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All three Lord of the Rings films airing in HD on TNT
Our friends at TV Squad let us know that TNT will be airing all three Lord of the Rings movies December 15th. This will be the network television debut of the third film in the series, The Return of the King. Unfortunately what we're not sure about is whether the HD channel will be airing original aspect ratio 1080i beauty or stretched widescreen upconverts. As the films have yet to make their debut on HD DVD or Blu-ray we're keeping our fingers crossed but given TNT's history with stretching content we can't assume anything. The films will also be available for HDTVs via VOD, but that's no assurance as when the Star Wars trilogy aired on Cinemax it was OAR, but cropped on video on-demand, so they may be different. We appeal to our readers, does anyone know if the previous Lord of the Rings films shown on TNT were native or upconverted, and if there's any way to tell which these will be? Our plans for next Friday are riding on it (like we have plans).[Via TV Squad]
EA updates LOTR White Council site
Now that Electronic Arts is dual wielding the Tolkien movie and literary rights, we can expect plenty of return trips to Middle-earth from the über developer. So far, we've seen two action platformers, a turn-based RPG, a portable tactics entry, and an RTS series that have each incorporated the look and feel of The Lord of the Rings films. Scheduled for a late 2007 release, The White Council promises to deliver an Oblivion-style roleplaying experience from the perspective of a human, hobbit, dwarf, or elf. Only this time, the adventure is set 100 years prior to events depicted in the books and films, which puts EA in the precarious position of inventing some believable derivative fiction that won't upset the Tolkien fan base. To see how things are progressing, check out the relaunched web site that features new details on some of White Council's characters.See also: Steve Gray discusses LOTR: The White Council
Off the Grid: The analog analogues
Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor. Adaptation is an ugly word in the video game industry. Whether we're talking about film adaptations of our beloved franchises, or mediocre game adaptations of blockbuster movies, we as consumers grow reluctant whenever we see a familiar name in an unfamiliar format.But adaptation doesn't always end in tears. With their strict attention to detail, many board game designers have successfully moved the best elements from novels and video games to the analog format. What follows are three examples of this transition, in no particular order. Let's get right to it.DoomIn January of 2005, Fantasy Flight Games worked with designer Kevin Wilson to release a board game iteration of everyone's favorite first-person controversy magnet. Doom: The Board Game -- which apparently bears an uncanny resemblance to 1990's Space Hulk -- pits space marines against space demons, in any number of to-the-death scenarios ... in space.The game board consists of a number of interlocking corridors, rooms, walls and doors. The board can be assembled to create one of the game's pre-designed scenarios, or customized to fit the specific desires of the players. In every scenario, up to three space marines must work their way through the labyrinthian Mars base, completing specific objectives while fighting off hordes of evil invaders. One player will always play as the invaders, who must work against the marines and attempt to foil their objectives.
Middle-earth expands to the Middle Kingdom
According to a press release from Turbine Entertainment, the MMO maker is partnering with China's CDC Games to bring Lord of the Rings Online: The Shadows of Angmar to Chinese gamers -- a market with a strong affinity for online fantasy games. Turbine has already experienced success with Dungeons & Dragons Online in China and Japan, thanks to some effective content localization, and CDC will use a similar strategy by giving Middle-earth a distinctly Asian makeover. I hope this just means substituting tofu and rice for lembas bread, and not giving Gandalf a Fu Manchu moustache.See also: LOTR Online gameplay footage
Rise of the Witch-king previewed
GameSpy has posted an extensive preview of The Rise of the Witch-king, the new expansion pack for The Battle for Middle-earth II. Expected to arrive on PCs this holiday season, the RotWK campaign takes place in the years after the One Ring leaves greedy Isildur, and the Lord of the Nazgul rises to power over the kingdom of Arnor (Aragorn's peeps). In addition to the 12-mission evil campaign, the new Angmar faction introduces the spellcasting Thrall Master and Sorcerer units, the latter of which can convert fallen enemies into servants of the Witch-king.An Xbox 360 version of RotWK has not been confirmed, but hopefully EA will save some holiday cheer for Xbox Live Marketplace shoppers.
Steve Gray discusses LOTR: The White Council
Last week, Electronic Arts announced the re-named Lord of the Rings: The White Council, an open-ended RPG that is drawing comparisons to Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Following the press event, CVG spoke with producer Steve Gray on a wide range of topics including the central story arc, playable races, and the inclusion of Maxis' Sims technology for The White Council's NPCs. Regarding the plot, Gray had this to say: "We have the rights to create derivative fiction from both the books and the films, and that's given us a lot of freedom to create new characters and stories. However, it always has to make sense within the confines of Tolkien's world." EA expects The White Council to ship in Fall 2007 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. A PC version has not been confirmed, but Gray hinted at its likelihood.
