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Lord Of The Rings

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Lord Of The Rings: Conquest


There you have it. Our first footage of Pandemic's upcoming LotR game which, for those not in the know, is Battlefront, plus Rohirrim, sans the Stormtroopers. I kinda wish the battles looked...bigger, but then the fact Pandemic were confident enough to release a debut trailer consisting entirely of in-game (or at least very close to in-game) footage is always enough to bolster my confidence in a title.


lord of the rings: conquest

More On Pandemic's Lord Of The Rings Game

Pandemic's upcoming Lord of the Rings: Conquest? Oh, it's so pushing my buttons. All of them. Now that I know some more on the project, well, those buttons are being mashed to within an inch of their worthless, plastic little lives. According to lead designer Sean Soucy, not only will the game feature the epic battles from the movie timeline, but also some other, more intriguing set pieces, such as the Battle of the Last Alliance and even the razing of the Shire. Really. Soucy also sheds some light on the game's "vehicles" and weapons, saying that "Horses, wargs, playable trolls and ents, catapults, siege towers and battering rams" are just "some" of the gear you'll be able to command in the game. So great. Conquest is due in the Fall.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the Game [Crispy Gamer]


lord of the rings

LotRO Reaches The Ocean

The latest chapter in the ever-expanding Lord of the Rings Online introduces Forochel, a new region which lies in the far, frozen north of Eriador, which gives players their very first chance to see the ocean in the game. It's funny how you don't notice such a thing missing until it's pointed out to you. Along with giant patches of water, Book 13: Doom of the Last-king promises new cold-based terrain effects. What that means exactly I have no idea. Perhaps slippery patches of ice? It's about time for an MMO to introduce slippery patches of ice. Failing that, some really well-crafted fjords. Turbine promises more info on the next free expansion shortly. For now, it's LotRO on ice! More »

rumor

Rumor: Pandemic's LOTR Will Be Battlefield-Esque

Yesterday Luke brought you news, via Electronic Arts' analyst meeting, that Pandemic was working on a new Lord of the Rings game.

But at the time that's all we knew. Luke opined that maybe it was something tied to their ability to create games like Mercenaries that deal with destruction in a sandbox environment or that, perhaps, it would be a game that, like Star Wars Battlefront, is all about combat and action over large areas. Close, very close, according to our sources.

We hear that Pandemic's Lord of the Rings will put a Battlefield competitive first-person shooter spin (with mounts) on the beloved fantasy tale and personally, I couldn't be more happy about it. I'd love to mix things up in a rolling war with magic, swords and bows. Dark Messiah almost got it, but in the end somehow missed the mark. Let's see if Pandemic can do better.

When reached for comment Pandemic only said that they'd like to talk more about their upcoming Lord of the Rings title, but that now isn't quite the time.


lord of the rings

Pandemic Working On New Lord Of The Rings Title

My aching sense of disappointment at the cancellation of EA's Lord of the Rings Oblivion clone The White Council still lingers. To be replaced soon, however, with a renewed sense of hope, even if it is - pardon the quote - a fool's hope: EA revealed in an analysts report today that they've set newly-acquired developers Pandemic to work on a Lord of the Rings game. More »

lord of the rings

LOTRO Book 11: More Cowbell

Sure, Turbine and Codemasters' 3rd major free content patch for Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar introduces over 100 new quests, your first glimpse of Gollum, two new areas, Amarthiel's ring of power, a raid against a Balrog, and player housing. That's all well and good, but the single most important aspect of the new update, due out on October 25th, is to the music system, my favorite aspect of the entire game. Three new instruments are being introduced with the update, including the bagpipes and god's very voice on earth - the cowbell. Finally all of Middle Earth can be graced by the most complete version of my masterpiece, "Don't Fear The Ringwraith." Hit the jump for info on that other crap.
More »

gollum says

Acting and Game Motion-Capture? Same.

By bringing Sméagol and Gollum to live in Lord of the Rings, actor Andy Serkis set off a hailstorm of controversy. His performance was so good that many Academy members felt he should be nominated for an Oscar (the Academy felt otherwise). He is able to inject great humanity into his motion capture work. Heavenly Sword marks the first time that Serkis has done motion-capture for a game. What's the difference between doing motion-capture and doing traditional acting?

The main thing is that there's really no difference between acting and motion-capturing. The research, the trying to embody a character is the same. But the main thing about motion-capture is that you're sort of puppeteering a version of yourself. You can calibrate that by manipulating certain things about your personality... I'm slightly ambivalent about the difference between playing a character and being motion-captured. It's no different from being in costume, except that instead of having synthetic materials on your face you've been captured in a game. Simple as that.

