YOU have been summoned to enter the most epic sweepstakes to rule them all, for a chance to become The Master of Middle-earth! This is for you, the fans, and all RTS and PC gaming fans, for a shot at winning the ULTIMATE computer gaming system.

Click Here to Enter

Middle-earth Vault Map Contest Winners

Middle-earth Vault has just announced the winners in the first major map making contest for The Battle for Middle-earth II. Maps were submitted over the course of one month, and judged and voted on by artists and map designers from the BFME II development team. Congratulations to "High Elven Lord" whose map Tirion was the grand prize winner. These are some of the best maps ever created for the game by the community. Click the link below and be sure to download and check them all out! .

Read More

Patch 1.03 is LIVE

Ladies and gentlemen, patch 1.03 is now live and right on time as promised. This patch addresses numerous technical issues; balance changes for all the factions; and also introduces 5 brand new multiplayer maps. Click the link below for download instructions and to view the full change-list..

Read More!

Patch 1.03 Balance Notes and Release Tuesday

The official balance notes for the upcoming patch 1.03 have been revealed OFFICIALLY. Head to our forums at the link below to check them out!.

Read More

COMMUNITY CONTESTS GALORE

Well lets just get to the point shall we, the community is stretching their passion for The Battle for Middle-earth II to incredible depths and providing a wealth of highly lucrative contests for YOU to enter. Read on for the latest and greatest...

One Map to Rule them All

Middle-earth Vault is hosting a map-making contest for mappers from around the World with fantastic prizes provided by Zboard, Fileplanet, and EA. This is the first major map making contest for The Battle for Middle-earth II, and our own development is even keeping a close eye on the top submissions. Click the link below for more info and if you are an aspiring map designer, this is the contest for you!

MEVault BFME II Map Contest

Big Time Tournaments Big-Time-Giveaway

Big Time Tournaments! (also known as BFME Tournaments) is hosting a big time giveaway for the Middle-earth ages! And we mean, a community contest for the ages. They've managed to acquire some massive prizes from Logitech (a 5.1 speaker system) and Zboard (who is also providing an NVDIA 6600 GT graphic card). All you need to do to enter is start posting in their forums. Could it be any easier? Not to mention the BTT forums are a very welcome place for BFME 2 community members.

Click here for the Big-Time Giveaway

Middle-earth Madness 1v1 Tournament!

Our newest entry to the BFME II community family, Heaven Games, is sponsoring what looks to be a massive 1v1 tournament for The Battle for Middle-earth II! Prizes include Zboards, Logitech keyboards, Sideshow Collectible statues, EA games, and more. This is Middle-earth Madness folks and if you don't enter this tournament, you are mad (i.e. crazy)! We strongly encourage all competitors to click the link below. Sign-ups are taking place right now. The deadline is May 5th, so scurry on over.

Middle-earth Madness 1v1 Tourney Sign-Up

QUEST FOR THE ONE VOICE CONTEST

BFME II Heavengame is hosting a concert to see if you can identify the winner of our "Death Star Contest" which we hosted at the EALA BFME II Community Summit last summer. So just what was this concert? Well, we gave the community leaders a chance to let out their most viscious primal scream, with the winning sound effect being placed in the game. Raymand "One Dead Angel" Tang, an admin of Heaven Games, won the contest and his yell was recorded and is now a part of The Battle for Middle-earth II!

This is a mighty challenge with great rewards. Head over to bfme2.heavengames.com for more info!

Click Here!

The Rhovanion Alliance!

The Rhovanion Alliance, one of the hottest modifications in production for The Battle for Middle-earth 1 have released an update on the faction of Dol Guldur. Massive credit to this team for continuing work on what is surely going to be a spectactular full featured modification when it is finally released. We cannot wait to play this! Click the link below to check out their progress.

Read More

BFME II 2v2 Tournament! Sign up now!

