Electronic Arts (EA) won the rights to “its precious”, “The Lord of the Rings” (LOTR) electronic game franchise in the form of two new games for the electronic gaming giant. The games should fit nicely into the LOTR catalog EA already has.
“The Lord of the Rings, Battle For Middle-earth II is a PC installment sequel to LOTR, Battle For Middle-earth that show much promise as the latest in strategy for series. According EA‘s press release, the game promises “depths of the fiction never before explored by EA.” Gollum hasn’t commented yet.
“The new rights have unlocked the world of Middle-earth for “The Lord of the Rings” and strategy game fans alike. We’re building a deeper, richer, bigger game based on the #1 RTS from the previous holiday season in North America with new fantasy races, places, heroes, and battles from both the books and films,” said Mike Verdu, Senior Producer of “The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth” at EA.
The other title is going to be “Lord of the Rings Tactics” and will be plugging into the PSP system, allowing players to run the either the Fellowship characters or run the forces of Sauron. Tactics will also allow characters to build customized heroes and they can use the WiFi functions to fight it out with up to four other players.
“Now that we are expanding our Lord of the Rings universe to encompass Tolkien’s books, we’ll be able to combine the visual impact of the films with those complex stories,” said Steve Gray, Executive Producer of “The Lord of the Rings Tactics” at EA. “The RPG genre, in particular, is a great medium for story telling. We are delving into unexplored depths of Tolkien’s works to deliver new, compelling and immersive experiences. The Lord of the Rings Tactics gives RPG fans a first look at how we will do this.”
John Stith is a staff writer for murdok covering technology and business.
