Blu-Ray.com Forum

August 2007

 

It has been confirmed that The Lord of the Rings: The White Council will be a single-player RPG. EA, the company which has the rights to both the books and movies, will be basing the game on the Lord of the Rings books and will be using design-elements from the movie. Eurogamer states that locations which will be used in the game include Rivendell and Grey Havens. The article described a trailer thusly:
"Gray concluded the presentation by showing off a rather spanky trailer, complete with obligatory voiceover by Gandalf about how dark times are on the way and it's all going to kick off in Middle-Earth quite soon. There are plenty of sweeping landscapes and quaint forest glades that look like they've been taken straight out of the films, with an excellent level of detail. Major characters look just like their movie counterparts, too, and the animations are very realistic; in short, The White Council trailer is really rather impressive."

The Epic
It has also been confirmed that the game is set 80 years before the happenings before the Lord of the Rings books and movies, way before Gollum's mad obsession and when Aragon is only a 10 year old child.

Players will be able to create and build up a character in order to become an agent of the While Council, a council of elders which includes Gandalf, Galadriel and a Saruman who has yet to turn evil as members. After becoming an agent, players will then complete tasks and rid Middle-Earth of evil.

Developers
According to an article on Eurogamer, the development team will be the same one which developed the games to The Two Towers and Return of the King; "LOTR fans, [who are] determined to stay true to the spirit of the source material."

The game's current producer, Steve Gray, also lead development for The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, and it has been confirmed that the films' stars, which include Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Hugo Weaving (Elrond), Cate Blanchett (Galadriel), and Christopher Lee (Saruman), will be voicing the game-counterparts to their movie