LOTR: War of the Ring Real-Time Strategy Game

DiZASTiX writes "Just saw this on Gamespot about LOTR: War of the Ring a Warcraft III like LOTR game: "The Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring has only been in development for around seven or eight months, but at a press event in Berlin this week we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the game in its current state. The map itself was relatively featureless at this stage of development but boasted some great grass textures and trees, which were occasionally shadowed by the suggestion of clouds passing overhead. More impressive still were the character models on display, which, although unfinished, bore more than a passing resemblance to the colorful, stylized units of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.""

Comments

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[Anonymous Coward]

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War of the First Post

[Anonymous Coward]

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[Anonymous Coward]

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[Anonymous Coward]

Thought this might be informative -- while working as a game counselor for Nintendo, I am often asked the same questions about a certain game. I even get the occasional request from confused Linux fans for information on Tux Racer, and in the hopes of clearing up any uncertainty you might have, I am posting the most popular ones here.

I can't collect enough herring in Twin Paths, help!

This is perhaps my most-often asked question. There's a common misconception that you have to have a good time to get credit for Twin Paths, but the limiting factor in this case is herring. Most players try the second path, which has more herring and a faster average speed. Unfortunately, neither path has enough to satisfy the requirement on its own. You must take the first path, then SWITCH OVER to the second path after the first two groups of trees. Some players also prefer to switch BACK to the first path to get the extra herring near the end of the level, but that's tempting fate in my opinion. Rest assured, though you might lose a little time going overland in this method, it's not enough to make a difference.

What is the highest jump attainable in Tux Racer?

Many people think that the highest jump can be found in Who Says Penguins Can't Fly? , where speeds in excess of 150 kph are commonplace. But since the entire level is essentially one big straightaway, there are no opportunities to set up a jump, and you have to rely on hitting the ramp at a glancing angle, counting on luck to propel you to a high altitude. The best you're going to get in this situation is a z-value of +13230. Believe me, some of the easier levels such as Twisty Slope or even Frozen River can give you a run for your money if big air is what you're looking for. In particular, the mountain to the left at the beginning of Frozen River can be used as a speed boost to attain values as high as +39740, or almost 120 feet in the air!

Is there any way over the big ramp in Sentinel Towers?

Contrary to what you may have heard, it's the angle of the ramp that's important to the height of your jump, and not the length. In fact, as you may have found out the hard way in Sentinel Towers, long ramps can be your worst enemy. To make the jump, you need to maintain a speed in excess of 84 kph all the way up to the base of the ramp. This requires a little planning in advance, so right after you exit the first ice canyon, make a beeline for the ridge on your right. Taking the most direct path will keep your speed on until you make it to the point of no return near the big ramp. Taking the most direct route off the ramp can also work wonders: you should always jump off near the right and then steer left after you hit the other side.

NOTE: If you're trying to complete the jump for the herring bonus, there's a quick & dirty way to do that by taking the roundabout route at the right of the ramp and then jumping over to the other side. Be careful, though: unless you hit the right jump, you will fall down the crack and have to reset.

How can I play as the Coca-Cola bear?

This feature is "officially" non-existent, so don't tell. ;) To get this feature working, you must complete, as Tux, all levels up to Path of Daggers in the Canadian Cup. Then go to practice mode and replay Path of Daggers, taking the path around the ice spikes at the beginning. When you get to the first turn, the one leading across the series of jumps, ignore the turn and go STRAIGHT OVER the embankment, flying into the clearing below. The easiest way to do this is to aim for the patch of snow in the middle of the embankment. If you maintain a speed over 50 kph, you will hit the slope at the extreme left side of the map and go straight through to a hidden ice tunnel underneath. At the end of the tunnel is a coke bottle which you must touch. (Alert players will notice that the bottle is actually on the plane of the level's exit, and the only way out is to touch a point in this plane, which gives you credit for this secret.)

Classic Fantasy - Slashdot Sci-fi Theater Presents

[Anonymous Coward]

The Eye of Argon: Chapter 1

by Jim Theis

The weather beaten trail wound ahead into the dust racked
climes of the baren land which dominates large portions of the
Norgolian empire. Age worn hoof prints smothered by the sifting
sands of time shone dully against the dust splattered crust of
earth. The tireless sun cast its parching rays of incandescense
from overhead, half way through its daily revolution. Small
rodents scampered about, occupying themselves in the daily
accomplishments of their dismal lives. Dust sprayed over three
heaving mounts in blinding clouds, while they bore the burdonsome
cargoes of their struggling overseers.

