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Shadow of Mordor's Release Moved Up to September

October's release slate gets lighter for the third time this week.

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There's release date news today for the promising-looking new Lord of the Rings game from Monolith Productions, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, but don't worry--it's not getting delayed. Publisher Warner Bros. today announced it will now release in North America on September 30 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3, with a release on PC coming worldwide two days later, on October 2.

That's a move forward by only one week (it was previously set for October 7), but it does get the game in our hands sooner, which I don't imagine Lord of the Rings fans will complain about. Warner Bros. said in today's announcement that it's doing this "[b]ased on hearing fans' excitement over the latest chronicle in Middle-earth."

No Caption Provided

What Warner Bros. doesn't note is the added benefit of getting out of an extremely crowded October for game releases--and away from October 7, which was at one point set to also be the release day for Alien: Isolation, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Driveclub, NBA 2K15, NBA Live 15, and Project Spark. Inquisition's recent delay until November means that day is now two games lighter.

This week, October also lost the release of Battlefield Hardline (now coming next year), but lest you think otherwise, there's still plenty coming in the month leading up to Halloween, including Super Smash Bros. for 3DS, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Evolve, Civilization: Beyond Earth, Assassin's Creed Unity, and Sunset Overdrive. (Remarkably, that isn't a comprehensive list even if you include the aforementioned October 7 games.)

A Shadow of Mordor panel is scheduled to take place today at San Diego Comic-Con at 12:30 PM PT. We'll report back should anything of note be revealed during the talk.

Shadow of Mordor was originally announced last November. It's a single-player-only game that puts players in role of Talion, a ranger who is able to use powers allowing him to teleport and take control of enemies. Among its most ambitious features is the Nemesis system, which allows your actions with specific enemies to influence how future interactions with them play out. Unfortunately for those on last-gen hardware, the feature will be scaled back for the game's release on Xbox 360 and PS3. For more on the game, check out our latest preview.

Does Shadow of Mordor coming sooner than expected have any impact on which games you plan on buying this fall? Let us know in the comments.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com

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hystavito

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Interested in this game but just can't the idea out of my head that the Nemesis system won't be deep and complex and will just result in the same few predictable results over and over.

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TazzDeMazz

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Where can I find the source for this?

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spacecadet25

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No!

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deactivated-61d91d42c39df

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I'm skeptical of any game that gets released early, I bet this is not going to be the GoTY people are expecting it to be

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Darkhol0w

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<< LINK REMOVED >> Who the hell is expecting this to be GOTY? Lol...

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VoidSECT

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<< LINK REMOVED >> Dude, it's a week

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burnettaj

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Good deal. Looking forward to playing this one.

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VegasAceVII

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Awesome!

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mattress805

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Good news. There's room for another game in September. October is is already over loaded. Monolith is a great developer. I loved the Condemned games.

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Gen007

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sigh so many date changes its starting to get silly now i mean first 2014 was looking like an amazing year for gaming maybe the best since 04 then everything got pushed backed into 2015 and everything left of mention in this year got crammed into oct. Like I think the game industry really needs to get out of the summer drought mindset cause this has been happening for the last few years. Everyone cant release Q4 i know its the holidays and it lines up nice with their fiscal and what not but there's plenty of money to be made in the summer i mean plenty of people would like to have great games to play over the summer. In fact Id say people are dying to play something especially on the new consoles.

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M3o5nster

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Evil Within was also moved up a week. I wonder why that game isn't getting much press. A proper return to Resident Evil should be a pretty big deal.

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mattress805

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Probably because it's not another generic military shooter. I can't wait for Evil Within , personally.

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Stiler

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Finally some good news.

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linthes999

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Any news on the European version? I think I may have gotten my hopes up, only to be let down if the European release date is still the 7th..

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linthes999

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Disappointed to hear DA:I getting delayed, but delighted to hear this one getting boosted a week earlier...



It's something!

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RyogaRod

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Sweet! Looks super cool. Next few months actually have some decent games coming out.

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4KGamer_LMXXX

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Nice, been waiting to try this out. It's finally something that progresses the AC formula instead of simply milking it. Hopefully this game won't suck.

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Kos1c

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Oh god, I'm going to be broke a lot sooner than I first expected. >.<

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tom_cat_01

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*Sooner* than expected? That's not something you hear very often..

