Volume 1 – Issue 1
February 2, 2009
Table of Contents
Welcome
Hey all. I am glad to welcome you to the very first Middle-earth Center newsletter. We decided to start a newsletter so that we can give you a bi-weekly overview of what’s going on in both the community and sum up the hottest Lord of the Rings (Gaming) news. Our newsletter also means that we see the return of some features long-time members will remember, like the member of the issue (used to be member of the week). We’re also exited to give you some exclusive articles, interviews, and other tidbits in our newsletter. If you’re already registered to the forum, you will automatically receive a notice in your e-mail inbox when a new edition comes out. If you don’t have a forum account yet, you can register for free today!
We have a number of very cool features and events coming up, so stay tuned to the front page and our newsletters for the latest info. Any feedback on the newsletter will be welcomed, so feel free to sound off in the comments below.
- Freek
For our next newsletter we are going to have a Letters section so if you have any comments or questions about anything related to lord of the rings send a PM to Zach with the title: Newsletter Question and it may be included in the next issue!
With the release of Conquest, it has been busy around here but in the dark forges of Middle Earth Center, we were able to put together a newsletter. Staff member Alindur along with Freek toiled hard in the dark forges, but after hours of hard work they finished their masterpiece. Now on to the mountain of the significant news from Middle Earth Center.
Conquest Releases!
Conquest has now launched worldwide and the fate of Middle Earth lies in the hands of many brave souls. Conquest received a surprisingly high amount of abundantly negative reviews. At the time of the publishing of this newsletter, Conquest received an average score of 60/100. One of the major complaints from those that gave Conquest such highly negative results was a game-play system that was not very unique. Conquest scored consistently high score is the music and sound section which was due in part to Howard Shore’s amazing soundtrack.
Battle for the Ring Closes
The website hosted by Pandemic and EA to aide in the advertising of Conquest, has closed and many members went home with some amazing prizes, including a grand prize of an HD TV, an xbox 360 and a copy of Conquest. There was an abundance of other prizes available including copies of Conquest, Gamestop giftcards, Microsoft Points, and much more. You can read the news article for a list of winners.
Conquest Demo Downloaded Over 1 Million Times
The Conquest demo has been downloaded over one million times byLord of the Rings fans from around the world. With this amount of downloads Conquest even surpassed the number of downloads for the Call of Duty 5 demo, which is no small feat. Sales numbers have not been released yet so it is unknown whether the retail copy of the games fared as well as the download or not. You can read the news article for the official press release.
Conquest DLC Coming Soon
Pandemic recently announced that they were currently making Downloadable Content (DLC) for the Lord of the Rings: Conquest . Not much is known about this DLC pack other than it includes the much requested map “Amon Hen”. Expect more details to be reveal soon. You can read the news article for more information and to tell us what you are looking forward to!
The Lord of the Rings: Conquest
Many sites have reviewed Conquest and a lot of fans have already played the game. Middle-earth Center is proud to present you its own thoughts on Pandemic’s new Lord of the Rings action game. Is it awesome, good, ok or just really really bad? You can look forward to mini-reviews for each specific console in the weeks ahead, to cover some of the unique control schemes and multiplayer features for each console.
Ever since the Return of the King we’ve had a number of Lord of the Rings games which left an impression on us. The Battle for Middle-earth games were good and tons of fun, but didn’t stand out in the competition. The Lord of the Rings: Online is shaping up to be a good MMO in its own niche, but will never grow to the likes of World of Warcraft. When “the White Council” was announced, we were hopeful that we’d finally see a big, in-depth Lord of the Rings game that would receive raving reviews and a big fan following.
All the more surprising was its cancellation and the announcement of another new action game shortly after. Conquest was to deliver the epic feel from the movies, putting you in the boots of a soldier in the ranks of a number of Middle-earth armies.
That, indeed, seems to be the intended premise for this game. Gameplay is oriented around four central classes. The wizard-like “Mage”, covert “Scout”, in-your-face “Warrior” and sniping “Archer” each have their own unique traits, and sadly, annoyances. The Mage is no doubt the most versatile and powerful of the four. That doesn’t mean the game is unbalanced or that you can’t win with any of the other classes, but the mage has a number of strong melee defences, a shield for ranged defence, healing ability and two area-of-effect ranged attacks.
Continue Reading – Middle Earth Center’s Review of Conquest
Member of the Issue
In each issue of the newsletter a member from the community will be selected for being an active part of Middle Earth Center and they will be featured here. For our first issue we have chosen Lotr Lover to be our featured member.
Real Name: Ben
What brought you to Middle Earth Center?
What brought me to Middle Earth Center was one day i was looking for some Conquest information so i search it on Google. Im scrolling down and i see Middle Earth Center and im like okay maybe this will help me out. I see a whole bunch of Lord of the Rings game information and convinced me to get an account and thats where i am today.
What is your favorite lord of the rings game and why?
My favorite Lord of the Rings game is Conquest. Before Conquest it was probably BFME! BFME is definetely one of the best LOTR games ever!
What is your favorite aspect of Conquest?
My favorite aspect of Conquest is definetely Co-op. I love playing the campaign and of course with a friend.
What class do you enjoy playing as the most?
My favorite class is probably the Mage, but i mostly play as the Archer cause im amazing at it but Mage is fun too.
What are you looking forward to in Conquest DLC?
In the DLC im definetely looking forward to Amon Hen. It would be awesome if they ad a Guardian class, but thats pretty hard adding a whole new class in a DLC, but definetely some new maps and maybe a new campaign. Maybe they could add a Dwarves and Men of Dale. I know that would be a lot of work but its possible!
