(Durham, N.C.) Funcom and Xfire are proud to announce a unique live gameplay demonstration of ‘Rise of the Godslayer’ – the upcoming expansion for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game ‘Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures’. Set to air on Monday December 7th at 12pm PST / 3pm EST, the live demo will be streamed directly onto the Xfire.com website and will include new and never-before-seen content and gameplay played and presented by the developers themselves.

“We have been working on the expansion for ‘Age of Conan’ for quite some time now, and everyone on the team is eager to lift the veil and include the public in what we are trying to bring to life,” says Game Director and Executive Producer Craig Morrison who will be hosting the live gameplay demonstration together with expansion Lead Designer Joel Bylos. “Development is coming together nicely, and we are really excited to see the empire of Khitai coming to life! Doing a live demo on Xfire is a brilliant way for us to reach out to a broad audience and show just what they can expect from ‘Rise of the Godslayer’ as we continue to move closer and closer to launch.”

The one-hour live session - where the developers will be playing through parts of the content that will be available in the expansion - will be streamed live to Xfire.com where it will be freely available for everyone to access. During the live session, the developers will be talking about the expansion in general as well as describing what is happening on-screen as the developers fight their way through the world.

“We are incredibly excited to see the Funcom team taking advantage of Xfire’s Live Broadcast technology,” said Matthew Gilman, VP of Marketing at Xfire. “Using Xfire will allow the Age of Conan team to reach our audience of almost 15 million gamers in a way not possible just months ago. Their broadcast of never-seen-before content will make for a truly unique and interactive experience for both Xfire and non-Xfire users alike.”

Funcom announced ‘Rise of the Godslayer’ at the GamesCom show in Germany earlier this year. The expansion introduces the player to the lands of Khitai with several new world regions filled with new dungeons, quests and rewards. ‘Rise of the Godslayer’ will also introduce new gameplay such as alternate advancement, factions and even new mounts that plays an integral part of the storyline. The release date for the expansion is currently set to first half of 2010, and is progressing according to plan.

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 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 Korea. The live development team is currently working on the next free update for the game which will introduce major improvements and enhancements to ‘Age of Conan’s’ guild gameplay.

Funcom is an independent developer and publisher of online games for PC, consoles and mobile platforms. Funcom has provided outstanding entertainment since 1993 and continues to expand its track-record of more than twenty released games. Recent titles include ‘The Longest Journey’, ‘Anarchy Online’ and ‘Dreamfall: The Longest Journey’. For corporate information please visit. For information about Funcom games visit http://www.anarchy-online.com www.dreamfall.com, www.darkdaysarecoming.com or www.ageofconan.com. Funcom is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker FUNCOM.

Conan Properties International LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Paradox Entertainment Inc., controls rights to Conan, many associated characters and the Hyborian world, as created by Robert E. Howard and various rights expanded upon by many acclaimed authors and artists. Many consider Conan the world’s best-known fantasy character. For more information about Conan Properties International LLC, visit www.conan.com. For information about Paradox Entertainment Inc., visit www.paradox-entertainment.com.