Reports have come in that the PC version of Funcom's Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures (the Xbox 360 version is still in the works) has dethroned Grand Theft Auto 4 (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) from the sales list in both Germany and Sweden. However, both games were not able to stand up to the might of Wii Play in Spain. Care to find out more? Check out the full article.

We got an update on the upcoming Nordic Game Conference which is set to happen in a few weeks in Sweden. Things are definitely shaping up as the top names from the industry gather for the multidisciplinary Game Creation Sessions. Find out who they are in the full article.

Blizzard's forum moderator for MMORPG World of Warcraft Thundgot announced that their company will be attending the world's largest LAN party and computer festival DreamHack Winter 2007.

The event will start on November 20 and will end on December 2 in Jonkoping, Sweden. Thundgot wasn't able to mention what specific titles Blizzard will be bringing into the event but fans can expect to see hit games WoW and StarCraft among others. More details after the jump!

What are they playing over at Sweden? Aren't you curious? This bit of info just might save your life one day, y'know. The region's data trade firm, Dataspelsbranschen (now try saying that as fast as you can, ten times consecutively), has just released the top sales charts of video games for Sweden.

The Multiplatform chart is dominated by the MMORPG mogul that is The World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade from Blizzard. This is followed by Pokémon Diamond on the Nintendo DS. MotorStorm and R:FoM have also landed a place in the multiplatform chart, and unsurprisingly, both titles get bragging rights in the PS3 chart.

The 360 chart has Guitar Hero II fronting the musical act - and smack dab in the middle is Gears of War on fifth place. The Wii has Leon Kennedy and Ashley Graham running up to first place with Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition, while Twilight Princess is galloping up to the Top 2 spot.

On the handheld side, the DS chart has both Pokemon (Diamond and Pearl) titles on top, while the PSP chart has Pro Evolution Soccer 6 kicking into the goal - Konami's sports title is enjoying the kingly spot on top.

 Multiformat

1. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (PC)
2. Pokémon Diamond (DS)
3. World of Warcraft (PC)
4. Counter-Strike 1: Anthology (PC)
5. Guitar Hero 2 Rock the 80´s (PS2)
6. The Sims 2 H&M Fashion (PC)
7. Pokémon Pearl (DS)
8. Motorstorm (PS3)
9. Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3)
10. Singstar 90's (PS2)

Check out the Full Article link below for each individual chart per platform!

 

A bit late in the news, we know, but at least it's finally brought out here to our readers. Stripped off from the 3-man World of Warcraft Arena bracket charts it appears that the Horde took a serious beating at the first round of the BlizzCon Arena Tournament. All Horde teams, save for one, have been knocked off the main bracket a week ago.

Team Log, with members hailing from Sweden and Finland, was the sole surviving team for the Horde. Other Horde teams took to the lower bracket, so painfully named the "Losers Bracket," to regain their honor against other defeated teams. We're currently finding out the final results of the BlizzCon 2007 Arena Tournament. More on the winners as they come in.

Funcom has announced that their upcoming fantasy-themed MMORPG title, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, will be invading Dreamhack, the biggest LAN party in the world next week. Dreamhack will commence on June 16 at Jönköping in Sweden, with about 10,000 people expected to attend.

The game will be demoed on Monday, June 18, at 4:00 P.M. local time. Funcom has also prepared around 7,000 goody bags that will be given out to Dreamhack participants. Included in the goody bags are DVDs that contain screenshots, videos and information about Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. What's more, 500 of these DVDs will include Beta keys.

Funcom is currently in the last stages of development on Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, and is just readying the game for its scheduled October release.

Blizzard's World of Warcraft has made it into the primary lineup for this year's World Series of Video Games (WSVG). The game has already started making inroads into the world of eSports with the new Arena system and the subsequent signing of several WoW Arena teams with various eSports sponsors.

Other titles that will be played at this year's WSVG include Fight Night Round 3 and Guitar Hero 2, making for a pretty eclectic game lineup. The total prize money up for grabs at this year's WSVG is set at US$ 1M, a quarter of which will be winnable at the event's finals competition towards the end of the year.

This year's WSVG will be the second season for the relatively new eSports competition since it rose from the ashes of the Cyberathlete Professional League. The WSVG will be kicking off next month in Wuhan, China, and will conclude in December for the championships at the world's biggest LAN party, Dreamhack in Sweden.

If you think that the U.S.A.'s IRS is the only one planning on imposing taxes on online game loots, think again. Other countries like Sweden are following suit. Swedes who earn tax-free money from playing World of Warcraft and Second Life would have to think twice about their activities as their government said that they were planning a clampdown.

Dag Hardysson, head of the Internet trade division of the Swedish tax authority, said that they "are not interested in ordinary gamers - 99 per cent of them play for the sake of playing...Most people play and keep their money on their game account, but if they move it out of the virtual world into the real world, then we're interested in them."

He cited a couple of examples: a WoW player who advances to a higher level and earned a virtual weapon, which he then sold to another player for real money; and a fashion designer in Second Life who sells clothes in both the real and virtual worlds. But in spite of all the strong words, Hardysson mentioned that he would not expect players to actually have to pay taxes for another two to three years.

With universities, retailers, and corporations, setting-up base in Linden Lab's Second Life it only makes sense that governments will follow. Think this is unlikely? Think again. Apparently, Sweden is to become the first country to establish diplomatic representation in the virtual reality world of Second Life.

Swedish Institute (SI) director Olle Waestberg has told AFP the following:

We are planning to establish a Swedish embassy in Second Life primarily as an information portal for Sweden...

News entity The Age, reports that while the embassy will not provide passports or visas, it will instruct visitors on how to obtain such documents in the real world. The virtual embassy will also act as a link to web-based information about Scandinavia. Waestberg notes that the virtual embassy in Second Life allows SI to inform people about Sweden in a convenient and cost-effective manner.

The Swedish institute is an agency of the Swedish foreign ministry. The agency's main task is to inform the world about Sweden. Waestberg adds that the initiative to place virtual embassy in Second Life is fully backed by the ministry.

Given the current trend by terrorists to bomb foreign embassies, we now wonder if future embassies in SL will be be subject to malicious actions of the virtual kind.

 

Amidst all the Burning Crusade news, most of us almost forgot that the Day of Hearts is fast approaching. Yep, just a few weeks to go until Valentines Day 2007 goes in full swing. And just like last year, World of Warcraft has something up their sleeves that is sure to make your hearts melt.

The first to announce their Valentines Day activities is WoW Europe. They are currently holding a Valentine Card Contest to get you in the mood for some lovin'. Basically, you'd have to design a Valentine Card showing your love of WoW. The price, a Gurky key! Anyway, the contest will run from January 22 - February 2  and the number of entries is limited to five per household. Those who are eligible to participate are:

• Participants aged 15 or more residing in:
• France
• Belgium
• United Kingdom
• Luxembourg

• Participants aged 18 or more residing in:
• Germany
• Austria
• Sweden
• Finland
• Denmark
• Norway
• The Netherlands
• Spain
• Ireland

To read all about the contest, click on our read link below to know where to submit your entries and to check out the full terms and conditions of the contest. Good luck!