Amazing Weta Armoury Competition!

I am very proud to announce a new competition in association with the Royal Armouries in Leeds. The Madhouse Tavern has 20 tickets for an unique tour and Q&A session with Weta's chief Swordsmith, Peter Lyon, at the exhibition, ‘Arms and Armour from the Movies: The Wonderful World of Weta’.

It's a must have for any Lord of the Rings fan, as the armour and weapons on display include those from the three films (as well as other recent films).

The lucky winners will be taken around the Royal Armouries after hours, once on the public has gone home (5pm to approx 6.30pm), by Peter Lyon himself, and even get a chance to touch and hold some of the items (they will be taken out of the display cases for the first time ever!!).

There is very little time - as the tour is on Sunday 14th Sept, and therefore the closing date for entries is Monday 8th. So quickly visit the details page [ here ], and enter the competition by answering a simple Lord of the Rings themed question [ here ].

Each winner will be drawn randomly, and you may request up to two tickets (if you wish to bring a partner/friend) - but you MUST be able and ready to get to the Royal Armouries in Leeds on the 14th Sept - please do not enter if that will not be possible! I will contact all winners by the end of the 8th Sept - you MUST reply within two days, else I will have to re-draw your ticket(s) and offer to the next selected winner - as we must have a final list of names as soon as possible.

Mines Of Moria™ Beta Sign Ups Now Open

Codemasters Online and Turbine Inc. invite you to sign up for the The Lord of the Rings Online™: Mines of Moria™ Beta.

Get ready for the chance to explore the dark majesty of the world beneath Middle-earth. Starting today, European players can register for a chance to be in The Lord of the Rings Online™: Mines of Moria™ Beta program. Visit http://www.unlocktheminesofmoria.com to apply.

The Mines of Moria Beta Program is by invitation only. Due to the nature of this program we can only invite people with a good level of written English. Please send all of your applications in English.

Pre-order Mines of Moria today, visit Codemasters brand new pre-order page for more details! http://www.lotro-europe.com/minesofmoria/preorder.php

Data centre work Thursday 21st and Friday 22nd August, 2008

On Thursday 21st and Friday 22nd August, 2008, Codemasters will be conducting some major background work at our data centres.

This work has been planned to minimise downtime and disruption to players wherever possible by doing the majority of the critical work during our games' maintenance windows.

However, as with any changes of this nature, there is always the potential for unexpected outages and downtime, though we will do whatever we can to avoid these.

Please be prepared for potential service interruptions on all of our MMO services throughout this period. The Codemasters Player Account System may also be unavailable for some time during the maintenance. Customers will be kept updated via the website, forums and game launchers if any issues arise.

The work we are undertaking is the start of a major, several-month process to upgrade and re-house our current server farm and storage infrastructure for our existing games and forthcoming MMOs, which we hope will result in an improved player experience once completed.

Thank you for your patience during this time.

Great LotrO Summer competition

Codemasters are running a great summer competition - and it's well worth entering it!

"Summer in Middle-earth is a great time of the year! Watch the sun rise over the Brandywine River, deep in the Shire as hobbits dance merrily around the party tree...

'Spend your summer in Middle-earth' is a great, fun and easy competition and you could win some fantastic prizes. Taking part in this year’s summer event couldn’t be simpler; all you need to do is spend your summer in Middle-earth!"

So what does it mean? Log into LotrO at least once each week (come on, you're there hours anyway surely?) - then each week go and answer a simple Lord of the Rings themed question. Once entered, you can win some great prices - why not!

Prizes include iPods, NVidia graphics cards (same 8800 GTS that I've got.. well .. I've got two ;) ), and more (including LIFETIME SUBS).

Lots of new Moria Concept art

For those of you waiting patiently for the Moria Expansion for LotrO, here's something to wet your appetite.

I've got lots of new loverly concept art in the gallery - for your viewing pleasure.

Highlights include; showing off some some locations, some great ideas for Durin and new orc armour.

New online LotrO Resource - Looking for Kin

I've had a note dropped to me by Perthir, about a new site for those of you looking to join (or just info on) a kinship within LotrO, this site could be for you.

As Perthir says; "lfkin.net is a player run, for players, no ad website, run in my spare time and it'd be great if lots of kins were listed."

The site is looking very smart and professional to me - so if you are an officer/leader of kin, why not head over and get it listed, and if you are a free agent playing LotrO - why not go over and find the kinship for you!

Find Looking For Kin here .

First CGI Mines of Moria™ Teaser Released Today!

Codemasters Online and Turbine are proud to unveil a brand new teaser movie for the upcoming Mines of Moria expansion pack! Catch a glimpse of the Fellowship as it delves into the deeps of Moria in their downloads section.

It's a 38meg zipped download just so you know - rather than watch streaming.

Codemasters to attend Edinburgh Interactive Festival!

We're delighted to announce that once again, Codemasters Online will be attending the Edinburgh Interactive Festival from August 10^th until August 12^th.

 
The Vice President and General Manager of Codemasters Online, David Solari will be presenting our brand new sci-fi MMO – Jumpgate Evolution® and Mines of Moria™, our upcoming, first expansion to The Lord of the Rings Online™.

 
We'll be giving away free copies of LOTRO to the first 200 people attending the presentation so make sure you're there to grab your copy!

 
For further information about the Edinburgh festival, visit their website at http://edinburghinteractivefestival.com/

Codemasters Online and Turbine to unveil Book 14

Codemasters Online and Turbine are proud to announce that Book 14: The Ring-forges of Eregion will be available to subscribers of The Lord of the Rings Online on Thursday 24th July, 2008 in Europe.

The sixth free content update for subscribers to The Lord of the Rings Online™: Shadows of Angmar™;  Book 14: The Ring-forges of Eregion brings us one step closer to The Mines of Moria™ with the Volume II prologue. Players can witness the Fellowship departing Rivendell for Mordor!

Book 14 also offers many new features, quests, and enhancements to both the PVE game and Monster Play.

The full release notes are available on the patch notes section of the website here - http://www.lotro-europe.com/newspage.php?id=1927

Madhouse Tavern 'featured fansite'

Call me slow, but I've only just noticed that this site is displayed on the Codemasters community site (found here )  as their 'featured fansite'.

Which is very nice :-)

So I think we all deserve an ale and pie for all the good work, and thousands of posts in our forums (which always seem that bit friendlier than the 'official' ones - maybe it's the ale!).

Don't forget, you can post any news or articles you wish - maybe some speculation on how Moria will change the game?  Or just when exactly the book 14 expansion will be with us?