Electronic Arts has announced the development of THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE BATTLE FOR MIDDLE-EARTH for the PC under the EA GAMES brand. The game will be eveloped at EA Los Angeles by the same team that created the award-winning realtime strategy PC hits COMMANDER & CONQUER RED ALERT 2 and COMMAND & CONQUER GENERALS and is set to hit shelves summer 2004.
"THE LORD OF THE RINGS, THE BATTLE FOR MIDDLE-EARTH will give gamers the first chance to play the epic battles they've witnessed in Peter Jackson's films," said Mark Skaggs, vp/exec producer of the game. "Fans will be able to immerse themselves in Middle Earth and experience THE LORD OF THE RINGS movie trilogy like never before, including controlling the evil side of the conflict."
Using the GENERALS game engine, THE BATTLE FOR MIDDLE-EARTH will allow game players can select from various "good" or "evil" campaigns, where they will command a variety of armies from the films, each with their own distinct strengths and weaknesses. The game will utilize the digital assets created for the films and will feature exclusive voiceover from the real actors as well as movie footage from the three films.
Under an exclusive licensing agreement with New Line Cinema, EA has the rights to create and publish interactive entertainment games based on the movie trilogy. THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE BATTLE FOR MIDDLE-EARTH will be the third EA title released under its THE LORD OF THE RINGS franchise. THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING game based on the final movie will be released in November 2003 on multiple platforms.
Electronic Arts, headquartered in Redwood City, California, is a world leading interactive entertainment software company, which develops, publishes and distributes interactive software worldwide for videogame systems, personal computers and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under three brand names: EA SPORTS, EA GAMES and EA SPORTS BIG. For more information visit www.ea.com.
Founded in 1967, New Line Cinema, a subsidiary of AOL Time Warner Inc, is a leading independent producer and distributor of theatrical motion pictures. New Line licenses its films to ancillary markets including cable, broadcast television and international venues. More information about New Line Cinema can be obtained at www.newline.com.
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