As some of you might know, i am the German Community Manager for Funcom’s game Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures and since this is a major announcement and somehow Conan related, i wanted to bring all of you, who have been interested in the game and disappointed of it shortly after launch, due to its shortcomings and bugs, the news of a re-evaluation period.

All former players have now the chance to take a second look at Age of Conan and see if the changes and improvements we brought to the game over the course of the last year, have changed it in a way that you can now fully enjoy the depths of Hyboria.

Head on over to this landing page, watch some of the bigger update videos and take part in another journey through Hyboria.

We really hope you enjoy your journey!

PS: I hope all Conan movie fans who are not interested in Age of Conan will forgive me this blunt advertisement i couldn’t help it hehe…

While we hold our breath waiting for news on the new Conan film, there is something happening on the licensing front. Paradox Entertainment (the owner of Conan Properties) announces in a press release today that everyone’s favorite barbarian is being turned into a new online game.

We are not talking of a new “Age of Conan”, however, but rather a casino game themed on the famous Cimmerian. It is Canadian gaming company Cryptologic that are creating the game, with the rights to market it in any country that allows gambling. The press release does not state what kind of casino game we are talking about, or what the role of Conan will be. I personally have some trouble picturing him black-haired, sullen-eyed and croupier-dressed. Having Conan chop the heads off players that give you a bad beat in hold ‘em would be another matter..

The game is expected to be available by early 2010.

Since we lack news, we can also start some discussions and the most obvious one is “Who should play Conan?”. Here are some hints the producers have given us what and who they search for, so you don’t throw too many Triple H’s and Geralt Butler at us:

• Has to be an unknown, or actor that has not yet had his first major role in a big movie
• No bodybuilder
• No wrestler
• Must be suting for a young Conan
• Must be a good actor in the first place

Head over to the comments and throw around your ideas. My personal favorite right now would be Josh Holloway, he plays Sawyer in the TV-series Lost and his character in there is already a good bit similar to a modern day Conan. What do you think?

From now on we will try to gather as much data on the conan movie as possible and store these facts in the newly created conan movie fact list. We will add anything that is set in stone or confirmed by an official source or things that are on top of the rumors and are most likely to come true. If you come across any piece of information thats missing there, please contact us through the various described possibilities (der.waldgeist – at – gmail.com / PM in conan.com forum / PM in ageofconan.com forums) and tell us about it.

You can find the page on the left side in the “Pages” Menu.

In times when true men patiently wait for more news or rumors on the upcoming Conan movie, they often refer to distraction and since the lamentation of the women would be a too obvious choice, we fall back to more standard distractions.

First we start with a refreshing remake of “Barbarian” from the C64. This flash game is quite a well done remake of the old classic Barbarian, and lets you fight against a human opponent or a computer enemy. They even included a well done remake of the old SID soundtrack. Play it and distract your thoughts!

Anyone who has grown up in a certain time and day might remember the quite cheesy comic version of Conan in TV. A fellow named Bleeek79 uploaded most (if not all) of the series to youtube. If you feel the need to shorten the waiting and if you just finished rereading Howard and if rewatching Ahnuld flex his muscles is too tiresome, then jump into the old cartoonish take on Conan and have a good laugh

Exclusive Conan Movie Interview with Fredrik Malmberg

Who’re they going to cast as the muscle-bound king?

The hype for the release of Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures was enormous, and at Ten Ton Hammer we saw a huge influx of new faces as the game neared its scheduled publication date. Over the last few years, the popularity of Conan has continued to rise as Dark Horse released a new comic book series, a new set of novels based on the Age of Conan mythos was released, and a single player Conan game hit stores. But the one thing that hasn’t occurred as of yet is the release of a brand new Conan film. As enormous fans of the franchise, the Ten Ton Hammer staff took some time to track down Fredrik Malmberg, the president and CEO of Paradox Entertainment (the company that controls the rights to the Conan Properties) and talked with Fredrik about the latest attempt at a Conan movie and how it might be tied in with the Age of Conan MMORPG.

