An official E3 list covering debut titles has revealed a new multiplatform Lord of the Rings game called Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest. The hardcore LotR fans may want to be a bit wary of this one, though, as it's apparently targeted towards kids.

Recent data released by the NPD Group suggest online gaming subscriptions in the U.S. turn in over US$ 1 billion a year. Worldwide phenomenon World of Warcraft and popular website Pogo.com help boost the industry's revenue. See the full article for details.

 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.

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.

 For the gamers out there who have a penchant for buying collector's editions (limited editions, and other editions other than the standard one), here's another title for you to watch out for. It's Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Gold Edition.

2K Games and Firaxis Games' strategy video game allows players to literally take over the world. The Gold Edition for this empire building video game will include Sid Meier’s Civilization IV and the first expansion, Civilization IV: Warlords. As with all special editions, this release will also pack a number of additional stuff:

• Exclusive fantasy-style poster from world-famous artist Greg Hildebrandt (illustrator of the original "Star Wars", fantasy-themed "Clash of the Titans" movie poster, "Lord of the Rings" calendars and posters and other seminal artwork)
• Behind-the-scenes DVD with developer interviews, insight into the Civilization IV development process and a short feature on Sid Meier’s video game history
• Tech-tree poster featuring the paths to researching and discovering all of the technologies needed to advance in Civilization IV
• Civilization IV Game Manual

Christoph Hartmann, President of 2K had this to say about the Gold Edition's release:

Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Gold Edition is a great way to get into the award-winning Civilization IV series. Gamers will now have the chance to change the course of world history and relive battles from every era of the past with both Civilization IV games in one box – in stores just in advance of the highly anticipated second Civ IV expansion pack, Beyond the Sword.

Interested? You won't have to wait long for the Gold Edition as its release is only a few winks away (July 17).

 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.

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!

For a J.R.R. Tolkien geekmeister, if there's anything better then getting a full set of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy (+ "The Hobbit"), it's probably getting a full set of LOTR: The Battle for Middle-earth on PC. It's quite a big franchise that's been kept alive by Electronic Arts across the years. And surely, even some of the fans might have missed out on some installments in the series.

Well, just in case you want to eat, drink, and breathe LOTR for the next couple of weeks/months, EA just announced their shipping of the LOTR: The Battle for Middle-Earth Anthology. It's be on sale March 22. This compilation (worth for only US$ 39.99) puts together all of the installments in the series, namely:

• The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth
• The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II
• The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II Collector's Edition
• The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch King.

While the first two in the list could have been enough, it's glad to see the Collector's Edition and Rise of the Witch King tagging along for the ride. The Collector's Edition gives players access to limited special content, including "behind the scenes" features, various exclusive maps, and control over an exclusive fire-breathing Dragon unit on the battlefield.

 

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.