Middle Earth Online Game
Bassman826
Copied from ANT on AOL:
Yosemite Entertainment Announces Middle-Earth, New Online Game Based on Tolkien
Works
Multi-Year, Multi-Product Deal Commences with Game Drawing from The Hobbit and
The Lord of the Rings
Yosemite Entertainment (formerly known as Sierra Publishing, the original
design studio of computer gaming pioneer Sierra On-Line, Inc.) has finalized
negotiations with Tolkien Enterprises to cement an extensive multi-year,
multi-product deal to develop interactive games based on J.R.R. Tolkien's
legendary works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
Middle-earth, to be based on the fantasy world brought into existence by
Tolkien, will utilize much of Sierra On-Line's existing massively multiplayer
technology ranging from early work on The Imagination Network (INN) to its
most recent on-line game The Realm , officials reported. A BETA version of
Middle-earth is scheduled for mid-1999.
"We are pleased to join forces with Yosemite Entertainment on this project,"
said Al Bendich and Laurie Battle of Tolkien Enterprises. "The new frontier
of cyberspace offers an unprecedented opportunity for people around the world
to participate in the magic of Middle-earth."
Yosemite Entertainment General Manager Craig Alexander noted that, "Without a
doubt, `Middle-earth' is the most technically ambitious project that our
two-decade-old development group has undertaken. Professor Tolkien spent most
of his adult life creating this fictional world, and our goal is to recreate
all of the detail and complexity of this fantasy masterpiece."
Set in Middle Earth several generations after the end of the Third Age so
dramatically presented by Tolkien in his books, Yosemite Entertainment's game
players will enter the vast world -- made up of some 20,000 distinct regions
-- and be able to choose to portray a hobbit, an elf, a dwarf, or a human.
Locations, peoples and foes long familiar to devotees of this internationally
best-selling epic tale are being developed with utmost care, so as to preserve
books' integrity.
At the same time, even online gaming fans unfamiliar with the Tolkien works
will enjoy the richness of Middle-earth . Combat, enchantments, and
socializing are just a few of the components of the fantasy-based online
community which is being designed to accommodate as many as 10,000 simultaneous
players.
For example, Middle-earth players may visit Rivendell, explore the mines of
Moria, or battle fierce orcs, poisonous spiders and wily dragons. And for
those who like an after-supper morsel, the hobbits will, of course, have
plenty of beautiful seed-cakes.