Peter Jackson

I watched the trailer for Tales of the Shire yesterday, and instantly decided it wasn’t going to be my thing. You know what it is? Exactly the kind of gaming adaptations we need.

We are thrilled to announce Polygon’s latest book: Year of the Ring, an in-depth exploration of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy and the books that inspired them. Year of the Ring — authored by Susana Polo and a variety of Polygon contributors — will hit stores on Oct. 15, 2024, kicking off Polygon Pages, an ongoing publishing partnership with Insight Editions.

won’t be “just the fourth film in the [original] trilogy” of Lord of the Rings movies.

The news is out: Peter Jackson and his Lord of the Rings collaborators will executive produce a new movie set in Middle-earth, with Andy Serkis directing and reprising his role as Gollum, and the working title is Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.

Last year, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that the company would be producing new Lord of the Rings movies, but said very little about what they would be about — riddles in the dark, if you will. It’s been a long 15 months since then, but the latest Middle-earth adventure has finally been revealed: Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, directed by and starring Andy Serkis.

UPDATE: It has now been revealed the new Lord of the Rings movie has a working title of Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, and will be directed by Andy Serkis

A new cooperative 3D platformer based on The Smurfs media franchise will come to Sony's PS4 and PS5 consoles in 2024. A number of games based on the beloved property have been released in recent years.

Private Division revealed a new game set in the Middle-earth universe called Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game. The title, developed by Wētā Workshop Game Studio, is a cozy life simulator set within the world of the books by J.R.R. Tolkien.

I’ll never climb a 20-foot ogre in real life. That’s something I’ve had to contend with for a while but now, in Dragon’s Dogma 2, I can do just that. It’s a thrill not limited to ogres but a whole host of mythical monsters found inside Capcom’s latest. Griffins, golems, chimeras… I’ve scaled the lot. Each one I ascended really got me thinking that more games should let you climb giant creatures. It’s a feature that’s not only an incredibly tangible way of conveying that feeling of taking down a fearsome beast, but also cleverly transforms towering threats into walking puzzles that require dexterity, smarts, and of course, brute strength to take down. It really is something other action games should look to replicate.

Players frequently share their unique Minecraft builds with the community, including one fan of The Lord of the Rings who made an in-game recreation of Rivendell. Lord of the Rings builds in Minecraft have proven popular with gaming and Tolkien fans, and this particular build has already received praise from both communities.

No matter how often the argument resurfaces, we aren’t really running out of movie stars — especially not as far as fandom is concerned. There are still plenty of actors out there with devotees who eagerly track their faves from project to project. Jenna Ortega has built that kind of following, from her child-actor phase as a Disney TV stalwart to playing young Jane on Jane the Virgin, the title role in Netflix’s Wednesday, and one of the new crop of knife-fodder-to-be in the Scream reboot series. Her fans have been vocal about the excitement of seeing her take on more adult, more independent, and more ambitious roles. But they’re going to have an interesting time figuring out how to swallow her new movie, Miller’s Girl.

Physical calendars can seem surplus to requirements these days. With smartphones providing access to digitally synchronized schedules that update automatically, it's hard to see the need for a physical one you pin up on the wall. Some may argue they're a relic of a bygone age; something that should not have been forgotten, but were lost.

Ten years ago, Stephen Fry ate balls in the Hobbit films. If that doesn’t ring a bell as something from Tolkien, don’t worry. Not only is it from the second film in the culturally forgotten Hobbit trilogy, but this specific sequence only exists in the Extended Edition.

The recent Insomniac Games hack saw over a terabyte of the Spider-Man developer’s data illegally distributed online after it refused to pay a $2 million ransom to the Rhysida ransomware gang. The leak includes employees’ personal information, which means developers are not only experiencing the heartache of seeing their works-in-progress stolen and uploaded, but also, they just got doxxed. It doesn’t get worse than that. And I wish it didn’t take such drastic and devastating measures to get a look behind the curtain at in-development AAA games.

The Lord of the Rings is a cultural icon that needs no introduction and has been the inspiration (officially or otherwise) for a vast number of games across many genres. 2023 has perhaps not been a golden year for such titles, however, with the disastrous release of Gollum leaving a bad taste in even the most devoted of Tolkienist’s mouths. Return to Moria is a very different kettle of fish, however, and offers to shine a spotlight on the often-overlooked dwarves of Middle Earth.

Unity has reportedly shed more jobs, as the company has laid off 265 workers today as part of a «company reset.» The move also terminates the partnership that Unity had been in with Weta FX, though crucially, Unity retains its ownership of the Weta Digital tools it purchased back in 2021.

