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Free-to-play Hobbit strategy games hitting PC, mobile

Warner Bros. partners with developer Kabam to create mobile and Web games Armies of the Third Age and Kingdoms of Middle-earth based on upcoming film trilogy.

36 Comments

Fans of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit will not only have the first of three feature-length films to soak in this winter, but also new free-to-play mobile and Web games. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced a partnership with social game studio Kabam today that will see the studio release two new multiplayer strategy games based on Peter Jackson's upcoming movies.

Bilbo's unexpected journey comes to PC and mobiles this fall.
Bilbo's unexpected journey comes to PC and mobiles this fall.

The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth is due out for mobile devices, while The Hobbit: Armies of the Third Age is in development for Web browsers. Both titles will launch later this fall, but gamers won't need to wait that long to play Armies of the Third age. Players can sign up to join the beta test for that game today through the game's official website.

As for gameplay, Kingdoms of Middle-earth tasks players with building and managing their own domains while working alongside other players to explore the world and wage war. Armies of the Third Age, on the other hand, has players commanding an army of Elves, Dwarves, or Orcs while controlling Hobbit heroes Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf the Grey.

The first installment in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit film trilogy hits theaters in December. It stars Martin Freeman as Bilbo and Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield, with Ian Mckellan reprising his role from the Lord of the Rings trilogy as Gandalf.

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civvyco

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Wow that's exciting looking to play this nice game on my droid. Fun things to do at www.androidtonic.com lol

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SerenaM83

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Edited By SerenaM83

First of all, I absolutely LOVE this game. Second, You are under protection for a full SEVEN DAYS, and during that time you are supposed to build up your city, and TRAIN TROOPS. In several weeks you SHOULD have had MANY MANY troops to defend your city. I've been playing for LESS THAN 2 weeks and am extremely capable of defending my city. Yes, you get attacked sometimes, so what! That's the name of the game. Anyway, i don't know anything about the makers of the game. they may be horrible, but this game is AWESOME! :-)

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FlashCharge

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The Hobbit by Kabam is a waste of time. Got the game for free on my ipad. Spent several weeks building and training my defenses and military. While in the beginning you are under protection and left alone. But once you build your Keep to level 5 your protection is gone and you are left to the wolves. The first two days I was attacked by huge forces by the most powerful armies I had no way of creating. What a frustrating experience that totally turned me off. This game deserves the worst score 0.

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pompitak

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ddddddddddddddddd

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malec_1

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Just a heads up, Kabam is a horrible company. Absolutely horrible. Stay away if you do not like companies that treat their customers like dirt.

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carlitoqc

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Edited By carlitoqc

I see Gangdalf, I see Legolas but who t f is the guy in the middle? looks like Die Hard 1 vilain...

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Sirrrus

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@carlitoqc Thorin Oakenshield, king of the dwarves of the Lonely Mountain. Read "The Hobbit".

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Chessurrr

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@carlitoqc Thorin

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oldschoolvandal

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Not very optimistic....but I will at least check it...

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deactivated-5c60a3d1c2911

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@Suikogaiden I don't know about the game, but the Tolkien universe is so rich, 3 movies is not over reaching. From what I've read they are also going to be covering events that did not appear in the Hobbit book, but did occur during that time period. They are using more than just the one book. They are referencing other material from Tolkien as well.

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oldschoolvandal

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Edited By oldschoolvandal

@EliOli @Suikogaiden I guess they will somehow present whatever happened during the time Gandalf "disappear" during the Hobbit....hopefully they won't create much from scratch.

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mlcarter815

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@oldschoolvandal Warner Bros has film rights to everything in The Hobbit and LOTR including the appendices at then end of the LOTR. There is a fair amount of back story to work with there.

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Zloth2

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@Suikogaiden

Turn hobbits into warriors? Oh! Nononono.... The Hobbit: Armies of the Third Age. The colon is important.

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Agent_StarFire

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please just make a bfme sequel for full price instead.

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zoeyleft

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i think the movie will be awesome, but probably since we've seen it before, it won't hit us as hard as lotr did. i love that scene where boromir redeems himself and calls aragorn his brother, his captain... his king!

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conspirethis

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Would rather have Hobbit: Battle For Middle of Earth on the new frostbite 2 engine, or by Relic on the engine that's powering Company of Heroes 2.

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SolidTy

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Edited By SolidTy

Not my cup of tea, but probably a good move to get casuals watching the upcoming movie and make a few extra bucks for WB.

