It was not untill long ago, nothing more then a dream to bring Tolkien's world to life. But Peter Jackson made it happen. The movies Lord of The µring: 'Fellowship of the Ring' and 'Two Towers' are praised by most and despised by few. Since the enormous succes of both movies, the succes of its franchise couldn't stay behind. Lord of The Ring books were reprinted, action figures, posters, cups, maps, rings, magazines, and offcourse... games. The LOTR-games are being made as if it were mushrooms. A LOTR-game for almost each genre; Third Person, Action, RTS and one that was inevitable: MMORPG. Tens of thousands of people are waiting for Lord of the Rings: Middle-earth Online.

Across the wide lands of Middle-earth, the Free Peoples must face the threatening Shadow growing in the East. All of Mordor is stirring as Sauron dispatches the Nazgûl to hunt for the Ring. The rumor of war brings forth many eager adventurers who will find their place among the great events of the Third Age. High deeds call to the willing, for their time is at hand. You will be thrown in the midst of this.

Players can select the path of the battle-worn warrior or a more simple life of crafting and harvesting. You can play as an Elf, Man, a Hobbit or as a Dwarf and perthaps form your own Fellowship. The plan is to stick with Tolkien's world, so you shan't see a fragfest between Hobbits and Elves on the hillside, which is pretty good because it would look ridiculous anyway.

Characters in Middle-earth Online will be able to learn new skills and advance their abilities even while players are off-line, the sort of 'buy skill, train while offline' system Eve Online also uses. The combatsystem wouldn't be 'kill beast, gain experience' for which I am glad to see that system being downgraded. But what about large scale battles à la Helms Deep? I really miss those kind of battles in MMOG's. Wouldn't that be great? Standing there with your allies while you see thousands of Orc's coming your way. That must feel terrifying (God I'd love that!).

Anyway, I think we'll just have to wait a while untill they release some more screenshots or movies to arrouse our interest a bit more. It promises to be a great MMORPG-experience, but only time can tell. I'll be watching this one closely, as I plan to play it. As an Elvish Bowman, hoping for appocallyptic events cfr. Helms Deep.

Hey, a man can dream can't he?