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Charlie_1979

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Thats a smart move get out of that over packed October 7, too much game release that day.

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OldDadGamer

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I think the lesson of the past few months is don't take release dates seriously until the game is in your hands. And then only be half sure that it's out.

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evilace_stealth

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@olddadgamer I know, I pre-ordered Battlefield 4 and I'm still playing the beta..

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Thanatos2k

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<< LINK REMOVED >> When content is cut to be sold later as DLC, the game is never truly out.

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OldDadGamer

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<< LINK REMOVED >><< LINK REMOVED >> Or with big ol' betas, it's out before it's out.


All very metaphysical.

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Thanatos2k

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It was moved one week. Not a big deal.

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The-Neon-Seal

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<< LINK REMOVED >> If your as hyperactive/impatient as me it is!

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Thanatos2k

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<< LINK REMOVED >><< LINK REMOVED >> I have an unplayed game stack of 15+ games. New releases are pretty irrelevant.

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jenovaschilld

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<< LINK REMOVED >><< LINK REMOVED >> Hey one less week Butters has to leave me frozen until it comes out.

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The-Neon-Seal

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Sweet! Now I don't have to choose between playing this or Alien first!

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jenovaschilld

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@The-Neon-Seal You would be unique as I doubt many people would have the same problem, as the two games are wildly different in genre and quality. It is not like standing in a video store and trying to decide between 'Earnest goes to Hollywood' and 'Earnest goes to Camp'.

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The-Neon-Seal

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<< LINK REMOVED >> I'm a massive nerd and sci-fi/fantasy do overlap so there you go! It's a good release season to be a geek!

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OldDadGamer

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<< LINK REMOVED >> Quality? You know something we don't?


When oh when we will EVER learn not to judge quality until we play the games?

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spacecadet25

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<< LINK REMOVED >><< LINK REMOVED >> Normally I'd agree with your statement, but there's such a bad track-record with the Alien branded games. There's been so many over a couple decades time and I don't think maybe more than 1 actually got a really good review, and most got crap reviews.

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figomebriga

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I smell a DLC in 2-7th of october. They found out it will be a success and will capitalize on it heavily...

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daikkenaurora12

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What? A game coming in 2014 thats actually coming out in 2014?

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spacecadet25

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<< LINK REMOVED >> Snap!

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jfmorris

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Pinch me. This just doesn't happen.

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tomservo51

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sweet

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EzioisMyname

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The thing that worries me most about this game is it is being released on so many platforms.

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evilace_stealth

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<< LINK REMOVED >> I know, but on the other hand they've scaled down more than just the graphics for the last-gen versions. and that's somewhat promising, not a lot of games do that.

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cratecruncher

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Released 30 days early "[b]ased on hearing fans' excitement over the latest chronicle in Middle-earth."


Wow! Someone's pants are on fire after that whopper.


Game buyers have a limited $pend each month and the publishers know exactly what that amount is. To maximize pre-review sales they need to avoid direct competition for Little Timmy's game money. They'll all claim it's "for the fans", or "to polish the game further", or "to make for a better user experience". Please. That code is cast in concrete one or two months out and nothing can or will be changed.

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shingui5

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*reads the comments*

Hmm, it seems the marketing goal has been a success.

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Dilandau88

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That's something you don't hear often. wow.

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ntippit

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great something between destiny and DA:I is coming even sooner, i never thought it was possible for a release to be moved up

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blackothh

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Wow thats refreshingly different news.

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FLEEBS

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I always worried when a game moves up in release date. At least when a game is pushed back you can expect tweaks to gameplay and removal of bugs which undoubtedly enhance the final product.

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tjb90

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<< LINK REMOVED >> A week isn't going to add any extra bugs that what it would have due to games going gold at least a month before release. Stop worrying.

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FLEEBS

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<< LINK REMOVED >><< LINK REMOVED >> Of course releasing a week early isn't going to "add bugs". I'm talking about game testers finding bugs that devs can then remove. An extra week of testingt would go a long way to finding potential problems and removing them.

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Darkhol0w

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Now everyone is moving away from October 7..this is quite funny.

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chuckles471

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I bet that there are a couple of people at EA kicking themselves now.

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