Funcom announces a new July 3rd launch date for The Secret World, with Early Access starting June 29th, a slight delay for their MMORPG that was last expected on June 19th. Word is: "The new launch date places The Secret World in a more positive launch window which will benefit the launch of the game." They also announce details on a third beta weekend for the game titled "Hell Raised" that will be conducted beginning on June 15th and a final event to follow the week after that:

Funcom today announced that the company has made a small adjustment to the release date for The Secret World. Due to market reasons, the ship date has been moved by two weeks to July 3rd, with Early Access starting June 29th. The new launch date places The Secret World in a more positive launch window which will benefit the launch of the game.

We are also excited to share with you the dates and content of the remaining Beta Weekends!

The third Beta Weekend, titled 'Hell Raised', will begin on June 15th and run until June 17th. In this Beta Weekend players will be able to experience the Illuminati and Dragon starter experiences as well as the Templar experience. Players will also get to leave Kingsmouth and venture into the massive region known as Savage Coast, where they will soon find that the very gates of hell itself have opened up! This will allow players to experience the epic 'Hell Raised' dungeon where you will have to battle the demons of hell itself!

MMORPG.com and Massively.com played through the 'Hell Raised' dungeon recently, and judging from their previews they had a hell of a good time. You can check out their impressions here.

The fourth and final Beta Weekend will begin on June 22nd and run until June 24th. This event will focus on the player vs. player experience in The Secret World, and players will get to sample both the Eldorado battlefield experience as well as the massive warzone gameplay where over a hundred players clash together in persistent battle. Here the Illuminati, the Templars and the Dragon will get to duke it out and hone their battle skills on each other before the real conflict begins when Early Access opens on June 29th.