Lord of the Rings fans mark your calendars for the highly-anticipated Lord of the Rings online multiplayer game, currently scheduled for official launch on April 24, 2007. Turbine and Midway Games have jointly announced they are allowing free access “World Tour of Middle-earth” availability to one million players throughout North America.

The open free beta access will continue to be available until the online game is officially launched.
The Lord of the Rings Online lets players experience the greatest epic fantasy adventure of all time, and join with millions of fans from around the globe in the vast world of Middle-earth.

Over one million players are planned to be invited into The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, the most complete and authentic massively multiplayer online (MMO) world based upon the famous Books of J.R.R. Tolkien. The World Tour of Middle-earth has been scheduled to begin on April 6th and continue until the anticipated launch of the game on April 24th.

“We decided to launch the World Tour of Middle-earth because of the overwhelming demand from players to get into the closed beta,” said Jeffrey Anderson, President and CEO of Turbine, Inc. “We expect the World Tour of Middle-earth to be a spectacular event like nothing that you’ve ever seen before.”

Free access to this hotly anticipated game combined with the staggering size and scale of the World Tour of Middle-earth. Players can pre-order the game at select retail stores nationwide or at www.lotro.com/preorder and start their adventures in Middle-earth which has begun on March 30th.

Advancement in the game will be capped at level 15 which will give players a great opportunity to experience the most authentic online persistent recreation of Middle-earth ever created. Players should visit www.lotro.com/worldtour to get more information on how to obtain a World Tour key.

The Lord of the Rings Online is the first and only massively multiplayer online role-playing game based upon the Books of J.R.R. Tolkien. The game recreates the vast world of Middle-earth with incredible dedication to the lore with an unprecedented level of detail. The game delivers an experience that takes players beyond the Books to where they can create their own story within the most famous fantasy world of all time. More Information about the game can be found here http://www.lotro.com.