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Well, it seems the Lord of the Rings franchise is still going strong with its resurgence in recent years. In addition to the scores of games that are already out or about to come out, EA Games has just announced The Lord of the Rings: The White Council.

This new RPG, which will be out in the latter half of 2007, draws an original storyline out of the Lord of the Rings trilogy (Fellowship of the Ring, the Two Towers and Return of the King), which is of course enjoying a newfound popularity after the multi-billion dollar grossing movies. In The White Council, players will have the ability to choose to play as a man, elf, hobbit or dwarf as they explore the open world of Tolkien's Middle-earth and eventually fulfill their destiny by becoming a member of the famed White Council (Ah great, now I just gave away the ending!).

The Lord of the Rings: The White Council is expected to arrive on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC sometime in late 2007. We'll have more on this game as it becomes available, so check back with VGGEN often.

Posted: 07/13/2006 16:21:21 PST

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With reports now coming out from numerous sources it seem EA might have silently canceled one of their most ambitious – albeit not much talked about – games. The game in question being The Lord of the Rings: The White Council which was First unveiled under the pseudonym Project Gray Company back on the 22nd April 2006 – infact we were one of the first sites to talk about the game, joy!

Speaking on the official site about the game many months back the then executive producer Steve Gray said "The action takes place in a massive open world where you can go anywhere you want, and the characters in this world are powered by an incredible simulation AI based on the same technology used by the makers of The Sims 2. The story of the game is built around a series of Story Quests. You can choose to follow specific Story Quests, embark on a range of other types of quests, or set off on your own adventures in the massive open world environment"

However it is now believed Steve Gray is no longer with EA and the rest of the team once assigned to the game has been broken up and reassigned to other projects leaving the title once destined for PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 now dissolved.

It's should be noted that EA have yet to comment on the matter but the cancellation almost seems a dead cert at this point – It's a pity as Oblivion meets LOTR could have lead to great things!

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White Council Adjourns
Don't expect to jump into EA's Lord of the Rings RPG any time soon.
by Daemon Hatfield

February 2, 2007 - Previously rumored to have been cancelled, Electronic Arts confirmed during an investor conference call today that The Lord of the Rings: The White Council has been put on hold indefinitely.

Responding to an investor's question, EA's CFO Warren Johnson said, "The Lord of the Rings product is back in development in terms of being on hold.

"We are looking at the creative positioning and feature set on the Lord of the Rings franchise. Because of these reasons we did not decide to move forward with releasing it this year."

Johnson did not elaborate on the reasons for the title being put on hold or its possible future. For now, the White Council appears to have fallen into shadow.