Lord of the Rings goes MOBA this fall
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
F.E.A.R. factory Monolith bringing five-vs.-five multiplayer online battle game Guardians of Middle-earth to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this fall.
The Lord of the Rings game franchise will venture to a new genre this fall in Guardians of Middle-earth. Developed by Monolith Productions (F.E.A.R. series, Gotham City Impostors), the project will be a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game and will arrive on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network this fall.
Guardians of Middle-earth pits up to 10 players against each other in five-vs.-five competitive multiplayer battle venues spread throughout J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional fantasy universe. The game features more than 20 "guardian" characters, including Gandalf, Sauron, Gollum, and Thrain. Guardians of Middle-earth will sport an in-game voice communication system, as well as an online statistic and leaderboard system, through which players can track their friends' accomplishments.
Guardians of Middle-earth will also feature tie-ins with Peter Jackson's upcoming film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. According to publisher Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, "several" new playable characters will be released alongside the film, which is due out in December. It was not mentioned if the characters will arrive day-and-date with the film or if they will cost extra, and as of press time, Warner Bros. had not responded to GameSpot's request for comment.
The most recent Lord of the Rings title to hit shelves was 2011's tepidly received Lord of the Rings: War in the North, developed for Warner Bros. by Snowblind Studios. And according to an October report, a game based on The Hobbit is planned to ship prior to the film.
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
32 comments
Sounds great in theory, but there's so much better that they can do with Middle Earth. Something along the lines of Dark Souls or Dragon's Dogma or even the older movie-based LOTR games would be nice. I'm surprised no really good open-world LOTR game hasn't been considered (unless this idea was explored in a previous LOTR game. I haven't followed LOTR games since the movie trilogy ended.)
1 Like Oh god. The same studio that brought us Blood, No One Lives Forever, Tron 2.0, FEAR and Condemned...is now working on a cash-in MOBA game wearing a LOTR paint job. I just don't know what to say... *sigh*
1 Like Damn it, Monolith. Go back to making cool, badass single-player titles. Gotham City Imposters was quite good, but I'd rather have Condemned 3 or something.
These games are just major cash grabs. I played LoL for a day and it was just STUPID. The people were annoying 20 year old losers who took their allowances from their parents and spent it on the game so they could feel cool when they killed everything with their overpowered premium characters.
@ziproy People actually think LoL is pay to win? I don't think you have any understanding of the game...
@ziproy You misunderstand the purchasing system.You aren't essentially "buying power". Some of the most affordable characters in the game are actually quite scary to play against. Hell, it's incredibly easy to stomp on these expensive characters if you, I don't know, learn a character in-depth and coordinate with a team (in other words, playing the game). With the free rotation and the fact that all characters can be obtained for free (albeit at a rather slow pace), no characters are "premium" and considering that balance patches come out every two weeks by one of the most dedicated devs I've seen in a while, balance eventually becomes a non-issue and requires constant adaptation.So stop being an annoying 20-year old and do a little research before convicting hundreds of thousands of dedicated players of the game who are showing their support for a pretty decent game that, all things considered, is pretty affordable.
3 Like The fact that there are 18, now 19 comments on this story should be an indication to the publisher. A measuring stick, as it were. Call it an "open invite" Gamespot focus group, and not many people showed up... so...
This is not a good idea. We like LotR, but THIS not what We are asking for.
3 Like meh as long as its better than LoL and isn't Pay2Win.
I wish we'd get a Witcher 2 style LoTR game with combat from Demon's Souls. That would be the LoTR game of dreams.
This comment has been deleted
1 Like @Gelugon_baat I'm surprised the amount of shenanigans that they've done to LotR so far he hasn't actually risen from the grave yet
This comment has been deleted
@Gelugon_baat Haha, after something like Lotr Conquest I could imagine his corpse looks like it went through a helicopter's rotor XD
1 Like I generally like Monolith but...WTH is this crap? Seriously...this seems like an awfull idea....
4 Like What is this.
WHAT IS THIS?!
THIS GAME, SHAAALLL NOOOOT...... PASSSS!!!
LOTR deserves a game like Witcher 2. It NEEDS a game like Witcher 2. Not... this.
1 Like Lord of the Rings makes a good fit for a MOBA game and its being develop for consoles where there is currently no competition. A very smart move.
multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) ? So is this an all out hack-n-slash brawl between players in a confined arena? They've at least got my curiosity as to what the gameplay will be like.
This sounds amazing. I just hope the "in-game voice communication system" makes it to the final product.
This is actually a really good idea. Monolith hit it out of the park with Gotham City Impostors, which is a great little FPS team mulitplayer bargain title.
Also, @gatsbythepig - I think it's a way of getting around using names like Defense of the Ancients, League of Legends or DOTA 2, all of which are popular definers of the genre.
1 Like @gatsbythepig MOBA stands for Multiplayer Online Battle Arena.It's the "new"kind of games like DOTA ,LoL etc.
Conversation powered by Livefyre
Content you might like…
-
The Lord of the Rings: War in the North Video Review
Three brave new souls battle through Middle-earth in this video review for The Lord of the Rings: War in the North.
- Nov 2, 2011
Users who looked at this article also looked at these content items.
Hot Stories
Newsmakers
-
Biden: No legal problem with taxing violent games
United States Vice President Joe Biden believes there is no legal restriction on ability to tax violent media. Full Story
- Posted May 13, 2013 8:50 pm GMT
-
Just Cause dev promises 'holy f**king sh**' moments in future games
Avalanche Studios co-founder says developer's ambition is for action, not moments that make players cry; steampunk-style game on hold. Full Story
- Posted May 15, 2013 2:33 pm GMT
Featured Stories
-
Bungie shoots down Destiny for PS Vita rumor
Developer confirms image suggesting version of upcoming shared-world shooter in development for Sony's latest portable is a fake. Full Story
- Posted May 16, 2013 1:08 pm GMT
-
Ubisoft planning to release games more frequently
Assassin's Creed and Far Cry publisher says its network of 26 studios and over 7,000 developers will allow company to ship major franchises more regularly. Full Story
- Posted May 16, 2013 12:42 pm GMT
-
Metro: Last Light dev responds to workplace conditions claims
4A Games creative director Andrew Prokhorov thanks Jason Rubin for telling the studio's story, but says, "We deserve the ratings we get." Full Story
- Posted May 16, 2013 8:44 pm GMT
-
EA opens DICE LA to make Star Wars games
DICE head would also like to poach top talent from rivals Infinity Ward and Treyarch. Full Story
- Posted May 15, 2013 11:28 am GMT
-
EA dropping Online Passes - Report
Future EA games won't require Online Passes; the service is being scrapped after tepid player response. Full Story
- Posted May 16, 2013 4:28 am GMT
Submit News
Recent News
-
Xbox One preowned plan revealed?
[UPDATE] Retail sources claim Microsoft and publishers will take a percentage of every used game; Microsoft says reports are "inaccurate and...
