Hold the presses! The Sweet Sixteen has been set, but not without a bit of controversy. For the first time in the storied history of Middle-earth March Madness, we’ve had a tie – yes, a TIE!
In the Beauties bracket, the Cinderella story (16) Feanor tied with (9) Varda when voting ended at 10pm ET today. To solve this tie-breaker, we decided to randomly pick one to win…no no, we wouldn’t do that. Instead, we did something a bit more logical. We took the total votes from round 1 and 2 and combined them for each contestant. The general idea being, if one contestant got more overall votes in those first two rounds, they should win. After the tally, (9) Varda made it through to face (5) Melian. Should be an interesting match-up!
However, one could argue that is not the most interesting match-up of the Beauty Bracket…we have (3) Galadriel facing a fan favorite (10) Legolas!
In the Brains bracket (8) Elrond managed to slip by the number one seed Tom Bombadil and will face (4) Luthien. Two of the top seeds, (3) Faramir and (2) Gandalf will face off in the other match-up.
Both the Brawn and Baddies brackets are advancing all the top seeds into the Sweet Sixteen.
In the Brawn bracket we have (1) Beorn facing (4) Eomer, while (3) Boromir will face (2) Eowyn. Will we have a sibling battle in the Elite Eight??
The Baddies contestants read like a who’s who of bad-arse Middle-earth antagonists. We’ve got (1) Morgoth facing (4) Sauron, and (3) Smaug facing (2) The Balrog of Moria. I only wish we had a couple hundred million dollars and the special effects wizards at WETA to visualize these match-ups for us!
Voting is now open and will remain open until March 30th at 10pm ET. We will calculate the winners at that point and post the next round on March 31st. Follow after the break for a complete bracket image (download it), and to vote on all of our Round 3 match-ups! [Sweet Sixteen Bracket] [Round 2 Bracket] [Round 1 Bracket]
Continue reading “A TIE! The Sweet Sixteen is Set – Middle-earth March Madness – Vote!”
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We have some incredibly close contests as we choose our Middle-earth Sweet Sixteen. In the Brains bracket, can (5)Treebeard overcome (4)Luthien, or does (7)Aragorn have a strategy to come from behind and win over (2)Gandalf? (10)Gimli and (2)Eowyn are locked in a tight battle – who will prevail in the Brawn bracket? What about the Beauties (10)Legolas and (2)Arwen? Can anyone defeat (1)Morgoth in Baddies?
Voting ends March 26 at 10 PM ET, so pick your winners now! Here’s a link to the poll: Round 2 voting.
A note on how the bracket combatants were determined. TheOneRing.net created a document containing all combatants, sub divided into divisions. We asked staff to cast sixteen votes per division, with the votes having a weight of 1-4. Each staffer cast four 4 votes, four 3 votes, four 2 votes and four 1 votes in each division. We then totaled all the votes from each division to determine their rank, and ultimately placed those into our bracket for seeding.
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Middle-earth March Madness Round 2 is here! With 1000+ votes for each match-up, some of our first round match-ups came down to just 5 votes!
In the Beauty Bracket, and with the biggest upset of the tournament so far, (1) Goldberry was beaten by the (16) Feanor! In the Brains Bracket, (6) Gwaihir managed to hold off (11) Turgon. In the Brawn Bracket, the battle of the dwarves was won by (11) Gimli when he took down (7) Dwalin. And in the Baddies Bracket, (3) Smaug decimated (14) Lurtz.
Round 2 has its share of interesting match-ups – what are your favorites?
Voting in Round 2 will remain open until March 26th at 10pm ET. At that point, we’ll calculate the winners and post the next round on March 27th. Follow after the break for a complete bracket image (download it), and to vote on all of our Round 2 match-ups! [Round 2 Bracket] [Round 1 Bracket]
Continue reading “Middle-earth March Madness – Round 2 Bracket – Vote Vote Vote!”
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Yesterday, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor snared the top prize at Game Developers Choice Awards.
The open-world action game developed by Warner Bros. and Monolith took home the coveted Game of the Year award. Continue reading “Shadow of Mordor wins Game of the Year at the GDC Awards”
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Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment have now released The Bright Lord DLC, a new Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor story mission expansion pack, along with a new trailer and screenshot showcasing the content. In The Bright Lord, players become Celebrimbor and face the Dark Lord himself. Celebrimbor will use his new abilities to dominate Sauron and retrieve the One Ring in order to take control of Middle-earth. The Bright Lord DLC is available today for purchase and to Season Pass holders for download for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. The Bright Lord DLC includes the following features:
Play as Celebrimbor, the Bright Lord, wielding a Ring of Power to challenge Sauron for domination
Wield the Power of the One Ring to dominate and defeat your enemies. Activate the ring to become invisible and tear through your enemies from the shadows
Deadly new Elven Archery abilities with a rapid fire bow
New ways to dominate your enemies and build your Army including Shadow Brand
New Story Campaign, including 10 new Missions
Face the power of the Dark Lord and his armies at the height of their power
An epic boss fight against the Dark Lord Sauron himself for domination of Mordor
Face a more powerful Uruk Army with Elite Nemesis Enemies and Warchiefs up to level 25 and deadly new abilities
New Celebrimbor Skin
Play as Celebrimbor in the main Campaign
New “Test of the Ring” Challenge Mode
Play with the new Celebrimbor abilities
Higher level enemies (i.e., only way to get Level 30 Runes to take back to the Main Story Campaign) with the goal to Dominate rather than kill the hierarchy
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor delivers a dynamic game environment where the player orchestrates their personal plan of vengeance as they bend Mordor to their will. The game begins on the night of Sauron’s return to Mordor, as his Black Captains brutally execute the Rangers of the Black Gate. Players become Talion, a ranger who loses his family and everything he holds dear, only to be returned from death by a mysterious Spirit of vengeance. Based on the player’s actions with the in-game Nemesis System, every enemy encountered is distinct and can evolve to become a personal archenemy through the course of the game. As Talion’s personal vendetta unfolds, players uncover the mystery of the Spirit that compels him, discover the origin of the Rings of Power and confront the ultimate nemesis.
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, Steam, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
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The Shadow of Mordor’s latest DLC, The Bright Lord, is coming out soon, and TORn was lucky enough to have a quick Q&A with Monolith’s Director of Design, Michael de Plater.
Continue reading “Shadow of Mordor DLC – The Bright Lord Q&A”
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Hold the presses! The Sweet Sixteen has been set, but not without a bit of controversy. For the first time in the storied history of Middle-earth March Madness, we’ve had a tie – yes, a TIE! 
