LordOfTheRings posts

Today is the day that Turbine officially turns the page on Lord of the Rings Online, turning the subscriber exclusive fantasy MMO into a free-to-play game with subscription options. Turbine and publisher Warner Bros. Interactive clearly know that the J.R.R. Tolkien-themed game has a large mainstream audience. That's maybe why they decided to make a TV commercial for the game for the first time.

The TV ad, which you can see above, is meant to be funny, perhaps lifting some inspiration from Blizzard's World of Warcraft TV ads. The commercial will first be shown on Fox's Family Guy on Sunday although we wonder why Turbine didn't buy ads during this weekend's showing of the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy on TNT.

Download the Lord of the Rings Online TV ad at Big Download

On Friday, Turbine will officially turn the lights on the relaunch of its fantasy MMO The Lord of the Rings Online as a free-to-play game here in the US. However folks across the pond will have to wait a bit longer to try the new versions of the game out.

Today the game's European publisher Codemasters announced that the free-to-play relaunch will be delayed in that part of the world, due to "the complexities and challenges faced in the preparation and implementation of the new store to work within our infrastructure." No new launch date for the game was announced. In addition to the switch to free-to-play, Lord of the Rings Online is getting a new content expansion.