Clan of the Issue
In each issue a clan that is hosted here at Middle Earth Center will be chosen to be featured in this section. You will be able to better know the clans from the community and possibly find the perfect clan for you! Our first clan of the issue is Lords of War!
Lords of War
Leader: zach
Founded: July 18, 2008
Introduction to the Clan
The Lords of War is a gaming clan for the Xbox 360, PC and PS3. While we focus on the Lord of the Rings: Conquest we play several other games, including the Battle for Middle Earth series. We are a mix of causal and hardcore gamers, who have banded together with the same goal, to have fun. While we are a competitive clan we focus on having fun. That means no required games and no silly rules, I just ask that you check the forums and post every so often so I know you are active.
Games Played:
- The Lord of the Rings: Conquest
- The Battle for Middle Earth
- The Battle for Middle Earth 2
- The Battle for Middle Earth 2: The Rise of the Witch King
- The Lords of the Rings: Online
We dont play some games as much as others, but we have members would would be willing to play a casual game with you in any of the games. Also we have quite a few games that clan members play together, but not as an official part of the clan, such as Halo 3.
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.
Alindur – Middle Earth Center Moderator
What brought you to be a staff member at Middle Earth Center?
Heh At the time two admins and a few moderators who resigned, so the moderators who were still in staff got promoted to administrator which left the moderators empty. Since I was very active at the time and was really hypedabout LoTR, Radagast who at the time got promoted to admin suggested that I should become the new moderator. It was quite a special period of time at MEC.
So how long have you been on Middle Earth Center’s staff?
Well to be honest, I don’t know. Probably three years, I haven’t really counted.
What is your favorite feature at Middle Earth Center?
I really don’t have any favourite feature at MEC. The site itself is a feature I fancy the most.
With the Hobbit being produced, what are you looking forward to the most?
I really can’t wait to see the three trolls, Beorn and Lake town. Those are my favourite parts from the book. The scene with the three trolls was very amusing as it was Bilbo’s first opportunity to prove he’s a burglar. I’m also really fond of Beorn, he is a very special and unique character of Middle Earth (like Tom Bombadil). Well Lake town … it’s probably a place in Middle Earth I’d like to live.
Cool Stuff
Welcome to the Cool Stuff section of our newsletter.
The Lord of the Rings: 50th Anniversary Edition – For our very first “cool stuff” entry, I have chosen the Lord of the Rings: 50th Anniversary Edition. Currently the best edition of the Lord of the Rings out there, the 50th Anniversary Edition is worth the cost. It includes two large fold-out maps, a ribbon place marker as well as three pages from the Book of Mazarbul. Master of Lore as well as people new to the Lord of the Rings are sure to find this amazing edition of the Lord of the Rings.
Topic of the Issue
The Future of Lord of the Rings Gaming
With the recent release of Conquest there are no Lord of the Rings games on the horizon. That doesnt mean that we, as a gaming community have nothing to look forward to.
The Rise of the Witch King, released over a year ago is about to be renewed by a major revision in one of the biggest RotWK mods. RJ-RotWK, an astounding mod is about to see its newest version, over a year after its last release. RJ-RotWK adds several new factions, including Arnor, Men of the East and Rohan. The newest verion includes a total re-vamp for the elven faction and a brand new leadership system. In addition several new maps will be included.
Players of the Lord of the Rings: Online have a lot to look forward to. Building off of the recent release of Mines of Moria, Turbine will continue to expand upon the playable lands of Middle Earth. It is generally suspected that the next landmass update will include parts or all of some of the nearby lands to Lorien; Gladden Fields, Fangorn Forest, The Wold and Southern Mirkwood. Regardless of where the next update will expand, it is sure to be a great adventure. It will be very interesting to see what 2009 brings to LoTR: Online.
Conquest is hot off the press, but it has already been announced that one DLC pack is in the works. So far we only know that Amon Hen will be included in the upcoming DLC, but stay tuned for any further news.
Poll
Loading ...
Comments:
Sledgehammer:
Great job with the newsletter guys! :)
Samus1111111:
sweet :) nice job
Rayman:
Pretty cool guys !!! I'm amazed !
Cheeky Hobbit:
Very professional. Great job gang!
Ilaras of The Dunedain:
Cool... really neat.
Good Job!:)
krapyl:
Ahhh...i just loooooove this ;)
zach:
Well stay tunes every other monday you will see a new one.
Also watch out in the next week or so for some pretty cool new features!
Samus1111111:
EVERY OTHER MONDAY!!!!!! dang, I would think u would run out of stuff to write about :P. Can't wait to see what happens next.
zach:
There will always been news. Maybe not reviews every issue but we will have an articles section for every issue we dont have a review.
King_of_Gondor:
Hey guys,
I must say that this is a very good newsletter. I've readed every single letter!
BTW, is there any new information about LOTR: The White Council?
Keep up the good work!
Beradrin:
@ King_of_Gondor: from what I know, White Council is cancelled.
on-topic:this is awesome, a great idea !!
zach:
Officialy its on hold. In reality its canceled. :(
krapyl:
Alindur:
Anyway, the newsletter is awesome and I'm glad that we finaly have one :D. Hopefuly with zach leading it, it will be a mighty fine one ;).
zach:
I will try.
A lot of thanks goes to Ali who pushed to start it and made all the graphics and to Freek who implemented them all into wordpress.