Funcom will release its long-in-development MMOG, Age of Conan, later this month. Meanwhile the company uncovered that the Age of Conan beta surpassed 1 million sign-ups. Until the game hits store shelves though, Funcom wanted to introduce us to some of the female characters in the game. Check it out:

STOP! To view this video you must first certify your age. I am 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 years old. This video is age-restricted. >Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Well, folks, here's your chance to try out a segment of LucasArts' upcoming video game LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures. Word is the demo features the opening scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark, in addition to a free play mode.

You may download the 465MB here.

Enjoy.

The full game is scheduled to arrive on June 3 and will be available for the Xbox 360, PS3, PS3, PSP, PC, Wii and DS.

Blizzard releases a new patch for World of Warcraft, updating their MMORPG to version 2.4.2. By the way, the v2.4 patch will likely be the last major patch before the launch of the long-awaited add-on Wrath of the Lich King. More similar minor patches are expected.

In short, the v2.4.2 patch fixes a number of issues associated with sound, as well as ironing out problems with shading. The Tranquilizing Shot bug has also been resolved. As always, we've included the full patch release notes, so you can find out all there is to know about the update.

You can download both UK and US WoW patches right here.

Funcom and Eidos confirm that the Age of Conan Beta has surpassed 1 million sign-ups. In addition, the companies revealed that more than 800,000 users have signed up for the 'Clan of Conan' newsletter.

“Funcom has not been able to find any higher beta numbers for MMOs in the western world,” said Morten Larssen, VP of Funcom Sales and Marketing. “We believe it represents the largest ever beta sign-up figure in the history of the genre.”

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures will launch on May 20 in North America and Oceania and May 23 across in Europe.

If you've missed it, you can check out the recently released trailer, which offers a neat combat tutorial.

It's not much of a surprise, given the recent UK sales data. Now, it has been confirmed that Rockstar's smash hit surpassed one million sales across the United Kingdom. The interesting thing is that GTA IV suffered a 77% drop when compared to last week's sales, but still managed to top its rival - Wii Fit, the sales of which fell 48 %. Check out the latest UK sales chart from ELSPA:

1. Grand Theft Auto IV
2. Wii Fit
3. Wii Play
4. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
5. Iron Man: The Official Video Game
6. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
7. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008
8. Gran Turismo 5: Prologue
9. Mario Kart Wii
10. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training

Researchers at Harvard say that there's no data to support the notion that violent video games cause kids who play them to act out violence in real life. Not only that, but they also found that violent video games are okay for kids.

"Sure, some children displayed a playful aggressiveness after hours spent with a violent game, but this was no different than what children experience after seeing a martial arts action movie."

Again, they've deduced that video games have a positive effect on kids. "Some researchers, including the Harvard psychologists, even suggest that video games have a positive effect on the brain. Steven Johnson explores this concept in his book Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter."

You can read the full report over at News.com.

This is not the only research on violent video games that has brought positive and reassuring results. Some even claim that kids who don't play video games are at risk.

Back in March, reports were sighted about producer Michael De Luca (of Columbia Pictures) who plans to discuss a movie project with writer-director Kurt Wimmer. The movie would be based on Kojima Productions' popular video game series, Metal Gear Solid.

At this time, no official announcements were made about a MGS movie. However, Konami's Aki Saito, who is currently handling the film negotiations, says that a contract is still being worked out and that Kojima will not be directing - although he will take part in the project as a producer.

"Hollywood has great respect for Mr. Kojima. They want to meet with him. Kojima will be acting as a producer, but we don't know how involved he'll be as a producer. Often Hollywood adaptations have the original game creator involved at the beginning, but somewhere along the line they fall out of view. This is why it's very important for us to carefully pick the studio for this project," explains Saito.

Here's a thought: why not make it into a musical? Or an opera? "Snake, Snake, Snaaaaaaake!!!!"

Source.

Well, not really. It's just an expansion pack for The Sims 2. That's what PC gamers prefer playing these. If you don't believe me, go ahead and check out NPD's top 10 PC chart for the US (covering the week of April 27 – May 3):

1.The Sims 2 Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff Expansion Pack - Electronic Arts - $20
2. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe - Electronic Arts - $30
3. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Activision - $42
4. World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest - Vivendi - $38
5. The Sims 2 FreeTime Expansion Pack - Electronic Arts - $30
6. World Of Warcraft - Vivendi - $20
7. World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack - Vivendi - $30
8. Sins Of A Solar Empire - Stardock - $40
9. Assassin's Creed: Director's Cut Edition - Ubisoft - $48
10. Crysis - Electronic Arts - $38

OK, this may sound a bit radical but I have discovered that popping a few funny pills before I go to bed results in me coming up with the sweetest shit before I fall asleep, while maintaining a relatively good quality of sleep throughout the night and waking up moderately refreshed in the morning.

Wait, I just realized that there is nothing radical about this whatsoever.

OK, how about I beat it off to pictures of swastika band-clad fruit as I'm dozing off? That's pretty radical.

Times have changed and well-known developers (such as LucasArts), which once supported the PC strongly, have now turned their attention to various console platforms. We all know that LucasArts is making Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for every major gaming platform, except the PC, and we know that pisses most of you off. The company recently took the time to reassure PC gamers that they are not neglecting the PC as a gaming platform.

