3/08/07 - Latest News

Peter Jackson working on episodic Halo content
Xoanon @ 11:13 pm EST

From Joystiq.com: During the second annual "Blogger Breakfast," Microsoft's Shane Kim revealed that Peter Jackson's forthcoming Xbox 360 projects will be episodic. "Peter Jackson is developing two episodic series," said Kim, reconfirming, "the first is in the Halo universe." Both projects are still lingering in their early design phases, but Microsoft hopes they will eventually serve as models for other developers to follow.When pried for more details about the as-yet-unnamed second series and release strategies for the content, Kim remained tight-lipped: "I may have said too much already."

3/07/07 - Latest News

EA Announces The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth Anthology for the PC
Xoanon @ 5:45 pm EST

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS - News) announced today that the complete collection of Middle-earth PC Real-Time Strategy (RTS) games will be available with The Lord of the Rings(TM), The Battle for Middle-earth(TM) Anthology(1). For the first time The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth Anthology offers fans the chance to bring together all the epic The Lord of the Rings(TM) battles with The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth(TM), The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II(TM) Collector's Edition and The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II, The Rise of the Witch-King(TM) within a single compilation, and all for an MSRP of $39.99. [More]

3/06/07 - Latest News

LOTR Online Update: New Crafting Overview!
Xoanon @ 1:34 pm EST

Lorien "Ramen" Carney, Community Relations Specialist for The Lord of the Rings Online writes: We’ve just added a new article to our Game Systems section that covers everything a budding artisan needs to know to jump into LOTRO’s Crafting System. Ever since we published Lead System Designer Nik Davidson’s Developer Diary on the origins of LOTRO’s Crafting System, the crafters of the community have eagerly awaited more details. In our second Developer Diary we introduced the concept of Professions and Vocations, and covered a little more ground. It’s time to bring our crafters the next installment! Here’s a basic overview of the system, including details on how to get started in your crafting career. [More]

2/28/07 - Latest News

LOTR Online Update: Fields of Fornost
Xoanon @ 3:25 pm EST

Lorien "Ramen" Carney, Community Relations Specialist for The Lord of the Rings Online writes: We’ve just posted a new Point of Interest on the official LOTRO web site, the North Downs area known as the Fields of Fornost. Today’s selection is served with two new screenshots that depict the somber environment and crumbling monuments of this once-proud region. "Travel to the Fields of Fornost in the North Downs, home to the once-principle city of the Kingdom of Arnor." [More]

2/26/07 - Latest News

Rings RPG Expands Tolkien
Xoanon @ 6:07 pm EST

Jeff Anderson, president and chief executive officer of Turbine Inc., told SCI FI Wire that Lord of the Rings Online: The Shadows of Angmar is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game that takes its cues directly from the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, but that also expands on them. "[We] took a lead from the master [and] focused [the game] on the first book [in the trilogy] and covered the storyline as Frodo and Sam leave the Shire and start moving towards ... Rivendell," Anderson said in an interview at the New York Comic Con over the weekend. "Post-launch we are going to tell more of the story as the fellowship leaves that area and goes forth ... all the way to Mount Doom."

The main storyline of the game covers many of the same events as the first book of Tolkien's trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring, Anderson said. "Everything from Gandalf being captured ... [to] Strider meeting up with the fellowship at The Prancing Pony [to] the fight on Weathertop," he said. "We've got all those moments in the game, and we communicate that through a variety of different mechanics: through text, through voice-over, through game cinematics. Those all make sure that the player is aware of where the story is." [More]

2/22/07 - Latest News

Announcing LOTR Online: Shadows of Angmar Stress Test Event!
Xoanon @ 12:06 pm EST

Meghan S. Rodberg, Online Community Manager for The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar writes: We wanted to let everyone know about our upcoming public Stress Test Event, which runs from Friday, February 23rd through Monday, February 25th! Gamers who want to try out The Lord of the Rings Online(tm): Shadows of Angmar(tm) for free for the weekend should sign up at Gamespot to receive their Stress Test Event keys.

After registering their keys, participants can log in and play as much as they like any time between 12:00PM EST on Friday, February 23rd and 9:00AM EST Monday, February 26th! Turbine will be running several live events during the weekend, so gamers should be sure to play during those times for their chance to win prizes. Playing for at least 2 hours each day during the Stress Test also makes them eligible to win an NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTX!

The Stress Test is open to residents of North America, Australia, and New Zealand. For more information about the Stress Test Event, including instructions for downloading the game client, please visit lotro.com/stresstest

2/17/07 - Latest News

Lord of the Rings Online a contender?
Xoanon @ 4:35 pm EST

Early word is that the game is actually a potential contender against the juggernaut known as the World of Warcraft. Turbine has incorporated the best elements from their semi-love-or-totally-hate Dungeons and Dragons Online game, while making LOTRO more accessible.Turbine will begin stress testing the game on Feb. 23, which is the best opportunity to try out the game for those remotely curious. A few of the people we spoke with said that the reason the game works is because the Tolkien lore is solid and robust and it is WoW-esk enough to be accessible to the masses, but different enough to be an alternative. [More]