Conan Will Hear the Lamentations of Your 360

The PC version of the MMO Age of Conan hasn't been what anyone would call successful. Well, at least not anyone who knows what "successful" means. It started off well enough as a more violent and gritty alternative to World of Warcraft. But an inattention to any type of fun in later levels and a seeming disinterest in releasing updates and improvements quickly killed the game. Recently, it was announced that several of its servers are merging into one. Seems the end is nigh for our 'roid-riddled barbarian hero.

Not so! That's according to Funcom's Erling Ellingsen, who says that only is Age of Conan continuing on PC, but it's also coming to the Xbox 360. "We don't have any dates for it, we've never set any specific dates for the Xbox 360 version," he told Videogamer. "The only thing I can say is that we are still working on it."

MMOs haven't had the best track record on consoles. Actually, they haven't really had a record at all. Final Fantasy XI is probably the most successful console MMO so far, but it's not like there's been a lot of competition. Pricing might be an issue. For 360 owners, at least, it's an expensive prospect to pay $50 a year for Xbox Live in addition to your game's monthly fee. Also, it's hard to manage all the menus and widgets of an MMO with a standard controller.

But this year will see a steady stream of MMOs across a variety of consoles. APB, Star Trek Online, and Champions Online will all be released in non-PC versions. With as rich and deep a universe as Conan's world, I'm hoping Age of Conan will turn itself around. I'd love to crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and hear the lamentations of their women. But, you know, for pretend.

Source: Videogamer