In celebration of the new year, developer Pandemic has released an Xbox 360 demo of its upcoming Tolkien-inspired battleground game, The Lord of the Rings: Conquest.

Released on PlayStation 3 last week, the 1GB demo allows players to pick a side, hop online and fight in 16-person battles for the future of Middle-earth. At present, only Xbox Live Gold members can download the demo from the Xbox Live Marketplace.

The Hobbit-slaying action game simply walks out of Mordor heads to retailers on January 13, and will be available for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS.

Here is a new gameplay trailer for The Lord of the Rings: Conquest (PC, PS3, X360, NDS), now confirmed to be shipping January 13. The two minute long video features various battles and characters.

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Middle-earth action game The Lord of the Rings: Conquest will ship January 13, developer Pandemic Studios announced today.

Created by the Pandemic team responsible for the two Star Wars Battlefront games, Conquest allows you to recreate the battles from the Lord of the Rings movies, fighting as either the good or evil side.

Said Pandemic general manager Josh Resnick, "Players will finally be able to fight through Middle-earth along the frontlines of good or evil. [...] What 'The Lord of the Rings' fan hasn't fantasized about joining Sauron's army to slay Hobbits?" Once expected this fall, The Lord of the Rings: Conquest will be released for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS.

Pandemic has sent along a new batch of screenshots from The Lord of the Rings: Conquest (PC, PS3, X360), showing more from their Star Wars: Battlefront-type multiplayer action game. The Lord of the Rings: Conquest is due November 4.

With details on Pandemic's Lord of the Rings game finally beginning to surface, the developer sent over the first five screenshots from its Tolkien-inspired battleground effort.

Due out this fall, The Lord of the Rings: Conquest (PC, PS3, X360, NDS) will allow players to fight on either side of the war for the One Ring.

Update: Developer Pandemic sent over a few screenshots of the game, and revealed that, in addition to PC, PS3, and X360, LOTR: Conquest will be hitting Nintendo DS this fall.

Original Story: IGN has first details on The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, a new action game in development at Mercenaries developer Pandemic Studios.

The game, in development for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 is likened to the Pandemic developed Star Wars: Battlefront, where players can jump into any battle they saw in the movies and help either side win. The game will include two campaigns -- one of them featuring a storyline where Sauron regains control of the One Ring -- and comes with co-op support; online as well as through split-screen. Electronic Arts previously noted the existence of the project during a meeting with analysts.

"Our Pandemic Studios creative teams have years of expertise... Read more