From the article: "Turbine, Inc. announced today that in the wake of the global success of The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, named the 2007 PC Game of the Year*, it has reached an agreement with Tolkien Enterprises to extend it's license to develop Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games (MMORPG) based on The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien to 2014 with additional options to extend the rights until 2017."
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According to the article, Turbine has extended the license with Tolkien Enterprises not only for Lord of The Rings online, but also for making The Hobbit MMORPGs.
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Something big is happening to Lord of the Rings Online next month. What's described as a major announcement relating to the MMO is set to happen at Codemasters' Connect 2008 online game event in the UK this March. We understand Turbine will be flying in to do the deed. That's how big it is. We've contacted Codemasters for more info, but all it would say is that it will be a "MAJOR" - the company's caps, not ours - announcement. But it's hardly ... » Read More

Codemasters confirmed this morning that a "major announcement" concerning The Lord of the Rings Online will be made at its Connect 2008 conference in Birmingham next month.

The news will hit at a press preview on March 14, ahead of the public event on March 14-15. There are no details on what to expect as regards the LotRO update, but a presentation by developer Turbine has been confirmed.
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Bruce Woodcock's MMOGChart.com has updated with his latest tracking of MMO subscriptions.

MMOGChart.com is dedicated to research in tracking the growth of subscription-based Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs). Each version is updated with new figures, charts, graphs, and Woodcock's analysis.

His latest charts and analysis are listed under Alternative Sources.
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From the article: "Turbine has released the details regarding the upcoming Book 12 content expansion for their MMO, Lord of the Rings Online. Book 12 will go live on February 13th and features enhancements such as the 'Outfit System', enhanced monster play, improvements to player housing, and over 100 new quests."
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A wave of U.S. and Japanese blockbuster online computer games will hit South Korea this year, threatening the long-run popularity of locally made games.

About a dozen foreign games, including Blizzard Entertainment's Starcraft 2 and Electronic Arts' Lord of the Rings Online are expected to begin service this year, dubbed in the Korean language. They will be competing with Korean games such as Lineage from NCsoft, Maple Story from Nexon and NHN Games' Dungeon & Fighter.
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Turbine continues to pour blood, sweat and tears into Lord of the Rings Online, and the next major update in the pipe for the MMO is Book 12: The Ashen Wastes. We've uploaded six screenshots from The Ashen Wastes just for you. ... » Read More

"Do you want an exciting career working in online gaming? If you have bags of gaming experience with strong customer service skills then this could be the job for you!"

Codemasters are expanding their GM team and are looking for good people to join their team. The positions are in Düsseldorf, Germany, and applicants must be fluent in English, French or German. Read the announcement in the official forums for details.
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Connect 08 to be held in Birmingham U.K.
You can expect to play mmo's such as RF Online, Archlord, D&D online, LOTR Online, and of course receive beta invites to their new "Mystery MMO" that they will reveal at the event.

Ticket prices are 35 GBP for single day events.
Full 2 day event 55 GBP,
and for V.I.P 100 GBP

35 GBP approx. 70$
55 GBP approx. 110$
100 GBP approx. 200$
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Codemasters Online is to host a two day consumer event to showcase recent and upcoming games, including as-yet unannounced titles from the publisher.

As well as access to over 400 gaming PCs, consumers will also be able to take part in round-table discussions and question and answer sessions with the Codemasters Online team.

"We are ecstatic to unveil plans on this amazing community orientated MMO gaming event," commented Ed Relf, director of marketing for Codemasters Online.
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Turbine is extremely pleased to announce that their relatively successful MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online is the first MMO to fully support DirectX 10 and Nvidia's Geforce graphics processors. Utilizing the combined forces of the two, the MMO is now sporting upgraded water shaders, better particle effects, and more far-reaching lighting than ever before, along with a DX10 exclusive dynamicshadowing system. In layman's terms, if you got the right parts, the game just got a lot prettier.
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ActionTrip's 2007 Game of the Year voting poll registered 10673 participants. 1809 registered users voted for Call of Duty 4, 1279 for Halo 3, 1192 for Assassin's Creed, 837 for "None of the Above", 716 for BioShock, 710 for Crysis, 627 for The Orange Box, and so on. The rest of the results can be viewed in ActionTrip's voting poll section.