"Prepare to embrace your creators in the stygian haunts of
hell, barbarian", gasped the first soldier.
"Only after you have kissed the fleeting stead of death,
wretch!" returned Grignr.

A sweeping blade of flashing steel riveted from the massive
barbarians hide enameled shield as his rippling right arm thrust
forth, sending a steel shod blade to the hilt into the soldiers
vital organs. The disemboweled mercenary crumpled from his
saddle and sank to the clouded sward, sprinkling the parched dust
with crimson droplets of escaping life fluid.
The enthused barbarian swilveled about, his shock of fiery
red hair tossing robustly in the humid air currents as he faced
the attack of the defeated soldier's fellow in arms.
"Damn you, barbarian" Shrieked the soldier as he observed
his comrade in death.

A gleaming scimitar smote a heavy blow against the
renegade's spiked helmet, bringing a heavy cloud over the
Ecordian's misting brain. Shaking off the effects of the
pounding blow to his head, Grignr brought down his scarlet
streaked edge against the soldier's crudely forged hauberk,
clanging harmlessly to the left side of his opponent. The
soldier's stead whinnied as he directed the horse back from the
driving blade of the barbarian. Grignr leashed his mount forward
as the hoarsely piercing battle cry of his wilderness bred race
resounded from his grinding lungs. A twirling blade bounced
harmlessly from the mighty thief's buckler as his rolling right
arm cleft upward, sending a foot of blinding steel ripping
through the Simarian's exposed gullet. A gasping gurgle from the
soldier's writhing mouth as he tumbled to the golden sand at his
feet, and wormed agonizingly in his death bed.

Grignr's emerald green orbs glared lustfully at the
wallowing soldier struggling before his chestnut swirled mount.
His scowling voice reverberated over the dying form in a tone of
mocking mirth. "You city bred dogs should learn not to
antagonize your better." Reining his weary mount ahead, grignr
resumed his journey to the Noregolian city of Gorzam, hoping to
discover wine, women, and adventure to boil the wild blood
coarsing through his savage veins.

The trek to Gorzom was forced upon Grignr when the soldiers
of Crin were leashed upon him by a faithless concubine he had
wooed. His scandalous activities throughout the Simarian city
had unleashed throngs of havoc and uproar among it's refined
patricians, leading them to tack a heavy reward over his head.
He had barely managed to escape through the back entrance of the
inn he had been guzzling in, as a squad of soldiers tounced upon
him. After spilling a spout of blood from the leader of the
mercenaries as he dismembered one of the officer's arms, he
retreated to his mount to make his way towards Gorzom, rumoured
to contain hoards of plunder, and many young wenches for any man
who has the backbone to wrest them away.

The Secret Friendship REVEALED!

[Anonymous Coward]

I can see myself playing this game already:

Chapter VII : Gandalf The Ghey

Introduction:

"Frodo! Frodo! Master Frodo? Mr. Frodo?" These words spoken and screamed from Sam echo in my mind. I am finding it impossible to spend a moment alone with myself and my precious. When I stroke the ring, Sam asks me if I'm okay. I duck behind a tree to take a leak, and Sam appears. Why can't he just leave me alone? But wait, he is so kind and such a great friend. I would be wrong in continuing this reasoning. Of course, I love him, good old Sam." You smile, rubbing the ring and reflect on all the good times you and your good friend Sam have shared together. "What's this?" you whisper aloud. "I do remember something funny." You think back to last month's dinner party between Gandalf, Sam and you, when Sam and Gandalf were holding hands and and hugging each other several times. "They were talking about how cute the elves where, and about a strange activity called Shagging." Your mind wanders.

Your Mission This Chapter:

"Greetings, as you continue playing the role of Frodo Baggins, you must lead Sam to the Ents where Gandalf The Ghey is visting. There the true nature of Sam's intense friendship with Gandalf The Ghey will be revealed."

* * *

If this game doesn't feature Sam crying all the time, like in the books, and Sam yelling, "FROOOODOOO!" I will be very upset.

resignation

[Anonymous Coward]

The following is the text of John Brady Kiesling's letter of resignation to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell. Mr. Kiesling is a career diplomat who has served in United States embassies from Tel Aviv to Casablanca to Yerevan.

