You know you can never go wrong with an LotR game that lets you play as an Ent. I mean - how cool is that?! Yay for spreading wanton destruction as a walking, talking tree! Watch out for next year then: Pandemic Studios just announced over the presswire that LotR: Conquest will be released simultaneously for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC, and DS on January 9 of next year. Check out a new trailer (and some old screens) in the full article.

 Pandemic studios has been known to take its sweet time as it teases fans about its upcoming releases. Such isn't the case today as a lot more than hints about their upcoming games has been dropped. The devs have confirmed that they're working on a new game called The Lord of the Rings: Conquest and its set for launch late this year. Read the full article and see some of the early details.

Due to unfavorable business circumstances, Stormfront Studios was forced to shut down, leaving its 33 employees wandering about looking for new work. It's always sad to hear news like this, especially when the studio already worked on notable franchises such as The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Eragon (Xbox 360, PSP, PC) and other games. More in the full article.

Staying true to their irreverent and satirical nature, Electronic Arts' The Simpsons Game (Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, PSP, Nintendo Wii, and DS) comes up with even more funny video game spoofs in a movie trailer-like video featuring America's favorite yellow-skinned family. This time Homer, Marge and Maggie find themselves in the magical world of Neverquest, a massively multiplayer mockery of many fantasy-based games.

Right off the bat, you'll see that this part of the game includes a myriad of tributes spoofs to titles as The Lord of the Rings series, the Gauntlet platformer and, of course, the Everquest MMORPG. Homer takes the role as the token fighter of the game, while Marge plays the proverbial mage of the party (or in her own words: "I'm like Gandalf, but sexy"). Suffice to say the video captures the essence of everything that marks the series as a certified Simpsons classic.

We don't want to give too much away since the video itself is just a priceless piece of Simpsons art. Anyway, everyone can expect The Simpsons Game when it ships onto every platform this October 30. In the meantime, enjoy the video!

In an official announcement heralded via press wire, Ubisoft proudly touted their agreement with Twentieth Century Fox on developing a video game adaptation of James Cameron's "Avatar," a feature film that would realign the filmmaker firmly within the Hollywood blockbuster types.

 

Cameron, known for his renderings of "Titanic," "True Lies," "The Abyss," "Aliens," "The Terminator," and "Terminator 2: Judgement Day," is now recreating a new, surreal world on the Earth-like paradise of Alpha Centauri. The stories plot places an ex-Marine between physical conflicts occurring among life forms, called the Na'Vi, and emotional conflicts stirring within himself, as he struggles to conform his human mind inside an alien body.

And with special effects veterans WETA Digital ("The Lord of the Rings," "King Kong") contracted by Cameron to create a captivating alien world complete with photo-realistic sceneries, life and cultural detail into the highly-anticipated motion picture, he is giving Ubisoft complete freedom to develop the game independent of the movie experience. Cameron himself stated:

I told the Ubisoft team I wanted them to be free to do their very best work, and not think of this as a movie-based game. They responded with a fully realized presentation which captured the soul of the world and the characters, while promising to be a knockout game on its own terms. Their passion inspired my confidence that they are going to do something transcendental.

With more than six months to go, Ubisoft plans to release the game simultaneously with the motion picture's premier on May 2009. But on which platform the game will be released has not been stated officially, beckoning us to reconsider a multi-platform release as with all other movie-based game releases. More on the genre and other details of the game as they roll in.

 Since when is being bad, er, bad? Not in Overlord, we assure you. Triumph Studios has hit the nail right on the head by capitalizing on the universal fact that evil is more exciting than good and taking a ride on the whole anti-hero bandwagon.

Like a lot of you out there, we were delighted when we finally had the chance to download the Codemasters demo of the game for the PC and the Xbox 360. We must say that we weren't disappointed and the demo got us lusting for more power than ever.

The story puts you in the iron boots of a mysterious masked character who awakens with the powers of an overlord. Sadly, you don't exactly have a castle with scantily-clad coquettes catering to your every whim, just yet. Don't fret though - you've got a gang of naughty goblins to shoe in for the lovelies.

You will realize that your tall, proud Dark Tower is falling apart and you need to do some serious housekeeping and remodeling to make the crib more pleasant. Then again, you just woke up and you're flat-down broke, so you have to seek out some peaceful villages for "donations."

With your posse of fine goblins, you seek out villages, pillage them dry and if you're lucky, take home some hot peasant girls to help you at home. Unfortunately, you've got some competition in town. The past "heroes" of the land who slew your predecessor have themselves been corrupted by fame and power and are now abusing the peasants themselves. There's room for only one peasant tormentor in town and there ain't no way we're passing up the role, right?

Essentially you can play the game two ways: evil, or downright freakin' evil. This will reflect on how the peasants treat you. You know you've been protecting the people's interests if you march into town and see them cheering. However, you know you've been real nasty if they're offering their virgin daughters just to keep your head cool.

