Funcom is proud to announce the launch of an all-new free update for the best-selling massively multiplayer online role-playing game `Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures'. Update 5.6 `Nights of Lost Souls' introduces new in-game seasonal content, new quests and rewards, a new high-level dungeon and the highly anticipated Veteran Points system. To celebrate the launch of the new update, Funcom has also introduced significant discounts on all longer term subscriptions.

"It being that time of year, we employed a few tricks to provide our players with some special treats," says Craig Morrison, Game Director and Executive Producer on `Age of Conan'. "In this update we have added new seasonal in-game content where players will have to progress through three brand new quest lines and get to challenge the dark and mysterious ghosts of Hyboria's fallen warriors in order to collect the seasonal rewards. We are also very excited about introducing the Veteran Points system, which allows us to reward those players who have been sticking with the game for longer periods of time."

The new seasonal content will allow players to acquire appropriately themed loot such as the Unholy Backscratcher weapon as well as their very own pet demon. Players will also be able to discover a mysterious new location in Tarantia, a villa where dark and gruesome events are taking place. Another addition to the city of Tarantia is the Iron Tower, a high-level dungeon towering over the rooftops of Tarantia Commons � the city's slum district. The addition of the new dungeon, featuring a host of new and exciting encounters and loot rewards, brings the storyline of Tarantia Commons to its final conclusion. The Tarantia Commons location was added to `Age of Conan' in an update earlier this year.

The highly anticipated Veteran Points system, also introduced in this update, allows players who have subscribed to `Age of Conan' for one month or longer to collect exclusive rewards such as mounts, experience potions, teleportation abilities, special equipment and more. All players accumulate Veteran Points over time by staying subscribed, and these points can be used at special in-game vendors. These points are also awarded retroactively, so current and previous subscribers already have points to spend.

Players who decide to add more game time to their accounts will find that Veteran Points are now awarded in advance as well, allowing you to spend the points for the added months right away. With the new discounts recently introduced, signing up for longer subscriptions is now more rewarding than ever. Adding three months game time to your account now yields a 20% discount, six months game time yields a 30% discount and if you add 12 months to your account you get a whopping 45% discount.

Launching in May last year `Age of Conan' quickly became a smash hit in retail, shipping over 1.2 million copies around the world. In North America, the most prominent online gaming market in the west, `Age of Conan' became the third best-selling PC title of the year only beaten by `Spore' and `World of Warcraft'. In the weeks after launch `Age of Conan' simultaneously topped the charts in 17 countries, and the game received critical acclaim from gaming press across the globe. `Age of Conan' is now available in English, French, German, Spanish, Russian and Polish localized versions, and is being prepared for launch in Korea as well. A free 14-day trial is currently available on http://www.ageofconan.com.