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[Nirolak]

Probably not overwhelmingly surprising given that all the WB Seattle studios have been working on Lord of the Rings games.

On his CV, a Seattle-based artist says the worked on storyboards for a AAA Lord of the Rings title at Monolith/WB Seattle last December and January following the release of Monolith's download-only LOTR MOBA Guardians of Middle-Earth. Given Monolith's recent emphasis on licensed games such as Guardians and Gotham City Impostors, Monolith handling another licensed title is hardly a surprise.

What might be a bit of surprise, however, is Monolith seemingly venturing back into AAA territory following layoffs and the studio's recent duo of smaller download-only titles. In early May, job postings revealed that the Seattle area studio is working on a cross-generation, quest-based open-world AAA action-adventure game.

Tolkien rights holders The Saul Zaentz Company recently registered a number of game-related trademarks and domains for "Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor," and those could very well fit Monolith's project. Monolith's title is likely still quite a bit away, but The Saul Zaentz Company registered trademarks for War in the North — the last AAA LOTR title — two years in advance of the game's release.

Source: http://kotaku.com/the-strange-prey-2-situation-1134835391

 

[shinobi602]

I'm not too big into the LOTR games but I remember playing a couple of them on my OG Xbox and loved the hell out of them. Really fun brawler type combat and they had pretty good production values.

This could be good.

 

[Eyothrie]

Not to be confused with MonolithSoft (Xenoblade, X)

 

[majik13]

Not to be confused with MonolithSoft (Xenoblade, X)

thought this at first.

 

[Richie]

Got it mistaken with Monolith Soft and MAN

 

[Shaanyboi]

Not to be confused with MonolithSoft (Xenoblade, X)

But could you imagine? That would be insanity

 

[kittens]

Not to be confused with MonolithSoft (Xenoblade, X)

I made that exact mistake, and came in here thinking "WTF??"

 

[Nirolak]

thought this at first.

Got it mistaken with Monolith Soft and MAN

Seriously, are you guys drunk?

It's a Lord of the Rings cross-gen game.

How on earth would it be from a Nintendo subsidiary?

 

[Seik]

Woah, I didn't know there was actually 2 'Monolith' studios.

Seriously, are you guys drunk?

It's a Lord of the Rings cross-gen game.

How on earth would it be from a Nintendo subsidiary?

When you don't know two studios exists, a man can wonder.

 

[Eyothrie]

Seriously, are you guys drunk?

It's a Lord of the Rings cross-gen game.

How on earth would it be from a Nintendo subsidiary?

Perhaps because the dev teams share the same name?

 

[Deleted member 80556]

It's pretty sad to see how Monolith fell after being purchased by Warner. And they made one of the best horror games of a generation. Now they're just stuck making games Warner wants them to do.

But hey AAA LOTR game! Hope it's a revival of The White Council.

 

[cosmicblizzard]

Seriously, are you guys drunk?

It's a Lord of the Rings cross-gen game.

How on earth would it be from a Nintendo subsidiary?

Cross-gen could mean Wii/Wii U. Obviously no one sane would do that, but it's possible.

 

[Devilgunman]

Can we have another Battle for Middle-earth please? Never had enough of that game.

 

[Nirolak]

Perhaps because the dev teams share the same name?

Well one is Monolith and the other is Monolithsoft...

 

[Stumpokapow]

Perhaps because the dev teams share the same name?

They don't, actually.

 

[Nibel]

Seriously, are you guys drunk?

It's a Lord of the Rings cross-gen game.

How on earth would it be from a Nintendo subsidiary?

Iwata likes to Troll

 

[zroid]

Can't help it... anytime I see "Monolith" or "X"... the mind does play tricks.

 

[Eyothrie]

They don't, actually.

No doubt. But ppl do refer to MonolithSoft casually as "Monolith", so I can see how some get confused

 

[ec0ec0]

Its 3.24 am here in spain and i dont know if it was because I'm half asleep but when i read the title i thought that i was reading the biggest new of the year and at the same time "it cant be, the would have made a huge conference for it, even a nintendo direct would not be enough..." but its not...

