Before there was Conan the Barbarian, there was Robert E. Howard. The prolific author practically invented the sword-and-sorcery genre of pulp fiction in the early 20th century, and Conan was his most famous creation. In 1932, inspired by the lush hill country of central Texas, Howard envisioned the ancient land of Cimmeria and its champion, a brave and headstrong warrior named Conan. ...

Like a medieval NCAA tournament, raiding in Age of Conan is about gradually making your way to the big showdown. Dungeons raids will be handled by groups of 24 (though 16 highly skilled players may get the job done) in three stages; completing each tier gets you access to the skills and equipment you’ll need to tackle those that follow.

Above: Guilds need to divide and conquer if they're going to beat back multiple bosses per ...

Publisher Sega just delivered the first scant details on MadWorld, Infinite Line, an unnamed game, and Bayonetta, the first four projects from new developer Platinum Games Inc. And yes, new games are announced almost every day, but this is special. Why? Because Platinum Games is made up of the men who invented cutting-edge classics like Resident Evil, Okami, Viewtiful Joe, Devil May Cry, and the mech-tacular Steel Battalion. Simply ...

War never changes. Literally in MMOs, as regardless of how bitter a conflict is it all whittles down to a few games of Capture the Flag with the eventual putting aside of differences to save the world. However, in the gritty Warhammer World, everything - every zone, every territory - from Rank 1 onwards, is pretty much at war. And why shouldn't it be? ...

Jumpgate: Evolution is NetDevil’s new MMO. The comparisons leap out at you - Stargate, Babylon 5 and even Star Wars all came to mind as we prepared to grapple with whatever crooked implementation of mouse-and-keyboard space flight they’d undoubtedly concocted. To our great surprise, on letting our stubby fingers maneuver our sprightly little fighter-jet into the infinite blackness of space, we were afforded the greatest of ...

Tortage Island is "the jewel of the Barachan Isles," but it's a gem with some sharp edges. You'll spend all of Age of Conan's first 20 levels in, around, and in some cases under the island's many and varied environments, all of which are populated by flora, fauna, and folks who'd like to see you six feet under. As in any MMO, travel time is also a factor - expect to do a fair bit of running between points - so the better you know your ...

BattleForge is a game made up of multiplayer online, real time strategy, and collectible card game genres that aims to change the way we think about all three. At first glance, the third person omniscient view and crisp 3D sprites look just like any other RTS on the market. And even when the card deck is introduced in a tray on the right side of the screen, it might still seem like just a bunch of clicking and waiting and clicking and ...

Even the most solitary pre­-level 20 young warrior will eventually have to dive into Age of Conan’s multiplayer mode in order to earn enough experience to progress in the main story line. Luckily, diehard soloists shouldn’t fear Age of Conan’s multiplayer side. Once you tell your trainer at the Thirsty Dog Inn that you’d like to adventure with others, the game will transition to daytime, bringing you together with all the other “day questers” on your server. ...

There’s been no shortage of confidence from the Age of Conan camp, perhaps befitting the game’s namesake: the last press release we received from developer Funcom heralds the game as “one of the most highly anticipated MMO games in history” - and announces that the PC version’s gone gold, despite much Internet buzz among beta testers that it needs more polish than the remaining weeks to launch can possibly ...

For months before Creative Assembly finally revealed to us the identity of their new game, we joked with them, back and forth, about its setting. “Hey guys - what can you tell us about Caveman: Total War?” we’d ask, and they’d deftly sidestep the issue, no matter how many beers we’d poured down their throats.“How’s WWII: Total War looking?” we’d pester down the phone. ...