Redesigned LOTR: The Battle for Middle-Earth II Heading to Xbox 360

[fitbabits]

Thanks, as always, to Gamasutra (http://www.gamasutra.com) for the details (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=7779).

Electronic Arts has announced that The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II, the real-time strategy title set for release on the PC next month, is now also headed for the Xbox 360.

The Xbox 360 version, designed in-house at EA Los Angeles, features what is being touted as a unique and intuitive control scheme by the studio's Vice President of Creative Development, Westwood co-founder Louis Castle.

"People will want to say, 'this is a port,' and well, it is and it isn't," Louis Castle told Gamasutra in an exclusive interview. "It's actually a re-imagining of the core compulsions that the PC games had, and in a way that's inherently intuitive to a console controller. It's a huge undertaking, and we've got a fairly large team working around the clock to make it a quality product."
A re-imagining in the same way that Gus Van Sant's Psycho was a re-imagining of the Alfred Hitchcock classic. Got it.

[Venkman]

I am all for RTS action on a console ever since Starcraft 64 came out. The need a Starcraft DS version next.

Anything LOTR I am a sucker for, and I liked the graphic engine on the PC version. Bonus for me. :)

[dotbomb]

People will want to say, 'this is a port,' and well, it is and it isn't...

It is a port and the PC version will be cheaper (or at least be reduced in price sooner) based on the current trend of 360 games priced at $59.99. I'll buy the PC version.

[Roc Ingersol]

No No, it has a different control scheme.

So it's not like Gus Van Sant's Pyscho at all.
Rather, it's like watching Hitchcock's Psycho on DVD.

[Wonka]

I would love to see someone FINALLY do an RTS on a console that is playable and does not suck. I would love to play a game like that over LIVE!

I REALLY hope they pull this off!

REALLY!

[Knite]

How about NO you freaky Dutch bastards!?



onetwothreeFOURfive.... sixseveneightNINEten....eleven.twelve

[fitbabits]

No No, it has a different control scheme.

So it's not like Gus Van Sant's Pyscho at all.
Rather, it's like watching Hitchcock's Psycho on DVD.
Let me see - a re-imaginig of the game, thus not really the same game. More like a bastard cousin. I would compare it to watching Hitchcok's Psycho with Van Sant's sound and dialogue - or vice versa.

[Reanimated]

Damn... EA is REALLY behind the 360.

American juggernauts ftw.

[Wonka]

Let me see - a re-imaginig of the game, thus not really the same game. More like a bastard cousin. I would compare it to watching Hitchcok's Psycho with Van Sant's sound and dialogue - or vice versa.

How do you know that it will suck? I would avoid making assumptions till you see something about it. I have been saying for years that someone needs to make a *functional* (read as "NOT dumbed down") RTS for a console control scheme.

Why can't it be done?

I see no reason why this could not work as long as someone has the balls to try it and the ingenuity to come up with a new control scheme...

I am pleasantly surprised to see EA actually taking this on. And I think it could pay off big time for them. As long as the control scheme actually works...

[Roc Ingersol]

theoretically, I don't see anything wrong with a 're-imagining'. It's basically just starting with the same premise and keeping the franchise.
For example, the only thing keeping UT from being a 're-imagining' of Doom is the name.

The problems come in when they don't re-imagine all that much.

[fitbabits]

How do you know that it will suck? I would avoid making assumptions till you see something about it. I have been saying for years that someone needs to make a *functional* (read as "NOT dumbed down") RTS for a console control scheme.

Why can't it be done?

I see no reason why this could not work as long as someone has the balls to try it and the ingenuity to come up with a new control scheme...

I am pleasantly surprised to see EA actually taking this on. And I think it could pay off big time for them. As long as the control scheme actually works...
I'm not assuming it will suck, only that the word re-imagining is associated with some dubious results on the part of those doing the re-imagining.

[Roc Ingersol]

And if these guys figure out the RTS control scheme that Works(tm) on a console - I'll give them a pass even if the rest of the game is a byte for byte port.

[goc_sin]

It is a port and the PC version will be cheaper (or at least be reduced in price sooner) based on the current trend of 360 games priced at $59.99. I'll buy the PC version.

I think the extra $10 in the cost will probably the be the development cost of coming up with a control scheme gimmick to bait in suckers. ;)

[TRiLoGY]

based on the current trend of 360 games priced at $59.99. I'll buy the PC version.

Woah, 360 Games are only $59.99 in the US? We pay £50 in the UK which is $88 USD approx (based on current Exchange Rate) :(

[Paltry]

I dont know what the fuck this has to do with psycho but I do know that it cant be a bad thing for people to try somin new

[fitbabits]

I dont know what the fuck this has to do with psycho but I do know that it cant be a bad thing for people to try somin new
Read from the start and you should get it. The key to unlocking this riddle is in the word 're-imagining'.

[Zurik]

And if these guys figure out the RTS control scheme that Works(tm) on a console - I'll give them a pass even if the rest of the game is a byte for byte port.

They have one, its called really slow scrolling with the analog stick. This game might work better than most RTS games because you don't really have a choice where to build anything.

[Sl1pstream]

Woah, 360 Games are only $59.99 in the US? We pay £50 in the UK which is $88 USD approx (based on current Exchange Rate) :(

Yeh, Europe gets ripped off, not only the UK. Same problem over here.

[RainOfTerror]

Here are the first the first two Xbox 360 screens (http://www.worthplaying.com/article.php?sid=31093), in HD.

[fitbabits]

Here are the first the first two Xbox 360 screens (http://www.worthplaying.com/article.php?sid=31093), in HD.
The sense of scale seems off in the first shot - the units look like they could climb over the wall!

[Nath5000]

Awesome finally a real RTS game comes to a console and for the first time in High Definition. N64 had like command and conquer which used the expansion pack but the controls werent that great. Im glad that we'll see a decent one come to the console now. Maybe this will inspire other developers/publishers to put other RTS games on consoles like Age Of Empires 3,Black and White 2, Star Wars Empire at War etc.

[Montolio]

Hugo Weaving voice work, Dwarven army at my command from the couch, Xbox Live battles with friends...bring it on.

[Paltry]

Woah, 360 Games are only $59.99 in the US? We pay £50 in the UK which is $88 USD approx (based on current Exchange Rate)

Oh my god whats minimum wage

[overdrivechao]

RTS on console= crap.
But at least they are trying to make some 360 games.
Ups for that.

[absolut taco]

Now we need a brand new Command & Conquer for the 360. I can see the thumbsticks working well to rotate the view and moving around the battlefield. The lack of resolution might be a problem though.

[Librum]

Never have seen an RTS-style game on a console that I cared for - though there are very few console games at all that I've cared for, but I'm really hoping that changes with the 360. However, this will be like Oblivion, for me - buying it for my PC anyway.

[ECM]

This game might work better than most RTS games because you don't really have a choice where to build anything.

This is actually completely wrong--it's an RTS just as much as WC3 this time around.

[Captain Awesome]

Oh, EA

What platform won't you infect?

[Zanzibar]

Battlezone III on X360!!! First-person RTS FTW!

[Paltry]

omg zanzibar you are a genius and i want your bod

[Crabby]

They have one, its called really slow scrolling with the analog stick. This game might work better than most RTS games because you don't really have a choice where to build anything.

Well, in BFME 2 you can build anywhere...uh-oh...

[mister_slim]

Does anyone else find that the 'completely new control scheme' and the 'exact same game and gameplay' ideas conflict? EA does do some good interface work (and I have a lot of respect for Louis Castle), but this seems like a cash-grab.