Bilbo Baggins is swept into a quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakenshield.

 

Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers. Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever… Gollum.

 

Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of guile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum’s “precious” ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities

OK, the first thing I can happily say about The Hobbit, is the 169 minutes run time of the film flies by and doesn’t leave you feeling like you missed anything, even the slow character based sections pull you into what is happening, where The Lord of the rings trilogy sometimes failed…  And yes, that’s 169 minutes cinema run time, Peter Jackson has already commented that the extended version will have 20 to 30 minutes extra…  Woah, that’s one hell of a Marathon watch when we have all six films on BluRay huh?

So, lets get down to the bad points, of which there are thankfully very few…  Yes, it was shot in 48frames per second for some of the shots AND was shot with 3D in mind (I saw it in 2D on purpose) and it showed.  There are many set pieces that where obviously shot for IMAX/3D that don’t work so well in 2D, either due to fuzzy picture or camera fly by is just too quick (and usually both at the same time unfortunately), but luckily I found this only happened a couple of times and didn’t really detract from the picture

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring started with Old Bilbo (Ian Holm) finishing his book and passing it to Frodo (Elijah Wood) to not only read, but add his own story and wonderfully, The Hobbit starts with the beginning of this, Old Bilbo starting the book and explaining to Frodo that he can read it when it’s written and seeing Ian Holm and Elijah Wood reprising their roles was joyous to behold.  The characters gel so wonderfully in this scene.  Of course we also see the destruction of the Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor by the dragon Smaug and gives us some important back story for the main dwarf character Thorin (Richard Armitage) aswell and some idea of his personal struggles

but we very quickly move to the past (or is that present for this film?) and meet Bilbo (Martin Freeman) as he is accosted by Gandalf (Ian McKellen) outside the Baggins home…  I found this an incredibly fun meeting, with Bilbo not remembering Gandalf, but remembering his fireworks and Gandalf retailing Bilbo with stories and reminders of heroic and strong willed hobbits he is part of the family line of (including Gandalf making a quip about Bilbo’s mother and how strong willed she was)

We then start to meet the 12 Dwarves of the group.  An incredible line up of actors you would more likely see in BBC television shows and it was fin trying to remember the actors names without checking IMDb on my phone

This is where the story very quickly starts to kick into gear, with Bilbo realising the next morning the group have left and he actually wants to go on the journey and running to catch up with them.  From here there are some wonderful set pieces that really bring us back to thinking of things mentioned in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, like the trolls turning to stone in the dawn sunlight, as Bilbo keeps them busy with thoughts of HOW to cook him, rather than them ACTUALLY cooking him.  How Bilbo and Gandalf came to gain their swords, Sting and FoeHammer and more about the personalities of the main small group of characters

What I really enjoyed was the meeting in Rivendell between the protectors of the world, Gandalf, Elrond (Hugo Weaving), Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) and Saruman (Christopher Lee).  This meeting is very potent for the story as it shows they are already aware of the “threat from the north” that is Sauron (the Lord of the Rings trilogy) and knowing Saruman is going to betray them, you can see it already happening with his nonchalant response to what has happened to Radagast (Doctor Who actor Sylvester McCoy) and his meeting with the Necromancer (Benedict Cumberbatch) and the ramifications of that encounter…   Radagast is a bit of a surprise though to be honest, not what I was expecting of the character, especially as, although not in the LotR trilogy, Games Workshop worked him into the table top game they did for the first trilogy and from the character artwork and models of him, yeah, Sylvester McCoy‘s version of him, bird poo down one side of his face and crazy demeanor, was different from stoic version the game portrayed, but then again, i guess that’s to be expected

Now, there are a number of encounters in the film obviously, but the main one people will be watching for, is Bilbo’s encounter with Gollum (Andy Serkis) and how Bilbo gained the One Ring…  Considering this whole encounter is enveloped with a desperate struggle above, between the goblins and the companionship of dwarves, the game of riddles is very amusing to watch and we also get to see more of the split personality that Gollum has and that we saw prominently in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Well, I guess you want a score, BUT as this is the first of three parts, I’m not going to put one…  Suffice to say, if you liked the LotR trilogy, you will adore this film and like me, will be eagerly anticipating the second and third parts!  Go see it!

~Lone

The Transformers Universe official site has launched with the news that beta registrations are now being accepted. The first round of beta testing is expected to kick off after the first of the year.

Tim Hodges, Transformers Universe Brand Director commented “We are delighted to be entering the next phase of our launch plans for Transformers Universe and we hope that players enjoy using this new hub for all the latest Transformer Universe news and information. We’re getting closer to unleashing Transformers Universe into browsers so stay tuned for more information and be sure to visit the site and sign up for BETA today”

Register for the beta on the site.

Three membership tiers will be available: free, member and grand master.

The Secret World is abolishing compulsory subscription fees, Funcom has revealed.

Instead of having to pay every month just to play the game, you'll now only need to part with your cash once to buy the title and then select which of the three membership tiers you want: free, member or grand master.

The conversion isn't planned to introduce any restrictions to the game's current content; anyone who opts for the free tier will be able to access every weapon, dungeon and mission included in Issues 1 to 4. The next update, Issue 5, is planned for January and will be provided free of charge to anyone who registers an account before the end of December.

That's not to say subscription options are disappearing entirely, though. Choosing to pay the base amount of $15/€15 a month for a membership will net you an item that doubles XP gains for an hour with a 16 hour cooldown, Bonus Points to the value of $10/€10 every month to spend in the Item Store, a mystery gift on the first patch day of each month and a 10% discount on everything except content packs and other "packs" in the Item Store.

Grand master lifetime members will get all that plus a further 10% discount at the Item Store. Both members and grand masters can use their free monthly Bonus Points to purchase DLC, while anyone who currently still has sub time left will be credited with 1200 bonus points and the XP boosting item.

So what do you think? Will this be enough to revitalise Funcom's struggling MMO, or is another one biting the dust?

Some of you may have noticed that the forum is currently disabled, meaning you won't be able to reply to this or any other post

Unfortunately it seems we have been hit hard by spambots in the Ukraine (of all places) and our Q&A sign up is obviously not working

We are looking at other possible solutions to this, however the forum will have to stay locked down til a solution is found

Appologies for the issues and I will update with more info as and when we have a solution!

~Lonesamurai

NCsoft and developer ArenaNet have dropped a few details regarding the upcoming Guild Wars 2 mini-expansion, The Lost Shores, which contains a huge one-time event that will change the face of Tyria.

Starting on Thursday, November 15, players can dive into The Lost Shores, which among other things features a new zone accessible to all players of any level. It also includes: a new dungeon – The Fractals of the Mists (which itself features five mini-dungeons and a random format), an iceberg-based, vertical PvP map (within Kodan's Temple of the Silent Storm), new gear, crafting updates (and over 200 new recipes), and more.

The one-time event will start on Friday, November 16 and go through Sunday, although the entire weekend itself (starting on Thursday) is a free-trial period where those who have already purchased the game can invite along three friends who haven't.

Here's the full schedule from ArenaNet. Also be sure to check out the new screens for the expansion below.

• Thursday, November 15, 9:00 a.m. PT – Free trial period begins, update build is released
• Friday, November 16, 12:00 p.m. PT – One-time Lost Shores event begins
• Sunday, November 18, 12:00 p.m. PT – Final event stage begins
• Sunday, November 18, 10:00 p.m. PT – One-time event and free trial weekend ends