The-mines-of-moria posts

Even as Turbine works on their first commercial expansion pack for their fantasy MMO Lord of the Rings Online, they continue to release free downloadable content for the game. Today the developer announced Book 14: Ring-forge of Eregion, has gone live and will be the the last free update before the release of the commercial expansion The Mines of Moria this fall.

Book 14 brings to an end the first volume of the game's story"line "as Laerdan leaves for Mirobel, the Ring-forges of Hollin, to reforge the ring Narchuil." The player will follow Laerdan and fight in an epic battle that will reveal the true enemy. The update will feature new six player events that will occur in a series that when completed will unlock new content. Turbine has also added improved character animation with this new update.

A few weeks ago Turbine launched the official web site for their upcoming MMO expansion pack Lord of the Rings Online: The Mines of Moria with one of three planned browser based mini-games. Now the second mini-game has launched on the site and it's a comedic Flash game called Swig and Toss.

The title pretty much describes the game itself. Its designed around a virtual pub where you "drink" from the game's ale and then bet that you can hit a distant target with one of your axes. The problem? Drinking causes your aim (i.e. your mouse cursor) to get blurry and go off target. Winning the game will unlock more content (videos, screenshots and special in-game items) for the Mines of Moria web site giving players of Turbine's MMO more info into the expansion's features. The expansion itself is due for release later this fall.