Enter the Battleground! Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Launches Guardians of Middle-earth

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announces the launch of Guardians of Middle-earth, a new multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game developed by Monolith Productions, available today on PlayStation®Network and tomorrow, Dec. 5, 2012, for Xbox LIVE^® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft.

“Guardians of Middle-earth provides an avenue for fans to experience memorable Middle-earth characters firsthand, including many from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey film”

With more than 20 playable Guardian characters available for unparalleled competitive play, Guardians of Middle-earth is $14.99 on PlayStation Network, and 1200 Microsoft Points on Xbox LIVE Arcade for Xbox 360. A separate Season Pass can be purchased for just $14.99 more, or 1200 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360, and provides discounted access to a significant amount of additional game content to be released in the future, including Guardian characters and a new gameplay mode. The game and the Season Pass are available for bundled purchase* in select retail stores across North America for a price of $29.99 beginning Dec. 4.

“Guardians of Middle-earth provides an avenue for fans to experience memorable Middle-earth characters firsthand, including many from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey film,” said Samantha Ryan, Senior Vice President, Production and Development, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “The game has all of the depth and rich competitive strategy of traditional MOBA games and provides a great entry point for new MOBA players on consoles, since it is set in the familiar fantasy world of Middle-earth.”

In Guardians of Middle-earth, gamers team up as the most powerful heroes from the greatest fantasy epic of all time, bringing up to 10 players together in strategic five versus five competitive multiplayer battle arenas. There will be more than 20 playable Guardian characters available at launch, drawn from both The Lord of the Rings Film Trilogy and The Hobbit Film Trilogy, including Gandalf, Nori, Eowyn, Legolas, Galadriel, Sauron and Gollum. Gamers will be able to connect with other players via an in-game voice communication system, as well as access a comprehensive online stat and leader board system where they can track friends’ victories and defeats. The game will include several characters from the upcoming The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey motion picture, which is set for release on Dec. 14, 2012, directed by Peter Jackson and a production of New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM).

For more information about Guardians of Middle-earth, please visit the website at www.guardiansofmiddleearth.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GuardiansofMiddleearth or on Twitter @GuardiansMe

*Purchase of Guardians of Middle-earth for Xbox LIVE Arcade for Xbox 360 in North American retail stores will include Microsoft Points equal in value to the full game plus the Season Pass of downloadable content, while versions of the title for PlayStation^®3 system will include PSN vouchers equal in value to the full game, plus the Season Pass of downloadable content.

About Monolith Productions

Monolith Productions, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, is located in Kirkland, WA. Over the past 15 years, Monolith has risen to critical acclaim through an emphasis on delivering quality products such as F.E.A.R., The Condemned series, Aliens vs. Predator 2, TRON 2.0, the No One Lives Forever franchise and Gotham City Impostors.

About Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, a division of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Inc., is a premier worldwide publisher, developer, licensor and distributor of entertainment content for the interactive space across all current and future platforms, including console, handheld and PC-based gaming for both internal and third party game titles.

About The Hobbit Trilogy

A production of New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM), “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” is the first of three films from filmmaker Peter Jackson, the Academy Award-winning director of “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy. The screenplay for “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” is by Fran Walsh & Philippa Boyens & Peter Jackson & Guillermo del Toro. Jackson is also producing the film, together with Carolynne Cunningham, Zane Weiner and Fran Walsh. The executive producers are Alan Horn, Toby Emmerich, Ken Kamins and Carolyn Blackwood, with Boyens and Eileen Moran serving as co-producers.

“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” and the second and third films of the trilogy are productions of New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, with New Line managing production. Warner Bros. Pictures is handling worldwide theatrical distribution, with select international territories as well as all international television distribution being handled by MGM.

“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” will be released on December 14, 2012, with the second film, “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” releasing December 13, 2013, and the third film, “The Hobbit: There and Back Again,” slated for July 18, 2014.

GUARDIANS OF MIDDLE-EARTH © 2012 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. © 2012 New Line Productions, Inc. © The Saul Zaentz Company. GUARDIANS OF MIDDLE-EARTH, THE HOBBIT, and the names of the characters, items, events and places therein are trademarks of The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Middle-earth Enterprises under license to Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

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