A new Dragon teaser video and interview with Ragnar Tornquist was released for The Secret World’s Week of the Dragon. Nothing marvelously new for those who’ve been following The Secret World, although there are a few interesting tidbits, like shots of what looks like a train station in space. I believe that’s a closer shot of the end of Tokyo Flashback, revealed last week at NY Comic Con and available for public viewing thanks to the efforts of The Hydra Initiative, a Dragon Cabal for The Secret World.

And we get Mei Ling’s milkshake recipe. I’ve always preferred chocolate milkshakes, do you suppose I could use chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla?

• 1½ cups milk
• 2 VERY large scoops of vanilla ice cream
• 1 cup strawberries, hulled
• ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 6 marshmallows, cut in half

Ever wish you could play video games to help someone in need? Now you can! On Saturday, October 15th, join charity-minded gamers across the globe in a gaming marathon for charity. It’s a 24-hour video game playing marathon to benefit the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Much like the walk-a-thon charity events where walkers earn for their charity of choice for every mile they walk, gamers are asked to find sponsors who will pay $1 for every hour they stay awake and in game. I’m really late to the party on this one – I wish that I’d heard about it sooner!

You can start your own team, or join existing ones. Trion Worlds has one (their free weekend this weekend is dedicated to this charity event), as does Funcom, and both companies will be having giveaways during the 24 hour run. You could earn in game items and titles in RIFT, or beta access to the upcoming MMORPG The Secret World, Funcom points and more playing Anarchy Online or Age of Conan. I just spotted Team Razer, G4 Tv, Activision, and Wizards of the Coast, and I’m sure there are plenty of other recognizable names as well. All you need to do is turn on your computer (or your console, or even pull out boardgames – any game will do) and start playing!

Sign up for Extra Life and play games to help children in need!

The Secret World was primed for closed beta signups yesterday, with thousands of fans hovering anxiously over the forums and website. The timer ticked down, bounced up 4 hours, then ticked down again, and lingered on 00:00 before breaking completely. Server outage or bizarre new ARG that must be solved before the actual signups can be reached? Perhaps a mix of both? There are several debates going on in the forums, as people attempt to decode this letter which can be found when clicking the broken timer on the official site and determine whether it’s a real technical outage or a new puzzle. As of this posting at 9AM PST (4PM GMT) there are approximately 20 minutes before another announcement is expected.

Anxious for the beta signups and want to keep an eye on the progress?
Go here for the official timer thread with technical information.
Go here for the official discussion thread. Although this is the fifth thread and may be outdated soon with a sixth.
Go here if you want in on the ARG discussion.

If you needed any more proof that the free-to-play model was superior to the subscription model, enter Age of Conan: Unchained.  Today Funcom announced that since going Free2Play, AoC has quadrupled server activity, revenue has more than double compared to that of the initial launch, which if you remember launched with over a million copies sold, so that’s saying a lot.

Funcom also stated that since the switch to F2P about a month ago, 300,000 new players have signed up and entered the world of Hyboria.

“The launch of the hybrid business model has been very successful so far,” says Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas. “The activity levels on the servers are booming with a fourfold increase in players during July, we more than doubled the revenue generated from the game, and we have experienced a positive development in subscriber numbers. This definitely gives us great hope for the game’s future.

To celebrate the Funcom team is hard at work creating a unique tie-in for the upcoming Conan the Barbarian movie. The new Adventure Pack titled ‘Savage Coast of Turan’ will introduce all new world areas, as well as monsters, characters and player equipment that audiences can experience in the movie as it hits theatres on August 18^th.

In four short days, on June 27th, Anarchy Online will be celebrating its 10 year anniversary and being the worlds longest running sci-fi MMORPG.  The celebration will take place over three days, both in-game and out, and will be the Anarchy event of the decade.

Development started on Anarchy Online as early as 1995, in an age when the Internet had not even become mainstream. The initial design document even questioned whether the Internet had a future, and the stated the goal was to obtain at least 2500 players. Millions of gamers later, Funcom is ready to throw down the biggest party on Rubi-Ka to date.

