I'm gonna keep my eye on this because the concept looks sound. Coop action / RPG with a LotR theme, but nothing to do with the fellowship, so the story is totally open and fresh, yet there is no burden of worrying about the already well-established story we saw in the films - derf style abstraction ftw!

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/12 ... the-north/

That actually looks pretty good year. Might be interesting. And YOU WILL HAVE MY AXE if it ever comes to it.

My biggest fear with those games it that it often goes like "hey let's make a mediocre game, and call it LotR (although it has nothing to do with it) it will sell anyway because of the title".

I'd prefer a decent co-op hack'n slash called war in the north with elves and dwarves and such probably. BUT let's give it the benefit of doubt, if derf says it might be sound and doesn't use the word rip-off, the game might still have a chance.

Looking forward to his further comments though