Posted by
Hemos
on from the There-is-always-smoke-rising-from-Isengard-these-days. dept.
JC writes "It looks like Tolkien fans will get one of their biggest dreams with Turbine's Middle-Earth Online. Originally expected about November, we're now looking at a Northern Hemisphere Autumn release date. The New Zealand Herald has a good article."
Not to be technical
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 4, Funny
But (most of) November is in the Autumn.
Re:Not to be technical
by
LocoBurger
·
· Score: 4, Informative
Actually, all of November is in the Autumn (in the Northern Hemisphere). Autumn isn't over until the Winter Solstice, around December 21st. So, most of December is in the Autumn, but all of November is.
Make that NEXT autumn
by
TopShelf
·
· Score: 5, Funny
To be precise, that's autumn of 2005, or just a couple months after the release of Duke Nukem Forever...
Re:Make that NEXT autumn
by
ronaldb64
·
· Score: 4, Informative
As quoted from the Turbine MEO forum:
Important Update from the Team - MEO Release Date
The Middle-Earth Online team at Vivendi Universal Games and Turbine Entertainment recently evaluated the development progress of the game and made the tough but correct decision to delay its release. The extra time in development will be used to add more content, more lore and more nuanced touches to the world, as well as enable us to extend the beta-testing period. At this time, the expected release date for the game is 2005.
We also decided recently to focus on getting content into the game rather than spend time creating a specialized version for this year's E3, so Middle-Earth Online will not be demonstrated on the show floor.
If you have any questions, please post them here and we will answer what we can.
Thank you for being a part of the development process and giving us your opinions and feedback.
This was posted August 21st. Sorry, no Middel-Earth Online this year....
Just when a bunch of nerds thought they had any chance of seeing any sunlight next fall, this news is released.
I can just see the eBay ads ...
by
newandyh-r
·
· Score: 5, Funny
One Ring for sale. Starting at only...
Re:I can just see the eBay ads ...
by
Uatu
·
· Score: 5, Funny
I'm interested.
Can you ship to Mordor ?
I know I don't have great ratings, I'm new to this Internet thing, but I really, really want this item.
- S
Re:I can just see the eBay ads ...
by
daeley
·
· Score: 4, Funny
Don't trust this user! I've recently had dealings with him which proved him to be a deceiver and liar. If I hadn't just tried to immolate myself and my wounded son, I would register a complaint with ebay.
Sincerely, Denethor
-- I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
Model Citizens
by
Doc+Ruby
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
By the time these movies make it to game format, their cutting-edge digital techniques are several years old, while computers have raced along the rails of Moore's law. Why don't they just release the models and engines for PCs? They can spend the intervening time optimizing for the actual cheap hardware and OS, and coming up with new plotmaps.
--
--
make install -not war
books or movies
by
dueydotnet
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Anybody know if this game has the license from the books or movies? Hmmm. Probably doesn't really matter, though, but I would think the book license would have more content and more original visuals while the movie license would probably have to include the main characters some how.
Too bad this has been pushed off, but since Turbine is already a veteran at this, I'm sure they'll be able to release a good, polished game. I'm just glad VI (eVIl) isn't doing it.
I hate to say it
by
DevilsEngine
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
But won't this game seem a little... tired?
The standard props of the Tolkien universe served for gaming fodder even before D&D (minus the A). In online play, the races and creatures here are used, in dozens of permutations. Haven't we all had a chance to be an elf or halfing? Haven't we all taken a shot at more orcs, trolls, and dragons that we could eat?
Lively story-telling and a deep sense of history set Tolkein appart from other fantasies. Unless Turbine is able to bring this world something other than the appearance of Middle Earth, it's hard to see what will make it more exciting than the possibilities offered by a City of Heroes, or even a solid middle-ages + fantasy setting universe such as Dark Age of Camelot. I certainly want something more than name recognition to make me pick up a sword again.
Re:I want to be a Men class.
by
Nos.
·
· Score: 5, Informative
That's just the way Tolkien wrote. The books were writtin in the 50's I believe, and at that time there wasn't as much an issue referring to humans as men. In the Tolkien world, we had dwarves, elves, and men as the main 3 races. I don't think it was meant to exclude or even discount females, it was just used as a generic term at the time.