“When Anarchy Online launched ten years ago nobody would have predicted where it would go, and that we would even see this day are all thanks to the dedication of our players and our community”, says Colin Cragg, Game Director on Anarchy Online. “I have so many fond memories from the years with Anarchy Online, and there are so many people to thank. The span of time and the way our world has touched the lives of so many is something we will always cherish. The fact that the kids of couples who met in AO are now playing our game says it all. I feel incredibly grateful to have been a part of Anarchy Online, and can’t wait to see what the future holds in store for us all.”

To help players celebrate the milestone, Funcom is adding new content for the festivities. Ranging from an all new birthday raid to new vehicles, clothes, gear, action figures and pets, players will have tons of new content to play around with. Players who choose to re-subscribe during the festivities will receive a special “Heckler of Celebration” social pet, as well as other benefits. The Heckler is known as one of the most notorious monsters in Anarchy Online, and it comes complete with a rocky personality and a 10th anniversary Birthday Hat.

Funcom is inviting all current and old players back to Rubi-Ka to help celebrate  this major achievement.   The party begins this Friday, and a complete list of times can be found on the official site.

Funcom has released their latest developer’s diary which takes you behind the scenes of their upcoming MMORPG The Secret World.  The diary explains how every NPC is fully voiced and motion captured to set the mood within the game.  It also talks about the different mission types such as story-line, sabotage, action and investigation missions, which includes investigating in-game and out on the internet.  Check out the full Secret World Dev Diary below.

Changes are coming to the land of Hyboria.  Today Funcom announced that Age of Conan will be re-launched this summer as a free to play MMORPG titled Age of Conan: Unrated.  Age of Conan will become free to play, however will retain a premium subscription option that will give players access to extra content.

Aside from the premium subscription, Funcom will also be opening an item store that will allow anyone to purchase exclusive content such as weapons and mounts.

SVP of Sales & Marketing Morten Larssen stated, “Now we turn to another chapter in this story as we thrust ‘Age of Conan: Unrated’ into the world of free-to-play games, a gaming space that is becoming rapidly more popular and profitable across the board.”

The “Unrated” part of the title is Funcom’s way of reaffirming Age of Conan’s position as the sexiest and most savage MMO in the world.

With each passing week, The Secret World is getting a little less secret. This weekend marks the beginning of a consistent offering from Funcom, paving the way for more significant reveals in the months to come. The Secret World’s newsletter covers this week’s new round of screenshots as well as an exciting gameplay trailer.

The official site has received a solid revamp, providing more information and a better browsing experience overall. In order to receive the newsletter via email, prospective players must complete the initiation test, which determines your place in the game’s three societies, the Illuminati, Dragon, and Templars.

Finishing off the letter is a recap of The Secret World’s presentation at the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) in San Francisco. Unfortunately, MMOCrunch was unable to attend the festivities, but a wide assortment of blogs, press sites and fan sites offered their experiences for us to greedily consume.

Hello again.  Since I started writing this column I look at things somewhat differently, considering sides and options I wouldn’t otherwise give a second thought to. I try to present things from all perspectives even if I can’t be exactly impartial; we all have our own opinion and preference about things, don’t we?

Age of Conan: The Rise of the Godslayer has a component of grind, though not everyone will agree on which part of the content is just Grind or Fun…

Continued…

Greetings fellow adventurers, and welcome once more to this corner of FunCom’s Age of Conan world. Last week I could not update Hyrkanian Insight due to technical problems which, incidentally, are not yet really solved; only patched temporarily. Whatever, here I am, back with renewed energy.

Today, I want to bring to your attention some of the work being done by the AoC Team, what’s new inside and outside the game, through the community updates from last week and the one published yesterday. Some very interesting things can be extracted between the lines along with a lot of speculation and guess-work.

Come aboard for some rumors and facts…

Continued…