8/07/99 - Latest News

Thanks to One Eyed Bob for the Middle-earth low down!
Christian @ 10:04 pm EST

Peter Jackson’s new film version of the Lord of the Rings will give fans a visual representation of the majestic Middle-earth. But now, Sierra’s Yosemite Entertainment will be giving fans another chance to see, and even travel through Tolkien’s realm. Middle-earth Online puts players in the lands they’ve read so much about in Lord of the Rings. While Tolkien never wrote anything past Middle-earth’s 3rd Age, the game will take place in the 4th Age of Middle-earth. This means that the War of the Ring has ended, and peace has been delivered to the realm... pretty much, anyway. Orcs are growing in numbers, evil still lurks near Dol Guldur in Mirkwood, and who knows what shadows still lie in wait at Mordor?

The game is massively multiplayer, similar to Origin’s Ultima Online, where thousands of players will adventure in the same game-world. Sierra are quite excited about their server setup's which will be able to handle ten thousand players apiece. The player will be able to play as the main races in Middle-earth (Humans, Dwarves, Elves, and Hobbits). Characters will be able to go about classic RPG professions such as warriors and wizards. However, while a player can be a sorcerer or a wizard, magic will be used sparingly as in Tolkien’s writings. The breadth of the game-world should be huge, with special care paid to the most famous locations like Bag End, Rivendell, among other places.

Beta testing is expected to begin mid-2000, and its planned release date is sometime late-2000. The visuals of the game should be amazing... but this means you will need a powerful system to run it. Yosemite is well-prepared to deal with lag (or latency). In their FAQ they say that the game should run relatively well with a 28.8 modem. Currently, important game issues and ideas are being discussed, so many things are subject to change. For more information I suggest these sites:

Official Middle-Earth Online Site is a wonderfully crafted. It is a great place to get background information on the various realms players can visit.

Middle-earth Online FAQ is extremely helpful and contains a large amount of information.

Middle-earth Vault is one of the best places to get news about Middle-earth Online. It’s developer’s board is normally frequented by Yosemite Entertainment employees, and they offer opinions on various suggestions and occasionally answer questions.