Is there Such a Thing as Game of the Year?
December is a time for top ten lists, retrospectives and summaries. You’ll find them on most blogs, fansites, podcasts and You Tube channels. I’m sure I’ll be producing some content of this nature myself over the next fortnight. Christmas puts a lot of demands upon our time so posts of this kind are a necessity more often than not. Naturally one of the most common subjects of debate is the so called “Game of the Year”, which at first glance seems a somewhat innocuous subject. However it’s a far more contentious matter when you stop and consider by what criteria do you judge a game to award it such a title? Plus there’s the perennial issue of gamers not being the most level headed group when it comes to controversies and dissent.
Gaming Merchandise
While watching the official LOTROstream recently, I noted that there was still a lot of LOTRO related merchandise adorning staff desks at Turbine’s offices. I recollect in the past that mouse mats, mugs and other items use to be available for sale in the Warner Bros. store. There was an initial marketing campaign associated with the launch of the game in 2007 and another in 2010 when the game converted to F2P, both of which required a stock of merchandise for promotional reasons. Sadly a search of the Warner Bros. store has shown that no such material is available any longer. Furthermore considering where LOTRO is in its lifespan, there is not likely to be any further stock produced.