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#thesecretworld Of the three secret societies vying for power in Funcom's supernatural MMO The Secret World, the Illuminati is probably the most well-known. That's probably not a good thing. More »

#thesecretworld With all of Earth's conspiracy, mythology, and theology at their fingertips Funcom has a broad spectrum of horrible things to visit upon the players on modern day MMO The Secret World. In the Scorched Desert of Egypt, things get biblical. More »

A new trailer for The Secret World is out. For some reason it’s only been given to Gamespot, because if there’s one way to advertise your game, it’s to limit it to one website. Fortunately they’ve put it on their YouTube channel, so we can all enjoy! This one reveals a new location – the perhaps not too enigmatic sounding Scorched Desert. Oooh, plains of sand you say? That’ll save on graphics. But wait! As much as it might be brown, it’s pretty detailed. Plus, Egypt is always more interesting when it’s suffering from around ten plagues.

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In the first part of this in-depth conversation about The Secret World, the talk focused on the game’s fiction and mythology. As the discussion continues, we explore how different the game will be to other MMOs as well as talking about the importance of lore. After covering connections to Indiana Jones and Tintin, the questions turn to other matters as we wonder aloud how long we may have to wait for more Dreamfall. The interview followed a full day hands-on session with the game and those present were: Marten Bruusgaard, lead designer of The Secret World, lead content designer Joel Bylos and the game’s writer/director, Ragnar Tørnquist. We were also joined by Norwegian journalist Knut Gaute Vardenær.

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Playing The Secret World was enlightening but the only way to explore its most secret parts was to sit down with some of the myth-makers who are conspiring together to create this story-led MMO. So I did what was necessary, gathering together three of the minds behind the game and forcing them to talk at me and each other for many an hour. In the first part of this two-part conversation, you will DISCOVER the reason the game is set in the modern day, THRILL to the origins of the secret societies, CONSIDER the difficulty of inserting narrative into an MMO, and PONDER religion and mythology at great length.

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I first saw Funcom's upcoming massively-multiplayer spookfest The Secret World was at GDC in San Francisco in early 2010. In a hotel room overlooking the convention center the two lead designers showed a small group of journalists some very early gameplay footage of Kingsmouth, a fictional zombie- and monster-infested island off the coast of New England. Almost two years later, Funcom let a slightly larger group of journalists play it...

I’ve had mixed feelings about The Secret World for a while now. As more details have emerged, I’ve found it hard to hide my excitement about the real world setting and mad mix of mythology, but I’ve been struggling to shake the suspicion that stitching them to an MMO framework could squander the potential of the scenario. The promise of classless builds and a strong narrative were intriguing, but they were only promises. That is, until last week when I spent a day playing the game and saw just how convincing it was.

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#thesecretworld I've been trying to succinctly summarize the Templars of Funcom's upcoming paranormal MMO all week long, and then this young girl comes along and puts it in simple, easy-to-understand terms: They are the lions of The Secret World. More »

A few weeks ago we caught up with Funcom to talk about one of the factions in their upcoming MMO, The Secret World, a spooky, supernatural game set in the modern-day world. It has no classes, hundreds of skills and boasts three different playable factions -- the Dragon, the Templars and the Illumina...

#thesecretworld In the dark mirror reflection of our planet that is Funcom's upcoming MMO The Secret World, three secret societies struggle to control and contain the mysteries too twisted and terrifying for mere mortals to know about. Some fight with subtlety. Others are the Templars. More »

As professional, respected, tweed-wearing writers, we here at Joystiq consider it part of our job to protect the sanctity of the written word. It's in that capacity we're staging this intervention with Funcom.

Funcom, we're sure your team was excited when you announced today that over 500,000 people have registered for The Secret World beta. But while that's a catchy name, we're just not sure you can continue to call it that with a straight face. Observe:

"I have a secret little out-of-the-way spot I like to go for lunch, it's called Hardee's."
"My secret spice? Shh, come close ... it's called salt."
"I've got a secret method for keeping my car running well: Gas."

Might we suggest "Popular World" (which unfortunately sounds a little like a Facebook game for tweens) or perhaps "Cool World" (which not unfortunately sounds exactly like Cool World)?

I was recently sat down to watch one of the opening sections for Funcom’s MMO, The Secret World. A game that promised much, and so far seems to be confusing everyone by delivering on those promises. Is that still the case? I consider such things below.

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Playing telephone with sensitive information is never a wise decision, which is why Funcom is hosting a Q&A session on Facebook today to answer fan questions about the mysterious Dragon society in The Secret World. The session starts at 2 p.m. EST, but if you have a burning question go ahead and submit it now for the devs to answer later -- keep in mind, they're only answering questions about the Dragon secret society.

If you don't know anything about the Dragon yet -- as is the case with any good secret society, especially one in an already secret world -- check out the backstory and the gallery below. The quest to gather this content claimed the lives of dozens (of potato chips while we watched it download), so take it seriously, you fools.

The war has been raging for years beneath the surface of our societies, silently, secretly. Explosions, gunfire, the electric crackle of handheld lightning bolts, all unobserved by the greater public, concealed in The Secret World. Which makes us wonder -- if all of this can be hidden from normal civilization, then why couldn't there be another secret world under The Secret World? One with even louder gunfire, higher stakes and bigger robots?

We bet those Secret World people felt pretty self-righteous in their fancy underground war until that little idea popped into their heads. Now you know how it feels, Secret World. Now you know.

