MMORPG.com has posted a TSW video interview with Ragnar Tørnquist, while at GDC 2009. Ragnar explains a bit about the concept of The Secret World. In Part I they talk about the setting and character development. Part II goes on to talk about similarities and differences between The Secret World and Age of Conan.

Massively features their preview of The Secret World from GDC 2009, and an interview with Funcom’s Ragnar Tørnquist. Here’s a little chunk on gameplay and travel.

I want to emphasize that this won’t be something like Grand Theft Auto with magic, with a focus on huge, huge open cities. They are reasonably small places where you will start out and take the adventure from there. But one very important thing to note is that this sounds like a very fragmented world. London, New York, Seoul, those cities are a long way away from each other. But we are creating, or at least trying to create, a pretty seamless world. This means there are ways of getting from London to New York very quickly, and we are focusing on that. You won’t be just walking up to a plane, clicking on it, and getting a red line that quickly points to where you’re going and boom, you’re there. You will be moving in real-time from London to New York, just a lot quicker.

IGN Vault did a bang-up job on their preview and interview for The Secret World, from GDC 2009. Staci Krause and Charlene Sheridan quizzed the TSW developers to score as much information for fans as possible. Read up!

“No Classes, No Levels. We don’t want a game where the purpose of the game is to get to level 56 or 70 and then that is where the game starts… there is nothing like that. It is a skill based game. The whole point of the game is discovering new skills, basically like putting together a deck of cards that you can play any way you want to play.”

Tomorrow expects to see the release of whatever information was uncovered from GDC 2009 about Funcom’s next MMORPG, The Secret World. In the meantime, the anticipation builds in the official TSW forum. It began with a warning that dark days are coming once again.

The hour has arrived. No more pretenders. We are gathering. Quietly. Secretly. Dark days are coming and the fate of this world is at stake.

The Secret World fans are very clever, and instantly began to unravel the mysteries behind the lone post. It wasn’t long before a very creepy video was uncovered, along with some Twittering from from Funcom’s Ragnar Tornquist.

People continued to dig and analyze until a new website was found, more pieces to a puzzle. Every shred of evidence has been ripped apart. Some who solve the mysteries appear to receive a key of sorts, to where it leads no one knows yet.

Follow the thread in the official forum, look at the evidence for yourself!

Funcom is ready to reveal more about their next MMORPG, The Secret World, at GDC later in March. In a 2008 financial report, Funcom stated plans to start pimping up TSW early in 2009, guess they are sticking to it! Hopefully we can look forward to some new media and plenty of news coming out of the event!

Monsieur AoC Game Director, Craig ‘Silirrion’ Morrison, has posted some job ads in the official forums. Want to be part of team Conan?

Flash / UI Designer

Funcom is seeking an experienced and motivated UI artist to join the ‘Age of Conan’ team. The UI artist will assist in the design, improvement and implementation of the games interface, and will work closely with the design and programming teams, producers and art directors to prototype and iterate new interface functionality.

Expert experience with Adobe Flash and Adobe Photoshop are required. The ideal candidate will possess sound aesthetic design fundamentals, including illustration and animation skills and preferably have good working understanding of intuitive human interface principles.

[Full details and how to apply]

Environment Artist

Want to be a part of the team that builds and shapes the world itself in Age of Conan? Funcom is looking for talented artists to join our team in Oslo responsible for Environment and World-building.

[Full details and how to apply]

AI Designer

Funcom is seeking a talented designer and scripter to work on the content creation process. Working as part of the design team this individual will be responsible for the scripting of game-play actions and encounters.

[Full details and how to apply]

Ragnar Tornquist, Game Director for Funcom’s The Secret World, has updated his blog, in which he mentions a few little TSW tidbits. In the first blog post Ragnar mentions investing most of the next four weeks into The Secret World, stating that they have recently made some “Big Changes” to the game. While the story remains the same, the gameplay is going through a redesign… for the better apparently.

We want The Secret World to stand out and be remembered – obviously. To not be just another MMORPG, a WoW clone, of which there are already too many. We’re going to play up the strengths of our universe and differentiate ourselves in both the setting and the gameplay – and particularly in how players can become exactly who they want to be, their secret selves, both visually and in terms of powers. Everyday adventurers and superheroes; guardians of the secret world; champions of Gaia. Warriors. Explorers. Cryptologists. Cryptozoologists. Mystics. Magi. Demonologists. Storytellers. Historians. Travellers. Lovers.

In his second blog post, Ragnar talks about his surprise at how quickly the press picked up on his latest ramblings; and how some twisted his words up a fair chunk.

It is nice to see The Secret World grabbing some headlines again, and though ambiguity can easily lead to speculation – “sweeping changes” and “back to the drawing board” may be taking it a tad too far; we haven’t tossed all of our original design documents, far from it – we appreciate the fact that people are intrigued by what we’re working on…

And just because we’re not talking much about the game at this point doesn’t mean there’s no game, or that we’re going to take longer than planned to finish the game – it just means that we want to wait a little longer before we reveal our deepest, darkest secrets to you (yes, even you, faithful followers, although you will be the first to know – the reveal will, hopefully, begin here). Another year? No, certainly not.

NPD has released their list of the top best selling PC games in the US for 2008 (thanks ve3d), here they are!

1. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
2. Spore
3. World of Warcraft: Battle Chest
4. Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
5. Warhammer Online: Age Of Reckoning
6. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
7. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe
8. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Collector’s Ed
9. Fallout 3
10. World Of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
11. Call Of Duty: World At War
12. The Sims 2 FreeTime
13. World Of Warcraft
14. Sins Of A Solar Empire
15. Warcraft III Battle Chest
16. The Sims 2 Apartment Life
17. Crysis
18. Left 4 Dead
19. Diablo Battle Chest
20. The Orange Box

Ten Ton Hammer took some time to track down Fredrik Malmberg, the president and CEO of Paradox Entertainment and spoke with Fredrik about the latest info on the Conan movie and how it might be tied in with the Age of Conan MMORPG.

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.

They are hoping to announce a director in January, and 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.

Green Pixels tells the tale of a couple who met in EverQuest and over time developed a relationship and got married. We’ve all heard that one before, but hey, you get to hear it again at Green Pixels!

Matt St. Gelais, a 37-year-old manager of an office supply store, and Liz Rasmussen, a 40-year-old licensing officer for a national trucking company, met online while playing a massively multiplayer role-playing game. This past July, they made their relationship a little more formal: They got married.