3/13/01 - Latest News

Middle-Earth Online still going? Part 3
DarthCaeser @ 1:26 am EST

Xenite.org had something's to say about the current status of Middle-earth Online, including a bit about a conversation between an ME Stratics Staffer and a PR Representative. After reading the conversation on Stratics, I decided to try e-mailing Sierra again. And this time they actually responded! So what did they have to say? ...pretty much nothing. Here's the official word about the status of MEO from Adam Kahn, a PR Manager at Sierra Studios: "Wanted to touch base with you regarding the email you sent us
about Middle Earth. Right now we can't talk at all about the games, their existence or non-exstence, whether we have the license or not or really anything related to Tolkien or Middle Earth. Keep in touch with me though, because that could change in the near future." There you go, not much, considerably less then what was sent to the folks at ME Stratics (even though it was from the same guy). But, if you read the message carefully, there are a couple of points of interest. First, he say's he can't talk about Tolkien at all, that's kind of a hard stance on keeping quiet about MEO...unless that's part of there Lawsuit against Tolkien Enterprises. The fact that they refuse to comment about the project at all also points to continued Legal trouble. The second thing that caught my attention are the words "games" and "their". The only other announced title based on the Middle Earth license was Orcs: Revenge of the Ancients, which was canceled some time ago. There was also a rumored game that was completed in an attempt to appease Tolkien Enterprises and to keep the Middle Earth license but that was never actually meant to be released, that is just a rumor as far as I know. So why would Sierra say they can't comment on the "games" if MEO is the only one under development using the ME license? There's three explanations that leap to my mind immediately, first, he was including Orcs and/or the rumored game in that statement, unlikely due to the fact that Orcs has been dead for some time, Second, it was a simple grammatical error, happens to me often enough, unlikely due to the fact that he uses plural terms twice when commenting on the "games". Third, and the most interesting in my opinion, there is at least one other ME game in development. That's right, There might be another Middle Earth Game in development by Sierra! That is also unlikely, but it's enough to perk my ears. I'll be e-mailing Sierra again in the near future, now that they seem to be actually responding to inquiries by the LOTR Gaming Press, not that I'm expecting anything new, but hey, it gives me something to do. Feel free to e-mail me suggested questions and I'll try and fit some of them in. I'd now like to take this opportunity to thank Demosthenes, Sir_Mordred, and Arien for helping me to overcome my inability to write in understandable English (as demonstrated in this story :). Without them, loads of patience, and four hours, I would have never of written an even slightly official looking e-mail. Well, that's all for now, I'll be back with a Fourth installment, assuming anything else comes to light about the status of MEO...