In 1982, Beam Software and publisher Melbourne House brought Tolkien’s world to computers with a text adventure based on The Hobbit. (An emulator of the ZX Spectrum version is available to play online.)
Back then, the original licensor — in this case the Tolkien Estate itself, or Tolkien Enterprises (now Middle-earth Enterprises) — would allow licensees to sometimes resell the license. It appears that at this time the animated films shared a license with the first round of video games.
Enthusiasm for Tolkien adaptations ramped up in the wake of the 1980 animated film The Return of the King, based on the final book in Tolkien’s trilogy. Following Beam’s text adventure, developer Interplay Productions turned over an in-production fantasy role-playing game, changing the theme to a Lord of the Rings adaptation. Writer Jennell Jaquays, now the owner of Dragongirl Studios, said she was hired by Interplay to write background and some “adventuring” for the RPG.
All of this is according to author Alexa Ray Corriea for Polygon.com. You can read the entire article right here. Continue reading “A complete history of Tolkien and video games”
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If you were at Comic-Con 2014, you would have had a chance to see this wonderful handmade Middle-earth collectible.
The awesome folks at Badali Jewelry have a brand new collectible now up for sale on their website. The Elessar the Elfstone brooch that Aragorn was given by Galadriel as a gift from Arwen while in Lothlorien can now be yours. Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Badali Jewlery’s Elessar the Elfstone”
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New York Comic-Con starts tomorrow and we’ve teamed up with our friends at Weta Workshop to do a pretty awesome giveaway. The prize for this give away is Weta’s amazing The Art of Film Magic – 20 Years of Weta!
The winner’s copy of this amazing book (easily the coolest art book in my own collection) will come signed by Richard Taylor and several other of the super cool folks who work for Weta Workshop as well as Weta Digital.
Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Enter our 20 Years of Weta Contest”
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As convention season draws to a close, there’s still time for one last hurrah in the Big Apple! New York ComicCon will be here in two weeks’ time, and TORn will be there with bells on. (Maybe literally – you’ll have to come and see us to find out…)
If you’re coming to the convention, you can find us at Booth 3040, where we’ll have t-shirts, buttons, lanyards and more for sale, as well as lots of cool giveaways and fun stuff. We’ll also be giving a panel on Saturday night, 9pm, in room 1A21: ‘The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – An Unofficial Look’. Find out inside scoop on the third and final film – be ready for spoilers!
Continue reading “New York ComicCon – party with TheOneRing.net and WETA!”
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Our friends at the Hobbit Shop have let us know that they’re celebrating Bilbo and Frodo’s birthday this week with a mathom for you all – 40% off selected items in their store! They say:
It’s a sale of special magnificence at Warner Bros.’ official HobbitShop.com as they celebrate Bilbo’s and Frodo’s birthday! Save up to 40% on Blu-ray and DVDs of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and the first two Hobbit movies, and on their newest collectibles like The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug Gandalf Illuminating Staff, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit Phone Cases, Hoodies, T-Shirts and more. It’s all here!
Click here to visit the shop and take advantage of the special offers.
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Today, one of the coolest items unveiled at Comic-con by our friends at Weta Workshop, The Balrog statue, has finally been put up for order.
This mammoth statue, standing 20.5″ tall, 17.5″ wide, with a depth of 11.8″ has an edition size of 1500 pieces world wide. If you Pre-Order this guy right now you can save $50 off the retail price of $650 to get him for $599. He is set to ship during the fourth quarter of this year, which is not too far off for those of you who, like me, hate waiting. So get those orders in now to save some money and a place in line before he sells out!
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In 1982, Beam Software and publisher Melbourne House brought Tolkien’s world to computers with a text adventure based on The Hobbit. (An emulator of the ZX Spectrum version is available to play online.)
