Volume 1 – Issue 3
March 24, 2009

Table of Contents

1. Significant News
2. Community
   
3. In Conclusion

Letters

For our next newsletter we are going to have a letters section with fans ideas for what they think Warner Bros. will do with their newly acquired license!  Send a PM to Zach to be featured in the next newsletter!

After skipping the last release date for the newsletter due to little news and hectic schedules, the  forges of Middle Earth Center were put to use once again. Enjoy the latest issue of the newsletter!

Warner Bros. Acquire the Lord of the Rings License!

Yes you read that right! If you havn’t already heard, Warner Bros. now has the license to make the next Lord of the Rings game! What type of game this will be is unknown but it has already generated a lot of buzz. Warner Bros. owns three studios: Snowblind Studios, Monolith and TT Games. Snowblind is known best for its RPG’s which hints that we may see a Lord of the Rings RPG in the future! TT Games is best known for developing the Lego themed games, which also hints that we may see a Lego Lord of the Rings. Keep in mind this is all speculation! Join in on the discussion in the original topic!

RJ-RotWK 1.06 Released!

After a year+ of work the team behind RJ-RotWK has released a new version of the highly popular The Battle for Middle Earth 2: The Rise of the Witch King mod. Featured in this update is a fully flushed out elven faction which has been split into three factions: Lorien, Mirkwood and Rivendell. Even though Mirkwood is not playable at this time, the elven faction as already been improved more than can be imagined. The artwork for the Lorien sub-faction is specific is simply amazing. Proceed to the orginal article for the full details!

MEC Launches RJ RotWK Ladder!

Middle Earth Center is proud to announce our partnership with the team behind one of the most popular mods, RJ RotWK. We are bringing forth from our dark forges both a 1 versus 1 singles ladder and a 2 versus 2 team ladder. The ladders will make full use of the latest update RJ RotWK 1.06! The latest edition of RJ RotWK  can be found at Mod DB, filefront or strategy informer. Players who enjoy playing by theirselves can join the Singles Ladder or for those who are team players can join the Team Ladder.

Saul Zeantz Interview Regarding the Lord of the Rings License!

Saul Zeantz was recently interviewed by IncGamers and the result was an amazing interview that gives insight into what goes into getting the Lord of the Rings license. This is particulary interesting now that we know Warner Bros. has now aquired the license! You can read the original article here

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 dsgrendar to be our featured member.

dsgrendar

What brought you to Middle Earth Center?

Zach had posted a link on the site www.battleforthering.com to join his clan in the game lotr: conquest. I thought let’s take a look. I wasn’t online or active after that day but when the site battleforthering closed i decided to come back and take a look again. there came a competition and i started to like to read the forums and post in some of them.

What is your favorite lord of the rings game?

My favorite lord of the rings game would be war of the ring. it’s an old startegy game easy but fun.

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

I hope for some breath taking nice battle’s. and Great effects.

With the rumor of a new lord of the rings game by the end of this year, what are you looking for?

Well I got a bit disapointed by lotr: conquest. And maybe I gave up hope a bit for another lotr game.
otherwise I would looking forward to the multiplayer type of the game.

Meet the Staff

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

zach – Middle Earth Center Administer

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

Well I have been a member her for a while, mainly for strategies and help with the bfme series. In late 2007, Middle Earth Center experienced a total redesign and I came back and became pretty active. As time progressed I became a news poster and lately I was appointed as a administer here at Middle Earth Center.

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

Since late 2007 or early 2008, I dont remember for sure.

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

Honestly I am really excited about the movie as a whole. The second film in particular is very intruging as we dont quite know what it will be about. I am hoping to see some of the White Council and Gandalf’s role in it as that was a very interesting side aspect for the Hobbit. It will be interesting to see how Smaug turns out as well, and the battle of the five armies will be an epic moment for sure.

Cool Stuff

Welcome to the Cool Stuff section of our newsletter.

The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria - The Mines of Moria include the license for both the base game as well as the Mines of Moria expansion, and is a great choice for those just getting into the Lord of the Rings Online. For those who have never played the Lord of the Rings Online, it is a Massively Multiplayer Online game, set in Middle Earth.

Topic of the Issue

Coming Soon: A New Lord of the Rings Game!

Well now that it is known that Warner Bros. owns the license, what can we look forward to? Honestly the answer is anything. Warner Bros. owns three game development studios: Snowblind Studios, TT Games, and Monolith, which have produced a wide range of games from First Person Shooters, RPGs and popular franchise tie-ins such as the Lego games. With such a wide array of game genres developed by three studios of small to medium size, the options for the next game are pretty open. As we learned in the Saul Zaentz interview, we may see our next lord of the Rings game this fall!

Snowblind Studios is known for it’s RPGs, but an RPG is a delicate piece of work that simply cannot be made within a year. Snowblind has been pretty silent for the past two years so we have no idea what they have been up to. Even if we assume they were working on making a new engine for a current generation RPG, that still leaves less than a year to develop the RPG. Even with a fully built engine, a year would be pushing it. After the disappointment of Conquest we all know we don’t want a rushed game! For our sake, I hope our next Lord of the Rings game is not a RPG or it isn’t released this fall. Now although they are known for their RPG’s that doesn’t mean Snowblind wont work on a different type of game.

TT Games is the second game studio owned by Warner Bros. and are the developers behind the Lego games. With the hopeful release by Saul Zeantz this winter, a game produced by TT Games is a better fit. Many fans would love to get their hands on a Lego Lord of the Rings and they may just get their chance this winter. TT Games has also developed several movie tie-ins, but as in the case with many of these types of games, they simply weren’t very spectacular. In most cases a game like the Lego games don’t take too long to develop. With a engine already made for this type of game, the developers at TT Games could easily design a excellent version of Lord of the Rings …. all cubed up!

Monolith games is the worst fit of the three studios by far. For the most part Monolith has developed horror themed FPS’s including the F.E.A.R. and Condemned series. While game studios can always change I dont see Monolith as being the developer for the next lord of the rings game.

In the end, we dont know what to suspect, but it seems likly that a RPG and a Lego Lord of the Rings could spring up in the future. The coming years are bound to be exciting with new games and the Hobbit movies!