And we have our winners!

For the mysterious Dragon, user esprickzor managed to summarize why they were so great in a few simple sentences:

"The world must burn before it can be restored.

The Dragons are master manipulators and do not suffer the same nearsightedness that plague the Templars and Illuminati, the fact that their motives are beyond "Good" or "Bad" makes them even more intriguing.

They are Patient, Deceiving, and Powerful.

They are the Conjurers of Change."

For brandedwolf, the stoic Templar are the only ones with the right reasons:

"Because someone has to be in it for the right reasons.

Because the innocent need protecting.

Because someone must make the hard choices to push the darkness back."

For Beckygrrl, however, everyone's really just in this for themselves, and the Illuminati are the only ones who've embraced this ideal:

"It's pretty simple really: If you really want the finer things in life, Illuminati is the only way to go.

I mean, come on! What profit is there in chaos? When the smoke clears all you've got is a pile of rubble and dirt stains all over your new Vera Wang suit! Ick!

Templars? Get serious! Meting out justice may make some people feel better, but for a really good time I'll take the Lamborghini, the downtown luxury penthouse apartment, and summers on the Riviera every time, honey!

On top of all that, there's plenty of that oh-so-delicious aphrodisiac, power. We control the media and the government, and therefore, the unwashed clueless masses as well. While the Dragons and Templars are running around fighting for some silly nebulous ideals no one really understands anyway, we Illuminati are shaping the world the way we want it, the way that works best and most profitably for us and us alone.

When you take the time to really think about it and work out the pros and cons, you realize that Illuminati is the only way to go. It's not only the way that keeps the world working the way it should, but most importantly, it's the way that keeps the world working best for US!"

So congratulations to our winners! We'll be contacting them to send them a T-Shirt and Dog Tag gift bundle for their chosen The Secret World secret society!

Unless you've been trapped on a zombie-infested island recently, you will have heard the great news that The Secret World has gone live! Early Access to Funcom's latest MMO began at the end of last week, with full launch earlier on Tuesday. To celebrate the event, we've got a bit of a giveaway for you!

In The Secret World, you can join one of three Secret Societies. With the steadfast Templar, the hedonistic Illuminati and the chaotic Dragon, each one goes about saving the world in their own unique way. The rivalry between them is intense, with each one vying for supremacy under the careful watch of the Council of Venice.

If you have ever wanted a way to declare your society loyalty to friends and enemies alike, here's your chance. Thanks to our good friends at EA, we have three Secret Society t-shirt and dog-tag sets to give away!

Getting your hands on this superb swag is easy: all you have to do is tell us why your chosen secret society rocks! Leave a comment on this article (you'll need to register for a free ZAM account if you don't already have one) with your most convincing reason. Chris and Gareth will be picking one winner for each society, so you'll be competing against your own faction.

Get your skates on though, as the competition ends on Monday, July 9, 2012 at 5:00pm EST. We'll ship worldwide too, so feel free to enter wherever you are!

The Secret World has pretty much launched, now that the demo is over, and it's gaining some positive reception thus far, and it's celebrating launch with this awesome trailer.

But, possibly more interesting than the launch is the fact that the CEO of Funcom, Trond Arne Aas, has resigned from his post and instead is moving to work on the upcoming Lego MMO as chief strategy officer as well as consultant for the company's board of directors. Given the huge boost of business he has brought to the company over the last decade, bringing Funcom to be one of Norway's biggest companies, it sounds like he is securing a comfortable job with less stress as opposed to being replaced or forced down. 

If you've been following our previous coverage on The Secret World, you probably think we've spent most of our time killing zombies, uncovering secrets, escaping Hell and battling long-dead Gods. But while the Secret Societies struggle to keep the world from crumbling beneath us, there's a further threat they also face: each other.

For the fourth and final Beta Weekend Event, Funcom invited all challengers into the fighting arenas of Eldorado, Stonehenge and Fusang Projects. Whether it's to settle old scores against other beta testers, represent your Society in battle, or simply sate a growing bloodlust, this weekend was all about PvP combat. With each of the three factions represented in every location, conflict promised to be fast-paced and brutal. Under the watchful eye of the Council of Venice, victories would be won and glory earned.

