Lord of the Rings: War in the North - New Action-RPG by Warner & Snowblind Studios

[Gorath]

The Lord of the Rings: War in the North is a "mature" action-RPG with online co-op MP. A trailer can be found on the official website (http://www.warinthenorth.com). The full PR minus the company stuff:
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced today that The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, an epic multiplayer action/RPG video game based on the renowned novels by J.R.R. Tolkien, is set to launch on the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Games for Windows® in 2011.

Developed in association with Middle-earth Enterprises, The Lord of the Rings: War in the North explores both original and familiar narrative elements as Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment holds the rights to develop video games based on both the literary and motion picture content from The Lord of the Rings. Breaking new ground as a mature RPG video game set in Middle-earth, The Lord of the Rings: War in the North advances the RPG paradigm through innovative online, interdependent co-op play for up to three players who form their own Fellowship to fight Sauron’s forces in the North.

“With The Lord of the Rings: War in the North we are taking a mature approach to the widely celebrated property with authentic portrayals of battles and all new storylines,” said Martin Tremblay, President, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “Utilising the award-winning and passionate development team at Snowblind Studios, we are looking to evolve the RPG experience and deliver The Lord of the Rings game fans have been waiting for.”

“In The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, Snowblind will deliver an action RPG for core gamers featuring authentic narrative and environmental locations from J.R.R. Tolkien’s original The Lord of the Rings,” said Ryan Geithman, Founder and Studio Head of Snowblind Studios. “This game is a natural evolution of the acclaimed RPG gameplay that Snowblind has consistently delivered over the past years. Players and fans will experience an innovative approach to online co-op gameplay, woven throughout every facet of the game in a way that only Snowblind can deliver.”

In The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, players can become the heroes in the great battle of the North as part of the epic War of the Ring. Exploring unseen lands, story elements and characters from Middle-earth as well as elements familiar from past feature films, gamers will experience extensive character customization and development, expansive co-op gameplay options and upgradeable weapons, skills and special abilities.

For more information about The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, please visit http://www.warinthenorth.com.
More information. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=14625)

[Yeesh]

Ah, Snowblind. They did BG: DA and Champions of Norath. Could be a rollicking good time, especially with some online MP.

I am lately sick of video game announcements coming more than a year in advance of the actual product. Is this unique to the video game industry? When ATI announces a product, it's around the corner. When Apple annonces an iTampon, it's 2 or 3 months away. Why do video game companies like to tell us what they'll be releasing next year if we're lucky?

[Gokyabgu]

Snowblind was the first studio to bring Diablo style RPGs to the consoles. They know what they are doing. We can expect an enjoyable action RPG.

[Maylander]

Could this become the first enjoyable RPG in the LotR setting? I'm not holding my breath exactly, but I am somewhat hopeful.

[bemushroomed]

Not impressed by their previous few titles i must say, their latest is some 2D tank game, lol?

I'm expecting the same old hack&slash LOTRO "RPG" that we've seen numerous times already.. with LOTRO in the title they dont even need to put any effort in it to sell enough to make a reasonable profit, that's why im even more certain it'll suck.

/Mr positive

[Sir_Brennus]

Not impressed by their previous few titles i must say, their latest is some 2D tank game, lol?

I'm expecting the same old hack&slash LOTRO "RPG" that we've seen numerous times already.. with LOTRO in the title they dont even need to put any effort in it to sell enough to make a reasonable profit, that's why im even more certain it'll suck.

/Mr positive

What does the game have to do with Lord of the Rings Online? I can't see any connection. The Lord of the Rings games have been a mixed bag, but which license based games aren't?

And as far as I know, there has never been a Diablo in the official Middelearth setting. And as a plus it is developed by a talented studio that have created the first BG:DA game and the 2 Champions of Norrath games.

Not the worst back catalogue if you are developing an Action RPG, isn't it?

[dagoo7]

As far as mmorpgs go, LOTRO is actually pretty good and they have done a surprisingly good job of sticking to the lore (with obvious exceptions). Very grindy like all these things are, but decent online game with generally more mature players. Frankly its the only one I will play every once in while that keeps me interested and doesn't make me feel like I'm in junior high.

Edit: tangent I know, but didn't feel like LOTRO should necessarily be lumped with the other failed LOTR games.

[bemushroomed]

What does the game have to do with Lord of the Rings Online? I can't see any connection. The Lord of the Rings games have been a mixed bag, but which license based games aren't?


Obviously i meant "LOTR" not "LOTRO". But when i think of it LOTRO is actually the only decent LOTR game out there and there must be at least 20 or so LOTR games. There's been quite a few hack'n'slash LOTR games.. It's the same with Star Wars, only needs it in the title to sell enough to make a profit, and why most of them suck.