 

[ec0ec0]

But could you imagine? That would be insanity

more than insanity...

 

[XANDER CAGE]

Oh shit, yes please. One of the greatest disappointments of my teen years was the cancellation of White Council.

 

[jj984jj]

Aren't they the only part of WB Seattle now that Snowblind was closed/merged into their company?

 

[Ein Bear]

It's Condemned 3, set in Middle Earth. You play as Gandalf, and beat Elf-Tramps to death with your staff in the alleyways of Gondor.

 

[Succinct Verbosity]

I'd love a new hack and slash Lord of the Rings games that EA gave us... Honestly, it was the closest thing to a 3D Golden Axe we've ever had.

 

[TheSeks]

Please be a "Fourth Age"/Third Age sequel. It's a crime that didn't get a sequel even if it was a knock-off of FFX.

 

[Creaking]

I'm not too big into the LOTR games but I remember playing a couple of them on my OG Xbox and loved the hell out of them. Really fun brawler type combat and they had pretty good production values.

This could be good.

The Two Towers and Return of the King were two of the finest licensed games ever made.

 

[badgenome]

Can we have another Battle for Middle-earth please? Never had enough of that game.

I'll second that. Loved both of them.

That said, it bums me out that these guys are masters of horror and get stuck making licensed games now.

 

[Mileena]

They need to make a Two Towers PS2 style game again. Legolas was top tier as fuck.

 

[nacimento]

Can we have another Battle for Middle-earth please? Never had enough of that game.

Only in a perfect world. The first was soooo good...

 

[A Serious Man]

A honest-to-god RPG would be nice.

 

[Brad Grenz]

I really liked War in the North (although I couldn't finish the game because the game became unstable on PC in the late levels) and I understand some of the remaining Snowblind staff were rolled into Monolith. I'd love to see a Next Gen Middle Earth.

 

[Loxley]

Fucking finally, WB Interactive have been doing almost nothing with the license outside of Guardians and War in the North. I'm not going to bother counting that Hobbit iOS/Android game.

Hoping for an open world RPG along the lines of Dragon's Dogma.

 

[Poetic.Injustice]

Open world RPG please. Not co-op focused like war in the north.

 

[RiccochetJ]

I love Gotham City, had a good time with Guardians and thought F.E.A.R. 1 and 2 were pretty great games.

Glad to see that they're once again venturing into full fledged titles again, but I hope they don't abandon the $15 titles because they were pretty damned great.

 

[Zoon]

I am still waiting for that open world lotr game.

 

[majik13]

Seriously, are you guys drunk?

It's a Lord of the Rings cross-gen game.

How on earth would it be from a Nintendo subsidiary?

key word "at first" like when you read somethign cursory. And then soon after take in the details. like "cross gen". Even if I think it is Monolith Soft that is being discussed doesn't mean I would believe it is or that that thread info is true, especially with the word "seemingly" in the title. Still, I was not aware of any other Monolith titled game company.

That how I thought it was Monolith Soft at first....on earth.

 

[maquiladora]

A Witcher 3 style game set in the LOTR universe would be incredible. Pls.

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

I like the dev and the general idea of what they are going for. I'll be watching this one.

 

[Nirolak]

key word "at first" like when you read somethign cursory. And then soon after take in the details. like "cross gen". Even if I think it is Monolith Soft that is being discussed doesn't mean I would believe it is or that that thread info is true, especially with the word "seemingly" in the title. Still, I was not aware of any other Monolith titled game company.

That how I thought it was Monolith Soft at first....on earth.

Fair enough.

 

[TheLegendOfMart]

Just give me a next gen White Council game that EA canned, thanks.

 

[ReaperXL7]

I would love for this to be a big expansive rpg with createable main character, and an open middle earth to explore. Instead it will likely end up a first person shooter, or some conjuror of cheap tricks.

I would kill for a good LOTR game.

 

[foxuzamaki]

I make it a point to call monolithsoft, monolithsoft now instead of casually monolith because of this