most MMO's. Check Phantasy Star Universe on the 360 for yourself.

Sandman

12-12-2006, 09:34 AM

An mmo where you have to beat a single player campain to gain entry is interesting....but what if the single player portion is boring and the mmorpg part is what everyone wants it to be?

Nath5000

12-12-2006, 09:39 AM

Will this game use some sort of proximity voice chat? Keyboard chatting in an MMO, even if just parties support voice, is fine on a pc but sucks IMO on consoles. That opens up another question, will the console version be connecting to the same users on the PC version? If so I think we can kiss that Idea goodbye. I remember when I first brought up the proximity voice idea people thought I was stupid because they imagined walking around and hearing zillions of voices and not being able to clearly understand anything, but isnt that how REALITY works? Im sure there's a way to do it. All gameplay quality aside, Im looking forward to a console MMO that does the communication right, because in my opinion running around in the WoW is fun for the community aspect of it and not the lifelong repetitive quests.

Wyrm

12-12-2006, 09:58 AM

An mmo where you have to beat a single player campain to gain entry is interesting....but what if the single player portion is boring and the mmorpg part is what everyone wants it to be?

I'd assume people would suffer through it, but that's a really cool idea. It might be cool if you actually had to try a fair amount to get there too, because that might weed out the little kiddies.

Malovech

12-12-2006, 10:02 AM

This game, if it is done well will make me buy an Xbox 360. I think they have to implement mouse and keyboard. How else could they do this game?

Sternn

12-12-2006, 10:33 AM

An mmo where you have to beat a single player campain to gain entry is interesting....but what if the single player portion is boring and the mmorpg part is what everyone wants it to be?

it's not exclusively single player ..you'll be able to meet up with other players to complete some of the single player quests

there is no confirmation that AoC will have crossplatform servers ..PSO came out for both the pc and xbox360 and they have separate servers

BrokenSymmetry

12-12-2006, 11:15 AM

And The Longest Journey. And Dreamfall.

Despite owning a 360, FunCom's Dreamfall (for the original Xbox, but backwards compatible on the 360) was by far the best game I played this year...

GrinR

12-12-2006, 11:25 AM

Keyboard Support Keyboard Support!!!!!

Buddha, the 360 supports a USB keyboard - just plug it in!

Also, who needs a keyboard when you have standardized voice-chat? :p

Malovech

12-12-2006, 11:41 AM

Buddha, the 360 supports a USB keyboard - just plug it in!

Also, who needs a keyboard when you have standardized voice-chat? :p

I can handle voice chat in an FPS, and even in a MMO amongst your party, but I can't handle hearing hundreds of stupid fucks spamming the zone 24/7.

The Continental

12-12-2006, 12:13 PM

Also, who needs a keyboard when you have standardized voice-chat? :p

I pity the 3 or 4 actual female gamers that might partake of an MMO touting obligatory voice chat over keyboardage.

Although it would do wonders for the Ironforge mailbox.

Saladin

12-12-2006, 12:22 PM

GrinR

12-12-2006, 12:25 PM

I pity the 3 or 4 actual female gamers that might partake of an MMO touting obligatory voice chat over keyboardage.

Although it would do wonders for the Ironforge mailbox.

Your Milage May Vary * 10000.

I've played with female WoW players many times, using teamspeak servers, and in my experience (and from what they've said to me) it's not really much of an issue. The image of a couple of females surrounded by drooling geek idiots is really not very accurate. I've often seen quite the opposite, with geeks being far far more polite and even pathetic in their deference to female players.

Hell, one of my friends only plays as female characters because they are treated so much better (IHO).

The Continental

12-12-2006, 12:46 PM

Read a bit more - it's not that style of game.

Link me, the burden of a proof lies with you! :)

drakkarim

12-12-2006, 01:02 PM

Age of Conan for the PC is gonna have an Adult rating with upper nudity and decapitation. If your not sold allready why the fuck do you play games?

upper nudity my ass, wait until all the treehumpers and ambulance chasers get a wind of that one, with all the prepubescents that infest mmorpgs these days that 'feature' will be shot down quicker then you can get a woody from barbarian boobies.

KamaItachi

12-12-2006, 01:52 PM

I'm not really that interested in this game, but I hope it's good and does well, then the chances of Warhammer being ported over will be that much higher. They already got it running on the 360 before.

Saladin

12-12-2006, 03:32 PM

upper nudity my ass, wait until all the treehumpers and ambulance chasers get a wind of that one, with all the prepubescents that infest mmorpgs these days that 'feature' will be shot down quicker then you can get a woody from barbarian boobies.

There won't be upper nudity - they're going for an M rating, not an Adult one.

MacD

12-12-2006, 03:39 PM

I guess this guarantees that this one will suck for the PC.

Wasson_

12-12-2006, 03:58 PM

So typical that people would try to leech off the god like popularity of Conan O'Brian...

I'm just going to go cry now...

Predation

12-12-2006, 06:34 PM

It's going to be an M rating, and credit card required (can I use your credit card to play a game with upper nudity and decaptitation mommy?), which will weed out the majority of underage people. Credit cards are fun!

And upper nudity doesn't make an automatic R rating, believe it or not. At least not down here in Australia it doesn't. Though Americans seem a whole lot more tight-assed about who sees those boobs (who cares about decapitation when our teens' virgin eyes are being raped with partial nudity!).

However, with the port to xbox360, who knows how that payment system will work, M rating or not.

So typical that people would try to leech off the god like popularity of Conan O'Brian...

I'm just going to go cry now...
I wouldn't mind playing a Conan O'Brian game. Swim through the cheese!

Saladin

12-12-2006, 07:14 PM

I'd totally roll the Triumph class/race!

ElPresidente

12-12-2006, 08:55 PM

Damnit.

I didn't get that into the thread fast enough, and you beat me to it.

If this makes it onto the 360, it will consume my life. I know it.

Got ya both beat. It was my intro to the PC Powerplay preview last month. ;)

Kem0sabe

12-13-2006, 04:32 AM

Unless Funcom does something completly diferent with the xbox 360 version, we will see the PC version beeing canabalized to fit the limited gameplay options on the 360.

I hope they dont end up downgrading the game overall, and that 360 players have their own servers apart from the pc gamers.

ElPresidente

12-13-2006, 06:06 AM

To be honest... if you've watched the development... a console version seems the more natural fit.

With the fact that the game was designed for PCs in mind, the incorporation of console versions really shouldn't scare anyone.

BigJonno

12-13-2006, 10:18 AM

To all those who assume that a console release will flood the game with "kiddies," I have one thing to say: Battle.net.

Assuming that PC and 360 players are on the same servers, I think I'd pick up the 360 version. MMORPGs are addictive enough as it is, but combine them with the comfort factor of console gaming and I wouldn't be moving all weekend.