Keen-eyed Lord of the Rings Online players have spotted a new Trade Mark application for specifically computer games and related products under the name of 'Riders of Rohan', a possible expansion for the successful MMO.
The application was made on 20 March by 'The Saul Zaentz Company'. On further investigation, this company is behind a number of films including the 1978 animated version of LOTR. It appears that there is a division of Saul Zaentz called Tolkien Enterprises, which owns certain exclusive rights to the literary works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien Enterprises provides the licences to other parties wishing to use LOTR for "various lines of merchandise".
New raids, class updates, festivals and more are on the calendar.
Now this makes me feel old! I remember playing the beta while I worked at Gamestop. I honestly didn't even know this game was still online! A quick search showed that it's even F2P now, so I may check it out for nostalgia's sake.
I only subbed at launch for 1-2 months bc I was already caught up in WoW at the time. I love the LotR universe though and would like to see how it's being handled these days.
Before the Shadow is the latest expansion to the still-thriving MMORPG, Lord of the Rings Online, introducing new regions and mechanics.
From MMORPG: "Some Lord of the Rings Online players may have been aware of an unofficial rogue server project that was set to release this month called Echoes of Angmar. Aiming to create a true vanilla version of LOTRO, trait lines and map-less Old Forest and all, the server ran the real risk of drawing legal ire down on its head because of the unlicensed use of a very much still-operating and still-in-development MMO.
PLAY LOTRO FOR FREEAnd in fact, the Echoes of Angmar’s team received a cease-and-desist letter from Middle-earth Enterprises today demanding the cessation of all work and operation: “It is thus with a heavy heart that we must ask that you immediately cease all of your unauthorized use of Echoes of Angmar, and all other Tolkien-related IP on all platforms.”
Hmm, seems like something is going on... It will be a little while before we find out though won't it?
That sounds really cool. I'd play that =)
Ooh that's quite interesting. It would make sense considering the MMO's largely following the path of the books, too...
That's an interesting thing to surface this early. Blizzard sorta did the same thing in the book WoW: Arthas in that scene where Arthas sees scenes from the future giving us a glimpse into three possible expansion themes.
This is a pretty big discovery if it proves to be correct.
But Mines of Moria has only recently come out, surely it will be some time until the next expansion is named, let alone released.