We won't have long to find out how The Secret War will unfold. With Early Access starting on Friday June 29th and full launch following on Tuesday July 3rd, thousands of players will be flooding in to unleash chaos on Funcom's Secret World. Although the grand battle is yet to begin, this is what we encountered in the prelude.

Like the petals of an ashen rose, we’ve been carefully pulling back the layers in The Secret World. In a world that’s built like a Russian Matryoshka doll, cracking one mystery open to discover what lies beneath is a delicious reward. Working out the puzzles that unlock them: there’s the challenge.

Since we waved goodbye to Solomon Island, we’ve paid a flying visit to London and headed out to Egypt. We’ve also been on a guided tour of Transylvania and The Darkness War dungeon with Funcom’s Tor Egil Andersen. We also gained some insight behind the dungeon and ability philosophy, and tested the new graphics features.

So buckle up and grab that Agartha beacon, as we whip around the globe in our latest report from The Secret World!

The Secret World is continuing to lay some pretty kickass groundwork for MMOs, and this is no exception - the devs have decided to have a more direct hand in shaping the in-game guilds and promoting them. To do this, they have launched a new contest for potential leaders in the game. Winners get their cabal name reserved, a lifetime The Secret World account (!!!), beta keys for their own cabal members, free points for their TSW account, and a GuildLaunch.com slot for free. Now is the time to get your Lovecraft themed gangsters together. 

Claim your weekend beta keys for The Secret World here!

Hey Secret World fans! Haven't gotten your weekend beta key just yet? We've got you covered! Just head on over to our weekend beta key giveaway to claim your key! Once you've snagged that, pop over to the official The Secret World registration page to get your account flagged for beta access! We'll see you in The Secret World this weekend!

Got a hankering for some cult exploration and free-form character progression? Well, soon our friends over at MSI will be giving away beta keys for The Secret World! All you need to do is help them make it to 55,000 likes, and they'll give those beta codes away. Currently, the count is around 54,300, so expect to get your key fairly soon if you sign up.

But wait, there's more! MSI is also giving away some "secret" prizes if their page hits an even higher number of likes. If sillhouettes are a fair indication, then it looks like some swanky hardware will be raffled out at 57k likes, and laptops will be the prize if they can hit their stretch goal of 60k likes. If any of that sounds attractive to you, be sure to head on over to the MSI Facebook page to get signed up!

Sorry, but you might feel like this guy does right now - TSW has been delayed from its original launch date on June 19th to July 3rd. I'm willing to bet that it's due to preparing for the inevitable first-day flood that also hit Diablo 3 on its launch day! 

It seems like only yesterday when we were back in London, enjoying life without a care in the world. Since then we’ve been inducted into an ancient order, waded knee-deep through undead and dealt with myths and legends brought to life. And things are about to get much, much worse.

In Part One of our tour of Solomon Island, we arrived at the zombie infested town of Kingsmouth. With Part Two we ventured forth into The Savage Coast, tackled haunted amusement parks and investigated Illuminati academies. Our final look at the fog-enveloped isle takes us from government agencies to Indian reservations in search of answers. We also embark on our first dungeon crawl, stepping into Hell Rising.

While this draws an end to our time on Solomon Island, we’ll be keeping you up-to-date on The Secret World as the beta evolves. Make sure you also try out the new missions, as The Secret War ends and a new alternate-reality game begins!

Check out Part I of our ongoing beta coverage of The Secret World!

Solomon Island, New England. Enshrouded by fog and home to a long history of evil events, it’s little wonder that the darkness threatening The Secret World chose this place to emerge. While our initial tour of Kingsmouth saw us beating back sea monsters and zombies, our journey through the Savage Coast experienced haunted carnival rides and demons from Hell.

In order to take on these tougher challenges, we had to tighten our skills and build some better gear. We also ended up tweaking our inventory so that drinks and buffs were just a click away. All the junk we accumulated went to good use, feeding our insatiable appetite for upgrades.

Later on, we’ll finish our tour of Solomon Island with a visit to Blue Mountain. We’ll also pay a visit to one or two of the early instances available. For now, sit back and enjoy the roller coaster ride through The Savage Coast.