Official Press Release

Jeff Junge has been named Senior Vice President, Online Games and Digital Games Platforms, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

Junge is charged with driving the growth of Warner Bros.’ burgeoning digital games business. Junge recently led the Studio’s acquisition of Turbine, Inc., one of the largest privately-held online gaming studios in North America, further increasing Warner Bros.’ presence in the online games and direct-to-consumer spaces. As Senior Vice President, Online Games and Digital Games Platforms, Junge will oversee Turbine and will be responsible for the Company’s digital games business. He will also continue to oversee the integration of TT Games, which the Studio acquired in 2007. Beyond games, Junge will work to expand and leverage Turbine’s robust digital publishing and community platforms across all of the Studio’s home entertainment businesses.

[Source]

The LOTRO forums will be pruned on June 1, 2010. Any thread that has not been active in the previous 90 days will be deleted. If you are aware of a guide, resource or other informative thread that should saved, you can do so by making a relevant post into that thread.

Note: Sticky threads, the Hall of Fame, Postcards from Middle-earth, and the J.R.R. Tolkien forum will not be pruned.

[Source]

After the big "Warner Bros - Turbine" announcement many of you have asked what this means for your game experience?

The simple answer is that we don’t expect much to change for the foreseeable future. We remain committed to each of our games as we move forward. This change in corporate ownership is not expected to affect our current product portfolio. We’re still the company that brings you AC, DDO, and LOTRO.

Most importantly, not only do we remain fully committed to our core franchises but will seek to grow them aggressively going forward. We’re looking forward to putting our newfound muscle behind your favorite games as we grow into our new role within the WB family of companies.

Overall, this change is a great thing for Turbine. We’re excited for the future of our games and we hope you’ll share the excitement with us in the months and years ahead.

[Source]

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group announced today the acquisition of Turbine, Inc., the largest privately-held online gaming studio in North America, further strengthening Warner Bros.’ position as one of the industry’s fastest growing, full-scale games publishers.

"Turbine is a leader in online entertainment and a strong strategic fit for Warner Bros. as we continue to broaden our games portfolio and development capabilities," said Kevin Tsujihara, president, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group. "Turbine's renowned online game development and publishing expertise will help us develop additional online product offerings, while also providing us with new and innovative ways to market and communicate with our consumers."

Founded in 1994 and operating primarily in Boston, Turbine has created some of the most popular and exciting gaming worlds on the Internet, including Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited, the world’s best free-to-play massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) and The Lord of the Rings Online, the first and only MMORPG based on the books of J.R.R. Tolkien. Previously, Warner Bros. held all The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) games rights, with the exception of the literary MMO (massively multiplayer online game) rights. Now all games rights for the LOTR franchise will be unified under the Warner Bros. shield.

"We have been looking to expand access to our online worlds to more players and more markets," said Jim Crowley, president and CEO, Turbine, Inc. "This acquisition is very exciting because it allows us to expand globally while continuing to focus on creating spectacular online games that our loyal fans and players have come to expect."

Additionally, the acquisition of Turbine provides Warner Bros. with access to a proprietary digital publishing platform that enables dynamic direct-to-consumer relationships, robust online merchandising opportunities and vibrant e-commerce functionality for online games. Turbine has also developed a social networking platform that can integrate their self-developed online communities with popular third-party social networks. Outside of the games arena, these platforms present unique opportunities for Warner’s other home entertainment businesses.

"Turbine is recognized globally for its industry-leading technology, groundbreaking graphics and its unique ability to create and operate massive and persistent online worlds which greatly enhance players’ social gaming experiences," said Martin Tremblay, president, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. " The Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online have both been an enormous success for Turbine and we look forward to working with their talented development team to continue creating award-winning online games."

In 2007, Warner Bros. acquired TT Games, developer of the hit LEGO-based game franchises, including LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Indiana Jones and LEGO Batman, which have wide appeal with players of all ages. Early in 2009, Warner Bros. acquired Snowblind Studios to develop its The Lord of the Rings games franchise, with the first title The Lord of the Rings: War in the North expected to be released in 2011. Also in 2009, the Studio purchased the primary assets of Midway Games. Midway published the Mortal Kombat franchise, which has sold over 26 million units worldwide. Most recently, Warner Bros. acquired a majority stake in Rocksteady Studios, a privately held developer of interactive entertainment targeted at teens and adults.