WB has impressed me greatly this gen. One of the best new game companies. From Batman to MK, it's been a good ride.

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gufberg

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There is easily three films worth of material in the hobbit. Remember that the book to film ratio isn't 1:1. A 2 hour film would only be capable of showing a very small part of a book. I think Jackson made the right decision - this way we'll get it all. I only wish he wouldnt rely so much on CGI for the upcoming trilogy.With regards to the game i dont see something as epic as LOTR (or the Hobbit) being a succes on something as dumbed down as a web browser game. THats just stupid.

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jhonMalcovich

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@gufberg

Hobbit was a a first Tolkien novel. I read when I was 10. It was his first incursion into fantasy and it was meant for kids mostly. Hobbit is a good fairytale in comparison to his masterpiece, Lord of the Rings.

So at the end, Hobbit was a good story but it´s not that good to make a trilogy from it. By itself Hobbit was a quite slow book. And in hard cover it was only 300 pages. So how the hell Peter Jackson managed to stretch it to 3 movies 0_0

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Booshon

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@jhonMalcovich @gufberg Money could stretch it even to a t.v series :P

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gufberg

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@Booshon @jhonMalcovich Okay, im gonna draw the line there :P

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mlcarter815

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@jhonMalcovich There is a fair amount of back story laden in the LOTR appendices.

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gufberg

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@jhonMalcovich I understand your scepticism. Imo the thing to remember is that The Hobbit (like LOTR) hints at alot and tells us very little. For every sentence written there are several left unsaid. Tolkien really gives you a sense of a huge world that he COULD tell you about but chooses not to. I believe Jackson wants to tell us much more of the details and the surrounding world than he did with LOTR. Just imagine how he'll flesh out the Battle of the Five Armies, the meeting with the Eagle etc .. It'll be glorious

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endorbr

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I can't believe Peter Jackson managed to turn The Hobbit into a film trilogy. MILK MILK MILK. It was one book for crying out loud. At least with Lord of the Rings there were actually three books.

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paulmorr12

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Edited By paulmorr12

@endorbr Read the book and try telling me there isnt 3 movies worth.

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endorbr

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@paulmorr12 I've read The Hobbit multiple times over the last 25 years and I could see the original idea of 2 movies if you want to go for fan service. But 3 is just studio milking. They managed to put the story all into one cartoon years ago so I don't see why it suddenly takes a trilogy to do it in live action.

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paulmorr12

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@endorbr Yeah i agree. People just have to know, going into the movies, that The Hobbit has much more of a brilliant story line, but less battles which i think people are wanting. Thats maybe why many are wondering how it can even be more than a single movie.

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JimmeyBurrows

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@endorbr Since when is it a trilogy? you realise tri = 3 not 2 right?

As for milking, Lord of the Rings was 3 books to 3 films and they left a lot out, so 2 for the Hobbit seems like the right thing to do.

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endorbr

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@JimmeyBurrows Try doing a little Internet search before trying to dispute someone. Just read this article first, it even says The Hobbit TRILOGY. Check IMDB you'll see The Hobbit films will number 3.

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jhonMalcovich

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@endorbr One book and not even a big one, of some 350 pages.

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endorbr

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@jhonMalcovich Exactly. The LOTR trilogy was three books of about equal length and that basically equated to a 1 to 1 books to film ratio in the end. Now they were long films, 3 and a half hours for the extended cuts but still only one movie per book.

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Bangerman15

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@endorbr dude who cares, it's gonna be awesome and at least the movies will cover alot of the story.

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endorbr

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@Bangerman15 Who cares? Don't assume that it will be pure awesome just because the same team that did LOTR is at the helm. Studio interference and money grabbing can always hurt a franchise when interests collide. Covering the story in depth is one thing. Putting in a ton of filler so you can stretch it to 3 films when 1 or 2 would have done the job usually doesn't go so well.

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koospetoors

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@soccerpzn That word, I do not think it means what you think it means.

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endorbr

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Edited By endorbr

@soccerpzn How does that make me a hypocrite? I'm saying don't assume that movie is going to be good just because the same people that made LOTR are doing it and that corporate interest (the studio money backers) can interfere with artistic direction to pad out three films when two would have done the job. That might make me a cynic but it certainly doesn't make me a hypocrite.

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soccerpzn

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Edited By soccerpzn

@endorbr wow way to be a hypocrite. you told him to not assume that the movie is going to be good and then you go and say that the movies are going to be filled with tons of filler.

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