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Funcom confirms layoffs and Secret World delay, Age of Conan not affected
We contacted Age of Conan developer Funcom yesterday after reports from Norwegian news site E24 claimed the company would soon be making major staff cuts. The company's director of communications, Erling Ellingsen, recently responded to our query, confirming the layoffs, and adding that Ragnar Tørnquist's mysterious MMO The Secret World would indeed be delayed "by a few months." Age of Conan and its in-development expansion, Rise of the Godslayer, will not be affected by the layoffs. Ellingsen explained that the cuts, which would primarily take place in Funcom's Oslo, Norway offices, were made "in order to adjust to the market situation." Though the layoffs are coming fairly soon after the developer announced its new, Montreal-based studio, Ellingsen explained that "this has nothing to do with the establishment of our studio in Canada." We wish our Norwegian game-crafting allies the best of luck in getting back on their feet. %Gallery-49441%
Report: Funcom cutting 20 percent of staff, The Secret World delayed
According to a report from Norwegian news site E24, Funcom recently announced in a stock exchange briefing that it would be cutting 20 percent of its staff and, as a result, would delay the launch of The Secret World by a few months. Following this announcement, the company's stock took a sizable 18 percent dip -- as did our hearts, which became somewhat infatuated with the developer's mysterious MMO at the Penny Arcade Expo. This news is somewhat confusing considering the company decided to open a brand new Montreal chapter earlier this month, where it was planning on hiring more than 100 people over the next year and a half. We've contacted Funcom to find out the reason for the cuts, and to see if this new studio will be affected. [Via Edge Online]
Spotify for iPhone gets thumbs up from Apple, subscription music with offline playlists is a go
Streaming and subscription music services are a dime a dozen on iPhone, and they seem to get past Apple's app store approval hurdles with relative ease. But Spotify was one whose fate wasn't so clear cut, given its offline playlist function -- which as the name suggests downloads songs ahead of time for you to listen to when there's no WiFi or phone service to stream from -- could very easily fall into the category of "duplication of core iPhone functionality" and get deep-sixed at the drop of a hat. Turns out that's not the case here, as an Apple spokesperson has told paidContent UK that the app's been given the metaphorical stamp of approval and would be hitting the store "very soon." A premium subscription will run about £9.99 ($16.20) per month, with an option to pay annually coming at a later date. Of course, there's a catch, as Spotify's service is only available in Sweden, Norway, Finland, the UK, France and Spain for now. The company expects to invade America sometime later this year, but that means another round of app store approvals -- and with Apple's track record on consistency, there's no telling how that'll turn out.
METROBuddy electric car debuts, kind of resembles a mail van
Looking from behind, one might assume that the METROBuddy is an electric car with style. Unfortunately, those hopes are dashed when peeking the whole whip from the side, as you suddenly become overwhelmed with hints of USPS mail van, garbage truck and a rather large protractor. Design gripes aside, our good pals over at AutoblogGreen were able to sneak a peek at the bantam automobile, which supposedly packs a range of around 50 to 75 miles on a full charge. There's been no mention yet of a price or global release (don't get your hopes up on the latter), but feel free to have a better look around in the vid just past the break.[Via AutoblogGreen]
Norway giving free laptops to angsty teens
What do we know so far about Norway? That it likes electric cars, has buses powered by poo, and offers so much snow even its billboards are filled with the stuff. Now we're learning something else: that it's in the middle of a pilot program that would put a laptop (a real one, not one of those OLPC toys) into the Bedazzled rucksack of every 16 - 19 year old. The trial is currently underway in a single county, Nord-Trondelag (site of the Battle of Stiklestad in 1030), where 6,000 lappys have been distributed featuring Big Brother-like software. The stuff, provided by 3ami, captures screenshots and keystrokes when students take quizzes and exams electronically. If all goes well Norway will expand this program nation-wide, and since each laptop comes with a copy of Photoshop we're expecting a whole new generation of expert image manipulators.[Image courtesy of mrsviennau]
Norwegian King refused child's Sonic X name change request
The normally kind king of Norway, whose subjects have some of the most opulent health care on the planet, has destroyed one young man's dreams by not granting the loyal vassal's completely reasonable request to change his name to -- wait for it -- Sonic X. The 6-year-old boy named Christer probably should have hit up Queen Sonja. Harald V responded to the boy's request by informing him he should submit his request to the proper government authorities when he turns 18. Ain't that a sow.In all seriousness: It's good to see that King Harald V didn't give into what could have been a PR coup for Sega. His Majesty should at least get a brown envelope full of kroner under his throne before selling out like that. Young Christer now has no choice but to wait 12 years. Poor kid, hopefully he'll have his name change granted then.[Via What They Play, Insulin Funk]
Tata Indica soon to hit the streets of Norway: it's electric!