Everyone's going to want to be a wizard. There were only five wizards in RJRT's world and three are already spoken for. There are two blue wizards who drifted out east but nothing is really said about them.
Being a wizard would be good, you die and just come back as a different colour:D
I'm Gandalf the #FF0101.
Re:Another MMORPG??
by
the+unbeliever
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
City of Heroes does not require a huge timesink in order to have fun. Things scale very well, and almost every class can solo when they're well played. (although some are easier than others)
You can log on to COH for twenty minutes and feel like you've accomplished something.
Encyclopedia of Arda
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 4, Informative
-- ** A Sketch a Week **
http://www.sketchplease.com
Re:I want to be a Men class.
by
Pxtl
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
Now, I didn't RTFA, but I really hope that they don't make it like MERP (the Rolemaster based pnp rpg), where any player can just be a high-elf, or a half-elf, or a wizard, or an ent, or something else that's supposed to be rare as diamonds. Its a stupid world where the rare peoples outnumber the normal, common humans. Same thing for magical artifacts - and notice that Gandalf primarily fights with a sword and staff, not "lightningbolt!" and "I'm gonna cast magic missile."
But I doubt it. It'll be EverCrack with all the stuff renamed after Tolkien stuff.
Oooh... somebody should get fired for a pun like that.
Re:ME better for MMORPG than SW?
by
Gudlyf
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
" When Start Wars Galaxies came out, many people worried that everyone would want to be a Jedi, because, by far, they are the coolest, most powerful individuals in that universe."
And in Middle Earth, perhaps the most powerful and coolest individuals are wizards, of which I believe there are supposed to only be a handful of (if that) in the Tolkien "universe". Good luck to enforcing that rule.
Personally I think calling this a Tolkien fan's "dream" is a joke. More like nightmare. It will without a doubt throw the whole Middle Earth lore right down the shitter, as we all know enforcing roleplay is impossible in these games. Try forcing a Hobbit player-character to want to stay close to home, sit around his hole and eat all day -- in Tolkien's world, Bilbo and Frodo are rare in their desire for adventure. Most hobbits want to sit at home. Or how about being an elf who fights only when absolutely necessary, or a dwarf who looks out for himself and wouldn't be caught dead grouping with an elf. And female dwarves -- I think they're unheard of in any Middle Earth lore.
Enforcing those things is impossible, and is a true Tolkien fan's nightmare, IMHO.
Middle-Earth or generic fantasy land?
by
tehanu
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
One thing I want to know is if they are going to make the game world true to Middle-Earth or as a more generic D&D based game? The problems with transferring a popular franchise to MMG can be seen in Star Wars where everyone wants to be a Jedi. Hence even though the MMG is set in the time where Jedi should be rare there are tons of Jedi running around. In this case faithfulness to the original storyline is sacrificed because everyone wants to be a hero. For example one of the difficulties I can see with Middle-Earth is that lots of people will want to be a wizard (like Gandalf). However in Middle-Earth wizards are extremely rare. There are only 8 (?) of them and they are not human either but servants sent from Valor clothed in human form. And will magic spells familiar from D&D like fireball be common, because there is actually very little magic actually cast as fireball type spells in LoTR.
When will it be set (the article doesn't say this). I imagine it will be set immediately after the events of the book. But according to the novel magic is dying out in the land during this time. Lothlorien for example is in the process of being abandoned. However lots of people will want to go visit Lothlorien. Will people be able to go to Moria? If they can clean out Moria it would go against canon as Tolkien says Moria was never able to be reclaimed by the dwarves. I think this is a fundamental problem with franchise based MMGs. People will want to go to clear out Moria, they will want to be a wizard and cast fireballs, they will want to go and visit Lothlorien no matter how out-of-character or against canon it is. Will it accurately model the various tensions amongst the different groups of elves? They mention an elvin ship but how do they balance this with the fact that being invited to an elvin ship (if you are not an elf) is extremely rare. How do they balance the fact that in LoTR canon, elves are massively more powerful than humans - being created as perfect beings and thousands of years old? In a single-player game it is easy to control the actions people can take, but in a MMG where the only real aim is to explore how do you balance faithfulness to canon and fun gameplay? Star Wars Galaxies as far as I can tell decided to go "screw canon" - will this Tolkien MMG do the same? Will it really be Middle-earth or will it be Dungeons and Dragons?
