8/26/99 - Latest News
Middle-earth Online
Christian @ 5:43 am EST
Hola!
I was just reading this nice article, by some chap called Jeff at gamersreality.com. Xoanon mailed me the address, and now I post it for you!
Middle-earth Online
good times
8/25/99 - Latest News
New Production Sketches for The Trilogy!
Calisuri @ 11:41 am EST
Check out Platus's "The Trilogy" screenshots for this update!
And remember next week, September 1st, we will have an exclusive chat with Smegol88 from Platus Productions!
8/17/99 - Latest News
Hi all, how are you going? heh, I hope you checked out that nice little blurb I wrote about my conversation with John, He just wanted me to add alittle addition here... The game will be going out on March 31st, 2000, not 11/99... So their you are, we have to wait a little while yet.
Remember to keep looking back to the haven, if you want to find out what is happening with these Middel-earth games, we've got some other cool stuff happening in here soon, and it's all a little secret squirrel at the moment, so keep watching!!!!!
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8/15/99 - Latest News
Interview with John Race!
Calisuri @ 12:59 pm EST
EXCLUSIVE!
Check out Christian's interview with John Race, the man writing Orcs - Revenge of the Ancient!
8/10/99 - Latest News
Orcs - The official web site is up
Christian @ 5:20 pm EST
http://www.sierrastudios.com/games/orcs/ Go here, check it out!
8/07/99 - Latest News
Orcs - Revenge of the Ancient
Christian @ 10:11 pm EST
Berkeley and Sierra's upcoming release
I've been talking to Berkeley Systems about their eagerly awaited upcoming release, Revenge of the Ancient. We've got some screen shots in the picpost section. Check out the village. Wowee McDee!!
These guy's have taken the initiative and set this game in The Middle-earth’s forth age. An original story awaits us, I have baited breath… and I just can’t wait to have putrid stinking breath from all the human scum I've been feasting upon!
Word is that they will have an official web site up in a month. Until then you can check out their press release. Oh yeah, I'll be talking to the game's designer John Race about the game, and if there’s anything you would like to know forward me your questions and I’ll ask him!
check out the screen shots here!
Welcome to Haven.TheOneRing.net - Gaming Havens!
Christian @ 10:06 pm EST
Welcome to the new gaming section of TheOneRing.net™! My name is Christian, and I will be your host from here on in… By the by, you can contact me with your feedback, gossip, or comments on what you think I should be doing in here, either myself or Bob, my AI will get back to you. I'd love to publish what you have to say!
In case you haven’t noticed TheOneRing.net™ is going through a huge expansion process, and this Gaming Havens will be a part of that. In here I shall endeavour to provide you with the pulse from the industry, something for those who want to play the games, and hopefully something special for those of you who want to help make the games too!
Ok, just who is this Christian boy, and what is he doing here?… hmmm… that’s a good question, one I can admit to asking myself on a few occasions... hmm... well, let me tell you! I know what’s going on in this site, I know that the secret man behind the scenes… Corvar… or well maybe Xoanon… ummm maybe Tehanu?!? Well one of them is Peter Jackson, I know it! And well, quite simply I’m going to tell him how to make the coolest game the world has yet to experience! Because, as things happen these games will help to promote the movie and vice versa!
Currently, I am trying to line up interviews with some of the people that make the software the game makers use. I’m also in contact with some of the hardware developers who will be trying to subvert the world to their own unique way of seeing things. In these sections their will be one category of review… The amount of sensory immersion we can get out of these products. By this I don’t just mean in standard levels ie. popping into VR and seeing some pretty stereo pictures (though I do think this is pretty cool as well!). I’m talking complete immersion, I am talking about total sensory input!!! Kind of like what Tolkien did with his novels, he captivated us, he put us into the Middle-earth, he made me a part of The Middle-earth! That is the essence is why making a LOTR game is such a big task, A comment from Fredrik, and if you go to Fredrik's cool site you will understand why I quote him, he is somewhat of an expert on LOTR games to date… (Fredrik, I proclaim you an expert too!)
"I reserve the right to remain sceptical. Why? Simply because no-one has thus far successfully adapted the story to any other medium. And this is not because they have been lacking talented people to do it. On the contrary, many radio plays, computer games, and even the Bakshi movie (to some extent) are good in themselves, but fall flat when compared to the original. I just think that LOTR's epic scale makes it a poor choice for adaptations. (Thus spoke the self-proclaimed "expert" of computer game adaptations. Like I said: many are good in themselves.)"
Did you know their have been over one hundred LOTR computer games produced? If you want a review on all these games you need to go to Fredriks site. In this Gaming Haven we will have a focus on the games being worked upon now.
Over one hundred games so far! Well, that says it in one really. I think what the producers of these games (and the movie even!) have to do is make a product that will stand alone. And with the amount of time and combined resources put into these projects, I think they will stand out alone. Yeseree Bob I am confidant. You have probably noticed some work is starting to appear in the press (though not yet in their completed forms), and quite frankly what I’ve seen blows my mind. People are a versatile, creative, and imaginative bunch it seems… It puts me to wonder what Tolkien would have created if he was alive with access to the technology we have today!
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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.
Platus Productions and ‘The Trilogy’
Christian @ 10:03 pm EST
Platus are working on making a game independently. They’re doing it for love, and for fun. Just the other week, we did an interview with Wynn, the head designer on this project. Wynn gave us a few insights into what we can expect and hope for. It does sound like fun. If you want to read the platus interview, the go here. This is a log of the interview Wynn gave us.
Ok, here’s the skinny for those of you that don’t know… The game is in the initial stages of development. The team at Platus is working hard on designing the system. Currently they’re going through a stage of gaining information, and developing characters. The game will be ready before the movie, and it will be distributed freely over the world wide web.
Apparently Platus have some concerns about licensing issues with their game. This may be due to Sierra owning the exclusive rights to the games from Tolkien Enterprises. Now personally I think that they should not need to worry as they’re making the game for love, and they’re doing it for free. So speaking I am not a lawyer, and as such I have no ideas how these things work. I do know Platus are working very hard speaking to the Tolkien Estate trying to get permission so that everyone can be happy. If they do get permission they can make the game even cooler, and incorporating multi-player elements and other such things. Personally I hope they do, and in my opinion, I think companies like Sierra should support independent game makers. These guys are going it alone, for love, to make an awesome game. To me that seems like a resource being created, that Sierra (or any other production corporations) could use.
Anyway, I hope Platus makes a game that rocks hard, so remember to give them your support a feedback link will be available in the near future, as will a link to their web site. I’ll endeavour to keep you updated with progress from here!
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