As well as WoW: Wrath of the Lich King and Warhammer: Age of Reckoning, there is a third big MMO launch scheduled for 2008: Age of Conan: Hyborian Advernture.
Set in the fantasy world created by Richard E. Howard, Age of Conan aims to pull in hardcore MMO players who are tasked with defeating ancient evils in order to preserve the rule of Conan.
Features include 7.1 surround sound and advanced 'Oblivion-esque' graphics, which appear to be far in advance of any other MMO on the market.
The game is now available for pre-order and comes with a variety of perks for those that choose to order early.
With the standard version, you receive early access to the game, a choice of two different mounts for each of your characters and a belt which increases inventory size. Recommend Retail Price is £35.
If your feeling rich, you can always opt for the Collector's Edition, which adds a further two items, an art book, sound track CD and a Making Of DVD to the contents of the standard edition.
Be warned, the minimum system requirements are pretty hefty for an MMO:
Minimum System Requirements
OS: Windows Vista/XP
Processor: 3GHz Pentium IV
RAM: 1GB RAM
Video Card: Shader Model 2.0 and 128MB ram, nVidia GeForce 6600
Recommended System Requirements
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz (E6600) or better
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX or better
RAM: 2GB or more
The game also supports enhanced versions for users with 64 bit processors and DX10.
And just to top it off, a few screenshots:
Much more info can be found on the
official website, where the developers are still accepting beta applications. The game goes live on May 20th with an Xbox 360 version due in 2009.
To be honest, I have much more interest in Wrath of the Lich King, LOTRO:Mines of Moria and Warhammer Online then this. I'm just not terribly grasped by the Conan lore, and system requirements (which are only slightly below my PC's spec) has added to my disinterest in it.
Age of Conan (PC) - Pre-Order Details 