You mean like a bunch of Hobbits whose while lifestyle revolves around a simple hedonistic society that end up travelling accross the land, joining in wars, and killing nasty beastseses? Or maybe a ranger who has abandoned his birthright, and ends up going back in the direction that would make him King? Or maybe on a shorter scale, like Boromir, who learns to trust non-humans, as well as give his life for a cause he scoffed at at the first appearance of his character? I may be a while out from high school literature class, but there sounds like there might be a touch of character development in this series.
Or did you mean physical/ability development, as it pertains to a game chracter, like a hobbit learning to wield a sword, or a wizard changing his colors and becoming more powerful?
Yeah. You're right. No development whatsoever.
-- Raging in an online forum won't do anything for the world around you. To see change, you must take action.
Re:I want to be a Men class.
by
david.given
·
· Score: 5, Informative
Now, I didn't RTFA, but I really hope that they don't make it like MERP (the Rolemaster based pnp rpg), where any player can just be a high-elf, or a half-elf, or a wizard, or an ent, or something else that's supposed to be rare as diamonds. Its a stupid world where the rare peoples outnumber the normal, common humans. Same thing for magical artifacts - and notice that Gandalf primarily fights with a sword and staff, not "lightningbolt!" and "I'm gonna cast magic missile."
Tolkien wrote primarily about spiritual magic.
Gandalf was the master of fire. Partly, this manifested itself through his skill with fireworks and magical fire, but that wasn't the important bit. What Tolkien felt was far more important, and was stressed over and over again, was the fact the Gandalf could 'kindle the fire in men's souls'. Look at the way he can muster enthusiasm in practically everyone. The classic example is the way he brought Théoden back from the brink in _RotK_ (ignore the lousy movie effects --- this is one of the few bits that Peter Jackson got totally wrong). Even more impressive, to my mind --- he managed to talk Bilbo into going dragon-hunting in The Hobbit.
(Saruman's power was his will and his voice. He could talk practically anyone into doing anything. He had very little power of his own; once the Ents destroyed Isengard, he was shafted. Again, another bit the film got completely wrong was his fight with Gandalf. In the books, it's a battle of wills, and pre-Moria Gandalf is definitely Saruman's inferior.)
The rest of Tolkien's world is similar. The difference between Elves, Dwarves, Men and the other races? They're races, not species. Tolkien wasn't interested in their outward appearance, or whether they could interbreed, or the shape of their ears. The fundamental, crucial difference, intrinsic to Middle-Earth's entire philosophy, the thing that is hammered home over and over again, is the shape of their souls.
When Elves die, they're reincarnated. When Dwarves die --- actually, I forget. I believe they end up in some classical afterlife. When Men die, however, the souls leave the universe entirely. Nobody knows what happens to them. By Tolkien's view, Men are specially favoured. They get to move on to whatever Eru has planned for them next, and are unique in that aspect. All the other races are bound to Arda until the end of time.
(This is the reason why Arwen had to become human. She was a descendent of a Man-Elf cross. All such people had to choose between following the Elven path or the mortal path, because you have to pick what kind of soul you have. All the rest follows from there.)
(If you're interested in such things, read The Silmarillion. It's tough going, but rewarding.)
Tolkien just doesn't go in for material magic very much. He didn't find it interesting. While this makes his universe incredibly rich and rewarding to study, it doesn't really fit a modern game where the player wants to trigger some flashy effect and kill loads of orcs... I await the MMORPG with some trepidation.
Re:I want to be a Men class.
by
haystor
·
· Score: 4, Funny
I was applying to be a Baker, but my guidance counseler had me take some aptitude tests and my strength lies in melee combat. I've been assigned to row 1 of keep storming division. Will I be able to see the fight from there? I don't want to miss it.
Slashdot Mirror
But (most of) November is in the Autumn.
To be precise, that's autumn of 2005, or just a couple months after the release of Duke Nukem Forever...
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
Just when a bunch of nerds thought they had any chance of seeing any sunlight next fall, this news is released.
One Ring for sale. Starting at only ...
By the time these movies make it to game format, their cutting-edge digital techniques are several years old, while computers have raced along the rails of Moore's law. Why don't they just release the models and engines for PCs? They can spend the intervening time optimizing for the actual cheap hardware and OS, and coming up with new plotmaps.
