Last week, Funcom hinted that it was planning to reveal more secrets surrounding The Secret World. It looks like the company wasn't kidding. As we reported, Game Director Ragnar Tornquis recently spoke with GameSpot about the Dragon secret society. Well, it turns out he also talked with the site about the Illuminati and Templars.

The interviews contain exclusive trailers for the Illuminati and Templars that are filled with concept art, so check them out to get a feel for these two groups. Which society will you be a part of when The Secret World launches?

As we reported, Funcom announced on its Twitter page that more Secret World secrets were going to be revealed yesterday. It turns out the announcement wasn't the highly anticipated third trailer, but was instead an interview conducted with GameSpot about the Dragon secret society.

Game Director Ragnar Tornquist doesn't give away too many details about the Dragon, but he does provide an interesting description of the society: "The Dragon is an orchestrator of chaos, and this will be reflected in the story mission. Dragon players will approach events and non-player characters using that mindset -- the Art of Chaos -- and that makes their story very different from the other secret societies. Of course, they would never call it 'lying.' To the Dragon, the truth is flexible and ever moving, like the ocean."

GameSpot is also hosting an exclusive Dragon trailer filled with slides of concept art, so check it out to get your Secret World fix.

Funcom just made a very interesting post on The Secret World Facebook page: "More secrets will be revealed... tomorrow." What could that mean? We'll certainly be keeping our eyes glued to the game's official site, Facebook page and Twitter feed to find out.

We're hoping this means the third trailer will finally become available, but we'll just have to wait until tomorrow to see if we're right. While you wait, we suggest you head over to The Secret World site and view the other trailers or take the initiation test to win beta access.

Funcom announced today that it has established a new subsidiary named SweetRobot to publish its ventures into the social and casual MMO-gaming markets. SweetRobot's first project is the upcoming kid-friendly Pets vs. Monsters, a free-to-play game that's scheduled to launch in public beta later this month. A commercial release date has not yet been finalized.

Pets vs. Monsters is a casual adventure game for children ages 8-12 that allows players to explore different zones and collect various pets and skills. As the title suggests, the MMO will include some monster battles as well. You can view some screenshots in our gallery and a gameplay video after the jump.

Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas stated in a press release that Age of Conan and The Secret World will remain the company's primary focus, but they are excited to release their first attempt at an online game for a younger target audience.

GameIndustry.biz is reporting that Funcom has been awarded a $262,000 grant to help create Board with the World, a free-to-play social MMO based around extreme sports. Erling Ellingsen, the director of communications at Funcom, said the game will focus on snowboarding at first, but different sports may be added later.

"We also want this to be a social world rich with different types of media content and pop-cultural elements such as music, video and even fashion," he said, noting that Funcom expects to start working on an initial prototype in January 2010.

Fantasy MMO based on Conan the Barbarian? Check. Upcoming creepy MMO filled with conspiracy theories and secret societies? Check. Free-to-play extreme sports MMO? It looks like Funcom can now check that off their list as well.

According to Norwegian business site E24, Funcom plans to cut 20 percent of its workforce in order to cut costs, which will delay the release of The Secret World by several months. GameIndustry.biz spotted the story and reported that Funcom is attempting to shift the bulk of its 300 workers to Canada to take advantage of lower salaries and "a 37.5 percent salary reimbursement from the state of Quebec."

It's no secret (har har) that we're fans of The Secret World. We recently awarded the game the title of "Most Original Setting" in our first PAX Awards. While we wait to see what the future holds for the MMO, check out our summary of what we know so far about The Secret World.

This year we decided to cover PAX more aggressively than we have in the past and one of the by-products of that choice is our first annual PAX Awards. Even though the convention focuses on tabletop, PC and console games -- MMOs were featured extensively, demonstrating that they continue to become more and more popular in the gaming world. As such, due to our MMO focus we had to be extremely selective about what kind of awards we gave out and who we gave them to. Ultimately, this was not an easy task as all of our nominations are great games. This was especially difficult when it came to selecting the winner for "Best in Show". In the end, tough decisions were made and it's time to reveal those decisions to the world. Without further ado, the Winners!

Still in the heated stages of alpha development, The Secret World is capturing the attention of gamers around the world. Widely publicized and fueled by clever viral marketing campaigns, the upcoming Urban Fantasy/Horror MMO is finally starting to reveal some of its secrets, thanks to recent gaming conventions like Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) and Games Developers Conference (GDC). Six months ago, all we had were a handful of rumors and some outdated, leaked screenshots. Coupled with a few cryptic website domains and a mysterious alternate reality game (ARG), The Secret World's developers had the gaming community right where they wanted it: tightly-wound and frothing at the mouth for anything that might explain what this new MMO is all about.

The GDC 2009 (San Francisco, CA) last spring marked the first substantial round of sneak-peek media and rough explanations of TSW's theme and game world. Tiny bits of information trickled in over the next few months, but it wasn't until PAX 2009, in Seattle earlier this month, that a few of those curtain threads we've been pulling on finally began to unravel; ZAM scored an interview with Ragnar Tørnquist, Producer and Director of TSW, offering more answers than we've heard in quite some time. In this special feature, we look at the big picture and tie it all together; both past and present. Whether you're looking for a synopsis or just a single place to start learning about The Secret World, this is what we know so far…

Funcom has signed a deal with Geomerics to use the company's Enlighten lighting techology in both The Secret World and Rise of the Godslayer, the first Age of Conan expansion. According to Geomerics' Web site, "Enlighten is the only truly real-time radiosity lighting product for games. It allows you the freedom to create dramatic and interactive worlds with fully dynamic lighting."

A demo was shown at GamesCom last month demonstrating how Enlighten will be used in Rise of the Godslayer. "It’s truly exciting to use Enlighten and keep on pushing the envelope of graphical immersion in MMO-gaming by creating heart-pounding and stunningly realistic experiences for our gamers," Funcom CTO Rui Caisas said. You can read the full announcement after the jump.

This year we decided to cover PAX more aggressively than we have in the past and one of the by-products of that choice is our first annual PAX Awards. Even though the convention focuses on tabletop, PC and console games, MMOs were featured extensively, demonstrating they continue to become more and more popular in the gaming world. As such, due to our MMO focus we had to be extremely selective about what kind of awards we gave out and who we gave them to; however, we’re happy with the end result and we hope that you, our readers and the recipients of these awards will be as well. So without further ado, the Nominees!