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Middle-Earth Online (MEO) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) set in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth during the time of The Lord of the Rings. It is being developed by Turbine Entertainment Software for publisher Vivendi Universal Games and, while the release date has yet to be announced, it is expected to launch in 2005.
Setting
MEO is set during the The Fellowship of the Ring after Frodo and Company escape the mines of Moria. Players will be able to meet characters from Tolkien's story and can even influence the quest to destroy the One Ring. The four playable races will be Dwarves, Elves, Hobbits, and Men. MEO is explicitly based on the books, not Peter Jackson's movies.
Development
Sierra On-Line first announced the development of a licensed, Middle-earth MMORPG in 1998. This caused some excitement among fans, who were awaiting The Lord of the Rings movies, and was also slightly controversial for a few design decisions. The most debated design idea was the planned use of "permadeath": When a player character would die in the game, that character would be permanently dead (most MMORPGs resurrect a dead character with minor penalties). Sierra had financial troubles in 1999 and replaced the staff working on the game.
Sierra continued to confirm development on the MMORPG was progressing, but did not release any development details over the next few years. Vivendi Universal Games, the parent company of Sierra, secured eight-year rights to produce computer and video games based on the The Lord of the Rings books in 2001. Finally, Vivendi announced an agreement with Turbine in 2003 to produce Middle-Earth Online (at that time expected to be released in 2004).
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