Lord of the Rings MMO dated

By Tom Bramwell Published 26 January, 2007

Plus UK pre-order details.

The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of Angmar is set to launch across Europe on 24th April, Codemasters said this morning.

The news comes hot on the heels of yesterday's "Founder's Program" announcement, with European pricing details now available: all those who pre-order at a special rate of GBP 99.99 will receive a "lifetime membership", rather than having to pay a subscription fee. Or, if you prefer to do it that way after all, you could pay just GBP 5.99 per month as part of a six-month package.

Choosing either of those pre-order routes into the game also nets you early access to the game (for ten whole days), as well as the ability to use that pre-launch character in the full game, and a unique in-game bonus item. You also get six Lord of the Rings Online stickers and a special window sticker. Woot.

"It's exciting to announce the release date for what is going to be one of the top PC releases of the year," said Codemasters Online Gaming's David Solari, who sounds a bit bored. "The Founder's Program offers gamers some amazing benefits when choosing how to start their adventure in this landmark title. April is going to be the month when everyone moves to Middle-earth!" Oh David - we're already there.

Head over to the LOTRO Europe website for more pre-order details.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (15) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • The_Aardvark #1 5 years ago

    I will be very surprised if this makes it past two years.

    The whole 'lifetime subscription' deal suggests to me that the Codies don't have that much faith in it either.

  • rudedudejude #2 5 years ago

    A Codemasters mmo in which you can commit to a lifetime subscription?

    An interesting marketing idea, driven no doubt by their lack in confidence of keeping customers playing the game for more than a couple of months.

    They must realise, that if an mmorpg is good, people don't have a problem paying monthly for it.

  • YoJimbo #3 5 years ago

    Codies are just trying to 'smash and grab' as much cash as they can of people before they realise that SHOCK HORROR...Its another god awful Codies MMO

    "In April everyone will be coming to Middle Earth" - gimme a break, they may come and have a look...but they will all be running away come the following morning

  • Wendelius #4 5 years ago

    This is not a Codemasters specific scheme. LOTRO is a Turbine game and Codemasters is only offering a European equivalent to the Turbine Founder offer.

    That being said, the whole reason I play social games like MMO's is to play with my long time (we've been playing for 10+ years together) friends and guild mates. and those are all over the world, but predominantly in the US.

    So, for me, it really only makes sense to be able to register for the US Founder program and to play on US servers. Which I can't do officially.

    Damn companies for making online games and then cutting you off from your friends. :(

    Wendelius

  • Psi #5 5 years ago

    Wendelius I'm sure you can like setup a pobox or summik stateside for those type of things.

    after talking to friends in the beta its not a bad little game apparently.
    Edited by 1 at 26/01/07 @ 10:52

  • frod. #6 5 years ago

    I'm in the beta and it gets two thumbs up from me - it's super.

  • Eldritch #7 5 years ago

    I wonder where the long-term motivation is supposed to come from.

    Compared to its competition, LOTRO has few races and classes, you can't play on Sauron's side, and nobody knows what happens, when you reach the end of the books' plot.

  • Laserbream #8 5 years ago

    You mean someone else thought of making a character inspired by Legolas as well? How is this possible? Are people reading my mind?

    That aside, I'm fairly skeptical about this game after the limp DDO.

  • dazjo #9 5 years ago

    i have been on the Beta of this game for some time now and i think it is really a very good game, i also think that converting this from an mmo to a single player - oblivion-esque game would be awesome...i love this game. hobbit hobbit hobbit, woof woof woof, bring on Gandalf...horaay woop woop.

  • Freelancepolice #10 5 years ago

    Griiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnddd

  • dazjo #11 5 years ago

    wot u on about griiiiiind, you got the wrong game haven't you?

  • Freelancepolice #12 5 years ago

    never has my post been so accurate

  • frod. #13 5 years ago

    But you get to be a hobbit and spend your entire time baking cakes and shit. What's NOT to like?

  • FunkyRenegade #14 5 years ago

    I'm more interested in Warhammer Online out of this years MMO offerings...
    But LOTRO doesn't look too bad.

  • MrMarbles #15 5 years ago

    "Griiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnddd"

    That's far, far too short.
    Edited by 2 at 29/01/07 @ 08:29