You heard it right, BFMETournaments has just opened the flood gates to the community to sign-up for their BFME II 2v2 Tournament. With prizes from NVIDIA, EA, ZBoard, Antec and many others, this tournament will be one to rule them all. So head on over and make sure to read all the details of this tournament.

Read More

WORLD BUILDER DEVELOPER TUTORIALS

All aspiring single and multiplayer map designers read here! Our development team have put together some fantastic tutorial documents for World Builder, the official map design program included with The Battle for Middle-earth II.Beginners and advanced users should all check these developer documents out!

Read More

Community Links Updated

About time right? We filtered through our links from The Battle for Middle-earth 1 and some of the most popular links for The Battle for Middle-earth II to finally update our community links section. Click the link below or the links button on the left hand side navigation bar.

If you have a fan-site, mod, or clan site that you would like to submit for the official list, then please head to our links section as well. As long your site is active, we will add it to the list! Submission guidelines can be found in our links section.

The Official Fan-Site Links List

Boost your BFME II Graphics

Do you have a higher end graphic card such as an NVIDIA 6800 or 7800, or an ATI 9800 Pro or higher? Would you like to boost your graphical output in The Battle for Middle-earth II and give your graphic card a little bit more run for the money? Well look no further then all graphics nuts. Our friendly tournament fan-site, www.bfmetournaments.com, have posted a very helpful guide on how to push the horsepower of your graphic cards further in a very safe way, simply through the performance settings of your graphic cards.

If you are interested in some experimenting and would like to better maximize your high-end graphic card, then click this link below:

Boost Your BFME II Graphic's

Dueling BFME II Community Strategies

The Battle for Middle-earth II has already begun, but not exactly in the way you'd expect at this precise moment. Two of our well know community fan-sites have put forth their very best efforts to develop the ultimate RTS strategies you'll want to learn and adapt to when you get your copy of The Battle for Middle-earth II. No matter what type of RTS gamer you are, there is absolutely a wealth of knowledge to be gained from these various community strategy features. Pick your poison, or develop your own, the choice is yours!


Well known GR forum member, Larry "HERO" King, has created 6 detailed audio commentaries for the Dwarves, Goblins, Elves, Men of the West, Isengard, and Mordor, as well as a concluding commentary about his direct involvement with the developmentt team during his recent visit to EALA (hence his early knowledge on the various sides already).

Gamereplays Six Factions Audio Strategy Commentaries


And over at MEVault, well known forums members Darvin, Dzhon, Celebrimor, High Elven Lord, and Ben-MEV have authored a variety of great strategic documents on micromanagement, rushing, powers, handling the AI, and other interesting topics. While these mainly pertain to the Beta Test and Demo, a lot can be learned for the final released version of the game.

MEVault Strategy Section

Patch 1.03 for The Battle for Middle-earth 1 LIVE

Patch 1.03 for The Battle for Middle-earth 1 is OFFICIALLY LIVE. Simply log online with your copy of BFME 1 and the patch will automatically install. For more information on what the patch changes, please click this link below.

Click Here for for the exact patch 1.03 details

The Palantir Series: Volume 3

The "Battle-test" team has completed their video series masterpiece with The Palantir Volume 3: Mordor vs Rohan. This is a battle of epic proportions and a video which certainly captures it in all its glory. The Palantir video series showcases the upcoming gameplay for patch 1.03 for The Battle for Middle-earth 1.

Right click here to download

Keep your eyes posted on our official message board for specific info on the release of patch 1.03 for BFME 1.

Heavengames joins the BFME II community ranks!

Please welcome our newest friend to The Battle for Middle-earth community, Heaven Games, known simply as HG to some. Heaven Games has traditionally covered the top PC games for quite a long time, and many popular RTS games are included in that list. Now The Battle for Middle-earth joins the high ranks of Heaven Games fan-sites with a stunning site. Please visit their site and forums daily, we certainly will be.

http://bfme2.heavengames.com/

BFME II takes over The One Ring Celebration!

