Age of Conan, the new MMO slated for release during the holidays this year, has opened up to closed beta, and for those of you willing to brave the high specs required for the game, and the dangerous world of Hyboria, you may get to be some of the first to set foot in the new world.

The game apparently is using a hybrid system of combat using a real-time slashing system while still giving you the strategic choices that other RPG systems allow. What that entails exactly, who can tell. But from some of what they’re advertising, including castle sieges and huge battles that feel much more “up-close” than other’s, we may finally be able to live out our Lord of the Rings battle fantasies, unless the ACTUAL LotR game does a better job. From the success of 300, I’m sure there’ll be plenty of people itching for gritty spear-to-shield combat though, so expect this to be a pretty big thing later this year. For those wanting to sign up, you can find the beta application here.