Warner Bros. continues to grow its games business through key acquisitions, building internal development capabilities, leveraging its global video distribution infrastructure, and focusing on developing major games franchises such as Batman, F.E.A.R., Mortal Kombat, The Lord of the Rings and LEGO.

[Source]

The LOTRO Game Servers will be brought down on Wednesday, April 21 from 6:00AM - 10:00AM Eastern (-5 GMT) for an update to the game. Patch notes are now available:

Happy Anniversary!

The Anniversary Token Collection event has been revamped! Tokens can now be collected throughout all of Middle-earth. Tokens will now drop from the appropriate monsters as follows:

• Tin Token – level 1-10
• Iron Token – Level 11-21
• Silver Token – Level 22-32
• Gold Token – Level 33-42
• Platinum Token – Level 43-52
• Ancient Silver Token – Level 53-59
• Ancient Gold Token – Level 60-65

Note: Ancient Gold Tokens will drop for Monster Players. These can be exchanged for an Ashen Skull Box. In addition, Free Players may also exchange the Ancient Gold Tokens in the Ettenmoors. These gift boxes will have a slightly different loot pool and will include Spirit Stones as well as Cosmetic Items that will not be available in gift boxes from other vendors. Tokens and Gift Boxes have also been added to the Lottery System! Beginning April 21, check my.lotro.com often for your chance to win tokens, gift boxes and other items!

Writ of Virtue

The Writ of Virtue: This special scroll will show the Bards that you know the value of revelry and celebration! The Writ grants a passive skill that gives you a 20 percent discount with Bards all across Middle-earth. Starting on April 21st and running throughout the celebration, we’re giving all current, new and returning subscribers a special gift: the Writ of Virtue, a reward for loyalty and a steadfast heart. But you have to come to the party to get your gift; make sure to log into the game between April 21 and June 30th for this token of our appreciation. Note: You must have space available in your Character’s inventory for the writ to be granted. Please confirm that you have free space (more than one slot is recommended)available before you log out on Tuesday April 20.

The Spring Festival has returned for a limited time.

Players will be able to complete all the Spring Festival events until April 26. In addition, Will Peartree has returned and will now barter for your choice of Spring Steed or Blue Roan steed at the correct price.

Festivals

The Inn League

• Delivery quests have been revamped!
  • They're now repeatable.
  • Each quest is bestowed in a more centralized location, and does not rely upon finding each NPC out in the world.
  • Each quest now gives negative rep to the Ale Association and Vice-versa. (yeah i went there.)

Spring Festival

• Will Peartree (the festival horse reward vendor at Hengstacer Farm) has seen the error of his ways! He now sells the Document of Mount Ownership for the correct price.
• No more erroneous mail for completing your Spring Sprung Deed!

Summer Festival Sneak Peek

• There is a new horse available for the summer festival: "The Pale Golden Summer Steed."
• New rewards have been added to the Summer Festival, the Inn League faction vendors, and the Ale Association faction vendors.
• A Spring Festival Horse Vendor will be hanging out during the SUMMER festival to extend the offer of rewards that were held up by a bug from the Spring Festival.

[Source]

Turbine has launched the Official Twitter feed for The Lord of the Rings Online! If you want to stay up to date with the latest news and information about The Lord of the Rings Online you can follow Turbine team at http://www.twitter.com/lotro.

Reliance Big Entertainment is a well known company in India in areas such as movies, music, sports, internet and games. A few days ago Codemasters (The Lord of the Rings Online publisher for EU) has confirmed that India's Reliance Big Entertainment has a 50 percent stake in the firm and it's gaming division Zapak  will supervise the Codemasters investment.

Rod Cousens, CEO of Codemasters, said:

The opportunities arising from this partnership are truly exciting. This is great news for our development and publishing teams. Reliance and Zapak have immense resources and will help us realize the full potential of our game coding and online excellence across so many platforms, and especially in the world's fastest growing markets. The future of Codemasters has never looked brighter. It's a whole new game!"

