Announced: The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, the Saul Zaentz Company, and New Line Productions today announced a long-term partnership to continue franchising out the Lord of the Rings' literary and film library. For those keeping score at home, the Saul Zaentz Company were the folks that (peripherally) got into a tiff with Peter Jackson (director of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy movies) about who'll be directing an upcoming live-action version of The Hobbit. I'll spare you the details (it involved a mess of auditors and lawyers), but it's probably not going to be Jackson that inks the deal.Regardless, Headstrong Games, still warm from the critical acclaim afforded their grindhouse interpretations in The House of the Dead: Overkill, have been tossed a rather lucrative bone: to develop the next Lord of the Rings game for the Wii, The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest. Fully aware of its demographic on the Wii, Aragorn's Quest will cater to it with "accessible" gameplay, as Warner Bros. promises to "publish multiple games across many genres designed to appeal to a wide range of unique gamers."
TT Fusion -- formerly Embryonic Studios (LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Indiana Jones, LEGO Batman, all for the Nintendo DS) -- will handle development of Aragorn's Quest on, yes, the DS, as well as on the PS2, and PSP.
In Aragorn's Quest, Hobbiton has got a party underway that will welcome Aragorn, King of Gondor, and honor now-mayor Samwise Gamgee for his service during the War of the Ring. I'm ascertaining from the description that the game's chapters may be told in the form of anecdotal flashbacks from that party in Hobbiton, where players will engage in Aragorn's career highlights. Co-op will also arrive in the form of a very familiar wizard, turning Gandalf and Aragorn into an army of two in Fall 2009.
WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCES
A GAME FRANCHISE BASED ON
THE LORD OF THE RINGS LITERARY AND FILM LIBRARY
AND FIRST FRANCHISE TITLE
“THE LORD OF THE RINGS: ARAGORN’S QUEST”
FRANCHISE PLANS INCLUDE GAMES ACROSS MULTIPLE GENRES AND PLATFORMS
Burbank, Calif. – May 28, 2009 – Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment today announced a long-term partnership with The Saul Zaentz Company and New Line Productions, Inc. for literary and film rights to develop and publish games based on The Lord of the Rings trilogy. As part of the game franchise, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment will publish multiple games across many genres designed to appeal to a wide range of unique gamers, including hard-core RPG fans and families. The first game will be The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest, a new third-person action adventure videogame offering an authentic gameplay experience based on The Lord of the Rings that all ages can play together on Wii™, Nintendo DS™, PlayStation®2 and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system in Fall 2009.
“The Lord of the Rings franchise is world renowned for its captivating adventures, and we are creating new experiences in the game space designed to appeal to a wide array of consumer tastes from core to casual,” said Martin Tremblay, President, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest is the first of many different types of games we will be developing with the film and literary rights. It is also the first game allowing kids and their families to interact in their favorite locations and stories from The Lord of the Rings with accessible gameplay.”
“We are looking forward to continuing The Lord of the Rings’ amazing legacy with new videogames that capture and expand upon elements from the trilogy,” said Fredrica Drotos, Business Affairs, The Saul Zaentz Company. “The first title with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest, is set in a colorful, action-filled rendition of Middle-earth that will appeal to new and dedicated fans.”
In The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest, preparations are underway in Hobbiton for a great party to welcome Aragorn, King of Gondor, and honor Samwise Gamgee for his service during the War of the Ring. The children of the town are eager to learn more of this great man and so Samwise, now Mayor, embarks on a tale of the revered warrior, Strider—as Aragorn is known in his Ranger days—and his most valiant battles. Players assume the role of Aragorn and embark on his greatest quests from The Lord of the Rings trilogy as they wield his sword, bow or spear on foot and on horseback through an action-packed gameplay experience. On the Wii platform, two-player co-op gameplay featuring Gandalf will allow kids, families and friends to work together in the heart of the action.
The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest is being developed for Wii™ by Headstrong Games and for Nintendo DS™, PlayStation®2 and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system by TT Fusion. For more information visit www.aragornsquest.com.
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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.tolkienent.com.
About New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema continues to be one of the most successful independent film companies. For more than 40 years, its mission has been to produce innovative, popular, profitable entertainment in the best creative environment. A pioneer in franchise filmmaking, New Line produced the Oscar-winning “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, which is a landmark in the history of film franchises. New Line Cinema is a division of Warner Bros.
About Headstrong Games
Based in the heart of London Headstrong Games Ltd. is part of Kuju Entertainment Ltd. The studio develops for a variety of hardware platforms and is a specialist in producing titles for the Wii™. http://www.headstrong-games.
About TT Fusion
TT Fusion (formerly Embryonic Studios) is a BAFTA award winning game development studio based in Wilmslow, Cheshire, England.
About Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, a division of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, is a premier worldwide publisher, developer, licensor and distributor of entertainment content for the interactive space across all current and future platforms, including console, handheld and PC-based gaming for both internal and third party game titles.
