RedWood City, CA. April 1, 2003: Electronic Arts makers of the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and the upcoming Return of the King have entered into a contract with New Line and Warner Brothers to develop a line of games crossing over the characters of Peter Jackson’s the Lord of the Rings films with chracters from Warner Brothers’ Harry Potter. Electronic Arts has again selected Neil Young to Produce this new line of games. “It’s really exciting to see such loved characters given an opportunity to mix. We can finally have Aragorn say ‘Hey lads lets head to Hogwarts!’ which is really something we’ve been wanting to do for some time.”

The Games, which does not yet have an official name, will debut in the Fall of 2004 for your PS2, XBox, and for the PC. The Creative Team behind The Two Towers is working closely with the teams at WETA Workshop and with the folks at Warner Brothers to bring gamers the best of both worlds, Hogwarts and J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth.

Set in 13 tunningly detailed levels taken straight from the big screen, players must battle the evil forces of the Dark Lord Sauron while unraveling the riddles of Dobby in an effort to protect the Ring of Power and restore peace to Middle-earth and Platform 9 3/4ths. The Game features third-person action/adventure gameplay and a tactical combat system.

EA’s The Lord of the Rings vs. Harry Potter PlayStation 2 video game is rated “T” (Teen) and carries an MSRP of $49.99. The game is co-developed by EA’s Redwood Shores Studio and Stormfront Studios. For more information on EA’s The Lord of the Rings games, visit the official product website at: www.lordoftherings.ea.com.

Last year, New Line Cinema tapped EA as the exclusive interactive games licensee for the trilogy. The license grants EA the exclusive rights to develop and publish products based on the movies for next generation video game consoles, PC and handheld platforms.

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