As you can see, I got a hold of the Keaira nude image (it pops) from Playboy. Unfortunately there was only 1 image in the issue. If anyone has any other images, let me know and I will post them.

Over at the Age of Conan site they have new information up about one of the main characters of the game, Keaira. Reading the intro and background information about her makes me want to play the game even more, they say 2 of their design goals were to make her "'sinful' and 'lush'."

The developers say Conan "saved [Keaira] from a camp of raiding Vanir invaders in years past, [and] she formed an unbreakable bond of loyalty to the powerful barbarian" but that "she is as deadly as she is wild in the bedroom."

This description made me think of Red Sonja, but that is more related to the comic than the novels which Keaira is based on. They did make her a Cimmerian rather than Aquilonian, but that is their artistic license.

As an added bonus, Keaira is going to be featured in the December 2007 issue of Playboy. Yea, thats right, they are going to have her nude in a Playboy issue. Stay tuned for some scans of that. ^^

There is a lot of artwork up at the official Age of Conan site but tell me, does she look like Natalie Portman or what? (Images pop)

When I used to read the old Conan comics, the race I liked the most where the Stygians. They were the "intelligent and wise character[s]" who had power behind their cold, dark eyes.

I am very happy that Aoc brings them into the fold, and that you can play one, which I almost certainly will.

The Stygians are, according to the official site, "an ancient, decadent people, born of a culture more than fifteen hundred years older than any of their neighboring kingdoms to the north."

They are, the site continues, "dominated by a ruthless theocracy dedicated to the worship of the serpent-god Set, masters of occult secrets and diabolic lore. The scholarship is legendary and their mastery of the magical arts is without equal anywhere in the known world."
I imagine them as cold, uncaring magician adventurers. They are valued for their magical power and wisdom, but shunned at the same time for that same power, keeping everyone on edge. Reluctantly taken, but absolutely necessary.

If Raistlin from Dragonlance lived in the Conan world, I imagine he would be a Stygian.

Aoc game director Gaute Godager gives a new interview over at ing. He talks about the development of the game, game play, and the schedule.

The key graffs I really liked talked about, of course, the darkness of it.

"Conan will be the very first brutal, hands-on action oriented massively multiplayer online RPG. The game was, and still is following this distinct vision - trying to become the embodiment of the savage, unforgiving Hyborian Age"

Talking about siege pvp he says, "In essence, it is like PvP raid content. " Hells yea.

And finally, he talks about ranged fighting and how it will depend on player skill, and not just button mashing:

"Using the latter camera mode gives the player the ability to fire their bows at longer ranges, although this naturally requires more player skill - which is the fun part."

I take this to mean that unlike other MMO, you don't just go to max range and hit "Shoot bow", but the farther away you are, the harder it is to actually hit the target. This sounds great.

Read the whole thing at ing

AoC just keeps getting darker and darker the more you explore.

In AoC The Dafari are : "...followers of Yog and take part in vile ceremonies involving human sacrifice and cannibalism in his name."

They further "are cannibal warriors with sharp, filed down teeth. They are fierce, aggressive hunters and have started moving upwards through the Black Kingdoms towards the heart of Stygia"

It seems they are taking over Hyboria and it will be your job to clean them out.

You can read all about them at the official site

One of the things that is so interesting about AoC is the depth they go to stay gritty. Take AoC's tank, The Dark Templar.
From the AoC site:

"...the Dark Templar will go as far as to trade his very humanity to any dark being who will offer him a piece of the corrupted power that they possess."

That is some pretty evil shit. It kind of makes World of Warcrafts shadow priest look like a cartoon. The official site continues, "...the Dark Templar is also quite a sadist."

There is more information about the Dark Templar at Ten Ton Hammer

From that interview it seems like AoC is at least attempting to balance the need for a tank with a tanks desire to do damage. Jørgen Tharaldsen, Product Director for Funcom says "The Dark Templar can also remove his shield, and instead focus on holding magical talismans in the offhand, which will give him additional combat effects like bonus damage or procs" and "we have a mode in the game called Frenzy, and a Dark Templar going into this mode can deal around 150% extra damage, [but you take] three times the damage if someone hits you."

Sounds sweet. Ten Ton Hammer will have a class review every two weeks, stay tuned for more.

The hook for me about Age of Conan is that it seems to be a lot about technology.

World of Warcraft is about time sink and grinding. Now, I'm sure there will be some of that in AOC, but based on what little beta I have seen it is going to be more technoligists vs primatives.

What I mean by that is, the people with metal swords vs the people with wood clubs. As I mentioned before, this looks to be a serious departure from the old grind it out style.

I look forward to it.

Looks like the beta is progressing along. There is a new post up at the official site describing how you start out in the game, and it sounds sweet. It seems more natural that a lot of the traditional kill ten rat MMO's out there.

They are still hyping up the Pvp, which gets me excited, I hope it delivers.

Here is the first pvp screen I have seen:

I can't say I am super impressed. Apologies to Dane Cook, but it kind of looks like a bunch of monkeys fucking a coconut. It's beta though, I'm sure the graphics will improve.

You can read the whole news item here