Middle Earth Online at E3

When I arrived, a demo was in motion so I had to wait a few moments. Lucky for me because it gave Vivendi's Chris Taylor the opportunity to finish his lunch and show me the game. Chris did a wonderful job presenting the game, answering questions and even debating points of lore.

I can't imagine what it would feel like for these developers of ALL of the LoTR games to be showing demonstrations of games not yet released and yet the media they're speaking to know as much or more than they do about the storyline. Tough job.

The demo being shown started out with a man in the Shire. He was simply viewing the area before he moved on. I asked Chris then about the races available - he said there would be man, hobbit, dwarf and elf. However, there would also be different nationalities. Whether the man I saw was Numenorean, Beorling or a Breelander I couldn't say.

But, there will be different hobbits - those of the Shire or those of Brandybuck; Wood Elves, Sindar or Noldar and different Dwarves as well. But, you'll have to excuse me, as I don't know the races of Dwarves well enough to discern between them. However, I hope (and hinted to Chris) that the Bucklanders would use boats and the Shirelings would be great gardeners. Up to that point I don't think they'd considered gardening as a skill for hobbits - he said he'd give it some thought. :)

We first walked up to a hobbit blowing smoke rings. Apparently, there will be many emotes for different kinds of smoke rings. I can see it now - contests for who can blow the most elaborate or fastest number of smoke rings! Hobbits are such funny folk.

We crossed a river to a party. I asked Chris to stop here so I could take a picture just to show you how far the Turbine Engine 3 had come. You'll have to excuse my poor photographic abilities but you can see both the man's legs in the water AND the reflection of his head. And yet, it still looks like water. Amazing.

We entered the party at the shire and Chris showed how you could click on the various NPCs and see the interactions they would have. He was particularly fond of a flirty hobbit that got his when he went a little too far. I asked about the party background and he indicated that certain events would simply be a static part of the world. There will always be a party in the Shire. They don't want someone to log in on September 10th and find they've missed some great event and so things like the party will simply be part of the ambiance.

<We stopped at a hobbit rocking on a chair and smoking a pipe so I could get a picture of his hairy feet. I asked Chris if you'd be able to determine the amount of foot hair your hobbit would have. He said that you got to decide facial hair, so that perhaps this was something that could be possible - but I'd have to wait and see.

Our warrior spent some time playing with Gandalf's fireworks for a bit before speaking to Fatty Bolger (who isn't as of yet, fat). Fatty gave him a quest and a new set of armor. After changing we teleported to Moria. (Quick and fast for the demo)

It was here that Chris and I talked magic. How do you do magic in Middle Earth as overt magic was rarely seen unless by Gandalf and as Wizards are not a class option, would there be magic? Chris said yes, but of the type only found in Middle Earth - natural magic. The ability of Tom Bombadil to speak to nature; of Elves to harness the life of everything; of Rangers to track; of domination and of corruption. These types of magic will be used. As to how they will be "seen", that has yet to be determined.

We also talked about the "elf" problem. How do you keep the world from populating with purely elves, as they are basically invincible? They're working on it - one of the ideas was that the only elves available to play were young elves, those that hadn't heard the call of the sea yet.

Then there's the "ranger" problem - nearly invincible, long life, AMAZINGLY in tune with nature. Why would you want to be any other type of human?

Or hobbits? What IS the advantage? They'd be harder to corrupt and they make great gardeners but warriors? He said they actually get together and try and work these things out in minute detail but it IS an issue they're aware of and working on.

Now, back to Moria. Once our hero entered the long dark of Moria, he found a wounded hobbit to save. This of course brought orcs to the fore and when he raised his sword it became enflamed with fire! He didn't simply throw them down - it was a battle and an effort. Of course, Chris couldn't resist smashing all of the ceramics in the dungeon - bring MORE orcs to fight.

Once he'd dispatched them we came to Durin's tomb. The light that played against the tomb was beautiful. When ID'd, the tomb had writings - in Elvish. If this character had had the skill of Languages, he would have been able to interpret it.

Turning from Durin's Tomb we found the throne of the king we were sent to find. Using the throne dropped a crown on the ground. But, the crown was corrupted and our warrior chose not to put it on. Instead, he headed toward a pedestal full of armor. Using the pedestal dropped a full compliment - of corrupted armor. For whatever reason, this seemed more enticing and our warrior put it on thereby beginning his descent into corruption,

I asked Chris about this as it fit in really well with the way good vs. evil worked in Middle Earth but it also struck me as a wonderful mechanism for PvP. He smiled and said it could be one way.

More orcs jumped us at this point and our once fire sword now became a swath of fire that took out the whole room. I was amazed at this and asked Chris to stop so I could take pictures. Apparently our quest was still running and our warrior began a mad dash to another room before a portcullis nearly landed on his head - half a second longer and it would have.

Then it came - slowly at first - its fiery whip snapping at us. And then the fire and all was over.