#thesecretworld New screenshots and a developer diary video for MMORPG The Secret World have been released by Funcom today. More »

Lots of footage from The Secret World reaches us via a new developer diary, showing factions, monsters and huge player versus player battlegrounds. At times, it’s in danger of looking like every other MMORPG video out there, with flames and bullets flying back and forth, giant beasties roaring aggressively, and groups of oddly clothed gents and ladies flailing at each other in a determined but ineffectual fashion. That aside, I’m more interested in the setting and factions than just about any other upcoming RPG, and having real and mythical places existing alongside each other is fun stuff. Watch the video below and see what you think.

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After last week's countdown ended with absolutely nothing happening, Funcom gets its act together and starts taking beta registrations for real-world supernatural MMO The Secret World. More »

The delayed beta sign-ups for The Secret World are now open. You can sign up here. But wow, who put the beta sign-up behind a trailer? Obviously if I have clicked “sign up for the beta” I already decided I am interested! Anyway, you should be interested, not because of the trailer, but because of this RPS preview of the game. The game is out in April, so either the beta itself isn’t going to kick off for a while, or it’s going to be a very long beta.

Despite its mysterious title, it seems The Secret World just can't stay out of the public eye. The gates will soon be swung wide, as registrations for the beta are now underway. It's not quite as simple as filling in your email address and hitting "submit," however. Players will have to choose a faction - Illuminati, Templars or Dragon - and and join The Secret War, which requires a Facebook connection.

The Secret War, not too surprisingly, is a social media game designed to spread the word about The Secret World (again, a bit counterintuitive, no?). In return for taking part in game, players can unlock in-game items for The Secret World and even guaranteed beta access.

Sign up for the beta, and thus The Secret War, at The Secret World website.

The Secret World isn't going to be very secret at this rate -- publisher Funcom announced its MMO will use a traditional subscription structure and an in-game store aspect, as opposed to the trending free-to-play model. Players will be able to buy "convenience items" and cosmetic enhancements in the store, but it won't offer anything to increase power, keeping the world level for all players.

"Character power in The Secret World will be determined by how well you play the game, not how much money you are willing to put into it," Funcom said. Apparently Funcom doesn't know the power of some seriously fierce eyeliner.

#thesecretworld After an agonizingly long wait, Funcom has finally opened up beta signups for The Secret World, the modern day supernatural massively multiplayer online role-playing game where nothing is as it seems and every dark legend comes true. More »

#thesecretworld Sorry, I see a guy in a modern-day setting wearing a white face mask and jump to conclusions. Still, the conspiracy-laden Earth of The Secret World seems like a great place for Anonymous to hang out, doesn't it? More »

The Secret World received a release window today of April 2012 during EA's Gamescom press conference. Check out the teaser trailer featuring the Illuminati, Dragon and Templar societies facing a bigger threat.

#thesecretworld Funcom's massively multiplayer supernatural conspiracy game for the PC gets an April 2012 target today at Gamescom, along with a new trailer and news about how you can sign up to participate in beta testing events. Intriguied? More »

Oopsie – Funcom’s PR machine has accidentally spat out the big news The Secret World project lead Ragnar Tørnquist was about to announce at Gamescom. The release date will be April 2012, with the game’s beta registration beginning this month, on the 26th.

You'd be forgiven for thinking The Secret World was really "the secret zombie-infested part of New England," as we haven't seen much else thus far. Thankfully, the latest dev diary reveals that whole "world" aspect. From Shambala to Stonehenge, players will amass loads of frequent flier miles.

#thesecretworld videothumb[] Strip away the facade of dreary everyday life and you have The Secret World, the upcoming present-day MMO from Funcom in which every myth, urban legend, consipiracy theory, and spooky campfire tale is proven true. More »

If there's one thing that sets The Secret World apart, it's the freedom to play as any character you wish. There aren't any levels or traditional MMO progression -- as you complete quests, you're awarded skill points that you can place into a skill wheel. Don't like using guns? Move some stuff around and become an elemental sorceress. Tired of being on the offensive? Rejigger your skills and be a healer who hangs behind. It's the core principle of the game.

You'll need all the flexibility you can get. All of the known myths, urban legends and monsters have manifested themselves into the real world. By joining one of three in-game factions (the Illuminati, the Dragon and the Templar), you'll fight to dominate the other groups and ultimately rule that world.

During EA's Summer Showcase event, I was able to witness a dungeon run through The Savage Coast, a spooky coastal town home to some creepy woodlands and the horror staple, an abandoned amusement park. Of course, I didn't get to see any of that in my own playthrough: the dungeon I fought through was a river bed that ran through a craggy valley, sandwiched between two mountains.

But it was nighttime, so that's kinda creepy. I guess.

Though most other MMOs allow their players to use level ranking and class like some kind of shorthand calling card ("Oh, me? I'm a Lv. 43 Powermime!"), Funcom's The Secret World will ditch that system for a more versatile approach, according to a recent Rock, Paper, Shotgun preview. Instead of levels and classes, players will be able to pick and choose from 500 skills that they'll be able to swap between at certain points during a mission, making strategy and foresight far more powerful tools than patience and grinding.

Players will be able to specialize as one of the MMORPG genre's many archetypes, though this broad system won't lock them out of other job types should their interests shift. We appreciate any MMO that allows us to reenact our collegiate career, during which we double-majored in Animal Husbandry and Astronomy with a minor in Healthcare Management and another minor in Racquetball.

“Situational Analysis”. That’s what Funcom are calling the crackling radio reports that reach characters in their upcoming MMO The Secret World, as they make their way through instances like the one unveiled (the first so far) at EA’s recent summer showcase at their Redwood studio. Warning of “aberrant psychic signals” in the wreck of the container ship Polaris and “a highly volatile biological mass” (though I could have sworn I cleaned that up), the transmissions seemed to serve more as glaring signposts reading “Boss fight this way!” than any kind of actionable tactical intelligence.

A missed opportunity?(more…)