Unity are chopping 265 jobs - around 3.8% of their global workforce - and ending an agreement with digital effects company Wētā FX as part of a company "reset", following an awful year for the game engine provider. Unity also plan to close offices in 14 locations, including Singapore and Berlin, and cut costs at offices in San Francisco and Bellevue, Washington.

It's been a 'fun' and 'interesting' year for Unity. A retroactive runtime fee that drew the anger of basically every developer leading to a change in leadership, an AI program it's only recently done due diligence on, and some big, sweeping layoffs. 

Unity Technologies is laying off 265 people — 3.8% of its 7,000 employees — as it undergoes a “company reset,” according to Reuters. All 256 laid off workers were part of Unity’s Wētā Digital division; several Wētā FX tools and 275 employees were acquired by Unity in 2021 in a $1.6 billion deal.

Unity has confirmed that it’s laying off 265 employees in what’s been described as a company “reset.”

Only two years after acquiring part of Weta's VFX business, Unity is stepping back to focus on its core business.

Unity is making further cuts to its workforce as it ends an agreement with Weta FX.

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The final Beatles recording is here.

Next week, The Beatles—yes, the legendary rock band from the 1960s—will be back with their first new song in decades, thanks to an AI algorithm. 

Any well-read fan of The Lord of the Rings will know that the main action in JRR Tolkien's book series took place in the Third Age of Middle-earth, with most of the major adaptations over the years (including the Peter Jackson films) sticking to that time period.

The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria involves one of the most famous locations in Middle-earth, but when exactly does the game take place in The Lord of the Rings timeline? A game set in Moria seems like a natural fit for the events of The Lord of the Rings books, but the developers had more options available to them.

The upcoming Lord of the Rings survival game, set in the ruined mines of Moria, has finally gone gold - or, as the development team states, it's gone "mithril."

Skull Island: Rise of Kong was released on Steam on October 17, and if you use any of the various social media platforms you've probably already seen clips and stills from it. The various algorithms have all reached the same conclusion: this thing is comedy gold, and people are revelling in a dunkfest at its expense. In particular, it's being compared to Daedalic's Lord of the Rings: Gollum, which has been unfairly labelled by some as the worst game of the year (it's not great, but such a label is ludicrous).

films featured a memorable cast of legendary actors, and one will be returning forthe upcoming video game . Developed by Free Range games, ventures into the depths of the former Dwarven kingdom of Khazad-dûm, taking place in the Fourth Age of Middle-earth. The subject of the game makes one actor more fit to reprise his role for the experience than any others, and luckily, that's just who will be lending his voice to the title.

John Rhys-Davies is set to return to Middle-earth when The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria releases in just one week's time.

Cozy games have carved a chill little niche for themselves, and you don’t get much cozier than the Shire. The home of the Hobbits is the subject of a new game from publisher Private Division and developer Weta Workshop. The two paired up to announce Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game, currently planned for 2024. 

Tales of the Shire has me excited like no other game has in a very long time. It combines two of my favorite things ever, cozy games and Lord of the Rings, to create a wholesome Tolkien-inspired experience like no other. Publisher Private Division has teamed up with Wētā Workshop, a special effects company known for its work on Peter Jackson’s iconic The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings films, to create the Shire-based game.

Weta Workshop is entering the video games industry with a new video game based on The Lord of the Rings, named Tales of the Shire.

A new Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth trailer includes the most jacked horse you've ever seen, Cloud riding a Segway, and the PlayStation 5 release date: February 29, 2024.

One of the most memorable scenes from Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Peter Jackson’s movie adaptation is the Fellowship’s brutal journey through the abandoned, once great Dwarven city of Moria.

New horror movie Starve Acre has a creepy first look, featuring Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power actor Morfydd Clark and former Doctor Who Matt Smith. 

Swedish gaming company Embracer Group has credited the franchise with playing a large part in the company’s improved fiscal first-quarter financials.

We're thrilled to announce the return of GamesBeat Summit Next, hosted in San Francisco this October, where we will explore the theme of «Playing the Edge.» Apply to speak  here  and learn more about sponsorship opportunities  here . 

Rapper Post Malone has purchased a one-of-a-kind Magic: The Gathering card inspired by JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings series.

The world is in the midst of a Tolkien renaissance.

The last time Kong officially appeared in a video game was back in 2005 when a title was based on King Kong movie created by Peter Jackson.  The game, which was released for PS2 and Xbox 360, was surprisingly good even if you were playing as a human for most of the time.