Gray is White - the new LOTR RPG
Just before its summer press event, Electronic Arts officially unveiled Lord of the Rings: The White Council, the next gen RPG formerly known as Project Gray Company. Scheduled to ship at the end of 2007, White Council features an original storyline based on J.R.R. Tolkien's literary works, and will include an open-ended world with gameplay elements from previous LOTR console titles.At the beginning of the year, EA developer Jim Norwood confirmed the existence of a new LOTR RPG -- and even dropped the name, "The White Council". After the game's web site launched in April, keen observers may have also noticed that many members of The Return of the King and The Third Age design teams were on board with Gray Company. It was just a matter of putting two and two together, although many of us still missed the connection (like an M. Night Shyamalan flick). A new introduction on White Council's web site explains: "We really wanted to get the web site up and running so we could start talking with everyone about what makes a cool RPG." Hopefully, you've all given EA some good feedback on constructing the ultimate RPG before they apply the Tolkien license.
Fear the power of The One Demo
If you haven't noticed, there is now a Battle for Middle Earth II demo available on Marketplace. It's available for every region, too -- and it's the perfect complement to the recently released walkthrough video. So, yeah, go get it.Cheers.[Thanks, Luis and KingOfGods]
LOTR:BFME2 ringing up demo
Reader Matt points out that "demo walkthrough" video for LOTR: The Battle For Middle Earth II, now available on XBLM, likely indicates a playabe demo of this ring-rocking RTS isn't far off. Nice deductive reasoning, Matt. No seriously, thanks for the tip. Would you like to see more real-time strategy games on your favorite console?
Metareview - LOTR: The Battle for Middle-earth II (Xbox 360) [update 1]
The PC game already debuted in March to decent reviews so, instead of recapping what's right and wrong with the game as a whole, let's get right down to the issue we're all wondering about: the controls.EA's Los Angeles studio contains the venerable Westwood Studios, well known as RTS pioneers for titles like Dune II and Command & Conquer. So it is, under their watchful eye, that they sought to deliver the heretofore mouse-centric experience of real-time strategy games to the console world. So, how did they do? IGN (82/100) is equivocal in their praise saying: "The controls aren't perfect and they're by no means the equivalent to the quick, precision controls of the PC's mouse and keyboard duo, but they do in fact work. I'll even go so far as to say they work better than any other console RTS -- period." GameDaily (80/100) wonders where the tutorial is (and apparently missed it): "While the control scheme is listed in the manual and through the in-game pause menu, there's no tutorial mode. The control scheme works extremely well once you've adjusted to it, but the moment you pick up the game, you won't know what you're doing. A training mode of some sort (at least as an option) would've been nice for a game of this nature, but Xbox 360 owners should be adjusted to the control scheme by the second or third mission." Yahoo! Games (90/100) seconds the manual recommendation and steep learning curve: " So yes, you need to read the manual. You're probably going to want to have it on your knees for the first few hours of play, and within arm's reach for a day or two more. The controls are well thought out and comprehensive, but the advanced functions are not intuitive. Many commands rely on double or triple combinations of face buttons and triggers or bumpers. You'll need to learn them." So, it sounds like EA Los Angeles has done the impossible; they've delivered a console RTS with controls that are almost comparable to its PC counterpart. For console gamers (many of whom were former PC gamers) this is a praiseworthy innovation. Now that the path has been revealed, will other developers target the RTS-less console gaming world?[Update 1: whoops! GameDaily missed the tutorial mode, as Major Nelson helpfully points out here. He says, "scroll left on the D-pad from Single Player->Tutorial." Sounds easy.]
New Battle for Middle Earth II trailer available
This is for all those LOTR fans out there. Check out the Battle for Middle Earth II trailer (in HD) and see what will be hitting the Xbox 360 in the coming weeks. Gamers will be able to throw down over Xbox Live and challenge each other to battles. Hope you have that Orc-killing attitude ready.
EA developer talks RTS
One of our concerns about the upcoming RTS for Xbox 360, Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth II, was the integration of the Xbox 360 controller with traditional RTS controls. Fortunately, we haven't had to worry for long. Gamasutra have interviewed EA's Louis Castle, a RTS veteran whose credentials date from Dune II and Command and Conquer, and it's reassuring:"I said, 'Let's go back to the beginning.' Let's look at these strategy games, as if they were new. How would we approach it now? Let's pretend that there never was a mouse, and all we had were consoles. How would we bring this about?"It looks like EA have really focused on the 360's strengths, including voice communication and high-definition graphics as well as a control system designed around the gamepad rather than ported. Hopefully Castle's hype will live up to the implementation.
