King Conan Pillages Before Online Gaming Debut

OSLO (ReutersLife!) – King Conan wins a bloody final battle against a menacing mixof barbarians, assassins and sorcerers in the hills above Oslo beforeretreating to his virtual home where a million online gamers await him.

With real swords, metal and leather body armor and fake blood,Norwegian gaming company Funcom launched its "Age of Conan" Internetrole-playing game with a recreation of the famed Barbarian King’sbrutal world.

Guests and more than 100 journalists found themselves in an ancientvillage, surrounded by sword-wielding warriors, soldiers on horses andleather-clad women firing arrows.

In "Age of Conan" players enter the world of Hyboria to live, fightand explore its dark nature, wary of cruel gods and mythical creatureslurking around every corner.

All Hyboria residents are actual people signed up to the game,taking advantage of a new technology which enables massive multi-playeronline role-playing games (MMORPG).

The world is based on the works of author Robert Howard, whosefictional fighter in an ancient world was brought to life on the silverscreen by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1982 film "Conan the Barbarian".

Funcom said that over a million fans have signed up for the testphase of the game, which boasts realistic graphics and original music.

"We believe this represents the largest ever beta (test phase)sign-up figure in the history of this genre of games," Funcom said.

Since the start of the year, Age of Conan had more than five millionunique visitors with a total of over 70 million page views, Funcomsaid, citing data from Google.

"I am really ready to give birth to this thing," game developerGaute Godager said. "What you have today is something bigger than whatwe ever dreamed of having," said Godager.

Age of Conan gives players numerous character development optionsand customizes skills, abilities and deadly spells to ensure that notwo characters are exactly the same.

The massive player-versus-player combat system allows warfare on anepic proportion. Players can also hire themselves out as mercenariesand battle for pay.

"We have spent over $20 million over four years and had 200 peopleworking on this project," Funcom’s product manager Erling Ellingsentold Reuters.

"This is in line with the biggest Norwegian film productions, if notbigger," he said on the eve of the launch in North America on May 20.The game will launch in Europe three days later.