Rohit Sharma, CEO of Zapak 

We are excited to partner with Codemasters and believe it's very strong technology, development and distribution presence will complement our global gaming portfolio. Additionally, Zapak's global strength in mobile gaming will enhance Codemasters' ability to fully leverage its attractive franchises such as its racing and cricket games.

[Source: Develope-online]

As part of this festival, you can barter three leaves for two cookies (Extra Delicious Tasty Biscuits), and each cookie you eat gives you a fortune inside. Collecting all 50 of the numbered fortunes nets you five titles:

1-10: Same Old Song
11-20: the Peculiar
21-30: Writing on the Wall
31-40: the Enlightened
41-50: the Poetical

Not only are these fortunes fun to read, but they can be traded. When you give a fortune to someone else, it progresses their deed. Give them all 10, and you've just shared a title!

[Belisana]

Welcome Back Week from March 25th through March 29th. You do not need to reactivate your account to participate in the Welcome Back Weekend. Your account will automatically be enabled for the event. If your account does not seem to have been reactivated, please try again in a hour or two. It may take time for our servers to update your status.

Some of the new updates you may notice when you come back for the free LOTRO weekend include:

• Volume I Epic Story Revised – the Volume I epic story has been updated to be more solo friendly.
• New Skirmish System – Get action on demand with this innovative new system for 1 to 12 players.***
• Skirmish Duo Mode – Join up with a friend and check out the new two-person mode for most Skirmishes.
• Crafting Update – Enhanced functionality for Jewellers and Cooks, new recipes for Farmers, and new class items for Woodworkers and Weaponsmiths.
• New Stables Masters – Stablemasters have been added in The North Downs and The Misty Mountains to make questing in those areas more accessible.
• New Friends List Function – Players may now add notes to their friend and ignore lists!
• Spring Festival

Need a copy of the LOTRO game client? Click here to get started!

If you have problems with the plank jumps in the festival race you should read this great guide. Jilla has made several tips & tricks on winning the race by taking the "low road" - running though the mud as opposed to trying to make the jumps. This "low road" guide works for the Shire but not for the Bree. If you have any additional tips please let us know.

1. Even if you've done this a million times, run the track again on your regular mount. Go all low road (don't use the planks). Get a feel for the best place to make jumps and where you can go around obstacles but still stay in the course. It's good practice and I get the feeling it eliminates lag in the real race (not sure on that though--might just be co-incidence for me).
2. Do not hesitate out of the gate. Whatever key you use to move forward (mouse, "w", whatever) have it depressed so you take off right away. You should get as far forward as possible when first mounting the horse, and press the autorun key during that short time while you are mounting, just after you summon but before you can move. That way you don't miss a single beat.
3. In the Shire race, you don't need to jump all of the obstacles, For example, go around the fallen tree (on the right). I noticed on the stone fences, the shorter spots (easier jumps) are also tend to be on the right. Use high ground to give yourself some extra jumping room (finding these good jumping spots is a good thing to do on your normal horse, when testing the track). But make sure you go through the gate before you run to the right! If you miss the gate, you have to turn around and go back through it. Also, clear your quest tracker of ALL quests before getting the race quest. This way you can make sure the informational text that appears there is the only thing you see when you look at it. It WILL tell you if you miss a gate.
4. I just ran straight though the mud. I didn't try anything fancy like running on the planks and jumping off at the right time, etc. Keep it simple for yourself. 
5. Keep in mind that the time is a little tighter when running though the mud. But I made it with a just a few seconds to spare. So don't give up if you miss a jump. There is still hope and a chance you might make it.
6. At the Finish Line, continue riding through until it forces you to dismount. If you stop right after you cross the finish line, there is a good chance it actually doesn't finish the race and you lose
7. when doing the shire run....when you get to the wagons....stay to the right of them and jump over the "handles" of the wagons. That way you don't have to navigate around them.

run straight though the water

Go around this tree instead of trying to jump it

Go on a test run and find the short spots