Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor looking good...

Joystiq put up their Meta-Review, an aggregate of various sites' reviews, of the multi-platform Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. So, yeah,. it's a good game by almost all accounts.

In Shadow of Mordor you play Talion, a supernaturally empowered ranger who has every reason to want to take out Sauron and his lackeys. The best part, for me, is that it is an open world game that allows you to pursue your quests and sidequests in the manner you see fit. Also, it was written by the lead writer of Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption.

There are five different pre-order bonuses and they can be found at the game's website.

Lord of the Rings comes to Heroclix

[Press Release from Wizkids]

WIZKIDS TAKES OVER MIDDLE EARTH

WITH NEW “THE LORD OF THE RINGS” GAME RELEASES

(January 18, 2011-Hillside NJ) – Wizkids announced today the addition of “The Lord of the Rings” property to their 2011 HeroClix release schedule through a licensing agreement with Warner Bros. Consumer Products. The first products of the new “The Lord of the Rings” line will be a HeroClix miniatures game followed by a HeroClix strategic board game, both of which will release in the back half of 2011.

“The Lord of the Rings” HeroClix miniatures game will be sold in two different packages: a campaign style box set and the traditional booster format. The all-in-one campaign style box set will include everything a player needs, including NEW epic level rules and maps. The booster format includes the figures, similar to other previous HeroClix releases. With whichever format chosen, all of the twenty or more figures will be compatible with other HeroClix miniatures games.

The second release is a unique semi cooperative HeroClix board game, following in the similar format of our other HeroClix board game products. HeroClix figures, a gameboard and several decks of cards provide all the components needed to play this unique take on “The Lord of the Rings” story. The fun twist in the game is that players’ get to play as the Nazgul working with and against other Nazgul trying to capture the One Ring before it reaches Mount Doom.