LOTR, The Battle For Middle-earth II

The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth II (what an absurdly long title) is coming to the Xbox 360. That’s right – a real time strategy game is leaving its traditional home on the PC and venturing into territory that has never been successfully claimed by the genre. So what makes EA think they have a shot at winning over console gamers? The big point of interest here is a totally revamped control scheme, built from the ground up to accommodate a 360 controller, rather than simply having a mouse pointer moved by an analog stick. If they manage to pull this off, Middle Earth II could be a groundbreaking moment for console strategy games. Here are some key features:

• The Middle-earth you have never seen brought to life on the Xbox 360! The unification of the book and film rights has unlocked a world of Middle-earth – new races, places, heroes, and battles from the books and films are yours to command.

• Command the most epic battles of Middle-earth from your living room couch. Directly control and manage hundreds of units and engage in intense, action-packed real-time battles.

• Challenge friends online and battle it out via Xbox LIVE. The game features exclusive new multiplayer games including King of the Hill, Capture and Hold, and Hero versus Hero.

• First Lord of the Rings strategy game for any console system and first game in the Lord of the Rings series for the Xbox 360.

• New and intuitive console-specific control scheme that makes it possible to experience and enjoy the strategy genre on the Xbox 360.

• Customize your castle freely, and create your own unique heroes.

• Hugo Weaving reprises his role as Lord Elrond lending his voice and likeness to the game. Weaving offers the game's overarching tone by guiding players in and out of each good and evil mission within the single player campaigns.

As always, keep it locked to NZGamer for all the latest news on the 360 version of Battle for Middle Earth II.