"We're not shutting the door on PC at all. For this project, it happens to be that we don't have a PC SKU. We do hear that complaint [about PC gamers wanting The Force Unleashed]. I definitely wish it had been possible," says producer Cameron Suey in an interview posted over at VideoGamer.

He continues: "However the PC being the gaming platform that it is, someone with a $4,000 high-end system would definitely be able to play the Euphoria, the DMM and really technical elements of the game. But someone with a low-end PC would have a watered down experience, they would have to turn all the settings down and it wouldn't be the same game."

Fair enough... hm, that still doesn't make me feel any better.

Today Blizzard Entertainment announces plans for its third BlizzCon gaming convention, to be held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California on 10 and 11 October.

As always, the BlizzCon event is dedicated to celebrating of "the global player communities surrounding Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo franchises."

According to Blizzard, the demand to accommodate more attendees made them expanded this year’s event from two convention halls to three.

Here are the highlights for the show:

* Hands-on play time with upcoming Blizzard Entertainment releases
* Discussion panels with Blizzard Entertainment developers
* Competitive and casual tournaments for players to showcase their talents
* Areas and activities devoted to licensed products such as the World of Warcraft® Trading Card Game
* Costume, machinima, and character sound-alike contests with great prizes
* Commemorative merchandise based on the Blizzard Entertainment franchises
* A silent auction
* More exciting activities to be announced

Tickets for the show will go on sale in the next few weeks and will be priced at $100 USD per person.

Atari and Eden Games offer another trailer from the upcoming survival horror video game, Alone in the Dark. From what we've seen, this could be an awesome addition to the horror genre (some pretty cool stuff can be done with the use of fire physics, for instance). Anyway, check out the latest trailer below:

STOP! To view this video you must first certify your age. I am 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 years old. This video is age-restricted. >Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Alone in the Dark is scheduled to arrive on June 24 in the US and June 20 in Europe. Expect the game to appear on the following platforms: PC, Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3.

Electronic Arts announces that Skate 2 is on the way and is currently in development for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms. For the time being, nothing else was disclosed. So, no shots or in-game footage, I'm afraid.

Still, we did learn that EA also plans to launch separate Wii and Nintendo DS editions of Skate. They're calling them "Skate It" and both the Wii and DS versions are slated for a release later this year.

It was mentioned that both titles are going to feature controls specific to each platform. They also worked to add support the recently released Wii Balance Board. Now, that sounds fun.

By "series' greatest mystery," I'm of course referring to the problem of the DOOM Marine not being able to mount a damn flashlight on his gun.

AT COMIC: DOOM 4: Mission Impossible

EA continues its series of trailers for the upcoming action game Battlefield: Bad Company (360/PS3). This one introduces as us to the game's main character Preston Marlow. Take a look:

STOP! To view this video you must first certify your age. I am 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 years old. This video is age-restricted. >Get the Flash Player to see this player.

You can find out more about the game in our preview.

If the initial reports are to be believed, Gothic 4: Arcania, the new installment in the open-world RPG series, will take place ten years after the previous game. Some of the features include things like weather changes, full day and night cycle, the ability to ride beasts, DirectX 10 compatibility and more.

JoWood is behind the project, once again, as the publisher of course, while the development is handled by Spellbound.

While the game is pretty much under wraps, the first round of screenshots have reached us, as well as some cool-looking concept art.

So the rumors were true. 2K Games announced that the company reached an agreement to develop a movie based on the highly-praised video game, BioShock, and it was revealed that the deal involves movie studio Universal Pictures.

According to a press release on Take-Two Interactive's official web site "the prospect of bringing this blockbuster game to life has attracted not only a major studio, but top Hollywood talent. Gore Verbinski, director of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, is slated to direct and produce the BioShock movie. John Logan, Academy Award-nominated writer of Gladiator, The Aviator and Sweeney Todd, is in talks to do the screenplay."

Word has it that Take-Two Interactive will receive a multi-million-dollar advance for the deal.

Hm, Oprah could play as one of the Big-Daddies.

Online retailers Amazon and GameStop already feature pre-order listings for God of War III - the new addition to Sony's hugely popular video game franchise. As expected, SCE Studios Santa Monica is preparing this one exclusively for the PlayStation 3. About two months back, we've learned that the game could arrive in early 2009 (as opposed to its previous Xmas 2009 launch date).

Things may have changed since then. The aforementioned pre-order listings for God of War III indicate that the game could hit the market on March 2, 2009. No confirmations from Sony have been sighted just yet, but if the two online retailers are correct, we may see the long-awaited action adventure a lot sooner than expected.

In relation to God of War III, we recently found out that the game could feature online play, which would be a logical move on Sony's part, especially in view of how insanely popular the series has become after the release of God of War II.

Source.

Some people just cannot escape their past. Like this Hungarian policewoman, whose rather colorful history spelled the end of her career in law enforcement. What happened was that one of her colleagues found out she has starred in a Triple X rated flick and ratted her out.

By the way, I hate snitches, but that's besides the point.

The woman (Livia Kovacs, 36) isn't upset about her being fired. Evidently, since news about this surfaced, she's been contacted by many producers to do even more films.

I for one, admire her spirit. You go, girl!