Funcom and Eidos have announced that Age of Conan - Hyborian Adventures has been delayed by six months or so and will now not ship until the 30th of October 2007 to 'further ensure an online experience with truly stunning impact'. An open beta will apparently be coming soon and it sounds like you'll need to get involved in the Age of Conan community to have a chance of getting on that.

"Age of Conan" brings something brand new and highly innovative to the MMO genre’ says CEO Trond Arne Aas. "Age of Conan" today looks and plays fantastically, as countless press previews and industry feedback attest to. Even so, we believe that by spending even more time and effort into polishing and enhancing the game we will ensure that the game reaches its full potential in terms of quality and subscriber base. We are confident that our fan base will appreciate this commitment to quality. The prolonged development time reflects our ambition to meet and exceed the expectations of our fans for this game.’

"Age of Conan is truly a labor of love for Funcom and I am proud and amazed at the accomplishments of our world class development team. The extra development time on Age of Conan will enable us to deliver a truly awesome MMO gaming experience – with next generation MMO-combat and a lush and vibrant world to live in, said Gaute Godager, founder of Funcom and Game Director on 'Age of Conan’. "Now we can pack even more punch into the brutal world of Conan, and, by Crom, I feel certain that we will deliver a game that will appeal to a broad range of players as we introduce new features to the genre.’