Posts tagged Conan

Age of Conan: Refuge of the Apostate exclusive trailer has been unleashed!

Rumors have it that rogue sorcerer Tian-bai of the Scarlet Citadel has betrayed his master Pra-Eun and has started to mass an army of followers, presumably getting ready to attack the God-Emperor himself. He took refuge in a hidden maze of tunnels below the cursed soil of Kara Korum. Several factions want to see Tian-bai stopped and are sending able warriors and mages to take care of this task. But Tian-bai is said to have immense arcane powers that make him master of illusions and nightmares which can drive even the sturdiest of men and woman mad. And the tunnels and caverns that lead to his refuge in the belly of the earth are filled with deadly traps and horrors.

This latest trailer for Age of Conan gives you a closer look at the Refuge of the Apostate, a challenging new level 80 solo instance available as part of the latest update. Devour the new trailer exclusively on MMORPG.COM!

With the Dreamworld update now deployed we are gearing up to start getting the new content updates flowing out onto the live servers.

We have been just as impatient as you folks to be able to start getting these great new additions out there.

We have talked in previous letters about the solo content, and the new PVP server, so this month it is the turn of the new team content, and a little more on the upcoming faction progression improvements.

There are two new team instances coming up, both aimed at level 80 players, these instances will be found in the Imperial capital of Paikang in Khitai.

The two instances take the form of two separate outdoor districts of Paikang – The Ai District and the T’ian’an District. While both are areas of the same, once proud, Imperial capital, they have been effected by the corruption and evil that has spread throughout Khitai in very different ways, and likewise the pace and style of the gameplay is also different between the two areas.

The Ai district plays more like an outdoor adventure zone for you and your friends to fight through, More >

According to a press release sent over by Funcom today, AOC has become the world-first game to employ the server-side Nvidia(r) Physx(r), as part of a series of tech updates that the Dreamworld engine (the tech that powers both AO and AOC) has undergone recently. Here’s what they say:

Durham, USA – March 30th, 2011 – Funcom and NVIDIA have announced that Funcom’s proprietary Dreamworld 2.5, a leading game engine for massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), is the first game to incorporate server-side NVIDIA® PhysX®. This unique implementation into the Dreamworld engine results in more than a doubling in the speed-of in-game physics processing vs. traditional client-side PhysX technology, delivering realistic collision effects within the online gaming environments.

Dreamworld currently powers two of the world’s most popular massively multiplayer online games: ‘Age of Conan’ and ‘Anarchy Online’, with a third, ‘The Secret World’, currently in development. The updated Dreamworld Engine 2.5 with server-side PhysX is now live in ‘Age of Conan’.

“We are excited to be working closely with NVIDIA to integrate PhysX technology into our Dreamworld 2.5 engine,” said Rui Casais, Chief Technology Officer at Funcom. “Server-side collision using PhysX will allow us to add a new level of realism More >

Craig ’Sillirion’ Morrison speaks with MMORPGITALIA about the recent Dreamworld intergration.

MMORPGITALIA: With a big update like the new Dreamworld Engine on your back, Age of Conan is once again the reference MMO in terms graphics. Many players are still asking if (other than the DX10 optimization) all this work was really necessary. I mean: it has been expensive in terms of time and resources what can you say about that?

Craig Morrison: I think it brings different things to different people, and yes, we wouldn’t have committed to it unless we felt it was worth the time and effort. The game has always been aimed at the high end of performance, and much of our fan base falls into that category. However, much of the most valuable work with the update revolved around memory handling and performance for more mid range and lower systems. This means the game is now playable, at a higher level of quality, on a greater range of machines, both in DX9 and DX10 modes. That is a good thing for the future of the game! It is also developed by our central technology team that are working on the Dreamworld technology More >