Durham (NC) – The upcoming Age of Conan game has seen promising interest hinting to a big launch. More than 500,000 people have signed up for beta testing or the Clan of Conan Club, product manager Erling Ellingsen told TG Daily.

A successful introduction of the game is actually not just important to developer FunCom and publisher Eidos, but especially for Microsoft’s PC gaming strategy. Age of Conan is a key title for Microsoft’s “Games for Windows” program, which has been a disappointment for the industry and could not quite repeat the impact of other initiatives, for example Nvidia’s “The way its meant to be played” campaign.  

The reception of Windows Vista and DirectX 10.0 in the gaming market has been lackluster at best so far. DirectX 10 applications have been heavily marketed, but are selling in lower-than-expected volumes. Vista SP1 with support DirectX 10.1 - which brings patches for example for deferred rendering – enables Microsoft to get another shot at the market and tout titles such as Age of Conan.

After a series of delays, the game is scheduled to ship on May 20. Initially, Age of Conan is going to be released in North America and throughout Europe. The game will be available in English, German, French and Spanish versions.

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