Age of Conan launched to a massive response last year, only to quickly begin hemorrhaging players due to a lack of promised features and an end game that wasn’t quite there. The developer has spent the better part of a year working on those issues, losing a game director in the process, and now they feel they are ready to give it another go. From now through July 22nd, lapsed payers can visit the AoC re-evaluation website, returning to Hyboria for up to two week’s worth of barbarian battling.

“For anyone with an inactive account who ever thought about giving it another try, this is your chance,” says Morten Larssen, Vice-President of Sales and Marketing at Funcom. “After the hugely successful launch last year we immediately started working on updates that would make the game better and provide more content for players, and that is what we have been doing this past year. With the most recent update just out the door, this is the time to ask players to come back and see the results!”

It’s a very enthusiast, upbeat way of saying please please please come back to us. Come on guys, they miss you.

Funcom just announced that they have signed an agreement with 1C to fully localize the voice and text for a Russian version of Age of Conana: Hyborian Adventures. 1C will also operate local customer service, which I believe requires a gun licence, deal with the community websites and in-game support for Age of Conan in Russian. Funcom still plans to take care of the back-end tech and server infrastructure as well as handling all future development for the game.

The companies plan to build a dedicated Russian realm to allow the Russian community the chance to stick together and communicate with each other in their native language. Didn’t Czar Nicholas II try to create a Russian realm once? I’m pretty sure it didn’t end well.

“1C Company is a clear leader in the Russian speaking regions, and we are confident we have found the perfect partner,” said Trond Arne Aas, CEO of Funcom. “We have already shipped a substantial amount of English boxes into Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, but we know that the real key to success is achieved through localised servers and services. Together with 1C Company we will do our uttermost to make Age of Conan a success for many years to come.”

“We are happy working together with Funcom on bringing Age of Conan to Russia. The game has already gained success here, reaching top places in many retail charts. With an already established fan base in Russia I’m sure it will become even bigger after the localised version appears on the market,” said Nikolay Baryshnikov, International Sales Director of 1C Company. “Age of Conan is a great mix of action, RPG elements and adventure. I believe that the game has potential to become a big hit in Russia.”

As far as I’m aware the in-game item you will receive is the Ring as mentioned … I will hopefully have more information for you as we get a little closer to the release date.

Sorry folks, I couldn’t nail anything down on this. I will let you know when I do hear something.

Firstly, the Limited Edition will be released in Australia. So you can all start breathing again.

Secondly, the Limited Edition will be, for the most part, identical to the US Limited Edition, with a few changes. Before we do comparisons, here’s what Atari Australia says the LE is looking like at the moment:

- Age of Conan mini guide “The ultimate guide to the world’s most savage barbarian” (6″ x 7″)
- Map of Hyboria (16″ x 20″)
- Exclusive coin set (x3) produced by Dark Horse
- Bonus DVD
- Soundtrack
- Book of AoC art / concept art
- Leather bound manual
- Game
- In-game item – Ring: Gives the player increased XP points

Now, we do miss out on the Drinking Cape, but in its place we’ll be getting a coin set made by comic studio Dark Horse. A fair trade, if you ask me.

Thanks to Atari for helping us clear this up.

It’s in Flash, so it’s all interact-y, and there looks to be new screenshots and info, so if you’re a fan I’d recommend stopping by.

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures [Official site, thanks Bradley]