lotro-europe posts

Codemasters reveals the LotRO Europe pre-order deals for Siege of Mirkwood

by Seraphina Brennan Oct 14th 2009 at 1:30PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Business models, Expansions, News items

Coming hot off the heels of Turbine's Siege of Mirkwood pre-order announcement comes the European pre-order details from Codemasters. While the European players won't be able to simply upgrade their subscription plans to a multi-month plan to get the expansion for free, they do get a very nice deal on the Lord of the Rings Online adventurer's pack.

European players can pick up the expansion and the adventurer's pack add-on, which offers two character slots and 20 shared inventory slots, for 20 pounds or 28 euros. If you buy the bundle, you get the Harbinger's Cloak and the extra mount (the Dusky Nimblefoot Goat) included. Otherwise, if you just buy the expansion for 15 pounds or 20 euros, you only get the Harbinger's Cloak -- a change from the cloak being offered solely in the US adventurer's pack.

Tags: adventurers-pack, codemasters, harbingers-cloak, lord-of-the-rings-online, lord-of-the-rings-online-europe, lotro, lotro-europe, mount, pre-order, siege-of-mirkwood, turbine

LotRO Europe celebrates Bilbo's birthday week with free account keys

by William Dobson Sep 16th 2009 at 1:30PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Culture, Lore, Giveaways

Last year on Bilbo Baggins' birthday (the 22nd of September), a special quest involving Bilbo and Frodo was made available to Lord of the Rings Online players. This year the birthday celebration has started early, almost a week before the actual date. LotRO Europe is giving away a very specific number of full game account keys: 111, or eleventy-one as Bilbo himself might say. They will be given away on the game's community forums, the LOTRO_Europe and Codies Twitter feeds, as well as the Codemasters blog May Contain Gamers. The way they are given out at these locations may differ, but we do know that in the case of Twitter, it's first come first served -- if you can plug the key into a Codemasters account quicker than the next punter, it's yours. An additional 111 keys will be given away by some German and French community sites.

Past the account key giveaway, there will also be in-game festivities starting on the 21st of September and continuing until the 25th. We'll keep our eyes peeled for more news regarding the birthday fun.

Tags: account-keys, bilbo, bilbo-baggins, bilbos-birthday, birthday, codemasters, giveaway, lord-of-the-rings-online, lotro, lotro-europe

Welcome back week for Lord of the Rings Online Europe starts next Monday

by Seraphina Brennan Jul 31st 2009 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Events, in-game, News items

Hey just a friendly reminder for our European readers, Codemasters Online is running a welcome back week for Lord of the Rings Online starting on Monday. All former subscribers are welcome to come back for a great week of bonus experience and free gameplay. Who can turn down leveling faster and leveling for free?

Don't worry about fiddling with your account or clicking any "re-activate" links either. Codemasters will turn all of the accounts online on their own, so all you have to do is re-install the game or simply patch up to the latest version, Book 8: The Scourge of Khazad-Dûm. We have lots of information on Book 8, plus we even got a tour of it from Turbine! If you're not up-to-date, now's the perfect time to check out all of our coverage!

Tags: codemasters, event, free-gameplay, lord-of-the-rings-online, lotro, lotro-book-2.8, lotro-europe, turbine, welcome-back-week

Pimp your ride, Lord of the Rings Online style

by Seraphina Brennan Jul 6th 2009 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Contests, News items

Ok, ok, so the contest isn't called "Pimp Your Horse," but Codemasters does want you to submit your own designs for a new horse in Lord of the Rings Online. Here's the chance for aspiring artists to really customize a game that they love by submitting original designs for horse coloring, saddle color, and blanket design. Or you could do what we did and find the worst possible design to put on your horse, followed by a flame decal. Oh yeah, totally rockin'.

The winner (which will totally be our lightning fast purple speed mount we named "Schuster's Shooter") will receive a Codemasters goodie bag, a unique forum title and avatar, and their design appearing in the live game as a player mount. Two runners up will also get the the goodie bag and forum prizes as well.

So what are you waiting for? Get in the saddle and start designing!

Update: Turbine just got in contact with us, and apparently the contest is for United States and North American audiences too! Go, design, let one horse rule them all!

Tags: codemasters, coloring, contest, decal, design, horse, horse-design, lord-of-the-rings-online, lotro, lotro-europe, pimp-your-horse

Rumor: Codemasters chief operating officer has left unexpectedly

by Seraphina Brennan Mar 17th 2009 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-fi, ArchLord, Jumpgate Evolution, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO industry, News items, Rumors

Edge Online has picked up a rumor that Tony Williams, the chief operating officer of Codemasters, has unexpectedly left the company while Codemasters has yet to make an official announcement.

Williams was the managing director at Bam! Entertainment, which was responsible for Carmen Sandiego: Secret of the Stolen Drums, Wallace & Gromit in Project Zoo, and various Cartoon Network video game adaptations, until coming on board with Codemasters in 2005. Edge Online has been unable to confirm his absence, as their calls to Codemasters were left unanswered.

Codemasters is responsible for publishing Jumpgate Evolution and Lord of the Rings Online Europe, as well as ArchLord in the United States.

Tags: archlord, breaking, codemasters, coo, jumpgate-evolution, lord-of-the-rings-online-europe, lotro, lotro-europe, rumor, tony-williams

The hero's guide to the Lone-Lands of Lord of the Rings

by Seraphina Brennan Feb 24th 2009 at 7:00PM

Filed under: At a glance, Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, PvE, Massively meta, Roleplaying

Codemasters has released another entry in their "hero's guide" series of articles for The Lord of the Rings Online, this one centering on the Lone-Lands, home of Weathertop and many other dangerous locales.

The Lone-Lands are marked by the ruins of ancient kingdoms, each once part of the human kingdom of Arnor before shattering apart and going their own ways. Those ways ended up leading to war, with the kingdom of Rhudaur siding with the minions of the witch king in order to conquer the other two kingdoms. It was in these battles that the watch post of Weathertop fell, as it sat right on the borders between each of the three kingdoms.

For all the tasty goodies and lore-related treats about the Lone-Lands, check out the full guide located over at LotRO Europe.

Tags: arnor, codemasters, heros-guide, lone-lands, lotro, lotro-europe, rhudaur, ruins, the-lord-of-the-rings-online, turbine, war, weathertop

LotRO-Europe website gets a facelift

by Shawn Schuster Aug 1st 2008 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Forums, MMO industry

Not that there was ever anything wrong with Lord of the Rings Online Europe's website to begin with, but they've recently decided to completely revamp their site to better accommodate the new expansion and future content.

Codemaster Online's new website now features a separate branch for Shadows of Angmar and one for Mines of Moria, as well as the obligatory CGI trailer, free trial info, competitions and a link to their e-shop. Separating the two volumes like this allows the company to present news, features and contests that are specific to a certain expansion, which will become more valuable as the list of expansions grows in the coming years. They also promise that the community section will benefit from the creativity of their designers soon, and will be brought in line with this new layout.

Tags: codemasters, codemasters-online, lord-of-the-rings-online, lotro, lotro-europe, mines-of-moria, redesign, shadows-of-angmar, website