Turbine has just released a new trailer for The Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood, the upcoming digital expansion to the award-winning MMO, which is scheduled to launch on December 1^st in North America. Siege of Mirkwood will expand the online world of Middle-earth where players will join forces to press further eastward into the dark, foreboding and treacherous forest of Mirkwood and take part in the epic conclusion to Volume II of The Lord of the Rings Online.

Here's a look at the newly released Siege of Mirkwood Trailer:

Turbine has released the first video trailer for The Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood! This is the newest digital expansion for the game and is due to launch Dec 1st in North America. Siege of Mirkwood will expand the online world of Middle-earth where players will join forces to press further eastward into the dark, foreboding and treacherous forest of Mirkwood and take part in the epic conclusion to Volume II of The Lord of the Rings Online! Here's a look at the newly released Mirkwood trailer:

 

Siege of Mirkwood, the new digital expansion for LOTRO, will launch on December 1^st in North America, expanding the online world of Middle-earth where players will join forces to press further eastward into the dark, foreboding and treacherous forest of Mirkwood and take part in the epic conclusion to Volume II of The Lord of the Rings Online.

This new batch of screenshots shows off the creepy fortress of Dol Guldur, inhabited by Ringwraiths:

Turbine sent us a press release to let us know of the unveiling of a new digital expansion for Lord of the Rings Online, called Siege of Mirkwood. We have a team at PAX, so you can expect to hear more about this expansion pack over the course of the next few days. Stay tuned for that, and check out the official press release below!

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WESTWOOD, MA – September 4, 2009 - Turbine, Inc. today unveiled The Lord of the Rings Online™: Siege of Mirkwood™, the digital expansion to the award-winning massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG).  Siege of Mirkwood will expand the online world of Middle-earth where players will join forces to press further eastward into the dark, foreboding and treacherous forest of Mirkwood and take part in the epic conclusion to Volume II of The Lord of the Rings Online.  Siege of Mirkwood will be available as a digital download this Fall with an increased level cap, a new region including the legendary evil fortress of Dol Goldur, major enhancements to combat and Legendary Items and the introduction of Skirmishes, a new system where players will train customizable soldiers and take them into battle as part of the War of the Ring.

“2009 has been a year of unprecedented growth for The Lord of the Rings Online and the launch of Siege of Mirkwood will end the year with a bang,” said Jeffrey Steefel, Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings Online.  “As the game expands east of the Misty Mountains, players will face the raging war and shadow that has spread across Middle-earth and the new Skirmish system will thrust players and their soldiers into the War of the Ring.”

NEW FEATURES:

Ø  The Epic Conclusion to Volume II: Mines of Moria™ – Under the command of Celeborn and Galadriel, players will fight through vast armies of Orcs alongside the Elves of Lórien in a battle that will take them to Dol Guldur, the fortress of the Ringwraiths.  This update includes Book 9 and the Epilogue to the sweeping epic tale begun with the award-winning Mines of Moria expansion. 

Ø  Increased Level Cap — Players will be able advance their characters up to level 65, gaining access to new traits, virtues, skills and class quests. 

Ø  Answer the Call of War! – Jump into the heat of battle with the new Skirmishes feature.  Skirmishes offer endless action in repeatable, randomized instances where players can create and lead customizable soldiers into battle, training them to greater skill as they earn victories against the forces of shadow.  Answer the call of war wherever violence erupts with the new “World Join” function that lets players and their fellowships band together to fight in various locations throughout Middle-earth.

Ø  Take up Arms! – Infiltrate the dark jails, deadly arenas and savage stables of Dol Guldur, the fortress of the Ringwraiths, and strike a blow against Sauron’s forces in new 3 and 6-player instances.  Call upon your fellows to adventure into the most deadly 12-player raid yet and face the ultimate challenge – the Nazgûl Lord!

Ø  Major Gameplay Enhancements – Turbine continues to improve the award-winning experience of LOTRO with major improvements to the combat and Legendary Items systems.  Players will experience improved responsiveness when in the heat of battle.  Players will also be able to create and craft their own customized Second and Third Age Legendary Items from raw materials and grow their weapons’ power to level 60.  Achieve new Legacies, new titles, and a fourth Runic slot that will make Legendary Items even more unique and powerful.