[JDR13]

It's the same with Star Wars, only needs it in the title to sell enough to make a profit, and why most of them suck.

Sadly enough, there's some truth to that...

[Sir_Brennus]

Obviously i meant "LOTR" not "LOTRO". But when i think of it LOTRO is actually the only decent LOTR game out there and there must be at least 20 or so LOTR games. There's been quite a few hack'n'slash LOTR games.. It's the same with Star Wars, only needs it in the title to sell enough to make a profit, and why most of them suck.

Repeating the same untrue statements won't make any of them more true.

Actually, after a little fact checking I found this list:

The Lord of the Rings: Conquest 2009
The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria 2008
The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar 2007
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth II 2006
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth 2004
The Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring 2003
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 2003
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 2002

These are ALL LOTR games from the modern age (there are of course several before 1994) that were released on Windows. (The Two Towers was announced but never released)

Only "The Return of the King" is a fighting game (an excellent one BTW), the rest are RTS, Multiplayer "Shooters", MMOs and one action adventure, but ZERO Action Role Playing Games.

Point taken?

[bemushroomed]

Only "The Return of the King" is a fighting game (an excellent one BTW), the rest are RTS, Multiplayer "Shooters", MMOs and one action adventure, but ZERO Action Role Playing Games.

Point taken?

The point was that there's a shitload of LOTR games and few (imo only 1) decent one and that the gaming industry is extremely well known to use movies like lotr or star wars (/any other big movie that has lots of fans) to make a quick buck on a crappy game.. Point taken?

The Two Towers was released, i played it on the NGC, and RoTK, both has leveling up, and would by most people go under the hack'n'slash RPG genre, just like Diablo. Mainly fighting + leveling up.

Can't remember if that (1 year old or so) LOTR game had any RPG elements at all, it could have been a pure fighter, i think it was MP too, never played that one. I know i've played a hack'n slash LOTR game before TTT and RoTK too, might have been on the GC or on some handheld, can't remember, wasnt a memorable game (what a shocker..!)

[Sir_Brennus]

1. The Two Towers was Never released on Windows - it was consoles exclusive. It a fine game - I have the PS2 version right here next to me.

2. LotR - Conquest was MP centered. It could be played offline, though..

3. If you think that a fighting game with leveling is same as an ARPG then my cause is lost. If you want to learn something about the difference between the two genres, then just think about one word: loot

[bemushroomed]

1. I never said it was released on Windows.
3. They're not _exactly_ Diablo clones, i can agree with that.

[jamesrayenz]

This sounds like a great idea on paper. A game in the same vein as Dark Alliance, using the LotR setting, and on 360 with all the glory of Xbox Live. If they don't totally drop the ball, I see myself and a couple of my friends playing this quite a bit actually. I'm cautiously optimistic. It's far too early to get really excited..

[julietmassacre]

this game looks sexy i mean come on up to three people online co-op as ofright now i saw gameplay for this it looks amazing...dont hate on the other lotr games they were pretty good like third age was good return of the king and alot of other ones give them a chance hehehehe

[wolfing]

standard marketing blurb.
As soon as I saw the word 'mature' I started looking for the word 'epic' and there it was right in the third line, and then both repeated. Interestingly enough, they didn't say it was a 'dark' game :)

[Gorath]

"gameplay" and "experience" are also there. I didn't see "compelling" though. ;)

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Oh, battle and action again. How unique.

[skavenhorde]

Depends on how they do the battle and action that makes it unique ;)

I've skipped many of the LOTR titles. They were either too short, too easy or just plain boring. Played Return of the king and Conquests (I believe) the latter interested me for only 1 hour before I stopped playing. It was that bad! 30 bucks down the drain. Return of the King wasn't too bad, but it became boring pretty fast.

Now there is one game that you guys might disagree with me heartily, but I loved it. It's called LOTR The Third Age. It was only on the consoles (X-Box, PS2 and GameCube), but I loved it. You followed in the steps of the fellowship. Here is the wiki on it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings:_The_Third_Age), but if anyone has an old console then you should at least try that one. It was a lot fun. It was a bit repetitive at times, but I didn't mind so much.

[booboo]

I wish (I wish I wish….) that someone would make a *real* story driven, compelling, RPG set in Middle-Earth. There is such rich lore - Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales etc etc spans 1000's of years. I would love to see something with the Sauron and the fall of Numenor. Of course, the story has been told, but perhaps you could be priest out to thwart him (even though your cause is lost). There must be countless tales of heroism waiting to be told ;-) Or tales around the Witchking of Angmar - but not some arbitrary RTS I mean an actual RPG in that milieu. MERPS existed for quite some time, and did not simply retell all the standard stories as far as I know. Are people simply incapable of creating a story in any Age? Or are there issues with Tolkiens' estate?