    

While visually this isn't the most stunning thing to show up on the PC or Xbox 360, we think the visuals are good enough to be competitive in this generation of gaming. The devs did the right thing by adding premium to gameplay. From this demo, we can already tell that we're going to have one deep gaming experience when the game finally gets released. Learning spells, summoning the different minion types, upgrading your gear and improving the Dark Tower are just some of the things you'll be busy with.

But without a doubt, the real fun in Overlord comes from the gamer himself. Nothing is more satisfying than living the tyrannical dreams that most of us have but can never do in real life. It's so much like Lord of the Rings except that you're Sauron. Or maybe something to the context but not the gameplay of Disgaea. Whatever the case is, we give the Overlord demo its props and we'll be waiting for the whole package with painful anticipation.

Not wanting to separate the player from the game as soon as the next big cinematics rolls in, Bungie had "travelled the road less taken," making a whole new "difference" in the cinematic feel to the story. According to their recent weekly update, instead of popping a CG-rendered cinematic sporting alienated detail to further the plot, a special cinematics engine, similar to the game's engine, will do the hard work.

How would it pass for quality? As Bungie puts it, the increased detail for characters in Halo 3 now sports not only proper lip syncing, but also facial expressions to go with it. In fact, Bungie says the models are well modeled and animated that Bungie's Lee Wilson commented on one memorable female character (ahem), bluntly stating, "She ort to ‘ave ‘er shaders fixed, or she don’t arf look nude. I don’t mind the raspberry ripples meself, but Mrs. Wilson would ‘ave a roight fit."

Now you know how disappointed Bungie was with their rather haphazard end-development rush for Halo 2, and they wanted to reassure us fans that Halo 3 has been given ample time for proper development. They've also got an assortment of cinematics experts and animators who've worked on movies like "Shrek," "King Kong," "Lord of the Rings" (on Gollum particularly).

They're already testing out the animations and recorded voice synchronizations, so that might just be the signal that the game is nearing completion. And it's about time, too. Can't wait for it? Neither can we!

For the girl gamers out there looking for ways to let your voice be heard, we're announcing a poll just for you. Gamergirlsradio.com, Gameinatrix.com and the KRT Ladies have just announced the opening of their Girl Gamer Awards poll, which is your chance to say which your favorite game is, be it for the console (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii), portable (DS, PSP), or PC.

Winners of this poll will be granted the "Girl Gamer Approved" seal, with this poll hopefully increasing awareness among publishers and developers regarding what sort of products women involved in the gaming industry want.

The polls begin this March 28, and will run until April 29. Voting will be conducted at the Gameinatrix site, although the ladies are also suggested to check out the awards nominees in the list below:

Platformer

• New Super Mario Brothers
• Loco Roco
• Elebits
• Yoshi’s Island
• Rayman Raving Rabbids

RPG/Action/Adventure

• Zelda:Twilight Princess
• Dreamfall: The Longest Journey
• Oblivion:Elder Scrolls

FPS

• Gears of War
• Rainbow 6: Vegas
• Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter
• Call of Duty 3

Game of the Year

• Viva Pinata
• The Sims 2
• Gears of War
• Rainbow 6:Vegas
• Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter

The full list awaits after the jump!

 

As if the world of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion wasn't big and immersive enough, here comes the second expansion pack for the spectacular next-gen first person RPG that promises to add at least 30 more hours of new gameplay.

In Elder Scrolls IV: The Shivering Isles, you take a sidestep on your quest to restore the rightful ruler of Tanriel to visit the realm of Sheogorath, the Prince of Madness. The expansion is packed with new locales, side-quests and new non-player characters to aid you in your adventure. You may choose to start a new game or visit the isles with your character from previous games to penetrate the nooks and crannies of this exotic and mysterious new realm.

The game also features the star talents of actor Sean Bean, famous for his role in "GoldenEye 007" and "Lord Of the Rings" as he does the voice of Emperor Martin Septim. He says "it had a really good story" and that the game's "a good, stylish and successful piece of work and if a sequel came by I'd definitely be up for that."

The screens are impressive, to nobody's surprise just as the case was in Oblivion and Knights of the Nine. Click the thumbnails below for a full view of the shots.

 

Electronic Arts indefinitely suspended the production of The Lord of the Rings: The White Council while they are "looking at the creative positioning and feature set on the Lord of the Rings franchise." Decoded, the statement would probably mean: "We are reviewing the LOTR licenses."

EA CFO Warren Jenson reassured an analyst that the game has only been put on hold when asked whether or not the RPG game slated for the PS3, 360 and PC has been cancelled.

Does this confirm the rumors? Unfortunately not anymore solid than the last one. Jenson added, "The Lord of the Rings product is back in development in terms of being on hold." Does that mean it was on hold and now it's back in development? Or it was about to get cancelled and EA decided to resume its production but paused it?

While EA is reviewing the license and what they could do with it (which includes selling it to other publishers) the game's production will be halted for about two more years. Yes, you heard that right the first time: two years. The game will not be coming out during EA's current financial year, which ends March 31, 2008. There is speculation that the game may never see the light of day again.

Oh, woe is the 'morrow of mankind...