The Lord of the Rings Online is an award-winning MMORPG that delivers an interactive experience brimming with life and filled with the familiar people, places and monsters from the most beloved fantasy adventure of all time. From the picturesque surroundings of the Shire to Moria, the great underground realm to the menace of Mirkwood, players will experience the world of Middle-earth as never before.  The Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood will be available as a digital download this Fall.  Details regarding Siege of Mirkwood’s pricing, pre-order offers and availability will be unveiled soon. For more information, visit www.lotro.com/mirkwood.

About Turbine
Turbine, Inc. is the premier creator and operator of massive, persistent online worlds that foster powerful social gaming communities.  Turbine has grown to become one of the largest privately-held online gaming studios in North America. Turbine has created some of the world’s most popular and award-winning online games, including The Lord of the Rings Online™: Shadows of Angmar™, Dungeons & Dragons Online® and Asheron's Call®.  For more information on Turbine, its products and services please visit www.turbine.com.

About Tolkien Enterprises
The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Tolkien Enterprises is the holder of worldwide motion picture, legitimate stage, merchandising, and other rights in J.R.R. Tolkien’s literary works The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.  Tolkien Enterprises has been producing and licensing films, stage productions and merchandise based on Tolkien’s works for more than 30 years.  Its headquarters are in Berkeley, California, and its website may be found at www.tolkien-ent.com.

Dear Lotro Community, we've got some great screenshots for you today! We've put some brand new Mines of Moria screenshots into our gallery of the new Warden and Rune-keeper classes.
The articles can be found at
Rune-Keeper Screenshots
Warden Screenshots

There's a new article up on the Lotrolife.com - Exclusive Mines of Moria screenshots - where you can see new items for different classes, mount, mobs and Moria screenshots.
The article can be found at
Lotrolife.com

Find out detailed information about The Rune-keeper class in a recent published developer diary over at the official Lord of the Rings Online website.

Read the full diary.

Check out these 10 new Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria screenshots.

So, who's looking forward to the first expansion for Lord of the Rings Online? There's many videos, screenshots and a lot of interesting information out there; all of it is making the expansion seem quite amazing. Time will tell.

Turbine and Codemasters Online recently announced that there's a chance for everyone to participate in the beta program of Mines of Moria, the very first expansion to Lord of the Rings Online. It has entered the final stages of its beta program and if you're in North America or Europe you can sign up for a chance to explore the "dark majesty of the world beneath Middle-earth".

The Mines of Moria Beta Program is by invitation only and over time more and more players will be invited. Beginning today, players can register for a chance to participate in the Beta Program by visiting http://www.unlocktheminesofmoria.com.

“Mines of Moria extends the world of Middle-earth into the dark heart of the Misty Mountains where players will explore one of the largest underground worlds ever created. The Legendary Items system where players can craft unique and powerful weapons and armor that will grow in power and value is just one of the breakthrough features that will further establish The Lord of the Rings Online as one of the world’s premium online games,” said Jeffrey Steefel, Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings Online. “Player enthusiasm continues to exceed our expectations at every milestone and we are very excited to enter this stage of our Beta Program and take the next major step toward our launch.”

Turbine has released information about the Udúnion create in Lord of the Rings Online. Check out the information below!

Yet another batch of fresh screenshots that showcase The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria was sent to us from Turbine today. View all the screens below.

Turbine just sent us these brand new screenshots of Lord of the Rings Online's upcoming expansion, Mines of Moria.

In the screenshots you can see the Hollin Gate entrance to Moria!

Recently Turbine revealed the box art for the Complete Edition of Mines of Moria, the upcoming expansion for Lord of the Rings Online.

The cover depicts the scene from "The Lord of the Rings", where Gandalf confronts a Balrog in Moria. It's looking great!

For more eyecandy of Mines of Moria, check out concept arts and a trailer here.