¿ People's Choice: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
¿ Runners-up: Halo 3, Assassin's Creed, Crysis, Half-Life 2: The Orange Box

¿ Game of the Year (ActionTrip Staff): Portal
¿ Runners-up: Mass Effect, Halo 3, BioShock, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, The Witcher

¿ Best Action Game: Halo 3
¿ Runners-up: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Half-Life 2: The Orange Box, God of War II, BioShock, Crysis

¿ Best Strategy Game: World in Conflict
¿ Runners-up: Supreme Commander, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars

¿ Best RPG: Mass Effect
¿ Runners-up: The Witcher, Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer

¿ Best Sports Game: FIFA 08
¿ Runners-up: SSX Blur, NHL 08, Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2008

¿ Best MMOG: World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
¿ Runners-up: Tabula Rasa, The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar

¿ Best Rhythm/Music Game: Rock Band
¿ Runners-up: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

¿ Babe of the Year: Joanna Krupa
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Trusted Reviews: Games of the Year - Part One.

As our Andy noted back in November, it has been a fantastic year for games, In fact, it's arguably been the best year ever. However, all that bounty has left us in a dilemma. We originally planned a top ten list for the end of the year, but looking at the long list of titles we've been forced to expand that to twenty - and even then we've had to sacrifice a few of our darlings and lose a couple of still great franchise updates that we felt didn't quite do enough to justify inclusion: Sorry Unreal Tournament III and Sega Rally, apologies Guitar Hero III, Football Manager 2008 and Pro Evo.
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The New York Times - Seth Schiesel, December 23, 2007:

For gamers 2006 was all about the introduction of Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii systems; there weren't many great games released. This year, by contrast, has delivered one fabulous interactive entertainment experience after another. Even without Grand Theft Auto IV, which was delayed until next year, 2007 has witnessed the strongest lineup of new games since the fall of 2004, when Halo 2, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and World of Warcraft were introduced.

Even with heavy hitters like Spore, G.T.A. IV and Super Smash Bros. on the horizon for 2008, it will be tough for next year to top the crop of 2007. Here are some of this year's most important, intriguing and just plain amusing games and developments:

¿ Best Newcomer
¿ Most Difficult Delivery
¿ Best Adaptation of an Adored Intellectual Property
¿ Best Unambitious Representations of the State of the Art
¿ Best Single-Handed Rescue of a Major Game System
¿ Game of the Year
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Most MMO players know the story of IGE and Affinity Media by now, (the owners of WoWhead, Allakhazam, Thottbot and WoWinterface), and their relationship. A really interesting article popped up on Radar Online today which highlights some of the dodgy characters that are involved in the Affinity Media business which had claimed to have no involvement with IGE. Brock Pierce who is an advisor and a board member of Affinity Media, is highlighted in the above article and I have to say there's some pretty unsavoury stuff here pointing at child abuse. This has been brought up before regarding Brock Pierce who has apparently denied charges but there are filed legal cases which he has tried to settle.

In related news, there has been paperwork filed this week where IGE admits that it is Affinity Media (see additional link). Not that anyone doubted it. Next time you hit up an Affinity Media site, just think about who you are supporting and who's pockets your traffic is lining with cash.
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Tens of thousands of gamers voted for the true people's awards, held Friday in London, which highlighted the elite titles from the past year across a diverse range of categories.

Undoubtedly the big winner at this year's awards was Microsoft and Epic's stellar third-person shooter Gears of War, which took four top honors. Gears triumphed in the Ultimate Game of the Year, Xbox Game of the Year, The Nuts All-Nighter and the Editor's Choice categories. It also placed third in the 1Xtra Soundtrack of the Year and The GameTribe Online Game of the Year categories.

Codemasters received the UK Developer of the Year award for 2007 sponsored by Next-Gen.biz, while Game took the prizes for Retailer of the Year. Nintendo took the Publisher of the Year award ahead of Microsoft Game Studios and Codemasters, while the Wii was labeled Innovation of the Year.
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The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. Book 11: Defenders of Eriador continues the epic story of The Lord of the Rings Online adding over 100 new quests, a new 12-player raid, two new areas in Middle-earth and introduces the player housing system. Book 11: Defenders of Eriador will be available Oct 25 2007.
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Oct 18, 2007 The latest free content update Turbine is whipping up for its MMO Lord of the Rings Online releases this month (on October 25) - and it's a hefty one. In addition to continuing the epic storyline the developer's cleverly intertwined with Tolkien's narrative, Book 11: Defenders of Eriador features 11 skill updates for the Minstrel and Lore-master character classes, new raid and high-level world content, Monster Play enhancements and - deep breath - player housing. "Just imagine ... » Read More

Issue 1 of MMOZine is out, and it includes a free Guild Wars pet for every reader, plus a chance to win a unique World of Warcraft mount, as well as previews, reviews and tutorials.
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