--
make install -not war
Anybody know if this game has the license from the books or movies? Hmmm. Probably doesn't really matter, though, but I would think the book license would have more content and more original visuals while the movie license would probably have to include the main characters some how. Too bad this has been pushed off, but since Turbine is already a veteran at this, I'm sure they'll be able to release a good, polished game. I'm just glad VI (eVIl) isn't doing it.
The standard props of the Tolkien universe served for gaming fodder even before D&D (minus the A). In online play, the races and creatures here are used, in dozens of permutations. Haven't we all had a chance to be an elf or halfing? Haven't we all taken a shot at more orcs, trolls, and dragons that we could eat?
Lively story-telling and a deep sense of history set Tolkein appart from other fantasies. Unless Turbine is able to bring this world something other than the appearance of Middle Earth, it's hard to see what will make it more exciting than the possibilities offered by a City of Heroes, or even a solid middle-ages + fantasy setting universe such as Dark Age of Camelot. I certainly want something more than name recognition to make me pick up a sword again.
That's just the way Tolkien wrote. The books were writtin in the 50's I believe, and at that time there wasn't as much an issue referring to humans as men. In the Tolkien world, we had dwarves, elves, and men as the main 3 races. I don't think it was meant to exclude or even discount females, it was just used as a generic term at the time.
Everyone's going to want to be a wizard. There were only five wizards in RJRT's world and three are already spoken for. There are two blue wizards who drifted out east but nothing is really said about them.
Those sound like pretty coveted characters to me.
Blaze a trail to the New World
City of Heroes does not require a huge timesink in order to have fun. Things scale very well, and almost every class can solo when they're well played. (although some are easier than others)
You can log on to COH for twenty minutes and feel like you've accomplished something.
I'd rather spend my time on *this* `middle earth online': Encyclopedia of Arda
For all who were looking for this link:
middle-earthonline.com** A Sketch a Week **
http://www.sketchplease.com
Now, I didn't RTFA, but I really hope that they don't make it like MERP (the Rolemaster based pnp rpg), where any player can just be a high-elf, or a half-elf, or a wizard, or an ent, or something else that's supposed to be rare as diamonds. Its a stupid world where the rare peoples outnumber the normal, common humans. Same thing for magical artifacts - and notice that Gandalf primarily fights with a sword and staff, not "lightningbolt!" and "I'm gonna cast magic missile."
But I doubt it. It'll be EverCrack with all the stuff renamed after Tolkien stuff.
And in Middle Earth, perhaps the most powerful and coolest individuals are wizards, of which I believe there are supposed to only be a handful of (if that) in the Tolkien "universe". Good luck to enforcing that rule.
Personally I think calling this a Tolkien fan's "dream" is a joke. More like nightmare. It will without a doubt throw the whole Middle Earth lore right down the shitter, as we all know enforcing roleplay is impossible in these games. Try forcing a Hobbit player-character to want to stay close to home, sit around his hole and eat all day -- in Tolkien's world, Bilbo and Frodo are rare in their desire for adventure. Most hobbits want to sit at home. Or how about being an elf who fights only when absolutely necessary, or a dwarf who looks out for himself and wouldn't be caught dead grouping with an elf. And female dwarves -- I think they're unheard of in any Middle Earth lore.
Enforcing those things is impossible, and is a true Tolkien fan's nightmare, IMHO.
Trolls lurk everywhere. Mod them down.
One thing I want to know is if they are going to make the game world true to Middle-Earth or as a more generic D&D based game? The problems with transferring a popular franchise to MMG can be seen in Star Wars where everyone wants to be a Jedi. Hence even though the MMG is set in the time where Jedi should be rare there are tons of Jedi running around. In this case faithfulness to the original storyline is sacrificed because everyone wants to be a hero. For example one of the difficulties I can see with Middle-Earth is that lots of people will want to be a wizard (like Gandalf). However in Middle-Earth wizards are extremely rare. There are only 8 (?) of them and they are not human either but servants sent from Valor clothed in human form. And will magic spells familiar from D&D like fireball be common, because there is actually very little magic actually cast as fireball type spells in LoTR.
