Warner Brothers Announces Guardians of Middle-earth For Xbox 360, PS3

Warner Bros. recently announced via press release Guardians of Middle-earth, a Lord of the Rings MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena). It is being developed by Monolith for PS3 and Xbox 360, and is being released exclusively for download.

Guardians of Middle-earth looks to follow the same formula, with 5v5 multiplayer battles raged across a multi-lane map, where teams seek to destroy the other team, capture outposts, or engage in various other objective-based missions. The appeal is, clearly, the setting; according to the press release, “The game offers more than 20 iconic guardians, including Gandalf, Sauron, Gollum, Thráin and many more, for players to control in player versus player (PVP) matches.” Whether these will simply be LotR characters battling on themed maps or based off of specific battles is yet to be announced.

“The MOBA genre is wildly popular with PC players and we are excited to bring it to consoles through the lore of Middle-earth,” said Samantha Ryan, Senior Vice President, Production and Development at WBIE. “The heroes and villains of Middle-earth are crafted in a way that perfectly intersects with MOBA game features, allowing the development team to create guardians with deep skills and abilities for gamers to master.”

Guardians of Middle-earth is set to release this fall for $11.99 or 1200 Microsoft Points.