funcom posts

Funcom is known for their fantasy and sci-fi based games like The Longest Journey, Age of Conan, and their upcoming MMO The Secret World. However it looks like the company is branching out with, of all things, a snowboarding game.

The Develop web site reports that the game, titled On The Edge Of The World, will apparently be free-to-play for both the PC and Mac and feature things like online tournaments and social networking features. The developer received a $260,000 grand from the Norsk Film Institutt to make the game which is being designed to promote Norwegian winter sports. No release date for the game has been announced.

Funcom's fantasy MMO Age of Conan has given its customers a new free content update to check out this week. The updated, titled Night of Lost Souls, has some Halloween-themed content with three new quests that will give players a chance to "challenge the dark and mysterious ghosts of Hyboria's fallen warriors." Special rewards will include gaining a pet demon and a new weapon, the Unholy Backscratcher (and no, we aren't kidding).

A new high level dungeon has also been added in the update and Funcom is also activating the game's new Veteran's Points system where players who have been subscribing to the game for at least a month will get some special stuff by accumulating points and using them via the game's vendors. Finally there are some new subscriber discounts if you pay for more than one month at a time. People who pay for three months get a 20 percent price reduction while six month customers get a 30 percent subscriber discount. If you want to pay for a full year the price goes down 45 percent.

Funcom still would like a few new players to try out Age of Conan so the developer is once again launching a free trial for their fantasy MMO. The free trial version lasts for seven days and has a number of other restrictions compared to the full version but if you have never tried the title now is the perfect time to do so.

Age of Conan launched about 18 months ago and has had issues retaining its player base ever since. Funcom has since cut down the number of servers and most recently cut 20 percent of its own workforce. However, the game's development team is still working to upgrade and update Age of Conan including working on its first commercial expansion, Rise of the Godslayer. The expansion currently does not have a release date.

In what has to be considered very bad news, MMO game developer Funcom has announced that 20 percent of its workforce will be cut, either by permanent headcount reductions or forced leave "to better align the Company's operations to the current marketplace." Funcom employed about 300 people before these new cuts were announced

Specific numbers of how many workers lost their jobs and how many are simply on force leave were not mentioned in the brief press release. It also stated that while development of their expansion pack for Age of Conan will continue as planned (along with their first free-to-play MMO, still unnamed), the development of their upcoming MMO The Secret World "will be some months extended".

Long before Funcom became a MMO-exclusive game developer they created acclaimed PC adventure titles such as The Longest Journey. The game, released in 2000, has now become the latest game to be added to GoG.com's DRM-free library of titles to purchase and download.

The Longest Journey mixes sci-fi and fantasy in its tale of April Ryan, who shifts in between two parallel universes and tries to save both from disaster. The game is now available to download from GoG.com for $9.99. It includes some bonuses such as the game's original soundtrack along with some wallpapers and artworks. Perhaps GoG.com will follow this release at some point with the game's quasi-sequel Dreamfall at some point.

For the past couple of years Anarchy Online and Age of Conan developer Funcom have been giving hints about their next major MMO game called The Secret World. It's a game that's set in the modern day Earth but an Earth where all the conspiracies you have read about are real.

Now Funcom feels the game has entered a stage of its development that they can reveal a little more about their plans. Last week at Penny Arcade Expo we got a chance to check out a behind-closed-doors presentation from Funcom's creative director Ragnar Tornquist and lead designer Martin Brusgaar. Much like the premise of the game, we were told not to reveal anything about what we were told or saw about The Secret World last week . . . until today, that is when Funcom's embargo lifted.

Look for more info after the jump:

Funcom's latest entry in the MMO genre, The Secret World, has recently released a selection of concept art for the public to take a peek at along with all the other new information. Included in the concept art are general portraits of what players of different factions look like, the different faction headquarters, and some locations around the world. The general focus, unsurprisingly seems to be on an Asian look for the Dragon, a religious look for the Templar, and a high-tech secretive look for the Illuminati. There is also a CGI trailer, for those interested in a little more dynamic view of the game. Take a look through our gallery for all the great concept pieces!

Funcom has been... well, secretive about its upcoming MMO The Secret World since it was announced in April and blew us away with the first cinematic trailer, but information like yesterday's factions announcement is starting to trickle in. This new trailer being shown at PAX 2009 continues to impress us and there's at least one more to come, so stay tuned for more coverage of the game.

"The Secret World takes place in our own, modern-day world. Players can explore locations such as New York, London, and Seoul, as they unravel the mysteries, legends and myths that make up our world and its history. But the real and realistic will clash with the unreal and fantastical, as the darkness of the secret world approaches. Players will have the freedom to become whatever they want to be and play however they want to play, allowing them to explore the world at will and master anything from voodoo and black magic to martial arts and modern firearms."

Download HD The Secret World Cinematic Trailer #2 (79 MB)
Check out all The Secret World downloads

Funcom's new MMO, The Secret World, has been tantalized and teased without not much information being released. Funcom is breaking the silence, however, and have released information on the new factions. These factions include two standard secret societies in fiction, and one unusual one: the Illuminati, the Templar, and the Dragon. From producer/director Ragnar Tørnquist.

"The secret societies are integral to 'The Secret World'. Players must eventually pick a side in the conflict. By revealing the three societies - and at the same time keeping some exciting new features under wraps - we provide players with the opportunity to dig deeper into the conspiracies and urban legends, and to learn more about these famous secret societies, before making their final decision when the game launches."

There is also a little quiz to take on the official site that lets you determine which secret society would be right for you. After you have chosen your faction, you are given the option to sign up for the newsletter, which puts you in the lottery for when closed beta is announced. You also get some avatars and wallpapers, if you so wish.

Massively multiplayer game developer Funcom has largely been based in its native Norway but today the developer announced plans to open up a new studio across the pond in Montreal, Canada.

The new studio will not only hire new people to work at the offices but an unnamed number of Funcom team members in Norway will relocate to the new Montreal studio. While Funcom has yet to reveal exactly how many people will be at the Montreal studio or when it will open it did say that the new team would be working on their two big upcoming projects; the Age of Conan expansion pack Rise of the Godslayer and the all new game The Secret World.