Turbine To Publish Middle Earth Online

John Callaham writes "Computer Games Magazine got a chance to chat briefly on the phone today with Turbine's Vijay Lakshman to get a few more tidbits on their plans for the MMO title Middle Earth Online now that they are developing and publishing the long awaited game." From the article: "Acquiring the license to produce massively multiplayer online games based on Tolkien's world-renowned The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit books is the latest in a series of aggressive business moves by Turbine - the once small contractor that transformed itself into the largest privately-held online game studio in North America."

Comments

Here

[schild]

We've been discussing this at f13 after Calandryll posted the news. Without going into the design of MEO, he's answered most of the questions on the scope of the publishing rights.

Is this a case of Vivendi bailing?

[Shivetya]

I haven't heard too many cases of a publisher ditching a sure thing. So is MEO in trouble? It has been pushed back how many times? Now we have a "2006" release date.

It sounds more and more that MEO has had its premise rewritten more than once. I would guess they could not nail down a time period to play in that doesn't result in players knowing that regardless what you do history is written.

The game is already irrevelvant as the movies are more than a year old. By the time the game comes out we will have had over 2 years since the movies. Do they really think that the name will bring enough people into the genre? Star Wars Online did well but everywhere you turn there is something Star Wars. The movies are current and there are many console and PC games to keep interest up. What does MEO have to gen interest?

I think Vivendi didn't like the progress Turbine is making and didn't want to get into a no win position. I wonder if Vivendi would have forced the game out early if they had kept the publishing rights as Atari did to Artifact Entertainment with Horizons.

MMO Perfect for Tolkien's World

[Delilah Jones]

I think it's a great idea for the world that Tolkien created.

I mean, you read the books and you realize that he left a TON of room for storyline improvisation and future plots and subplots.

He'll mention the name of somebody or cryptically reference some old story that leaves you thinking, "Dang man! Where can I get THAT book?!"

And I'm not necessarily talking about the Silmarillion and stuff--but actually user-contributed stuff. The possibilities are endless--the only limits really being one's own imagination (kind of like D&D).

I'd wonder, however, which time period in the course of the LOTR storyline is the MMO environment to take place? Just somewhere arbitrarily in the middle?

I think that if it's done well, it could be gnarly! Like exploring the land north of the Misty Mountains, with the 'hobgoblins' he mentions in The Hobbit. Or the region known as Angmar (as in the Witch King).

Sounds great!