Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures Tops PC Sales Charts

Funcom’s MMO is doing really well in sales, infact, Age of Conan is now No.1 best selling title on the PC platform in Germany, UK, Australia, Italy, Sweden, Norway and Spain. Impressive.

Funcom is proud to announce that Age of Conan rises to number 1 on the PC charts, and the game even competes very well on the all-format lists. The normal edition is now sold out in many outlets due to the initial success of the game, and Funcom aims to resupply new boxes as fast as possible. With more than half a million customers, Age of Conan is already one of the biggest ever western MMO games, and this happens just a week after launch.

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Web-Based 3D MMOSG, SocioTown, Begins Public Beta

SocioTown, a web-based 3D massive multiplayer online social game (MMOSG), has begun public beta testing. The public beta is taking place on the West1 server:
http://west1.sociotown.com/landing.html

Developed by the small indie company Outside The Box Software, SocioTown draws inspiration from The Sims and Nintendo’s Animal Crossing while successfully introducing new player-driven social features in a multiplayer environment.

With its upcoming release, SocioTown looks to be the first MMO social game that has an end-game and a sense of purpose. Social MMO games have often been criticized for lacking actual game features and progression. SocioTown looks to change this. It features missions, job simulations, player attributes, leveling up, and advanced NPC (Non Playable Character) interactions. Even the clothes the player buys in the shops aren’t just for looks, they also can affect the character’s attributes.

SocioTown has a low-barrier to entry by being web-based and only requiring the Adobe Shockwave web plugin. Players can jump into the world within minutes instead of hours.

You can participate now in the public beta on the West1 Server:
http://west1.sociotown.com/landing.html

NCsoft Licenses Unreal Engine 3 For Two Upcoming MMOs

NCsoft, the famed MMO-games developer, has signed with Epic Games to use their Unreal Engine 3.0 in two upcoming projects.

“Unreal Engine 3 has a well structured rendering pipeline, and its graphical quality is superb thanks to advanced lighting and shadowing systems,” said Young-muk Choi, lead programmer, development unit, NCsoft.

by GamesIndustry.biz