[skavenhorde]

I believe it has more to do with the Tolkien estate than anything else or they would have made an RPG for this one way before now. They did try with LOTR The Third Age, but their hands were tied since they only had the license to the movie portions of LOTR and couldn't include anything from the books.

[booboo]

I believe it has more to do with the Tolkien estate than anything else or they would have made an RPG for this one way before now. They did try with LOTR The Third Age, but their hands were tied since they only had the license to the movie portions of LOTR and couldn't include anything from the books.

I see that MERPS was essentially shut down by something called "Tolkien Enterprises' which now claims dominion over all things middle earth…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle-earth_Enterprises … reading that entry makes me livid. What a bunch of blood suckers!

I do recall an RTS the Witchking of Angmar though? That was def not in any of the current movies or Hobbit and if it is true to canon, would have been set a long time before the LOTR. So if that was possible, then I would guess a non-RTS (or action) game should also be possible. Reading the entry, they do not own Middle earth in general - only Hobbit, LOTR and certain other elements (which they would no doubt try on - but I'm sure one could insist that Tolkien's other works should not be subject to them…probably no one has the energy for such a risky undertaking. A great pity - a great world f*ed up my some greedy corporate.).

[skavenhorde]

More than likely this game won't interest you since it's a rogue, but there is Tales of Middle Earth: http://www.reloaded.org/download/Tales-Middle-Earth/87/ There are screenshots and a review at that link.

I can't believe I forgot to mention this one earlier. If you like rogues and Middle Earth then this is a game for you. On the plus side it has tiles instead of ASCII graphics. It's not perfect, but it's the closest thing we have to an rpg in Middle Earth.

[Alrik Fassbauer]

I wish (I wish I wish….) that someone would make a *real* story driven, compelling, RPG set in Middle-Earth. There is such rich lore - Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales etc etc spans 1000's of years. I would love to see something with the Sauron and the fall of Numenor.

I agree. To make an action game out of an non-action novel, which inspired a rather action-oriented movie is … a long way, this at least.

To overthink it :biggrin: ;) , it tells quite a lot of the current media that out of such a NON-action novel,
action products were made.

I mean - within a different culture, where - let's just speculate about this - action would be frowned upon, the products made out of a "non-action" novel would be entirely different, I guess.

Just over-thinking. :biggrin: ;)

[skavenhorde]

Alrik, I have no idea what you just said other than "action" :D

JK, but I think you're right. You're overthinking. Computer/Arcade games have almost from the start catered more to the action crowd. I'm not sure about University games back then, but Pac-Man wasn't a turnbased games ;) and that, I believe, was the first HUGE hit. After that we always had more action games whether on Intellivision, C64, Amiga or what have you. RPGs have always been the red-headed stepchild of the industry. This isn't just a cultural thing. Pac-Man, I believe, was a huge hit world-wide. It's a human thing.

There's nothing wrong with action games (if done right), just because we want an RPG doesn't mean we'll get one anytime soon. Our market is very tiny and has always been very tiny even back in the golden age of RPGs. I had to scrounge around for RPGs ever since I first owned a C64. Intellivision didn't really have that many rpgs on it. They had a few, but they really didn't start coming out with more of them until I owned a C64.

With LOTR being such a huge hit they are, of course, going to try and make games that cater to the largest common denominator which isn't us. I'm not saying that I agree with this at all. I just understand it.

Just look at what they're doing to Jagged Alliance 2………bastards.

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Alrik, I have no idea what you just said other than "action" :D

"Action, Action, Action, Action, Action, Action, Action, Action, Action, Action, Action !" ;)

[BillSeurer]

I do recall an RTS the Witchking of Angmar though? That was def not in any of the current movies or Hobbit and if it is true to canon, would have been set a long time before the LOTR. So if that was possible, then I would guess a non-RTS (or action) game should also be possible. Reading the entry, they do not own Middle earth in general - only Hobbit, LOTR and certain other elements (which they would no doubt try on - but I'm sure one could insist that Tolkien's other works should not be subject to them…probably no one has the energy for such a risky undertaking. A great pity - a great world f*ed up my some greedy corporate.).

The Lord of the Nazgul *was* the Witch King of Angmar. Glorfindel (the one who rescued Frodo from the Nazgul in the books) was the one who did the "not by the hand of man will he fall" prophesy. That (and more) is in the trilogy.