This past weekend, Jan 20th - 22nd we attended The One Ring Celebration in Pasadena, California, the largest The Lord of the Rings convention in North America, with the LATEST build of The Battle for Middle-earth II. In conjunction with NVIDIA we had 12 machines setup running the game. It was quite the visual feast for attendees to play on state of the art NVIDIA 7800 GTX 512mb cards, they are a beast!

In the midst of many Gandalf's, Aragorn's, Legolas's and the occassional Hobbits running around, we actually had quite a busy booth of gamers hoarding the machines to play the latest build of The Battle for Middle-earth II. One such gamer, Dzohn from our famed fan-site Middle-earth Vault, spent a considerable amount of time with the game and wrote up a very well constructed preview article and his thoughts as well. You'll notice right away from his article that we have made a considerable amount of changes from the community feedback from the Beta Test.

Click this link to read this great fan-written preview.

BFME II 1v1 Beta Tournament

Our friends at www.bfmetournaments.com., the most popular fan-site for all The Battle for Middle-earth tournaments, are hosting the first inaugeral 1v1 tournament for The Battle for Middle-earth II multiplayer beta. This is your chance to get in some heated tournament action before the game ships. The tournament begins February 4th with prizes to be announced. It is a single elimination tournament so bring your best game to every match.

For more information, please click this link.

BFME II Official Fan-Site Kit Released

With the community of The Battle for Middle-earth I & II growing steadily, it is about time we release our official fan-site kit. Unlike last year's thin edition, this fan-site kit is packed full of creative assets to help you make the coolest BFME fan-site around or spice up one you already have. We have even included exclusive menu and interface pieces from The Battle for Middle-earth II as well as official The Lord of the Rings icons. Right click the link below to download.

RIGHT CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FAN-SITE KIT


What's included in the fan-site kit?

• BFME II website/game menu pieces
  
• Official LOTR icons (will need Adobe Photoshop or similar program to open)
  
• The Lord of the Rings font
  
• Official BFME II logo in high resolution
  
• Official packaging for BFME II and the Collectors Edition
  
• All public assets released including character renders, screenshots, concept art, and wallpapers
  

All this in one easy download!

Middle-earth Monday!

If you didn't see it on the front page yet, here is your reminder. We have a treasure trove of goodies available for you today including a slice of our entirely new musical score, created exclusively for The Battle for Middle-earth II. Do your desktop and ears a favor and click the link below for todays installment of Middle-earth Monday!

Click here

New 2v2 Beta Test Map Available + 1v1 "no ring" maps!

We are pleased to announce the release of a new 2v2 map, Grey Mountains, for all those participating in the beta test. We fully understand the desire to play 2v2 and are excited to release an official 2v2 map to you now. Also, if you have been playing the beta test and reading the boards then you know there have been some very vocal and constructive efforts from the community about the Ring Heroes, and their effect on tournament style play. Because of this, we have decided to offer a version of the new 2v2 map and our current 1v1 maps without the One Ring available on the map, in other words, no Sauron or Galadriel coming in to play.

To download these maps, please follow the link below.

Read More

Executive Producer Mike Verdu has also updated his blog section, commenting on the release of the new 2v2 map, the effect some particular community feedback has already had on the final development of the game.

Click here to read Mike's latest blog

The Fellowship Community Test

Happy New Year and welcome to 2006. We recently invited some of the top BFME and RTS players from around the world to work with the BFME2 development team for a week and influence the multiplayer balance of the game. Do not miss this unique community story if you haven't checked it out already!

Read More

The Palantir and Patch 1.03

The "Battle-test" team has struck again with another high quality edition of The Palantir, a video series showcasing the upcoming gameplay for patch 1.03 for The Battle for Middle-earth 1 In this video we witness a battle between Gondor and Rohan. Please direct your attention to the link below to download.

