Electronic Arts announced that it has acquired the rights to develop two more games based around J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy.The company plans to develop The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth II, sequel to the popular real-time strategy PC game. They are also working on The Lord of the Rings Tactics for Sony's PSP, this is purportedly a role-playing game for the portable games machine.
The Battle for Middle-Earth II will enable players to battle armies of elves and dwarves, while Tactics for the PSP will let players lead either the fellowship of the ring or the evil forces of Mordor. Players can guard their favorite heroes, seize the high ground, and set ambushes for hobbits, wizards, and other annoyances. EA signed the deal with Saul Zaentz's Tolkien Enterprises, which licenses merchandise based on the Tolkien books and the films made by Time Warner's New Line Cinema. But itÂs not an exclusive deal. Turbine has the rights to develop massively multiplayer online games based on the Rings trilogy.
Nevertheless, the deal will build on EA's success in the game market. The original version of The Battle for Middle-Earth was the No. 1 game in its category last holiday season. The Redwood City, California, company has also made some of the top-selling PSP games since the PSP's debut last spring, including Need for Speed: Underground Rivals.
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