Trailer Time: Middle-earth Shadow of Mordor “Make Them Your Own” Trailer (2014) PLUS Pre-Order and Gameplay Details

Releasing just one week before Batman Arkham Knight is my second most anticipated game of the fall (which is looking to be a packed gaming season) Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor.  The kind of AI learning and variability this game promises is something that I can’t wait to get my hands on.  Plus, it takes place in a region of Middle-Earth we’ve never gotten to explore very much in video games because of it being a blasted wasteland by the time Lord of the Rings occurs.  I can’t wait to range through Mordor when the game releases on October 7, 2014.

Trailer Time: Middle-earth Shadow of Mordor (2014) PLUS Pre-Order and Gameplay Details

I had read Game Informer’s feature on this a few months ago and pre-ordered it immediately, but now having seen the trailer I cannot wait to get my hands on this.  Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor and Batman Arkham Knight were the kind of games I was expecting from next generation consoles and that both of these are releasing in October 2014, means I am going to be strapped to my Xbox One the entire month.  Here’s the release and details from WB Interactive:

Outstanding Middle-earth Art from Matt Ferguson – The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings

Artist Matt Ferguson has created these amazing pieces of Middle-earth art: The Hobbit piece entitled “There and Back Again and the Lord of the Rings piece entitled “One Ring to Rule Them All”.  If you like Ferguson’s work, click here to order prints from his online store and check out his thoughts on the pieces after the break.

Movie Review: The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey Extended Edition (2013)

It is one of the great bafflements of my time as a movie reviewer that I actually have to defend the first installment of The Hobbit trilogy.  I’ve never been more dumbstruck by critical backlash than I have been over the reception An Unexpected Journey received.  I don’t want to spend my entire review on it, so let’s play whack-a-mole with the most parroted complaints.

Gandalf vs. Balrog Art (YOU SHALL NOT PASS!)

This fantastic piece is by artist Mark Lone and captures my favorite part of The Fellowship of the Ring: the showdown between Gandalf and the Balrog on the Bridge of Khazad-dum.  If you read the Silmarillion, which chronicles the 3,000 years before The Hobbit, you’ll read about Sauron’s lord, Morgoth, who had entire armies of Balrogs.  I don’t think we’ll ever get to see that visual onscreen, but it gives me geeky glee to contemplate.