Ten Ton Hammer: Conan comics and games have seen a great resurgence in recent years, is this what lead to the property now being re-introduced on film?

Fredrik Malmberg: In part, yes. Although “Conan” is such an iconic character it was more a matter of time before it would be back on the big screen, I think the comeback in comics, videogames and collectibles proves to the film community that we (Paradox) know what makes fans tick about the character and they now listen to us more.

Ten Ton Hammer: In articles about the film, it has been stressed that staying true to the Robert E. Howard material is critical, how do the writers plan on adapting his work for both true fans and a larger audience?

Fredrik: Very good question. My team worked closely with the writers throughout the process, which has been more than a year now. It is critical that we reach a bigger audience than the existing fanbase to justify the budget, and yet we are dealing with an R-rated badass hero with not all politically correct values. New fans need to understand what made Conan who he is, so we focused on the character traits that Howard gave us and hope that this will shine through.

Establishing the world is also important so that it’s obvious that this is but the first in many movies about Conan. But to answer your question, Josh Oppenheimer and Tom Donnelly were very well versed, had read all the REH stories, knew the comics, and got in with the latest Dark Horse adaptations. We sat down and played the games with them and they had all the Funcom Age of Conan visuals in front of them as well. In fact, Josh made a movie in college which was a Conan spoof. I think they nailed it.

Ten Ton Hammer: How will the movie differ from the Schwarzenegger film? Will it be set up as a series?

Fredrik: Yes, this is the first in a series of films. It has nothing to do with the 80’s film continuity-wise; we’re starting from scratch.

Ten Ton Hammer: Casting Conan is a real challenge, as he is not just some muscle bound brute in the stories. What traits would you look for in an actor who could possibly play this part?

Fredrik: Errrr… acting capabilities? What I mean is first and foremost, [we look for] a good actor. Second, this needs to be somebody who understands Conan’s character. Preferrably, with a personal depth. Physical presence, a big guy but in my mind but not a bodybuilder. Someone with a rugby-player physique, you know? Ultimately, this is a director ’s choice because the chemistry must work between them.

Ten Ton Hammer: Will Howard’s themes of nature and human will against civilization and corruption be outlined in the film?

Fredrik: Absolutely. We will try to stress pivotal themes such as this to show what sets him apart from superheroes. Just imagine how Conan would deal with the problems on Wall Street today.

Ten Ton Hammer: What artistic style can we expect in the film? With recent achievements like Frank Miller’s 300, will we see a sweeping landscape for Conan’s backdrop and will Frank Frazetta’s influence be seen?

Fredrik: Frank has influenced a generation of fans and every director I met always brought up his art in their pitches. The world is so much more than that though, and I think Funcom did a fantastic job in Age of Conan. I am doing everything in my power to involve their art director, Didrik Tollefsen, into the film project because I think the six years of thought he and his team put into the visuals really pop on the screen. In fact, I talked with the WETA Workshop guys and showed his stuff and they said it was on par with what they do.

Ten Ton Hammer: Pre-production is around the corner, what stage are you in now with the project? There has been a lot of talk on finding the right director, has a decision been made? How close are you? What can we expect in terms of schedule, will the film be set for 2010?

Fredrik: We are happy with where the script is, always polishing until the final shoot of course. We are hoping to announce our director in January, and we have budgeted the script and looked at locations for shooting. The majority will be done in Bulgaria and some in China, and the film start date is set for June for a summer 2010 release.

Ten Ton Hammer: Being in charge of Conan Properties, what is your personal favorite thing about the Conan works?

Fredrik: That’s a broad question….”thing” huh? Probably that every time I pick up a Howard short story, I am stunned with how fresh and relevant it still feels. I like how simple Conan’s choices are and his moral fiber. Wouldn’t we all want to be like him? Yet, like someone said before, “I am not sure I would want him as a drinking buddy”.