BREAKING STORY AT TURBINE!!

[Signe]

They changed the name from Middle Earth Online to Lord of the Rings Online.

Wowsers!

[Murgos]

So, wait, this means I get to play as Sauron?

[Viin]

That's because no one knows what "Middle Earth" is. Probably think it has something to do with Journey to The Center Of the Earth.

[Roac]

Smart marketing.  Customers++.

[Paelos]

Why not change it to Legolas Online and just make sure the morons know where to congregate.

[AlteredOne]

Clearly, Mulligan's replacement is on the ball!  Make sure to put a picture of Aragorn on the box, too.

[HaemishM]

Don't forget to put Gollum on there.

Actually, this makes good marketing sense, considering they only have the license to use stuff from the Hobbit and LotR books. Lord of the Rings has actual brand awareness outside of Tolkein geeks.

[tazelbain]

Can I play it with a 2 button mouse?

[Signe]

Can I play it with a 2 button mouse?

You know, not every thread needs a Shadowbane reference!

Edit:  I take that back.

[Stormwaltz]

I'm sure marketing was the largest consideration, but I suspect it's also a reflection of the game's post-Vivendi redesign. Middle Earth was a world. Lord of the Rings will be a game.

/sadf

[Signe]

I think it's a good idea for exactly the reasons Viin and Haemish cited.  Everyone who's ever read the book or seen the movies will know what the Lord of the Rings is... the name of specific worlds, however, are easy to forget.  The other day I was trying to remember for ages where Morla the turtle lived and finally had to google for it.  Sheesh....  I have permanent dents in my forehead from hitting it while I say, "d'oh!"

[Evangolis]

If the marketers are really on the ball, they will find a way to have Liv Tyler talk dirty to the player in Elvish.

[Signe]

I don't want Liv Tyler to talk dirty to me!  Her dad, on the other hand, can talk dirty to me in any language he likes. 

[Paelos]

I don't want Liv Tyler to talk dirty to me!  Her dad, on the other hand, can talk dirty to me in any language he likes. 

You're backing the wrong horse there.

[Yegolev]

Hehe... horse.  Fo-sho.

[shiznitz]

Got yeast infection?

[Strazos]

Got Manbutter?

Just too easy.

[Signe]

You can all just fuck right off.

[Strazos]

Just to be fair, I don't really have a thing for Liv Tyler.

More of a Shannon Elizabeth fan myself.

And after Sin City, I've also grown to like her close equivalent, Jessica Alba as well.

[Signe]

I'm beginning to be glad I don't know who all these women are that everyone here goes on about.  Why are there so many of them?  Do they get spit out of some sort of Dolly the Sheep cloning facility or something?  It used to be this community would chat  about some raunchy pr0n star every so often.  The recent pervy interest in near prepubescent girls is beginning to worry me.

[Strazos]

The recent pervy interest in near prepubescent girls is beginning to worry me.

Liv Tyler is 27.

Shannon Elizabeth is 32.

Jesica Alba is 23.

IMDB is your friend.

At least I was nice enough to link pictures instead of shoving them in your face directly. 

[Signe]

Of course they all LOOK about 15.  It's obvious what you all really want.  But that's not really my point, if, in fact I have a point... which is doubtful...  guys seem to be very into all this stuff these days.  Some of the girls I've seen discussed are in obvious teen age tv shows.  Some aren't even actresses... they're models.  Guys are just different now.  They are fans of stuff that used to be in the realm of the schoolgirl, at least when I was a schoolgirl.

Anyway... there is my very unpointy point.

[Velorath]

Guys liking young looking actress and models is a recent thing?  I can't speak for anyone else here, but in my family that's a trait that's been passed down from father to son for generations.

[Signe]

Way to miss my unpoint.  Looking and drooling isn't strange at all.  Knowing the names and statistics of the latest teen type models and minor actresses does seem sort of strange to me.  I suppose its the whole metrosexual thingy... I dunno.  I'm so out of the loop.

[Rodent]

If it helps, I am still into pr0nstars!

[AOFanboi]

If it helps, I am still into pr0nstars!

With Big Ass Titties?? (Possibly NSFW, at least the audio.)

See, Signe, this is what all that "thin" hysteria leads to: Since boobs consist of fat tissue, slimming a lot means smaller tits. Have you seen long-distance/marathon runners lately? Flat chests and loose skin all over.

