With the release of the demo for Conan (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) on Xbox Live, we're given a new addition to the bloody hack and slasher genre that'll keep the blood pumping and fountaining. We recommend eating some raw steak after playing the demo.

The demo starts with Conan meeting the warrior queen A'Kanna after they both take down a pirate each. After some not-so-subtle flirting, A'Kanna offers him passage on her ship in exchange for saving her captured crew. We learn that the land is infected with the Black Death and unless they escape, they will perish along with everyone else.

You go through the demo looking for three of A'Kanna's crew. They're not hard to spot: they're the guys in the cages screaming their lungs out. You get to enjoy causing a bloody massacre as you go through the stage looking for them. The demo doesn't show off the game's story (and the script is kind of cheesy) but once you get into the game itself you're in for a world of pain: and you're the one doling it out.

Check out the rest of the review in the full article.

Fire up those Xbox 360 browsers of yours if you're interested in taking a sneak peek at what Electronic Arts and Nihilistic Software have in store for their upcoming games The Simpsons Game (Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, and DS) and Conan respectively.

A demo for each of the titles finally became available for download on Xbox Live Marketplace.  Play the role of Bartman and come to the rescue of Springfield as he goes up a giant statue in the demo of The Simpsons Game.

You can expect the game to stay true to the humor and hilarity of America's "first family" as they step it up on their next-gen debut by spoofing various video games with their trademark irreverent manner.

In Conan, you'll find yourself immersed in the authentic Conan universe, and armed with over 20 weapons, and with about a hundred and some unique combat moves. This single-player action from Nihilistic will bring you through an adventure worth 24 missions in full.

Whichever poison you decide to pick, both demos are sure to distract your attention and guarantee to make you drool for more. No worries, though. The Simpsons Game will be ready to hit the shelves by the end of this month while Conan is expected to charge into stores by the 23rd of this month for both the PS3 and Xbox 360.

By Crom! Did you miss out on Conan's debut on Europe's Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles, or didn't have some cash on-hand to make a purchase? THQ has just sent out word that they will be stocking both Xbox Live and PlayStation Network with a playable demo come next week.

This entitles the PSN dudes to a sampling of Nihilistic Software's resident muscle-bound Cimmerian by October 11. Xbox Live subscribers will be getting their Conan demo three days earlier, on October 8. Conan has reportedly been released into Europe since late September. Expect the game's North American release to be cleaving its way through by this month.


Buy: [Conan (PS3)]
Buy: [Conan (Xbox 360)]

 

For those of us eagerly anticipating to get our hands on a copy of the gorily-violent Conan (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii) and the groundbreaking RTS title, Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts, Christmas has indeed come a few months early. THQ has decided to release both titles ahead of schedule, which means that we'll all be knee-deep in some delicious hack-and-slash action and tactical warfighting come late September of this year.

A little backgrounder on both games: Nihilistic Software' Conan puts you in the shoes of Robert E. Howard's musclebound machine of Cimmerian rage in a side-scrolling, third person adventure of blood and bisected bodies.

Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts, on the other hand, is the standalone expansion to the critically-acclaimed to the World War II RTS Company of Heroes, and has you fighting one of the most brutal campaigns ever fought.

Not bad for an early Christmas present, THQ, not bad indeed. Updates as we get them!

We've got more details about the action prospect Conan the Barbarian for the Sony PlayStation 3 and the Microsoft Xbox 360. Nihilistic Software was recently interviewed by GameSpot and this is what the video game's devs had to say about Conan:

As you saw and heard, Conan the Barbarian borrows a bit from God of War in terms of gameplay style and presentation. Combos are promised to be varied and easy to pull off, and the fighting looks pretty intense judging from what's in the clip.

What's intriguing about this title is its decision to shun inventories. You won't be able to switch from weapon to weapon with a menu. Rather, you pick up swords, axes and clubs along the way and decide whether to pick up another or just stick with what you have. It's a curious premise, and we'll update you as more news about Conan the Barbarian from THQ and Nihilistic Software comes in.