Right click here to download

And in further developments on the long awaited patch 1.03, we are finally officially in the QA department going thru standard testing processes. Most of you within the community already know, but for those unaware this is a standard protocol all patches must go thru. We are working hard to expedite the process much faster than usual. We will update you on the release as soon as we have the official word from QA. Thank you for being very patient.

Beta Test Update from APOC

Hey everyone,

The development team have been pounding away on the public beta every minute of the past 3 weeks and are just now putting on the final touches on ?it looks like the final will go through last minute testing the rest of tonight and then go live this week.

If you have pre-ordered the game from any of the various online or in-store retailers hosting the pre-order program, you should have already received your registration code thru e-mail or the pre-order box received in store. As a reminder, you will need to head to this link below to register for the beta test with your code. Once the software is live, you will be sent an automatic e-mail with download instructions.

www.bfme2.ea.com/beta

Once again, we?re looking forward to the official release of our beta test and hope you are as well.

All the best,
APOC

BFME Official EA Community Manager

Beta Test Factions and Maps Revealed

We have finally revealed what factions and maps will be included in the online multiplayer Beta Test! We've also updated information about the retailers and our pre-order campaign. Please visit the Beta Test FAQ for this updated information and more.

Click here for more

BFME 1 MOD : The Rhovanion Alliance
Exclusive Interview

Unless you have been living in a small Hobbit hole, then you know about one of the coolest modifications currently in production for The Battle for Middle-earth 1; The Rhovanion Alliance. Our community manager recently had a chance to interview the team leader behind this highly anticipated modification. You can also view some exclusive screenshots. Click the link below and find out how this team comprised of members from all around the world are producing The Rhovanion Alliance.

Read More

BFME Patch 1.03 - MORDOR REVEALED

You've been waiting for the official reveal on the most feared dark side of them all, Mordor! Yes Hobittses of all ages, the patch is still very much in progress. We will update you shortly. For now, enjoy the further official release information on the upcoming changes to Mordor.

Click here to view

BFME II Playable debut at Sony Metreon thru Dec 24th!

In conjunction with Maximum PC magazine and their official Dream Machine Tour we are proud to announce The Battle for Middle-earth II will be making it's world-wide playable debut at the Sony Metreon Center in San Francisco this Friday, starting at 4PM. The tour will be at this location until Dec 24th. For further information and to see if the Dream Machine Tour and BFME II will be coming to a town near you, click the link below.

Click here for more info

Massive Community-Wide FAQ Launched

Talk about joint community efforts at it's finest. "It's finally here" as stated. In a joint effort between Gamereplays, Middle Earth Center, and BFMETournaments.com, one of the most thorough community FAQ's for The Battle for Middle-earth II has officially been launched. Click the link below to check out this massive FAQ.

Click here for more info

Overall, we'd like to extend a huge applause to the various community sites creating fantastic FAQ's about the game.

MEVault BFME II FAQ Updated

MEVault has updated their massive FAQ yet again, this time with a lot of new information they have scoured from the message boards and recently released news. There is a very good chance you'll learn something you didn't know about The Battle for Middle-earth II after checking it out.

Click here for more info

BFME Tournaments Announces 2v2 Clan Tournaments

If you're in a clan or have ever wanted to start one, now is the time. BFME Tournaments has just released info on their next massive tournament for The Battle for Middle-earth. Make sure to get your Clan mate and join on November 12th, 2005 when sign-ups are released. The top clans will be swarming to claim the top spots in the BFME community, so bring your "A" game.

Click here for more info

Patch 1.03 Update: Exclusive Video and Gondor!

Patch 1.03 for The Battle for Middle-earth is inching ever closer to official release. It is currently in our QA department going thru some extensive testing processes. This is going to be a big one. The "Battle-test", one of the main driving forces behind the community balance efforts for patch 1.03 have created a fantastic video showcasing some of the new balance tactics the patch will employ. In this video we witness a battle between Rohan and Isengard. Please direct your attention to the link below to download.

