EA Locks Up Lord of the Rings IP

Gamasutra has the word that EA has the Lord of the Rings IP locked up through the end of next year. With the additional license for the books under their wing and no competition from Vivendi, they have big plans set for their next game inside the franchise world. "The announcement follows EA's previously announced The Lord of the Rings: The White Council, an open world RPG for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. However, with EA making plans for a new The Lord Of The Rings title, the fate of this project, once referred to as the cryptic Project Gray Company, remains uncertain. EA confirmed in early February that the game, while not canceled, had been put on hold." Relatedly, Game|Life notes that one million players will soon be traveling through Middle Earth as the open beta for Lord of the Rings Online gets underway. If you signed up to get in, you probably will. Update: 03/30 04:00 GMT by Z : The text referring to the White Council game was edited on the Gamasutra story, and here as well to reflect that.

...and

[Stanistani]

In a related story, the use of 'relatedly' in the summary caused English teachers worldwide to bleed from the eyes and randomly kill kittens.

Re:Hobbit Crossing?

[EchoD]

Using the Sims 2 AI, I'm wondering how they're going to make a game out of a bunch of Elves, Dwarves, and Hobbits who piss on your floor because you decided to remove the bathroom door. Will they become retarded when they hear a smoke alarm-like noise? Awe, crap. Frodo starved to death because I forgot to tell him he should eat when he gets hungry.

Re:...and

[Friedrich Psitalon]

In point of fact, as an English teacher who owns two cats, I may have to purchase a machete on the way home this evening. /me wanders off muttering about "relatedly."

Madden LOTR 2008

[faloi]

Now with swing by swing teleprompter markup!

Radagast

[Speare]

I think it makes perfect sense for them to use the Sims AI for a Middle Earth environment, especially around the behaviors of the Istari (wizards). For example, Gandalf can change his raiment whenever he wants to, in remote wilderness and underground situations, without a closet or seamstress in sight. Saruman can gab on and on and on about the same megolomanic topic, blindly ignoring how his friends are all getting annoyed with little red -- signs over their heads. Also, it takes several months for Radagast to walk *anywhere*, even when there's significant time pressure to deliver important news.

Re:Hobbit Crossing?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh hell yes! I'd set right out to get Sam to build a fence around the pool, drowning that lame-ass Boromir from the start. Frodo and Gollum get it on upstairs (after constant prodding) and Gimli can do the house work. I'll let Legolas have his own room but the Hobbits have to share. This is going to be loads of fun!

Re:Madden LOTR 2008

[sharkey]

Eh, eh, eh, what you got to do is, you got to climb Mt. Doom and BOOM! you get the Sammath Naur! Now, if Frodo were Brett Favre, he would know you got to throw the One Ring into the Fire, cause that's how you melt it down!