So: it's not "prepubescent girls", it's just women that either don't have natural C/D-cups or haven't screwed themselves over by inserting silicone pads. Their face and body are more interesting anyway though, and being young-ish they don't need the botox injections older stars ruin themselves with.

[Velorath]

Way to miss my unpoint.  Looking and drooling isn't strange at all.  Knowing the names and statistics of the latest teen type models and minor actresses does seem sort of strange to me.  I suppose its the whole metrosexual thingy... I dunno.  I'm so out of the loop.

It's not so much knowing as it is the general ability to look things up on the Internet.  Knowing names is no more a big deal now than people knowing Marilyn Monroe, Raquel Welch, or various other actresses decades ago.  These days though we can just look up their pictures and statistics at IMDB, see what other movies they're in, download and watch the trailers, and then discuss with other like-minded guys on messageboards all within the span of a few minutes while we're at work, half-paying attention to the MMO we're playing, or waiting for the microwave to heat up our next meal.

It's not that we're obsessed with these women or anything, but it's easier to make a comment about Jessica Alba being hot than the women we actually know personally.  It doesn't have the same effect if I start talking about how hot the chick I work with is, because no one else here knows who the fuck she is, and posting pictures online of friends, co-workers, and other people that you know and want to have sex with is just kinda creepy.  So instead someone will point out that they think Jennifer Garner is attractive, and then someone else will google up a picture showing how much she looks like a man and the cosmic ballet goes on.

[Merusk]

Speaking of Marilyn, she and Bettie Paige have it all over any of the actresses heretofore listed.

I was dissapointed that Bliz changed the Succubus from the Paige-looking model.  /sigh.

[Strazos]

she [Jennifer Garner]  looks like a man and the cosmic ballet goes on.

I second that motion.

[Signe]

Ah... now I know why dorf wimmen are so unpopular in mmos!  Short, fat and weirdly beardly.  I have to say, I wouldn't mind being a studly women like Jennifer Garner, who doesn't look a bit like a man to me.

This internet...  hopefully it's just a passing fad. 

[Velorath]

This internet...  hopefully it's just a passing fad. 

Mankind is the passing fad.  Long after we've turned to dust the Internet will have preserved the knowledge that Jennifer Garner looks like a man.

[Stormwaltz]

...but what does all this have to do with Shadowbane?

Oh. Boobies. NM.

[AOFanboi]

...but what does all this have to do with Shadowbane?

Imagine a Beowulf cluster of boobs!

Sorry. Started channeling /. there.

Getting back to the subj... mmmm. Boobs.

[stray]

I think I get your point Signe. To tie in a statement that I made in another thread earlier: I've never seen an episode of "Buffy".

I don't read "celeb" news or People magazine either. I do however, appreciate art...Unfortunately, sometimes that curiosity leads me to have some familarity with "schoolgirl" crap. I hate it though.

Also, 9 times out of 10, it'll be the "older" woman that impresses me (not too old though!).

Lastly...I'm definitely not a "metrosexual". I may be a fairly sensitive guy, but I'm in and out of the shower in 3 to 5 minutes.

Edit: Eh...Or maybe I don't get your point?

[angry.bob]

Of course they all LOOK about 15.  It's obvious what you all really want.  But that's not really my point, if, in fact I have a point... which is doubtful...  guys seem to be very into all this stuff these days.  Some of the girls I've seen discussed are in obvious teen age tv shows.  Some aren't even actresses... they're models.  Guys are just different now.  They are fans of stuff that used to be in the realm of the schoolgirl, at least when I was a schoolgirl.

Anyway... there is my very unpointy point.

Yeah, you can thank the ever increasing sexualization of mid, and now even early teen girls in the entertainment industry. Between that, popular teen fashion,  and hormone-laden meat and milk making puberty happen at about 9 nowadays it's hard to not too. Biology is not a man's friend. There's many a time at the mall I've been checking out a girl with her t-back showing, skinny waist, and at least a c-cup in a really short shirt only to find out they're about 12 when I get a good look at their face. It's very, very disturbing. If your point wasn't that grown men are turning into Nabokov character, sorry and I was just kidding about all that. If you were saying that men are getting into stuff that should interest a schoolgirl, you're missing the focus of their attention.

Also, unrelated to your post, metrosexuals are homosexuals who haven't worked up the nerve to go to a bathhouse or roadstop yet. No self-respecting real man is aware of crap like ear hairs, let alone goes to the bother of plucking them and using "product". Unless the product is some sort of rubber to avoid unwanted pregnancy beacuse the do it with chicks so much.