Right click here to download

And for your weekend pleasure, here is the next rollout of balance changes for patch 1.03. For Gondor!!!

Click here to view

GameReplays.org Massive BFME II Previews

Our friends in the community over at GameReplays.org have launched a brand new main portal for their site, and in doing so they have also launched a summarized review of all the current information they have on BFME II. There are some great fan written articles on various components of our game. Be sure to check them out by clicking the link below.

GameReplays.org BFME II community coverage

Modding Site Shout Out

There are many great mods and maps currently in production for The Battle for Middle-earth or already released. Whether you are a beginner or an expert at using our World Builder tool, there is a great community modding site out there dedicated to helping YOU become the best. With over 1 million hits since it's opening not too many months ago, http://the3rdage.net/ has quickly risen in popularity. One would think the tutorials given on the site are certainly the cause. Would we mention it here if they were not? Attenion all aspiring and current modders, check this site out!

http://the3rdage.net/

BFME Patch 1.03 Update

As you may or may not know, we are currently hard at work on patch 1.03 for The Battle for Middle-earth. A final release date has not yet been set but we will announce one very soon. In the meantime, we will be rolling out the balance changes which will impact the game quite significantly. It's time to reignite your excitement for BFME because the competitive waters are about to heat up again when patch 1.03 releases!

Curious what is going to happen to Isengard and Rohan?

Click here to see

BFME II COMMUNITY FAQ PROJECT

Several of our hottest fan sites have come together in a true community unison to centralize all of the current knowledge and tidbits of information known about the game that have been spread openly...and secretly throughout the community. There is a joint FAQ project being constructed, and the community leaders of these sites would like your answers or questions about BFME II. Head to the site below for more info, you'll probably find out quite a bit of info that you never knew about the game!

Click here to post your questions and answers

BFME II IMPRESSES AT IGN LIVE

The Battle for Middle-earth II made a huge splash at IGN Live this past weekend. We showcased our new water demo, gave visitors their first glimpse at Sauron, and conducted a live multiplayer match between the Dwarves and Isengard. It was a lucky day for BFME fans in attendence at IGN Live to get an unprecedented look at BFME II up close. Various community reports have already popped up, check out the link below for the latest.

Sledge and Billy C report from BFMEtournaments.com

BFME II AT IGN LIVE

IGN LIVE brings IGN.com to life October 22nd and 23rd at the Anaheim Convention Center, and most importantly, The Battle for Middle-earth II will be on display with never before seen gameplay. If you live in the Southern California area, do not miss your chance to get an exclusive look at the game.

NEW MESSAGE BOARDS LAUNCHED!

Yes, that is 100% accurate. Our old message boards have been tossed to the trenches and wastelands of Middle-earth, in favor of a brand new and dynamic board system. We heard the pleas from the fans and thankfully have launched a fast and friendly message board system complete with many of the features you'd come to expect from the best boards around. Discuss your excitement for The Battle for Middle-earth II, or let your opinion be heard directly by the development team, our eyes will always be on these boards. The time is now, hit the boards and start talking.

Click here to join the fun

NEWS FROM AROUND THE COMMUNITY

The folks over at www.gamereplays.org/bfme2 have done some serious sleuthing around from a few of our recent asset stories. They uncovered new concept art of an Elven ship and Goblin structures from a recent producer video interview at www.gametrailers.com, and figured out the resource structure for the Elven faction by carefully analyzing a new screenshot released last week. Nice work!

MEVault.ign.com has started doing a daily history post on what happened a year ago each day concerning The Battle for Middle-earth franchise. The detail remembered from each day is quite stunning and will bring some fond memories to your eyes.

www.middleearthcenter.com is currently running a poll asking simply, what feature in BFME II are you most looking forward to? So far, Create-a-Hero is leading the charge. Head to their site to get your vote in before the polls close! We're always interested in feature polls, so make sure your vote is heard.