Nelson's Weblog: culture / games / age-of-conan

Age of Conan

The online game industry has a problem: World of Warcraft so dominates the industry that it's hard to imagine any serious competition. There's room for niche players like Eve Online; it takes about 100,000 subscribers to break even. But everyone's angling to have the next million+ blockbuster, and it's not happening.

The latest competitor in the mix is Age of Conan. On the surface it seems a lot like WoW; high fantasy, RPG, quests and levelling and all that. They're trying to distinguish the gameplay by adding realtime combat elements and a serious PvP endgame.

But what really sets AoC apart is the intellectual property. The Conan franchise is a great starting point full of big dumb exciting heroes. And Funcom has embraced it whole heartedly with lots of gore, fast combat, and "mature themes". The first quest in AoC (pictured above) makes it clear this isn't WoW; you turn the corner and see a beautiful slave girl in chains, begging for your help. When you rescue her she tells you she's a "pleasure girl" and that while she can't pay you for helping, if you visit her at the brothel you'll "come to some arrangement". Hubba hubba. Oh yeah, the female models have nipples, too.

I don't think gore and boobies will be enough to make AoC a success. It might even backfire; a big part of WoW's growth is its appeal to people who aren't hardcore fantasy gamers. But it's nice to see something different and it's good campy fun.

What is best in life? To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.

culture • games
2008-05-24 18:41 Z


Mastodon @nelson@tech.lgbt Linkblog Sun 2024-12-29 Reed meat smoke Moon mechanics Fri 2024-12-27 Reddit male harassment Hon. Frank Murphy Measuring Starlink users Mon 2024-12-23 Helen Corbitt Texas Caviar Sun 2024-12-22 SimonW's linkblog Sat 2024-12-21 License Plate Game Fri 2024-12-20 The Loves of my Life Musk + AfD Thu 2024-12-19 Another $2B Wed 2024-12-18 mail-tester.com Kenji and alcohol Amazon Time Sync hydroxychloroquine fraud withdrawn Tue 2024-12-17 A New Social Tacticalgramma Sun 2024-12-15 Drone nonsense Sat 2024-12-14 OK Nintendo 64 Fri 2024-12-13 Unix Windows Search Archives 2023 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2022 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2021 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2020 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2019 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2018 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2017 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2016 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2015 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2014 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2013 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2012 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2011 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2010 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2009 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2008 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2007 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2006 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2005 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2004 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2003 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2002 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2001 12 11 10 09 08 07 One good site MDN Nelson Minar nelson@monkey.org Blog licensed under a Creative Commons License		Age of Conan The online game industry has a problem: World of Warcraft so dominates the industry that it's hard to imagine any serious competition. There's room for niche players like Eve Online; it takes about 100,000 subscribers to break even. But everyone's angling to have the next million+ blockbuster, and it's not happening. The latest competitor in the mix is Age of Conan. On the surface it seems a lot like WoW; high fantasy, RPG, quests and levelling and all that. They're trying to distinguish the gameplay by adding realtime combat elements and a serious PvP endgame. But what really sets AoC apart is the intellectual property. The Conan franchise is a great starting point full of big dumb exciting heroes. And Funcom has embraced it whole heartedly with lots of gore, fast combat, and "mature themes". The first quest in AoC (pictured above) makes it clear this isn't WoW; you turn the corner and see a beautiful slave girl in chains, begging for your help. When you rescue her she tells you she's a "pleasure girl" and that while she can't pay you for helping, if you visit her at the brothel you'll "come to some arrangement". Hubba hubba. Oh yeah, the female models have nipples, too. I don't think gore and boobies will be enough to make AoC a success. It might even backfire; a big part of WoW's growth is its appeal to people who aren't hardcore fantasy gamers. But it's nice to see something different and it's good campy fun. What is best in life? To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women. culture • games 2008-05-24 18:41 Z Nelson's Weblog • culture • games → emulation, eve, warcraft