Lord of the Rings Online – Beta Test Sign-up

Kicks off tomorrow, if you like pretending to be a Hobbit

Posted by Staff
As EA apparently exits Middle Earth, Codemasters has just sent word that the European beta test for the much-awaited The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar kicks off tomorrow, Saturday 13th January. Unlucky for some, but hopefully not for Codies first major online venture (yes, we know they’ve done others, but nothing to really write home about to date).

If you are a fan of Tolkien’s fantasy wonderland and fancy pretending to be a hobbit or a ranger or whatever then you can sign up for the game’s first ‘stress’ test via the official website.

"For the first time we will be allowing tens of thousands of people to join the game and test every aspect to the absolute limit," said Jim Brown, producer at Codemasters Online Gaming.

Brown added, "By introducing a great number of new players to the beta, we will be able to gather valuable information on performance of our hardware."

The always affable Scotsman, David Solari, General Manager of Codemasters Online Gaming proffered his ten-penneth worth, saying, “Reaching this stage of the Beta programme is always a great feeling…We hope to have over 200,000 people try The Lord of the Rings Online before the official launch of the game in spring, making it one of the largest beta tests in Europe ever. The commitment and passion of the community involved is huge and it’s great to give many of these loyal fans a taste of the action before we launch.”

While World of Warcraft just continues to grow and grow, it’s probably fair to say that the only other mainstream fantasy IP that could make a sizeable dint in WoW’s apparent dominance of the MMO market is J.R.R. Tolkien’s tale of Soviet invasion and salt-of-the-earth country folk not looking up to their betters proper-like – sorry, Orcs and magic.

To sign up for the beta program and participate in this weekend’s Stress Test, visit Lotro-Europe.com/beta.

Can we be Gollum?

Comments

Gregorybrock 7 Feb 2008 21:32
1/1
Good to see you
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