Well put. If Lon Chaney was alive, smart money says he'd be doing motion capture.
Serkis Talks Heavenly Sword [CVG]

bring your athame

LOTRO Celebrates The Summer Solstice

Turbine continues to impress the hell out of me with the level of support and dedication they have to making sure Lord of the Rings Online stays fresh and exciting despite the fact that their main audience has been perfectly content to read the same fifty year-old fantasy series over and over again. This Wednesday sees the beginning of their first big festival event, The Summer Solstice Festival
The Summer Solstice Festival is called different things by different races. Whether it's the Lithe Festival (Hobbits), Summerdays (Men), Summerfest (Dwarves) or the Festival of Enedhin (Elves), they all share the common themes of summer including planting, dancing, drinking, games and fireworks.

Pretty much everything Kotaku stands for. Promising new quests, scavenger hunts, fireworks, and even special dance emote quest reward, the festival will run until July 10th, giving me plenty of time to forget to login and miss out on special Hobbit dances. *sniffs* More »

cash money

LOTR Actors Want Their Money


Fifteen actors from the Lord of the Rings trilogy are selling New Line Cinema for breach of contract, claiming they still haven't received a percentage of the estimated $100 million in profits from the sales of movie merchandise, including the video games: More »

lord of the dance

LOTRO Shores of Evendim Detailed

A little over a month old and Lord of the Rings Online is ready for a major free content upgrade, further entrenching Turbine and Codemasters in the hearts of Tolkien fans around the world. For weeks now we've been logging in to see the teaser screen, and finally today details emerge on the Shores of Evendim patch. It's a whole slew of new content, including one major feature that might get my short attention span having butt to resubscribe:
Major Updates to the Music System — In addition to the new percussion and bass instruments, players can now utilize a new music notation system that enables them to compose music offline and upload it to your character in-game.

You have no idea how amazingly happy that makes me. No more sitting in Hobbiton plunking through the Rugrats theme song for me. Now I can plunk with one button! More »

lord of the rings

LOTR Open Beta - Run You Fools

What is potentially the most hobbit-forming MMO of all time is about to start it's open beta phase, leading up to the release on April 24th. Just hit up the web site, click on the World Tour link (or the link below this post), and follow the instructions to find out how to receive your account key and download the client. European players need to go to a different site to sign up, but Canada, Australia and New Zealand? You're with us, but Canada called shotgun and New Zealand has to sit in Australia's lap. Don't make us turn this car around. More »

battle for middle-earth 2

Battle For Middle-Earth II, Rise of the Witch-King Officially Announced

After some none too subtle hints earlier this week, Electronic Arts has gone ahead and just plain announced the mouthful Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth 2 expansion, The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth 2, The Rise of the Witch King. A new faction, new units, a new single-player campaign and an entirely new setting are the highlight features... standard expansion fare. More »

xbox 360

Review Round-Up: Battle for Middle-Earth II

Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth II hit stores today and if you were lucky you got yourself one. I'm sure there are going to be plenty of hardcore computer RTS fans out there who will say you can't do real-time strategy on a console, but I think this game proves you can. More »

games of the week

Games of the Week: The Lower Depths

Apparently publishers don't want to ship software in the middle of summer, especially on an American holiday synonymous with being outside, because this week's releases run from pathetic to "huh?". There is one big game hitting this week, see if you can figure out which one it is! More »

machinima

Two Towers Dubbed With Halo

Not a whole lot more needs to be said than, "Wow," at this piece of Halo 2 meets The Two Towers machinima. It's isn't "new," persay, but it's new to me. I'm firing up The Two Towers in the background for the rest of the workday at the office. More »

lord of the rings

EA Doing the LOTR Thing Again

EA announced this morning that Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth II is heading to the Xbox 360. This will be the first LOTR game that is playable over the Live, and will dump gamers right back into the huge battles that made Peter Jackson's movie series such a big friggin' deal. You can probably get dressed up and roleplay and say things to your Xbox Live foes like "Where is the horse and the rider, where is the horn that was blowing?" if you want to creep them out.

lord of the rings

Elrond Will Voice Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle Earth II

Hugo Weaving will bring his very direct voicing to the EA-made LOTR, The Battle for Middle Earth II. Almost a distraction in LOTR because of his work in the Matrix films, it's still kind of hard not to laugh the first time you see Weaving in Fellowship. His voicing in the EA game will probably strike similar chords.