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Hobbits will enjoy the new Mines of Moria web game
Turbine has been rolling out web-based games to promote The Lord of the Rings Online's upcoming expansion, The Mines of Moria. The first two games -- King Under the Mountain and Swig and Toss -- had a Dwarven theme. Now, a brand new, Hobbit-themed game called Eleventy Seven Morsels has been unveiled.Eleventy Seven Morsels is sweet for its simplicity; all you do for the most part is pick up a morsel from the board -- simple, right? Well, there's a bit of strategy involved. Morsels you pick up are distributed around the board with a certain pattern, and you have to try to distribute them in your favor instead of your opponent's. If you visit the website, you can read the rules to see exactly what all that means.As was the case with the previous two games, avid players will receive a little something -- a poster featuring art from the expansion, in this case.
First Impressions: Mabinogi
Mabinogi is an engaging MMO by Nexon, the makers of Maple Story, Audition, and Kart Rider. The name is derived from the Mabinogion, a collection of old Welsh stories. In that sense, it's well-named; Mabinogi is billed as 'your fantasy life', and much of what happens in the game follows a gentle, pastoral atmosphere -- even the combat, to a certain degree. We had the chance to check this out, now that it's in open beta, and here's what we found. Keep in mind that this is not a guide -- we have no insider knowledge to report. This is merely a record of our opinions and experience playing this game for the first few hours. Excelsior!%Gallery-18335%
One Shots: Playing with family (and friends!)
Jose sends in this screenshot of himself and his sons (a Guardian and two Hunters) in the Shire in Lord of the Rings Online. He explains the group shot:The landscape photo was taken at a leisure moment near our ancestors' home in Bywater (the land just on the back is our grand- grandfather's... some of the best wine making land around) and it was a family reunion after days slaying orcs and goblins in the war-infested lands of Middle-Earth.Who do you spend your game-time with? We want to hear about it -- and see it! -- for our next edition of One Shots! Send your screenshots and stories to oneshots@massively.com. You may see it featured here tomorrow, same time, same place! %Gallery-9798%
Turbine becoming fat hobbitses off LoTRO sales
Looks like the battle for fantasy-based MMORPG supremacy is on. Turbine announced today that Lord of the Rings: Shadows of Angmar is the #1 selling game in North America and Europe according to various sales data. They may have a long way to go before taking a bite out of World of Warcraft's 8.5 million users, but at least they didn't fall on their face like Vanguard.Reviews have been pleasant for the game and we haven't heard of constant server crashes like we did at the beginning of WoW's life. Then again, Turbine's been at the MMO biz for a while now. The first free content update is already expected in June. It'll be interesting to see when Turbine releases their first user numbers and if they hit that magical 1 million milestone. Well, the game isn't a flop and brings a good alternative choice in the MMO market. But the journey is still long.[Via Press Release]
LOTR Online gameplay footage
Turbine has released a new five-minute gameplay vid from Lord of the Rings Online: The Shadows of Angmar. You'll get to see humans, dwarves, and elves in a variety of combat scenarios, and watch little hobbitses traverse a faithfully rendered Middle-earth. Based solely on the literary works of Tolkien, the DDO developer has done a nice job creating a look and feel that you will never mistake for the EA line of film-inspired LOTR games (for better or worse). However, the forthcoming MMO could use a little more work in the sound effects department. As of right now, just about every cleave, slash, and arrow pierce sounds like a punch. In fact, if you only heard the audio, you would think you were listening to a Street Fighter game. There is still no release date for Shadows of Angmar, but hopefully Turbine will have enough time to address the audible issues.See also: Tom Bombadil featured in LOTR Online Midway to co-publish Lord of the Rings MMO LOTR Online creature feature
