Vivendi Universal has announced plans to do several new games based on its Lord of the Rings license. The new games include The Lord of the Rings: Middle-earth Online, an online massively multiplayer role-playing game, and The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring, a real-time strategy game. War of the Ring will let players take control of the forces for good or evil and will focus on the events leading to the formation of the Fellowship and the Ring Quest.
In addition to the story-based 2463836announced in 1998. However, Sierra 2450168closed the original studio working on the game, and a 2620394lawsuit in 2000 by Tolkien Enterprises put the fate of the game in doubt. Vivendi Universal holds the rights to produce games based on the Lord of the Rings books, while EA has the rights to tie games into the movie content.
Vivendi has yet to specify platforms or release dates for the just-announced games. We'll have more details as they become available.