LOTR 360 demo today

By Tom Bramwell Published 13 July, 2006

Plus, NCAA for US/Canada.

Xbox 360 owners who've dispensed with yesterday's Frogger release and picked their way through all the other recent demos might want to check in with Live Marketplace anyway later - as a Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II demo is likely to make an appearance.

That's according to GameSpot, which reports that a demo is due out today - although there's no sign of it at the time of publication - featuring single and one-on-one multiplayer elements.

The Battle for Middle-earth II is a 360 port of the PC real-time strategy game of the same name, and, conscious that RTS is an unusual genre for consoles, EA is planning to include a tutorial so you can find your way around the controller a bit, along with the first mission of the War in the North campaign.

And, if you're reading this in the US or Canada, you might also be interested to learn that EA has put up a demo of NCAA Football 07 for 360s in the US and Canada, too.

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 (16) Latest comment 6 years ago

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

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #1 6 years ago

    Another PC game ported to 360 Hurray!

    /sarcasm off

  • Carpathian #2 6 years ago

    I'm always put off by these games as I find the first few "starter" levels great fun then the difficulty ramps up and you have to be like an octopus to control everything.

    This has had me curious though, both due to the content and the general good word said for it. I've just not wanted to splash out on it until trying it for myself.

    Therefore, the demo, it has to be said, couldn't come at a better time for me !!

    /makes mental note to grab it tonight

  • gizmo #3 6 years ago

    Watched the demo walkthrough last night and its lookes really, really good.

    They obviously thought very carefully about mapping the controls to the 360 and it seemed very easy to select/command etc.

    And the graphics, shadows and animation look beautiful.

  • jlaakso #4 6 years ago

    The only RTS games I've enjoyed are Ground Control (without the goddamn base-busting it would've been ace) and the Total War games. I played Warcraft III some, but it's just stupid, the only challenge is fighting against the interface to see if you can issue orders to your dumb troops faster than the opposition.

    Here's to hoping this is good. Penny Arcade wasn't exactly enthusiastic about it.

    In related news, nothing wrong with PC ports. I couldn't be bothered to upkeep a games-playing PC anymore, so I'll gladly take the better PC offerings on the 360, too. (Bring on FEAR.)

  • lurcher #5 6 years ago

    I've been watching this one with interest to see if they can make it work. Looks promising; 80ish review average, and a pile of of positive player reviews - check GameSpot for example.

    Main complaints seem to be slowdown when it gets busy and some glitches with online (surprise!) when it first came out.

    Sounds like they've come up with controls that work, which bodes well for this type of game on console even if this one in particular's not your cup of tea.

  • Darren #6 6 years ago

    Well since HMV still haven't dispatched my copy yet (and they take 3 days to deliver anyway), the news of the demo's imminent arrival means at least I can try the game over the weekend. I'd normally have pre-ordered the game from Gameplay.com but I took advantage of a discount code and ordered it from HMV for 'just' £32.

  • Zero Beat #7 6 years ago

    And the graphics, shadows and animation look beautiful.

    If you like low res monstrosities with edges that shiver!

  • lurcher #8 6 years ago

    Yea, shadows were a bit dodgy on the PC version too, even on high detail.

  • darkbhudda #9 6 years ago

    Any word on whether this demo will actually run properly for us ? One demo won't run via the VGA cable and another crashes my 360. I'd like to know before I waste any more bandwidth.
    I'm getting a little tired of PAL Regionairres disease.

  • potatoes #10 6 years ago

    noooo. dont start spreading rumours like that... let the demos just come out without the bated breath for days on end.

  • lurcher #11 6 years ago

    It's out, apparently. Can't check from here...

  • potatoes #12 6 years ago

    i'll just be in the next room eating my words.

  • Jeepers #13 6 years ago

    It's out now, am downloading at a reasonable pace.

  • bloodflowers #14 6 years ago

    Shame, I was looking forward to this, but its impossible to see wtf is going on when you're moving around quickly. If they'd even managed 30fps it would have been fine, but this is considerably slower with lots of irregularity and jumping.

  • Darren #15 6 years ago

    I downloaded the demo late last night so I only had a quick go on it. I was very impressed with it, the controls work well and it looks very sharp visually. Oh and it works in VGA just fine... now if only HMV would sent me my bloody copy of the game... :x

  • NthSimulachum #16 6 years ago

    Been playing the demo, great fun! Brings back memories of Red Alert, the controls are great(once you get the hang of them), the graphics are lovely(only minor niggle is the aliasing on the stencil shadows), and multiplayer is a blast.

    Definitely getting this rather than prey.