We heard tell of an all-electric, Norway-bound Tata Indica back in September of last year, and now it looks like it's almost ready to hit the streets. Autoblog Green is reporting that the makers of the super-cheap Nano expect to have the electric Indica rolling off the line either late this year or early in 2010. While the Indica EV (above) that was shown at the SAE World Congress is not the model that will be available in Norway, we can probably expect it to look something like it. We don't know any details about pricing, but expect the available number of autos to be "limited." No further info about the car yet, but we'll keep you posted. Hit the read link for a full gallery of the EV.
Norwegian ski billboard gets snowy when texted
We've certainly seen mobile-activated bus stop ads before, but the cool factor on this one was just too impressive to overlook. Tryvann Winter Park, a ski resort that sits just 15 minutes away from downtown Oslo, was searching high and low for ways to better market itself to residents of the bustling Norwegian city. In order to do so, it turned to JCDecaux, who conjured up the brilliant idea you see to the right. Essentially, this advertisement packs a few internal fans and a bucketful of faux snow; whenever it starts snowing up at the ski resort, someone sends a text to the billboard and the flurries start to fly. This way, residents and workers in Oslo can easily see when conditions are good some 500 meters up. We're told that Tryvann "loved" the campaign and the resulting crowds that came, though there's no mention of whether it'll be implemented next season or elsewhere in the world.[Via textually, thanks Charles]
Oslo rolls out biomethane-powered busses
The city of Oslo is getting down and dirty with a new scheme for its public transportation. Adding "minor modifications" to 80 of the city's public busses will allow them to run on biomethane fuel produced from raw sewage. The buses are apparently much quieter, and are more eco-friendly than biogas, with zero net carbon emissions. The leader of the project, Ole Jakob Johansen, also says that the city should save about €.40 per liter on fueling the busses. The trial is part of Oslo's plan to be carbon-neutral by 2050, and they hope to soon have the entire fleet of 400 rolling clean. Waste not, want not, huh? [Via Inhabitat]
Star Trek: TOS & Star Trek The Motion Picture Trilogy Blu-ray boxes decloak in Norway
Rumors that Paramount was planning a Blu-ray release of the remastered Star Trek: The Original Series coinciding with the new movie this spring just got a lot stronger, with box art pictures for season one and a Star Trek: The Motion Picture trilogy consisting of the first three movies popping up today on Release.no. Through the magic of Google Translate we know these are due in Norway May 13 (along with Star Trek II, III, IV & VI in standalone editions on BD & DVD) and it's not unreasonable to assume they'll hit U.S. shelves around the same time. Of course, if you can't wait until then, or at least for some more official info from Paramount, we're sure there's an HD DVD player and boxed set in a bargain bin somewhere just waiting to be picked up.[Via Indy Star]
Nokia's Comes With Music goes on European tour, Asia next, Americas deemed too boring
It was just yesterday that Reuters predicted Nokia's Comes With Music service was headed for something of a pilgrimage through the wilds of Europe, and now we have the official confirmation of this "pan European" expansion. The company has secured partnerships with music licensing and publishing big-wigs in Spain, France, Italy, Sweden, Finland, and Norway, and is indicating that Singapore and Australia are next on its to-do list. Alas there was no mention of other nations getting any sort of attention, meaning Nokia handsets in the New World are unlikely to come with anything but guilt for the forseeable future.
Huawei and Ericsson land LTE contracts with TeliaSonera
LTE just got officially legitimized under a month ago, and already Nordic-based TeliaSonera is lining up contracts in an effort to showcase its forward-thinking nature to the world. Both Huawei and Ericsson have been chosen to provide 4G LTE equipment for high-speed networks in Stockholm and Oslo, with SE proclaiming that the Swedish network will be ready for commercial launch in 2010. It's expected that the first devices to tap into these newfangled waves will be of the USB / external variety, with 4G handsets following six to twelve months later. Did our 3G just get slower, or are our brains already messing with us?[Via Network World, image courtesy of BusinessWeek]Read - Huawei dealRead - Ericsson deal
Age of Conan composer nominated for Best Original Score
Funcom's most recent title Age of Conan tends to come under some fire from the gamers who jumped in upon launch. You may have noticed. While players can fault some aspects of the game, it does have some strengths, namely its fantastic score. In fact, the music of AoC has caught the attention of the Hollywood Music Awards. Knut Avenstroup Haugen, who composed the soundtrack for Age of Conan, has been nominated for Best Original Score in a Video Game, specifically for his "Ere the World Crumbles" from the fantasy title. We also turned up an interview with Haugen about the challenges of scoring Age of Conan, and of composing interactive music in general. Having fun in Conan's homeland? Make sure to check out all of our previous Age of Conan coverage, and stick with Massively for more news from the Hyborian Age!
TV Norge HD delivers Norway's first homegrown HD channel October 3
Norway has its first local HD channel is on the way, as TV Norge and Canal Digital have teamed up to deliver TV Norge HD beginning October 3. Norwegian produced content isn't due until '09, in the meantime viewers can live with simulcasts of programs like The Closer, CSI and Rome. Canal Digital previously delivered the European soccer championships and Olympics in HD, and reports over 100,000 HD receivers already installed among Norwegians 1.3 million HDTV owners. NRK, TV2, the ball is in your court.