Lord of the Rings Online is on its way to get expanded. Mines of Moria are the name of the first commercial expansion and the estimated time for its release is towards the end of 2008. Below we have several concept arts and a video teaser for your viewing pleasure.

Another batch of new screenshots for Book 14: The Ring-forges of Eregion has been released by Turbine. The screenshots illustrate new and improved Minstrel animations as well as the continuation of the epic questline.

Book 14: The Ring-forges of Eregion is the next free content update for Lord of the Rings Online.

Turbine has sent us a batch of brand new screenshots for Book 14: The Ring-forges of Eregion, the next free content update for Lord of the Rings Online.

The screenshots illustrate The Ring Forges located in Eregion, a new region of which a portion will become available to players with the upcoming launch of Book 14.

Earlier today we also posted about Turbine's plans of updating instances in Book 14.

Turbine has posted an article named “Book 14 Developer Diary: Instance Updates” which covers information about instances in Book 14. Who doesn’t enjoy to dungeon crawl together with friends? The developers of Lord of the Rings Online are looking to enhance the instances experience in Book 14 and we’re going to be seeing some pretty big updates to several of the higher end instances.

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Angmar

Angmar has 3 main instances: Urugarth, Carn Dûm and Barad Gúlaran. While they are set in some awesome spaces, they have suffered from some problems, both in balance and rewards. We've tried to address some of these issues in Book 14.

A New Armour Set

The most significant change to these instances in Book 14 is the addition of a new Angmar armour set. This set comes in the standard flavors of light, medium and heavy, and can be acquired through defeating bosses in these instances. The acquisition of these armour pieces follows a pattern similar to Annúminas, although the number of smaller barter items needed to purchase a piece is much smaller. For all you number crunchers, here are some screenshots of the new sets for you to enjoy:

Annúminas

Over the past few updates, Annúminas has received a number of changes, and more are coming in Book 14. Some of them are pretty substantial.

Armour Tweaks

We feel the instances represent the hardest 6-man content in LOTRO, but didn't feel the armour matched that difficulty. To address this, we've bumped the armour up to make it much more desirable, and again for you number crunchers, the updated armour stats can be found below. Note that the Light and Medium Armour sets have a new helm piece that you can purchase. This gives you more flexibility in what armour pieces you use to get your set bonuses.

Epic Instances

While certainly not as challenging as some of our other content, the various Epic instances have suffered for some time from not having any incentive to play them again. How many times have you seen someone looking for a Book 4 group? Well to provide some incentive to replay these instances, we are introducing a series of repeatable quests that direct you into those instances. Players who have never done a particular instance before will be able to group up with those who have and both will be rewarded.

These quests will reward you with a barter item, and with stacks of these items, you can purchase rewards, like consumables, crafting resources, on up to beryl shards and armour pieces from Angmar, Annúminas or Helegrod. These quests, though, are on a weekly timer, so you will only be able to get a limited number of these a week. In addition you will only be able to get one of the armour pieces once a month, so our instance content won't be completely negated by these quests.

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These are only some of the changes coming to the instances in Lord of the Rings Online. What are your thoughts on what’s planned for book 14 so far?

Full article with all instance changes and tweaks planned

GameSpy Australia has a preview of the next free content update to Lord of the Rings Online, Book 14: The Ringforges of Eregion.

Read it all here.

Codemasters Online and Partnertrans renews their partnership for the forthcoming expansion pack, Mines of Moria.

The European distributor of Lord of the Rings Online is Codemasters Online and they've just renewed their partnership with Parnertrans, a leading interactive entertainment localisation agency.

“In today's challenging market, reliability and professionalism in localisation are paramount. Partnertrans consistently deliver on both counts,” commented Jim Brown, Director CO Studio. “The localisation of The Lord of the Rings Online has received rave reviews in both France and Germany and has further strengthened the already tremendous success of the title worldwide.”

As part of the partnership, Partnertrans will provide localisation, audio recordings and additional linguistic support for The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria, the first retail expansion for the award-winning, massively multiplayer, online role-playing game for which Partnertrans has been providing localisation support since August 2006.

