Fresh off of Gotham City Impostors, Monolith Productions is now spinning off another key Warner Bros. property in the online multiplayer arena. This time, instead of Batman, it’s The Lord of the Rings.
Tying in with the theatrical debut of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in December and hoping to capitalize on the soaring popularity of the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) genre made famous on PC by games like Defense of the Ancients and League of Legends, Guardians of Middle-earth is a Lord of the Rings-inspired MOBA game designed for consoles. It’ll be releasing this fall as a digital download title on PSN and XBLA.
Players will take up arms as their favorite Middle-earth guardians and engage in 5-on-5 PVP matches online or against AI opponents. Gandalf, Sauron, Gollum and Thráin have been confirmed as playable guardians so far, each with different abilities and play styles to master. Additional guardians, including characters from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, will also be released as post-launch DLC.
“The MOBA genre is wildly popular with PC players and we are excited to bring it to consoles through the lore of Middle-earth,” said Samantha Ryan, Senior Vice President, Production and Development at WBIE. “The heroes and villains of Middle-earth are crafted in a way that perfectly intersects with MOBA game features, allowing the development team to create guardians with deep skills and abilities for gamers to master.”
Tomorrow’s pre-E3 episode of “GTTV with Geoff Keighley” will premiere the game’s first trailer. Tune in to Spike TV at 1:00 AM ET/PT on Thursday, May 31 to check it out. Or just wait a few minutes later for the trailer to start popping up online.
Matt Litten is a 28 year old from-the-womb gamer turned video game reviewer/blogger and current editor/owner/operator of VGBlogger.com. Matt got his first taste of gaming as a youngster on the NES and Atari, and the rest is history from there.
In 2004, three years removed from high school and still looking for a career direction in life, Matt landed his first gig in the video game review business writing for the now-defunct website BonusStage.com. After the sad and untimely close of BonusStage, the former staff went on to found VGBlogger.com, and after a short stint as US Site Manager for AceGamez Matt turned his attention to VGBlogger, and to this day is dedicated to making it one of the top video game blogs in all the blogosphere.
Matt is a fair-minded reviewer and lover of games of all platforms and types, big or small, hyped or niche, big-budget or indie. But that doesn't mean he will let poor games slide without a good thrashing when necessary. 