Fancy playing Age of Conan a couple of weeks before its release? Well, as luck would have it, we've got 500 beta keys up for grabs, courtesy of Eidos.

Funcom's Age of Conan is based on the universe created by author Robert E. Howard and is breaking new ground in the MMO genre by introducing real-time combat that wouldn't be that out of place in a single-player action-RPG. It caters to both PvE and PvP camps, with major raid instances and siege warfare being two key highlights of the end-game content. Read our recent preview of the game here.

Should you win, Eidos will contact you to let you know. And at the end of the week-long competition, there'll be one grand winner picked out who gets to attend a special Age of Conan launch party. Sweet!

To enter, all you have to do is correctly answer the question below. The competition opens today, 6 May 2008 and will close on Friday, 9 May 2008. Winners names will be available from Eidos upon request. The game is out in the UK and Europe on May 23, but of course the beta key will let you get hacking, slashing and spellcasting much earlier.

And so to the question: Age of Conan is based on the universe created by which author?

                              1) J. R. R. Tolkien
                              2) Robert E. Howard
                              3) H. P. Lovecraft

Send your answer by email by clicking here, and be sure not to change the subject line. Altered subject lines will not be entered into the draw.

IMPORTANT NOTE: By entering the competition, you are stating that you agree to our usual terms and conditions and that you are at least 18 years of age.