Guardians Of Middle-earth: A Lord Of The Rings MOBA Game Announced For Consoles

A Lord of the Rings multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game titled Guardians of Middle-earth has been announced by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The battle will be coming to Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network in fall 2012 and will feature tie-ins to the upcoming Hobbit movie, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

“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.”

In Guardians of Middle-earth, players will be able to choose from more than 20 guardians including Gandalf, Sauron, Gollum, Thráin and many more to help them battle for Middle-earth. WBIE hasn't detailed the maps or game's modes yet, but we're assuming one team will be trying to destroy the other's base. The game will also include in-game chat and a comprehensive online leader board system.

As we saw with Awesomenauts, a console MOBA can definitely work. We'll just have to wait and see how WBIE pulls off their first console MOBA, considering they have great source material to work with. They'll be demoing the game at E3 2012, so make sure to stay tuned to G4TV.com for more info on Guardians of Middle-earth.