Volume 1 – Issue 2
February 17, 2009

Table of Contents

1. Significant News
2. Community
   
3. In Conclusion

Messengers have come forth from the forges of Middle Earth Center once again. Check out the significant news since the last issue!

The Hunt for Gollum Releases May 3rd!

The much anticipated lord of the rings fan movie, The Hunt for Gollum will release on May 3rd, 2009! The Hunt for Gollum will be available for free, and will be able to be streamed from the official site. For those who don’t know the Hunt for Gollum follows Aragorn on his hunt for Gollum. You can read the full article here.

Middle Earth Center Launches Ladder System!

Middle Earth Center has unveiled their ladder and tournament system for the Lord of the Rings Conquest. We have two sets of ladders, a team doubles ladder and a clan ladder. Anyone can create a team and participate in ladders today!

Each ladder contains detailed information about the clans and teams playing! Stats that can be found are your wins, losses, your current streak whether it be positive or negative, your highest win streak, percent of the matched you win among other stats. In addition each team or clan has an ELO rating for each ladder. This rating goes up or down depending on whether you win or lose and your opponents ELO rating. You can read the entire article here.

Member of the Issue

I would like to congratulate Malpatta for being this issue’s featured member.

What brought you to Middle Earth Center?

Well, when I first bought Conquest, I wanted to attend a sort of clan forum just like in other games. Middle-Earth Center was the closest to that and it had some good clan forums. I also wanted some real people for help when I have issues.

What is your favorite Lord of the Rings game to this date?

Up till now, I believe Lord of the Rings: Return of the King was the best, though I haven’t played Bfme2 yet, I’m actually wondering where I can buy that, get it by tomorrow. War of the Ring was also decently made, considering that Sierra did not have the license.

What scene are you most looking forward to in the upcoming Hobbit movie?

I really want to see the scene where Gandalf tricks the trolls and Bilbo beating those spiders. Should be intensely fun. I hope they show all the scenes, Lotr was a great movie, but I was disappointed that they did not show the scene where Gandalf blew up all the Wargs before the fellowship entered Moria.

What is your personal thoughts on Conquest? What would you have done different?

Conquest was very poorly made. Unlike battlefront, they added needless graphics card requirements that did not really make the game look any greater, but made it lag a good deal. Also, unlike battlefront, you do not feel like a part of the army, it’s more like an average game where you have to do everything and the enemy sees only you. The AI is not really helpful and the game is too easy at parts. The stages were made way too small as well, the feel of battle in places like Minas Trith and Osgiliath is certainly not there. Not to mention that Pandemic abandoned the PC platform soon after release. Pandemic also failed to bring out the full potential of the stages. Pelennor fields could have had more catapults, more people, and more fun. Minas Trith could have had tower defense and catapults. Nazgul and Eagles could have been involved. All said and done, there is so much more that Pandemic could have done to make this game even 7 out of 10. At current, I’d give it a 4.0 out of 10.

Clan of the Issue

Our current clan of the issue is LOTRSBG!

Leader: Arvedui
Founded: February 8, 2009

Introduction to the Clan

LOTRSBG gamers is a clan dedicated to the lord of the Rings Strategy battle game better known as LOTR warhammer. Here we have painting guides, tactics, and competitions. Anyone that wants to know more or that has knowledge to offer is welcome to join.

Games you Play:

LOTRSBG (Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game

Any other information you want to share:

Some links to related stuff:
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/ca…GameStyle=lotr
http://www.middleearthcenter.com/for…play.php?f=183

Meet the Staff

Welcome to our first Meet the Staff segment! In this issue we will introduce Alindur, who for those who dont know is a moderator here at Middle Earth Center.

Mithrandir7 – Middle Earth Center Editor

What brought you to be a staff member at Middle Earth Center?

The Booze

So how long have you been on Middle Earth Center’s staff?

I believe I have been staff here since early 2008 or maybe even late 2007. Honestly, I can’t really remember because I have been here for song long and everything is kind of blurred together. I was a newsposter when I first became staff, administrator following that, and now after coming back an Editor.

What is your favorite Lord of the Rings game and why?

Definitely BFME1. I still have never anticipated a game so much, nor have I ever been more enthralled by a game before. While it isn’t perfect by any standards, it does rate as one of my favorite games of all time.

With the Hobbit being produced, what are you looking forward to the most?

Watching it

Cool Stuff

Welcome to the Cool Stuff section of our newsletter.

The Lord of the Rings: Special Extended Edition

The Special Extended Edition add numerous new scenes and expands on quite a few of the scenes.  Generally Extended Edition’s movies include scenes that don’t really add to the fell of the movie, but the Special Extended Edition for the Lord of the Rings isn’t like that. Including twelve DVDs this boxed set is worth every penny, even if you are not a huge Lord of the Rings fan. There are two DVDs for each of the three films and then two Behind the Scenes DVD’s. The Behind the Scene videos are excellent and really show the development of the Lord of the Rings trilogy along each step of the epic journey. If you have never watched these videos I would suggest that you go buy them or borrow them from a friend at the least.

Topic of the Issue

Conquest: Where it Went Wrong

As we all know the Lord of the Rings: Conquest suffered a horrible review average, which probably pushed away a lot of potential customers. The single player experience was lackluster at best and just didn’t have the epic feel as some of the games before it such as the Battle for Middle Earth and The Return of the King. While single player is fun, its not a particularly rememberable experience.

While Conquest has a single player system that is average at best, Online or split screen multiplayer is what keeps most games these days alive. In this field Conquest fails horribly, with an online system more like what you would find on a last gen game, rather than what has become a standard in online gaming. Besides a very simple leaderboard, Conquest has no form of online progression. Games like Halo 3 and CoD4 continue to have 100,000 + players everyday long after their release. This is die in part because of online progression such as ranks, unlockable weapons and gear, and detailed stats. Conquest lacks all of these above features which gives players nothing to strive toward when playing online.

We play games because they are fun, but what keeps the general population playing a game long after it is released is these features I have mentioned. Conquest suffers greatly without these features, but in addition the gameplay can become quite repetitive. Having only four classes with no ability to customize your gear greatly limits the strategies players can use. Pandemic could have enables some form of custom class system where you could chose a variety of weapons to use. For example archers could pick a short bow or a long bow. The long bow could give longer range and more damage but the short bow could have a higher reload time. While I am not saying the system I suggested is the best, something like it would work wonderfully in a game like Conquest.

With these key features and game elements missing Conquest did not meet anywhere near the potential it had. While scores such as 2/10 are really harsh, Conquest is certainly not an game hat will be remembered as the best Lord of the Rings games, something that many of us had hoped for.