”The quality of localisation for such an internationally successful brand is paramount. We are extremely pleased to be able to deliver such a high quality service to gamers across the world,” commented Iris Ludolf, International Operations Director of Partnertrans and executive in charge of the project. “Working with such a professional partner like Codemasters Online has been a great experience, and we are excited to continue our contribution to the success of the game.”

Quite recently Turbine launched Book 13: Doom of the Last-king, which included many new features and improvements to Lord of the Rings Online.

Now, a bit later after the release of Doom of the Last-king, Turbine release a brand new developer diary video where the Executive Producer Jeffrey Steefel tell us about all the new content in Book 13.

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Yesterday Meghan "Patience" Rodberg, Community Manager at Turbine, Inc. announced that you can now download all the music from Lord of the Rings Online for free in .mp3 format.

The featuring award-winning artist Chance Thomas as well as original compositions by Turbine has received wide-spread critical accliam for it's high audio quality and variety. And who does not want variety?

In order to download the Lord of the Rings Online "audio library" you need to use the new Turbine Download Manager. This is the first time the Download Manager is used and as Meghan says, it's a late Beta version.

Go here for more information or click here to get the download manager right away.

Codemasters Online give you the chance to Celebrate Father's Day (United Kingdom) in Middle-earth with your friends and even your dad if you want to. This event will take place on June 15th and there will be several different events running throughout the day. They are all designed to celebrate Father's Day, the best way possible.

You can do the "father and son fishing" event, listening to music and watch fireworks. There's also going to be ad hoc competitions and challenges which takes place during the entire day of June 15th as well.

"What better way to celebrate Father’s Day than spend it with your loved ones in the greatest fantasy world ever created?" said David Solari Vice President of Codemasters Online. "We invite fathers to come and enjoy the festivities that will we be running all day to mark this special occasion.”

Both existing and new players are welcome to participate in the celebrations. Check out the Lord of the Rings Online Free Trial.

Further information can be found at the official Lord of the Rings Online European Community Portal.

I like this idea, it's pretty cool and unique. If it's succesfull perhaps they expand on it for other countries and also Mother's Day.

Useful links:

• Curse Lord of the Rings Online portal
• Lord of the Rings Online official website
• official Lord of the Rings Online European Community Portal.

Time Warner Inc. and GGV Capital Join Existing Partners in Fueling Online Game Leader's Growth

WESTWOOD, MA - June 4, 2008 - Turbine, Inc. today announced that it has raised $40 million in equity financing. Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) and GGV Capital, a leader in expansion-stage venture capital investments in the U.S. and China, led the investment along with existing investors, Highland Capital Partners, Polaris Venture Partners, Tudor Ventures and Columbia Capital. The investment will be used to further accelerate Turbine’s growth as a global leader in online entertainment.

“This is truly an exciting time for Turbine. The addition of Time Warner, one of the world’s largest media companies, and GGV Capital, one of the financial community’s most sophisticated investors, adds a level of access, perspective and experience to Turbine that is singularly unique in the global online entertainment space,” said Jim Crowley, president and CEO of Turbine, Inc. “Turbine has an extraordinary team, incredible technology and a growing portfolio of games based on some of the most popular brands ever created. With this funding we are uniquely positioned to change the future of online entertainment as we bring new titles to market, expand the platforms we support and introduce new technologies to sustain self-evolving game worlds.”

An online entertainment veteran, Turbine is recognized globally for its industry-leading technology platform, groundbreaking game graphics and its exceptional ability to create and operate multiple massive, persistent online worlds that power hundreds of thousands of interactive social gaming experiences. The company currently operates three award-winning franchises around the globe and is one of the largest privately-held online gaming studios in North America.

“Our investment in Turbine is an important addition to Time Warner's entertainment initiatives,” said Rachel Lam, Senior Vice President and Group Managing Director of Time Warner Investments. “Online interactive entertainment is a huge growth market and we are very excited about Turbine, its unique capabilities and the obvious opportunities that exist with our own broad portfolio of IP.”

“The demand for massively multiplayer online worlds is exploding both geographically and in terms of platforms served,” said Hany Nada, managing partner, GGV Capital. “Turbine is a proven leader in massively interactive online entertainment and the incredible technology that supports it. We look forward to marrying our strengths both here and in Asia with Turbine’s unique capabilities.”