Norway shuns DVB-H for DMB, European mobile TV drama deepens
Granted, Norway isn't actually a member of the European Union, which makes it slightly less dramatic that they've rejected the Nokia-tested, EU-approved DVB-H standard in favor of DMB -- but it's still Europe, and this just adds to the ugly, fragmented picture that mobile TV is becoming around there. Germany has all but abandoned DVB-H to go with its free, designed-for-TV counterpart, DVB-T, and the UK has recently hooked up Qualcomm with spectrum for a MediaFLO network, so ubiquitous DVB-H is anything but a guarantee across the continent at this point. The current Norwegian plan calls for nine DMB channels to launch by winter, which may be viewed as a superior technology there because it's better able to cover rural areas in a cost-effective way than DVB-H is. Bottom line: if you'd dreamed of some day carrying a single device from country to country to catch all the spellbinding local TV programming, you might be out of luck for a while.
Age of Conan composer speaks about Hyborian soundtrack
One interesting side effect of having a developer like Funcom being based out of Norway is that we are introduced to a whole cavalcade of interesting Scandinavian names. Case in point: they recently posted an interview on their official site with Knut Haugen, the game's composer, to celebrate the release of the Age of Conan official soundtrack on the iTunes store. The soundtrack itself is suitably epic, and you get a robust 25 tracks for the respectable price of $9.99. Plus, you get to own an album by a guy named Knut! Quite a deal.As for the interview itself, Haugen talks about how he got into composing originally and how he came to be acquainted with the Age of Conan team. He also talks about the intricacies of balancing Age of Conan's ancient, almost primeval ambiance with a desire to convey complex emotions for a situational score. It's an interview that's definitely worth reading, as it effectively relates an aspect of game development that we often hear too little about.
TeliaSonera nabs iPhone rights for Nordic and Baltic markets
Ok ok, we hear you tipsters, iPhone now official for Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia "later this year" thanks to a deal between Apple and TeliaSonera. At this point, only The Netherlands seems to be out of the loop in Europe.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Average Conanite will reach level 80 in 250 hours
Age of Conan game director Gaute Godager said at the launch event in Norway that reaching level 80 will take "on average 250 hours of gameplay," according to videogamer.com.The first few levels will come lightning fast, but the bulk of them up to 60 will be comprised of between two and three hours of gameplay. After that, it will get a bit slower, thanks to some input from beta testers. By our math, that leaves five hours per level including and after 60, but who knows how that will be distributed.Whether this ends up being faster than competing games like World of Warcraft and The Lord of the Rings Online by the end probably depends on your play-style. He said "on average," so does that mean the hardcore achievers will reach the top in 90 hours and the casuals will mosey on up there within 500 hours? There's been a lot of chit chat and speculation in the Massively office about this news. We suppose we'll get a good sense of it by midway through the summer.
Elgato's EyeTV 3.0.2 update brings H.264 broadcast support
Merely months after Elgato launched EyeTV 3, along comes an update to make it even more attractive -- particularly outside of American borders. EyeTV 3.0.2 adds in full support for H.264 digital broadcasts in standard-def and HDTV resolutions, and considering that locales such as Norway and New Zealand are already beaming out material via this standard, we'd say it's a welcome inclusion. Beyond that, the new version also provides QuickTime exporting of ATSC / NTSC Closed Captions for use on iPhone, iPod and Apple TV devices (seen above), but obviously, that's for North America alone. You'll also find a few new deinterlacing options, improved on-screen menus and a handful of bug fixes to boot. Venture on down to the read link to read up on all the changes and get your download a-movin'.[Via ITWire]
Age of Conan's launch party slated for the 13th
The official Age of Conan website is carrying the news that a huge launch party is planned for the soon-to-be-released MMO. May 13th is the date, and the location is beautiful Oslo, Norway. It's slated to be held at the Nobel Peace center, Latter Aker Brygge. Most of the seats are reserved for game journalists as part of a several day launch event, but some lucky Oslo AoC fans will be able to make it in too.We got a look at the press invite, and it sounds like a swinging time. The journalists who are there for the long haul get the full monty, including: Huge in-game events, including large-scale raiding, social aspects, the dancing game, Spellweaving and Conan's role in the game. All of these features will be demonstrated in a full-scale movie theater. Fjord Boat Ride – A "scenic tour of one of Norway's most beautiful geographical phenomenon". Live Soundtrack Concert – The orchestra that recorded the game soundtrack will be on-hand for a live performance. In the evening a festival is planned in the area of Holemkollen. It sounds like plans have changed a bit from the original, which had this fest taking place in an ancient fortress. From the original invite we looked at: "Norwegian death punk band, Turbonegro, will be on hand for a private concert in the fortress courtyard. Conan himself will be on-hand, offering his army of slave girls to meet the needs of every guest." Somehow the Nobel Peace Center and an "attack on a wizard's tower" sounds a bit tamer.
