Age of Conan - Interview #1 @ CVG

CVG has the first part of an interview with Funcom on Age of Conan up.  Among the issues discussed in Part 2 is the possibility of cross-platform support between the PC and Xbox 360 - but here's a bit from this entry on combat:

What development challenges has incorporating a more twitch-style combat system into an MMORPG thrown up?

Erling Ellingsen: We wanted an MMO that had much more hands-on action than what has been done so far. You get to control every swing of your sword, you get to move around and use the terrain to your advantage and you have to actually aim at specific parts of your enemy's body.

It's the same with archery, where you'll have to string the bow and aim manually - as if you were playing a first-person shooter. The challenges were mostly technical. Issues with lag could kill such a system, but we're confident that we've designed it in a way that actually works.