We’re heading to Los Angeles ComicCon, and so should you! Join TheOneRing.net for our panel “Dispatches from Middle-earth: The Return to Middle-earth” on December 3rd, 2022 from 5:00-6:30pm in Room 303AB.
Join TheOneRing.net, the largest online Tolkien community, as we celebrate the anniversary of Peter Jackson’s The Two Towers and discuss the ever expanding list of new Lord of the Rings projects including TV, film, and games. We have updated details about the War of the Rohirrim animated movie to share with you. We’ll also take a deep-dive into breaking down season one of The Rings of Powerand discuss what might be expected in the second season. Follow us on Discord Discord.gg/theonering or Twitter @theoneringnet for updates.
There’s always a surprise or two when we gather in Middle-earth, and now Númenor, too! Costumes are always welcome. We hope to see you there! December 3rd, 2022 from 5:00-6:30pm in Room 303AB. Elen síla lúmenn’ omentielvo.*
TheOneRing.net would like to congratulate the team at Minecraft Middle-earth for celebrating 10 years of meticulously recreating an immersive The Lord of the Rings based world for gamers and adventurers alike.
If you have been living under a block (😂), Minecraft is a 3D world where users can explore and create entire worlds one block at a time. To then build the whole of Middle-earth is a historic task, and the team at Minecraft Middle-earth continue to succeed in this momentous undertaking. Check out the video below, a gallery of the the amazing areas created, and an excerpt from the PCMag interview with the creator. And of course, you can get involved their official website MCMiddleearth.com.
Vermeersch was first introduced to Minecraft when the sandbox was still in beta back in 2009, and like many others who played early on in the game’s development, he got completely hooked. As a moderator on a Dutch Minecraft server, the idea of building Middle-earth was something that had begun to float around the server’s community.
“I grew up with Lord of the Rings, like most people around 30 years old I imagine,” Vermeersch says. “We had people who were interested from the Minecraft forums, so we had this solid player base to start with. We began building the basic locations, like Bree and Hobbiton, then after publishing screenshots, people got hooked on what we were doing and started joining the project.”
Daedalic Entertainment’s upcoming stealth-based game “The Lord of the Rings: Gollum” had its first teaser trailer drop a couple of days ago on gaming and entertainment company IGN’s YouTube channel.
It’s been a while since we’ve had a decent LOTR game and while this upcoming release focuses on the non-hero non-Fellowship type character, it’s nice to see Tolkien’s world getting some mainstream gaming action.
Also unlike previous LOTR games, Gollum will take on a different play style, moving away from swords, bows and arrows etc in favour of stealthy traversal. Stealth and vertical parkour-style movement will be familiar to fans of game franchises like Assassins Creed, Prince of Persia etc.
It’s not all stealth-play though as lead game designer Martin Wilkes describes the combat “Gollum doesn’t use weapons, but he can distract enemies with throwables. In parts of the game, he will also profit from the abilities of special allies and can use the environment to his advantage.”.
Outside of gameplay mechanics, the game will focus more on Tolkien’s original story and drawings along with some common themes shared with the movies. “Peter Jackson’s movies are fantastic but our game is based on the original book license,” continues Martin. “Our world follows the same descriptions and is also in parts inspired by the same artworks as were the movies. Their influence on popular culture has been tremendous, so we have to be mindful of players who might only know Middle-earth from the two film trilogies.”
What about the story and Gollum himself? “Gollum’s overall goal in the game?” adds Wilkes. “Well, that’s a bit more complicated. Obviously, Gollum wants to escape his captors and retake the Ring (and hopefully get his hands on some nice fish along the way). After some time, though, the Sméagol-side causes trouble and distractions and opens up new, conflicting goals that we cannot talk about yet.”
“The Lord of the Rings: Gollum” is releasing in 2021 for PS5, Xbox Series X and PC.
It is an exciting day for fans of LEGO® and The Lord of the Rings! As of right now, you can download the iOS game ‘LEGO® The Lord of the Rings’ from the Apple App Store! Check out the full release below as well as some screen caps. The game is only $4.99 and available for both iPhone and iPad. [Download]
Facebook users, get ready for an adventure! You can now experience the world of Tolkien via your Facebook account with the officially licensed Facebook app – ‘The One Ring.’ Microcosm Games has developed a great app which allows you to explore Middle-earth as one of the heroes of The Lord of the Rings, and join in the struggle against Sauron. The official description and screen can be found through the link below. We’d love to hear what you think of the app, so please join in the conversation in our forum. Check out the official app page on Facebook, as well as their official website to get started. [The One Ring Facebook App] [Official Homepage] Continue reading “Join the Struggle Against Sauron! On Facebook!”
Fantasy Flight Games’ new boardgame, ‘Middle-earth Quest‘ is now shipping. The FFG web site has a PDF of the rulebook and a QuickTime trailer movie. This looks to be an interesting offering, not as heavy as the FFG ‘War of the Ring’ game, but certainly more complex than the Knizia ‘Lord of the Rings’ co-operative boardgame. [Trailer] [PDF]
The time period is sometime before the main events of LotR, with Sauron extending his power from Mordor; one player portrays Sauron, with up to three opponents portraying heroes who try to hinder his plans. The heroes win or lose against Sauron as a group.
Hopefully, when I have actually played the game, I will report on it more informatively. [Middle-earth Quest]