"Dear Mr. Secretary:

I am writing you to submit my resignation from the Foreign Service of the United States and from my position as Political Counselor in U.S. Embassy Athens, effective March 7. I do so with a heavy heart. The baggage of my upbringing included a felt obligation to give something back to my country. Service as a U.S. diplomat was a dream job. I was paid to understand foreign languages and cultures, to seek out diplomats, politicians, scholars and journalists, and to persuade them that U.S. interests and theirs fundamentally coincided. My faith in my country and its values was the most powerful weapon in my diplomatic arsenal.

It is inevitable that during twenty years with the State Department I would become more sophisticated and cynical about the narrow and selfish bureaucratic motives that sometimes shaped our policies. Human nature is what it is, and I was rewarded and promoted for understanding human nature. But until this Administration it had been possible to believe that by upholding the policies of my president I was also upholding the interests of the American people and the world. I believe it no longer.

The policies we are now asked to advance are incompatible not only with American values but also with American interests. Our fervent pursuit of war with Iraq is driving us to squander the international legitimacy that has been America's most potent weapon of both offense and defense since the days of Woodrow Wilson. We have begun to dismantle the largest and most effective web of international relationships the world has ever known. Our current course will bring instability and danger, not security.

The sacrifice of global interests to domestic politics and to bureaucratic self-interest is nothing new, and it is certainly not a uniquely American problem. Still, we have not seen such systematic distortion of intelligence, such systematic manipulation of American opinion, since the war in Vietnam. The September 11 tragedy left us stronger than before, rallying around us a vast international coalition to cooperate for the first time in a systematic way against the threat of terrorism. But rather than take credit for those successes and build on them, this Administration has chosen to make terrorism a domestic political tool, enlisting a scattered and largely defeated Al Qaeda as its bureaucratic ally. We spread disproportionate terror and confusion in the public mind, arbitrarily linking the unrelated problems of terrorism and Iraq. The result, and perhaps the motive, is to justify a vast misallocation of shrinking public wealth to the military and to weaken the safeguards that protect American citizens from the heavy hand of government. September 11 did not do as much damage to the fabric of American society as we seem determined to so to ourselves. Is the Russia of the late Romanovs really our model, a selfish, superstitious empire thrashing toward self-destruction in the name of a doomed status quo?

We should ask ourselves why we have failed to persuade more of the world that a war with Iraq is necessary. We have over the past two years done too much to assert to our world partners that narrow and mercenary U.S. interests override the cherished values of our partners. Even where our aims were not in question, our consistency is at issue. The model of Afghanistan is little comfort to allies wondering on what basis we plan to rebuild the Middle East, and in whose image and interests. Have we indeed become blind, as Russia is blind in Chechnya, as Israel is blind in the Occupied Territories, to our own advice, that overwhelming military power is not the answer to terrorism? After the shambles of post-war Iraq joins the shambles in Grozny and Ramallah, it will be a brave foreigner who forms ranks with Micronesia to follow where we lead.

We have a coalition still, a good one. The loyalty of many of our friends is impressive, a tribute to American moral capital built up over a century. But our closest allies are persuaded less that war is justified than that it would be perilous to allow the U.S. to drift into complete solipsism. Loyalty should be reciprocal. Why does our President condone the swaggering and contemptuous approach to our friends and allies this Administration is fostering, including among its most senior officials. Has "oderint dum metuant" really become our motto?

I urge you to listen to America's friends around the world. Even here in Greece, purported hotbed of European anti-Americanism, we have more and closer friends than the American newspaper reader can possibly imagine. Even when they complain about American arrogance, Greeks know that the world is a difficult and dangerous place, and they want a strong international system, with the U.S. and EU in close partnership. When our friends are afraid of us rather than for us, it is time to worry. And now they are afraid. Who will tell them convincingly that the United States is as it was, a beacon of liberty, security, and justice for the planet?

Mr. Secretary, I have enormous respect for your character and ability. You have preserved more international credibility for us than our policy deserves, and salvaged something positive from the excesses of an ideological and self-serving Administration. But your loyalty to the President goes too far. We are straining beyond its limits an international system we built with such toil and treasure, a web of laws, treaties, organizations, and shared values that sets limits on our foes far more effectively than it ever constrained America's ability to defend its interests.

I am resigning because I have tried and failed to reconcile my conscience with my ability to represent the current U.S. Administration. I have confidence that our democratic process is ultimately self-correcting, and hope that in a small way I can contribute from outside to shaping policies that better serve the security and prosperity of the American people and the world we share."