When will it be set (the article doesn't say this). I imagine it will be set immediately after the events of the book. But according to the novel magic is dying out in the land during this time. Lothlorien for example is in the process of being abandoned. However lots of people will want to go visit Lothlorien. Will people be able to go to Moria? If they can clean out Moria it would go against canon as Tolkien says Moria was never able to be reclaimed by the dwarves. I think this is a fundamental problem with franchise based MMGs. People will want to go to clear out Moria, they will want to be a wizard and cast fireballs, they will want to go and visit Lothlorien no matter how out-of-character or against canon it is. Will it accurately model the various tensions amongst the different groups of elves? They mention an elvin ship but how do they balance this with the fact that being invited to an elvin ship (if you are not an elf) is extremely rare. How do they balance the fact that in LoTR canon, elves are massively more powerful than humans - being created as perfect beings and thousands of years old? In a single-player game it is easy to control the actions people can take, but in a MMG where the only real aim is to explore how do you balance faithfulness to canon and fun gameplay? Star Wars Galaxies as far as I can tell decided to go "screw canon" - will this Tolkien MMG do the same? Will it really be Middle-earth or will it be Dungeons and Dragons?
You mean like a bunch of Hobbits whose while lifestyle revolves around a simple hedonistic society that end up travelling accross the land, joining in wars, and killing nasty beastseses? Or maybe a ranger who has abandoned his birthright, and ends up going back in the direction that would make him King? Or maybe on a shorter scale, like Boromir, who learns to trust non-humans, as well as give his life for a cause he scoffed at at the first appearance of his character? I may be a while out from high school literature class, but there sounds like there might be a touch of character development in this series.
Or did you mean physical/ability development, as it pertains to a game chracter, like a hobbit learning to wield a sword, or a wizard changing his colors and becoming more powerful?
Yeah. You're right. No development whatsoever.
Raging in an online forum won't do anything for the world around you. To see change, you must take action.
Tolkien wrote primarily about spiritual magic.
Gandalf was the master of fire. Partly, this manifested itself through his skill with fireworks and magical fire, but that wasn't the important bit. What Tolkien felt was far more important, and was stressed over and over again, was the fact the Gandalf could 'kindle the fire in men's souls'. Look at the way he can muster enthusiasm in practically everyone. The classic example is the way he brought Théoden back from the brink in _RotK_ (ignore the lousy movie effects --- this is one of the few bits that Peter Jackson got totally wrong). Even more impressive, to my mind --- he managed to talk Bilbo into going dragon-hunting in The Hobbit.
(Saruman's power was his will and his voice. He could talk practically anyone into doing anything. He had very little power of his own; once the Ents destroyed Isengard, he was shafted. Again, another bit the film got completely wrong was his fight with Gandalf. In the books, it's a battle of wills, and pre-Moria Gandalf is definitely Saruman's inferior.)
The rest of Tolkien's world is similar. The difference between Elves, Dwarves, Men and the other races? They're races, not species. Tolkien wasn't interested in their outward appearance, or whether they could interbreed, or the shape of their ears. The fundamental, crucial difference, intrinsic to Middle-Earth's entire philosophy, the thing that is hammered home over and over again, is the shape of their souls.
When Elves die, they're reincarnated. When Dwarves die --- actually, I forget. I believe they end up in some classical afterlife. When Men die, however, the souls leave the universe entirely. Nobody knows what happens to them. By Tolkien's view, Men are specially favoured. They get to move on to whatever Eru has planned for them next, and are unique in that aspect. All the other races are bound to Arda until the end of time.
(This is the reason why Arwen had to become human. She was a descendent of a Man-Elf cross. All such people had to choose between following the Elven path or the mortal path, because you have to pick what kind of soul you have. All the rest follows from there.)
(If you're interested in such things, read The Silmarillion. It's tough going, but rewarding.)
Tolkien just doesn't go in for material magic very much. He didn't find it interesting. While this makes his universe incredibly rich and rewarding to study, it doesn't really fit a modern game where the player wants to trigger some flashy effect and kill loads of orcs... I await the MMORPG with some trepidation.
I was applying to be a Baker, but my guidance counseler had me take some aptitude tests and my strength lies in melee combat. I've been assigned to row 1 of keep storming division. Will I be able to see the fight from there? I don't want to miss it.
t