For PvE our progress over the last few weeks has been moving along very well. Vashj was cleared in 3 days of tries and Kael'thas is on the docket for next week. We are top 20 on Warsong and top 10 for Horde, and as far as I can gather #1 US guild. Our raiders have continued to show their persistence and resilience, stepping in to fill spots outside of their primary discipline and spending gold and badges to acquire Boss specific gear. We continue to hear requests for an extra raid night for Gruul/Mag and hope to be able to accomodate our non raiding guild members in this area.

The 2008-2009 Programme marks the 15th year of the AoC Beacon Awardswhich have led the way in exemplifying and promoting the best practice inthe further education sector.A high quality and responsive further education sector is essential if we are torealise our ambitions of strengthening UK economic performance and transforming the life chances of millions of people. Further education is unique in operating across society, having a real impact on businesses, young people and adults, including those from disadvantaged and minority communities.I applaud the Association of College's decision to use the wealth of material gathered from all of the winning and highly commended colleges since the Awards began to commission a comprehensive piece of research which I am sure will offer undeniable evidence of the transformational impact that further education colleges have on the lives of people and their communities. I should like to take this opportunity to thank all of the sponsors of the AoC.

The Association of Colleges launched an innovative piece of research at a prestigious ceremony at the House of Commons yesterday (9 July) hosted by David Blunkett.The research entitled ‘Celebrating Colleges' celebrates the achievements of colleges who have contributed to the prosperity and wellbeing of the country.The research into the capabilities of the AoC Beacon award winning and highly commended colleges was commissioned a year ago.Pat Hood, the research consultant, identified six key capabilities across the winning colleges, including visionary leadership, collaboration, responsiveness and innovation and creativity.

"The college capital investment programme is a real success story for the sector, with students, employers and wider communities benefiting from new high quality buildings delivered on time and on budget. "The NAO report rightly identifies some areas for improvement and the risks associated with capital projects of this type, but with the right support we are confident that colleges can manage this risk, and complete the programme by 2013."

Commenting on the issues raised by the new Channel Four series on adult literacy - 'Can't Read, Can't Write' - Maggie Scott, AoC Director of Learning and Quality, said: "College adult literacy courses help millions of people boost their earning power, improve their career prospects, strengthen family and community ties or move on to further learning.

Hyborian Adventures is a fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by the Norwegian computer, video game developer company Funcom for PCs. The game launched at 9 p.m. (GMT) on May 17, 2008 in a limited way, being available to those who had pre-ordered the game and registered for early access. The full release of the game for North America was May 20, 2008 and for Europe May 23, 2008 for the PC version. Although originally announced as being available for the Xbox 360, the console version is at least a year behind schedule.

While most the attention in the multibillion-dollar interactive entertainment industry tends to focus on TV-based console games, there are some exciting happenings on the PC front that deserve notice.Specifically, the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) genre is red hot, where thousands of players log on to roam digital landscapes, accomplish missions and "level up" to become more powerful characters.

While the sheer brutality (and sexuality) is what Conan fans have grown to expect from this 75-year-old franchise, this game also allows for construction rather than destruction. You can pick up a craft - such as alchemy or blacksmithing - and produce goods to use or sell to other players. Also, a real-time strategy-like feature lets guilds create their own city by gathering resources and constructing buildings.

"That Age of Conan remains #1 in retail stores several weeks after release is of incredible importance to us, and proves that the game has a large potential beyond the early adopters," said Morten Larssen, VP of Sales and Marketing in Funcom. "With more than 700.000 accounts created so far we have a fantastic platform to build from, and we will continue our marketing spend to further drive numbers in the months to come. It also means that Funcom can dedicate significant development resources on evolving the game even further, naturally giving us a great hope for the future of Age of Conan."

When Age of Conan stormed into retail stores as what we believe to be the most pre-ordered original PC game in history, it instantly became the best selling PC game of May. The pace at which Age of Conan sold made it one of the fastest selling PC games of all times, and Funcom and Eidos are therefore very satisfied to see the positive sales trend continue. As all countries report sales differently, it is not possible to get a complete overview of the exact box sales at the time of writing, but Age of Conan remains the top selling PC game in most all released markets. This includes being the #1 overall PC game in June in the Nordic countries, Oceania, Germany, France and Spain, as well a top three contender in all other markets where the game is out. No substantial sales data for June is yet available from the US market, but Age of Conan was the #1 PC game in the latest official NPD update.