Today, Warner Bros announced an upcoming title based on JRR Tolkien’s Middle-earth called “Guardians of Middle-earth,” releasing this fall on the Xbox Live Arcade and the Playstation Network. Developed by Monolith Productions, who are known for their FEAR franchise, GoME will feature tie-ins to the upcoming Hobbit movies.
According to the Press Release, this game is a MOBA(Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) that pits 10 players against each other with Middle-earth as it’s backdrop. Players will take control of popular “Guardians” (Think League of Legends Heroes) to combat each other with such as Gandalf, Sauron, Thrain and Gollum. As the movie release gets closer, Warner Bros and Monolith will be releasing more Guardians to tie-in with the Hobbit movie Franchise.
Stay tuned, as more information will likely be released at next week’s E3 Conference in Los Angeles.
Press Release (courtesy of FOX Business):
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Reveals Guardians of Middle-earth, an Authentic Multiplayer Online Battle Arena Game for Console Systems
Debuting Exclusively on Xbox LIVE Arcade and PlayStation Network in Fall 2012BURBANK, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–May 30, 2012–
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment today announces Guardians of Middle-earth, a new multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game developed by Monolith Productions, set to debut in fall 2012 exclusively for Xbox LIVE(R) Arcade for the Xbox 360(R) video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation(R)Network. The game will feature tie-ins to the upcoming The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey motion picture, directed by Peter Jackson and a production of New Line Cinema and MGM.
Guardians of Middle-earth brings up to 10 players together in five versus five competitive multiplayer battle arenas in the epic setting of Middle-earth. The game offers more than 20 iconic guardians, including Gandalf, Sauron, Gollum, Thrain and many more, for players to control in player versus player (PVP) matches. Gamers will have the ability to connect with other players via an in-game voice communication system, as well as access to a comprehensive online stat and leader board system where they can track
friends’ victories and defeats, and more.“The MOBA genre is wildly popular with PC players and we are excited to bring it to consoles through the lore of Middle-earth,” said Samantha Ryan, Senior Vice President, Production and Development at WBIE. “The heroes and villains of Middle-earth are crafted in a way that perfectly intersects with MOBA game features, allowing the development team to create guardians with deep skills and abilities for gamers to master.”
Leading up to and beyond the premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey motion picture, fans can look forward to several new playable guardians releasing in conjunction with the film, to allow gamers to actively participate in Peter Jackson’s vision of Middle-earth.
For more information about Guardians of Middle-earth, please visit the website at www.guardiansofmiddleearth.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GuardiansofMiddleearth or on Twitter @GuardiansMe.
About Monolith ProductionsMonolith Productions, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, is located in Kirkland, WA. Over the past 15 years, Monolith has risen to critical acclaim through an emphasis on delivering quality products such as F.E.A.R., The Condemned series, Aliens vs. Predator 2, TRON 2.0, the No One Lives Forever franchise and Gotham City Impostors.
About The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” is directed by Peter Jackson from a screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Guillermo del Toro and Jackson. Jackson is also producing the film, together with Fran Walsh and Carolynne Cunningham. The executive producers are Alan Horn, Ken Kamins, Toby Emmerich and Zane Weiner, with Boyens serving as co-producer.
“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” is a production of New Line Cinema and MGM, with New Line managing production. Warner Bros Pictures is handling worldwide theatrical distribution, with select international territories, as well as all international television licensing being handled by MGM. “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” will be released on December 14, 2012, and the second film, “The Hobbit: There and Back Again,” opens on December 13, 2013. Both films will be released in 3D and 2D in select theatres and IMAX. http://www.thehobbit.comAbout Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, a division of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, is a premier worldwide publisher, developer, licensor and distributor of entertainment content for the interactive space across all current and future platforms, including console, handheld and PC-based gaming for both internal and third party game titles.
GUARDIANS OF MIDDLE-EARTH (c) 2012 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (c) 2012 New Line Productions, Inc. (c) The Saul Zaentz Company. GUARDIANS OF MIDDLE-EARTH, THE HOBBIT, and the names of the characters, items, events and places therein are trademarks of The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Middle-earth Enterprises under license to Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.
WB GAMES LOGO, WB SHIELD: (TM) & (c) Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
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Xbox, Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE are either trademarks or registered trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.
“PlayStation” is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.CONTACT: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Megan Korns Russell, 818-977-0526 megan.korns@warnerbros.com or fortyseven communications Craig Sinel, 323-658-1200 craig@fortyseven.com
Copyright © 2012 Dow Jones Newswires
I… I think I want…
Awesome!…..and yet…. *sigh*
You have here the greatest fantasy ever written, the king, and all it gets is a MoBA?!?! I’d been waiting for this announcement for some time…how sad. Game sites made it out like this thing would be big. 🙁
Look, I love that they are still making LOTR games, but…Seriously WB, why can’t you just listen to what the fans want! Every time a new LOTR game is announced, you need only look at the comments from fans, all essentially coming down to this: “Great! But…when are you going to do an open world RPG, you know, like Oblivion/Skyrim???” That is the grand type of game a grand saga like LOTR should have. If only EA didn’t cancel “The White Council”…
Sorry if this seems to be real downbeat, I don’t mean to bring things down! It’s just that they have such a grand ip here, but only seem to want to use it for small things. Last years War in the North was great fun, and shows that WB is at least looking into future prospects for the series, which is good. But I still keep my fingers crossed for the day Middle Earth gets it’s first epic open world RPG!
LOTR is the king of fantasy, don’t you think it deserves a game that is king of it;s own genre? I do, and I hope one day people will look to it as they do to the heads of other series (like Diablo for hack n’ slash, Elder Scrolls for open world RPG, etc).
Future game types I’d like to see:
-The aforementioned open world RPG, in the vein of Elder Scrolls
-an epic war RTS, like the Total War series
-A classic crpg, like Dragon Age
*Forgive me for saying “open world RPG” so much…hehe*