WB Announces LOTR: War In The North, "Mature" RPG

Greg Tito

PR for Dungeons & Dragons
Sep 29, 2005
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WB Announces LOTR: War In The North, "Mature" RPG

Using both the book and the movie licenses for LOTR, the new RPG War in the North [http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-War-North-Playstation-3/dp/B003DNLDUC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1278964972&sr=1-1] aims to set a mature tone.


Warner Bros. announced that they are publishing the new RPG which is set to drop in 2011 on the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC platforms. Taking a cue from grittier games like Dragon Age, the game is set in the north of Middle-earth while the more famous battles of the War of Ring were happening in Gondor and Mordor. You'll be able to create your own fellowship to fight the forces of Sauron through online co-op play with up to three players. War in the North is being developed by Snowblind Studios, of Seattle, WA, who also made Champions of Norrath and Justice League Heroes.

"With The Lord of the Rings: War in the North we are taking a mature approach to the widely celebrated property with authentic portrayals of battles and all new storylines," said Martin Tremblay, from Warner Bros. Interactive. "Utilising the award-winning and passionate development team at Snowblind Studios, we are looking to evolve the RPG experience and deliver The Lord of the Rings game fans have been waiting for."

The designer points to the game having a more actiony feel. "In The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, Snowblind will deliver an action RPG for core gamers featuring authentic narrative and environmental locations from J.R.R. Tolkien's original The Lord of the Rings," said Ryan Geithman, Founder of Snowblind Studios.

It's unclear whether "north" refers to Arnor or the area surrounding Erebor, otherwise known as the Lonely Mountain. According to lore from the appendices in Return of the King, a sizable army of Easterlings attacked the Men of Dale and the Dwarven Kingdom Under The Mountain. While this event has been used for the RTS Battle for Middle-earth II, I definitely think it's a ripe enough setting for some action RPG goodness.

The website for the game [http://www.warinthenorth.com/] is pretty vague and the "north" may encompass the entirety of everything on Tolkien's map above Rivendell.

In any case, I'm interested but I wish this was a true RPG without the "action" prefix. Don't we have a bunch of those already?

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Jack and Calumon

Digimon are cool.
Dec 29, 2008
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I presume that this is to fight against Aragons Quest?

Calumon: Mr. North shouldn't fight. Everyone likes him in his games, like playing tag on the train! ^^
 

WrongSprite

Resident Morrowind Fanboy
Aug 10, 2008
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*Dances around*

FUCK YEAH

I'll buy anything with LOTR stuck on the front.
 

hazabaza1

Want Skyrim. Want. Do want.
Nov 26, 2008
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Well, if we see some gameplay, I may have to get this. I'm a massive nerd for the whole Fantasy genre, and the such, let's just hope it doesn't suck!
 

Axolotl

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Feb 17, 2008
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My reactions:

Pre watching video-Hell yeah!

Post watching video-The fuck?

That just doen't look like LoTR, not even the films.
 

Yokai

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Oct 31, 2008
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Greg Tito said:
It's unclear whether "north" refers to Andor or the area surrounding Erebor, otherwise known as the Lonely Mountain.
Arnor, Mr. Tito. It's Arnor. Andor is from The Wheel of Time. :)

Concerning the OT, I'm interested, but I really hope it manages to capture some of the feel of LOTR, and doesn't just seem like another fantasy action RPG. Many of the LOTR games that have already come out feel painfully generic. Here's hoping they pay more attention to the lore and narrative style of the books than other developers had.
 

PedroSteckecilo

Mexican Fugitive
Feb 7, 2008
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A mature LOTR rpg? Really? That'd be like making a "Mature" Star Wars title. LOTR isn't a "mature" franchise and I'm terrified to see what they plan to do to make it "mature" other than soaking the game in blood.
 

Sir Kemper

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Jan 21, 2010
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Try as they might to be Matrue, there not going to stop the flooding of names like:

"IGankedUrMom"

and

"bilBO'sbagginz2020"
 

Wadders

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Aug 16, 2008
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WrongSprite said:
*Dances around*

FUCK YEAH

I'll buy anything with LOTR stuck on the front.
I concur.

Hell, I even liked The Third Age.

This does look pretty good though, if a 46 second trailer is anything at all to go by. Not sure if the whole "mature" thing is really necessary however. I mean most of the other LotR games did just fine without blood 'n' guts. Kinda seems a little gimmicky to me.

Ah well, any LotR is good for me :)
 

skorpion352

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Apr 6, 2008
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the lore on this page [http://www.warinthenorth.com/story/15] seems to indicate that the north refers to arnor
 

Cousin_IT

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Greg Tito said:
In any case, I'm interested but I wish this was a true RPG without the "action" prefix. Don't we have a bunch of those already?
Yeah. That's why we will be having this one to add to the list.
 

Jared

The British Paladin
Jul 14, 2009
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A more mature theme...hmmm. I wonder how far they will actually take that word and to as actuyally what will be release.

Certainly worth watching out for at least!
 

RvLeshrac

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Oct 2, 2008
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Sir Kemper said:
Try as they might to be Matrue, there not going to stop the flooding of names like:

"IGankedUrMom"

and

"bilBO'sbagginz2020"
Unless they ban them.

My kingdom for an MMO developer with the balls to ban people en mass.
 

funksobeefy

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Mar 21, 2009
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Axolotl said:
My reactions:

Pre watching video-Hell yeah!

Post watching video-The fuck?

That just doen't look like LoTR, not even the films.
yeah I had the same impression. They seemed to be missing a Tolkinesk style.

And really why do the games need to be more mature? I loved the hobbit and that was a childrens book. Make an RPG with that kinda kiddy/fantasy/tolkin style and I would sell my soul to get it.
 

Flying-Emu

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Oct 30, 2008
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Axolotl said:
My reactions:

Pre watching video-Hell yeah!

Post watching video-The fuck?

That just doen't look like LoTR, not even the films.
Why not? There's swords, cave trolls, forests, and open plains. What is there to "look" like?
 

Nincompoop

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May 24, 2009
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Greg Tito said:
[...]the Dawrven Kingdom Under The Mountain.[...]
Think you mean 'Dwarven'.

This looks 'aight. But "mature" can mean a lot, ranging from provocative for the reason of just being provocative, to not have any bonds, and perhaps enabling the game to be awesome. Coop is nice too. If it's just another RPG and the only difference being a different universe, I'm not interested. It has to bring something different visually and gameplay'y...
 

SoxFan96

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Mar 16, 2010
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As long as this is slightly better than "The Lord of The Rings: Conquest" I think it will sell. Pandemic really screwed Conquest up.

However this is a completely different company and a different take so it should be taken with an open mind.