Since August Funcom has managed to keep us all fed with more morsels of 'Age of Conan' as we prepare ourselves for the new year and we all look forward to hearing more about those features that have only been touched on in interviews and so forth. There's still quite a bit yet to be seen, but something tells me January 2008 will see the floodgates open. Call it "intuition", but I'm going to call it: the chefs in the Funcom kitchen have decided it's time to stop serving the hors d'œuvres or antipasto and bring out first course, but I digress...
If you could describe the year Funcom has had with 'Age of Conan' this year in one word, it would have to be, at the very least, "bumpy" or something synonymous with that. Yes, the delays have been disappointing, but as we saw in July at E3, the fruits of Funcom's labour were starting to become very clear to a very sceptical and perhaps somewhat untrusting gaming public. The one thing I'm sure we can all agree on is the way in which Funcom management has handled themselves with these very difficult business decisions and their ability to maintain their integrity and vision for their game. Some might think that Funcom has lost credibility as a result of their actions (I certainly don't), but they have moved forward, and naturally, this the way things must go, and you could use every analogy under the sun to describe it, but like I've said already, this is business and difficult decisions needs to be made. Unfortunately, toes do get stepped on, egg shells do get broken, and you just have to deal with the fact that in order to discover new oceans you have to lose sight of the jetty.
Where are we now? Well, we know more and more testers are in General Beta, into the thousands, according to community manager, Shannon "Pharamond" Drake, and that the months since the announcement of the delay have flown by. Where to from here? If this year is any reflection on it, then 2008 is going to be absolutely massive. I'm certainly looking forward to stepping up my own efforts over the next few months to bring you quality commentary, news, and information about 'Age of Conan', and you'll see the first of such in a fortnight's time, but I'm quite sure it goes without saying that Funcom and "Santa Gaute" are preparing even themselves to bring you more and more as we say "goodbye" to the year that was 2007. If this year had bumps, then bring on the dips and loop-the-loops, by Crom!
Until next fortnight, this is Stephen "weezer" Spiteri,
Out.
Want to contact me? Then email me here.
© Stephen Spiteri, December 2007