Buy: [Conan (PS3)]
Buy: [Conan (Xbox 360)]

 

THQ and Nihilistic Software's Conan video game for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii is looking really good. It was earlier announced that this title will have over 20 weapons, 24 missions, and 100 different combat maneuvers for our hero. Considering each one of those had to be animated and rendered, it must have been a huge task on the part of the developers of the game.

The developers weren't alone in handling this job as various artists were recruited to help flesh out the various imagery that players will get to enjoy in the game. A look at the early sketches reveals quite a few things about the design of the graphics as well as its translation from the artist's vision into an in-game background or sprite. Take for instance, the concept art of the ships, you can see the various notes by the artist who penned the images which indicate the preferred image to be used as well as various possible redesigns if it isn't feasible.

Slated to be out by October 23 this year, this is one game that fans of both Conan and action-adventure titles should consider picking up when it comes out. 

   

More concept arts await after the jump!

More info about everyone's favorite barbarian in a loincloth in this video update about Nihilistic Studios' Conan the Barbarian (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii) and it's about the inspiration behind the game, as well as the combat mechanics. We get you knee-deep into the bloody and brutal lore of the sword-swinging, skull-breaking Cimmerian.

In this video interview, we find out that the guys behind the game really took Robert E. Howard's vision of how Conan fights seriously - and as we can see from this video and the many others we've covered, things are looking not only to be reassuringly bloody, but also visceral. We see enemies having their heads stomped off, their torsos ripped in half, their bodies broken and battered beyond recognition - in short, Conan's doing what he does best.

Tons more info in the video embed below - you know what to do! Enjoy!

Barbarian man, barbarian man, Conan the Barbarian man, does whatever a barbarian man does. Can he swing from a web? No he can't, but he can tear you apart with his bare hands. He's Conan the Barbarian man.

Pardon the Spiderpig reference (of The Simpsons movie fame), but seeing Conan in his element in this gameplay video of Nihilistic Software's Conan the Barbarian (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii) just makes you want to bust out a song that tells of the lightly-dressed Cimmerian doing what he does best: cutting people down with sharp metal objects. Look at him, he's in his own element!

In this video, the graphics are still in their sweet, sweet next-gen quality. One thing we noticed right away is Conan's voice, and we're liking what we're hearing. Of course, Conan's a barbarian, he could have done with a voice with a slightly rougher edge to it, but the voice he has now sounds sufficiently bad-ass.

No more spoilers from us, enjoy the video!

By Crom, Conan the Barbarian is violent! Then again, he doesn't sport that ripped physique and the part of his name that says 'the Barbarian' for nothing. And courtesy of the good people over at Comic-Con, we get to see more and more of that gratuitous blood-spilling, limb-hacking, torso-bisecting angry-man-in-a-loincloth gameplay in this developer walkthrough video of Nihilistic Software's Conan the Barbarian for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii.

In this video, we see Conan in all his Cimmerian glory, hacking and slashing his way through enemies just like - well, a barbarian hacking and slashing his way through enemies. This pretty much means limbs getting hacked off, bodies chopped into twain, blood all over the place.

One thing yours truly noticed right away is the very cool-looking counter move system in the game, where each successful parry would net you a very cool-looking counterattack that would have Conan pulling off some flashy (yet brutal) move to dispose of his opponents. Cleave in Twain for the win!

More info and more gameplay in the video embed below. Enjoy!

Conan may be a mere human, but it would do Kratos much good if he watched his back. Looking at the E3 gameplay trailer Nihilistic Software coughed out for Conan the Barbarian, there is no need for flying swords when two regular ones and an acrobat in a loincloth is deadly enough.

In this Barbaric Attacks Cam Gameplay video, we see that Conan isn't all about killer moves that result in gore fest. A lot of platforming, puzzles and other essential adventure elements will be present in the game. It goes without saying that Conan and body bisection go hand in hand, but we were still in awe as far as mutilation effects go.

We kid you not when we say Conan the Barbarian looks painfully similar to God of War. Traversing is pretty much the same, the slow motion effects are there, and even the battle against that huge monster stuck in the wall is very much comparable to the first encounter of Kratos and the Hydra.

Just check it out yourself and see what we're talking about.