In April 2007, Turbine launched The Lord of the Rings Online™: Shadows of Angmar™, the first and only MMORPG based on the books of J.R.R. Tolkien, and has quickly established itself as an emerging leader. The Lord of the Rings Online was named PC Game of the Year 2007 at the 25th Annual Golden Joystick awards and The New York Times proclaimed it “a major achievement of interactive storytelling, the first game truly worthy of the 'Lord of the Rings' franchise and a must-play for just about anyone with an interest in Tolkien or the future of online entertainment.” Turbine also created and operates Dungeons & Dragons Online™, which was named Best Multiplayer Game of 2006 by the British Academy of Television & Arts, and Asheron’s Call®, which was named one of the Top 50 Games of All Time by GameSpy and is one of the longest running massively multiplayer online games in the industry.

Turbine, Inc. and Codemasters Online today announced the launch of Eleventy-Seven Morsels, the third mini-game on http://www.unlocktheminesofmoria.com. Registered participants can challenge themselves and their friends to earn special deeds that unlock unique rewards including exclusive videos, images, and in-game items that will aid them on their journey when The Lord of the Rings Online™: Mines of Moria™ launches this fall.

Based on an ancient board game, Eleventy-Seven Morsels is a Hobbit game, and everyone knows Hobbits like to eat! The game pieces are edible and each time a player starts a move, they suddenly have one less playing piece, conveniently saved for later in the Hobbit's snack sack. The game is easy to get into and fun to play, but may take time to master.

There are two versions of the game that can be played. A coin flip determines whether the goal is to get the highest number of morsels in your snack sack or in your scoring bin. Play proceeds as each player takes turns picking up the morsels in one of the pots on their side of the board and distributing the morsels, one at a time, in a clock-wise manner into each of the subsequent pots around the board. The game ends when either player has nothing but empty pots on their side of the board. At this time, any morsels remaining on the opponent's side of the board are placed in the opponent's snack sack.

Eleventy-Seven Morsels is available today at http://www.unlocktheminesofmoria.com. Registration is free.

Over at the official Lord of the Rings Online website there's a new lorebook article available. This time it's about Gollum. Anyone who know Lord of the Rings most likely know who Gollum is, some more information never hurt though.

The creature Gollum earned his name because of the horrible noises he makes in his throat. Gandalf the Grey speculated that he belonged to a race of river-folk akin to the hobbits, which once dwelt east of the Misty Mountains in the Vale of Anduin. Gollum’s tale is a sad and perilous one.

Sméagol, as was his name of old, went fishing on his birthday with his friend Déagol, who was suddenly pulled into the river by a fish. There, Déagol found a shiny gold ring in the silt at the river-bottom. Sméagol demanded the ring as a birthday present, but Déagol refused to relinquish it Overcome by the power of the Ring – for this was the One Ring of the Dark Lord Sauron – Sméagol murdered his friend and claimed the Ring for himself. Banished by his people, he fled to a cave in the Misty Mountains, where the Ring’s power twisted his body and mind even as it prolonged his life for centuries.

Hundreds of years later, Gollum lost the Ring – or rather the Ring chose to be lost again – just in time for the hobbit Bilbo Baggins to stumble upon it. After a lengthy riddle-game in which Gollum tried to cheat his way to an easy meal – namely Bilbo – the hobbit escaped from the cave with the Ring’s aid, leaving the frustrated Gollum to stew in his own wrath until he at last gained the courage to leave the Misty Mountains in search of his birthday present. Since then he has endured many torments, including captivity at the hands of the Ranger Aragorn and the Elves of Mirkwood, and also torture in Mordor at the whim of Sauron. Still he endures, driven by a ceaseless yearning to regain the Ring… his “precious.”

Gollum appears in The Lord of the Rings Online™: Shadows of Angmar™ at a time between his escape from the Elves of Mirkwood and when he began following the Company of the Ring at the gates of Moria. Fans of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings will no doubt wish to track down the elusive creature and thwart his mischief....