The San Francisco Children's Museum may seem like an innocent location, but dark forces were at work behind its walls during the Game Developers Conference. It was at this venue that I had the opportunity to watch a live demo of The Secret World, Funcom's highly anticipated modern day horror MMO.

“Today we're going to showcase The Secret World,” said Ragnar Tornquist, senior producer and game director, as the lights dimmed. “It's currently in alpha, which means it's running on live servers in Europe. We're going into closed beta in two months. We're entering the final phase of development.”

And with that comment, a video began playing on the screen that set the stage for this world full of secret societies, urban legends and unspeakable evil.

It looks like The Secret World won't be a secret for much longer! The recent co-publishing announcement between Electronic Arts and Funcom reignited our excitement for the horror MMO, so we've been keeping our eyes peeled for any official announcements. Erling Ellingsen, Funcom's director of communications, has told Massively that we can expect more Secret World reveals in the near future:

"We're now moving into a phase where we will definitely be a lot more candid about the actual game. In the coming months we plan to give gamers a much more substantial look into the game's content and mechanics. We will be revealing details on our unique progression system, our PvP system and several locations. We will be launching new videos, screenshots, artwork and more, and we're also preparing to launch a brand new website for the game."

Ellingsen confirms that these new videos will include in-game footage, as well as discussions with developers regarding the game's design. Keep an eye out for more Secret World details in the coming months!

In any market where the competition is fierce, I love to cheer for the underdogs; call it my feeble attempt to not be so mainstream in my beliefs, I just think that teams that have the least amount of expectations on their shoulders should also be the ones who have a great opportunity to shine out the door. In this particular case, the underdog I'm referring to (if you haven't already guessed from the co-publishing announcement made earlier this week) is Funcom's unique action / fantasy / real-world MMORPG, The Secret World.

Of course, while there might be some fans who would argue that The Secret Worls is nothing close to being an underdog, all it takes is one look at the amount of coverage and news the game has received in relation to any of our most anticipated MMOs of 2011, and the distinction becomes clear.

Most of the recent news surrounding The Secret World has focused on cryptic tweets and forum posts from fictional characters. Today we finally get a new concrete announcement: Funcom and EA Partners will co-publish the horror MMO. While no release date has been announced, this move brings the game one step closer to reality.

You can read the full press release after the jump. If you haven't done it yet, head over to the game's official site and take the initiation test to see if you're a member of the Illuminati, the Dragon or the Templar.

As 2010 winds to a close and we prepare for 2011, the ZAM news team decided to take a look back at this year's highs and lows, as well as share what we're excited to see in 2011. Our team has changed a bit recently, so we wanted to take the time to properly introduce ourselves and talk about about our favorite topic: gaming.

Over the next few pages, you'll get to meet Editor-in-Chief Darryl "Togikagi" Gangloff (yours truly), Senior Staff Writer Chris "Pwyff" Tom, Reporter Kayla "Reiyami" Smith and Staff Writer Paul "LockeColeMA" Cleveland. Keep reading after the jump for my personal thoughts on 2010 and then flip through the pages to hear from the rest of the team.

We'd love to know what you thought about 2010. Feel free to share your opinions in the comments section below, or contact us at news@zam.com. You can also find our individual contact information on the staff list page.

It's been quite awhile since we've heard anything from the alternate reality game for The Secret World. The tweets of Kingsmouth residents Carter, Danny Dufresne, Deputy Andy Gardener and Sheriff Helen Bannerman grinded to a halt back in February, but the accounts suddenly came back to life this week.

Actually, let's back up a bit. On Nov. 11, the Twitter account @melissonomoi, which is tied to the Sanctuary of Secrets, tweeted, "how many ones do we seek? at the end, it's all about new beginnings." The account then tweeted this message on Nov. 14: "what does the static represent? Nothing. and perhaps Everything, but only on the eleventh hour. on the appointed day."

Fast forward to Nov. 23, when @thedarkplaces tweeted this message: "They are coming back." The account's picture was also changed to an image of three bees.

That brings us back to the Twitter accounts of the Kingsmouth residents, which have been active once again (except Bannerman) over the past couple days. Forum user Grue posted a transcript of the tweets, which you can read below.

News about The Secret World has been appropriately scant in the past few months, until GamesCom this week where the information bombshells have been falling. The Secret World's Ragnar Tournquist gave IGN a secret tour of one of the games explorable areas: London.

The highlights:

1. London joins New York and Seoul, South Korea as one of many explorable real-world locations in the game.

2. London is the home base of the Templar faction, but also serves as the game's social hub area. Of course, some places in London are Templar-only. The Illuminati is based out of New York and Dragon resides in Seoul.

3. Tournquist describes The Secret World as having dark, secret, "forgotten streets" where the veil between our world and the next are thinner, and where sometimes bad things from the next world get through. Awesomely creepy... yes.

4. London is the biggest area in the game and its social center, a pub called The Horned God, allows players to interact in a variety of ways. There's a fight club, a performance stage where fellow players will either cheer or boo you off stage and a dance floor. Even secret societies can't stay off the floor when "Poker Face" is playing.

5. The Templar character creation screen is set in the back of a Haitian restaurant. At the beginning of the game you're met by Mama Abena, a character who is familiar with, but not necessarily friendly with, the Templar secret society.

6. In order to keep people from discovering the Templar's secrets, the portions of London you'll be exploring are off limits for regular people under the guise of a terrorist threat. Tournquist also hints at the origins of the city of London are much earlier than we know and beneath the streets lies a world that hasn't changed for a thousand years.

7. Luella, a character you'll meet in The Horned God, wears fake fairy wings to show off her true fairy heritage.

8. Items for sale in The Secret World are different than most MMOs too. How do pet imps and living tattoos sound?

All in all, this game keeps sounding better and better. We can't wait to explore London's darkest streets when it releases (hopefully) in 2011.

No, that's not actually a dingy bar in some dark corner of London's forgotten heart, it's actually the "secret" entrance to The Secret World's press booth at GamesCom. Oops. Guess it's not so much of a secret now.

The booth is a life size replica of The Secret World's in-game social hub, a pub called The Horned God. The secret entrance to the press booth goes along with the themes of conspiracy, magic and mystery that are so prevalent in the upcoming game. It makes you wonder, if they can do this much with a real-world space, what can they achieve with a game environment?

Check out darkdaysarecoming.com for more.

The Secret World is an upcoming MMO which lets you align with one of three secret societies: The Templar, The Illuminati and The Dragon. Each has its own methods, resources and ideologies, and each wants to sculpt the world in its own image. The Templars believe in eradicating evil, the Illuminati believe in power above everything and The Dragon believe in balance.

Each of these fictionalized factions has real life counterparts. We're going to take a historical look at some of the world's most successful secret societies, from which The Secret World draws inspiration.

Ever wonder if you ancestors were part of a secret society? Well stop waiting for your secret, wax-sealed invitation to arrive and go to The Secret World's website and find out which secret society you belong to! Just answer a few questions and you'll be sorted, Harry Potter-style, into one of three in-game secret societies, which function as the game's factions. 

The Templars are about ridding the world of evil at any means necessary. The Illuminati are about ruthless power and breaking rules. The Dragon are about staying hidden, being manipulative and achieving balance with the Universe. Where do you fit in? The game looks fantastic and by choosing a faction now you can receive updates and win access to the beta. Go to darkdaysarecoming.com to find out where you belong. See, even the website's name sounds cool.