Confirming our previous story, EA has officially announced The Rise of the Witch-king, an expansion to The Battle for Middle-earth II that was revealed some time ago. In addition to offering a completely new single-player campaign, the expansion will add new units for all six existing factions, as well as let players explore the evil side of Middle-earth.

The all new single player campaign’s innovative units will help to tell the story of the evil Witch-king’s rise to power, domination of Angmar and invasion of the great kingdom of Arnor, home to Aragorn’s ancestors. To fully experience the evil side of Middle-earth, gamers can now play as the Angmar faction in skirmish, multiplayer, and War of the Ring modes.

Experience a whole new depth of strategy and upgraded War of the Ring and Create-A-Hero features. Create-A-Hero’s entirely unique Troll class boasts additional weapons and armor that will allow players to have even more freedom in customizing their game play. War of the Ring, a risk-style meta-game, offers upgraded army persistence, a new siege dynamic on the Living World Map, and unified territories that serve as major control points.

The Rise of the Witch-king is scheduled for release this Winter and will require an original copy of Battle for Middle-earth II to be played.

This forum thread on GameReplays.org is host to a response from “EA Apoc”, an EA community representative, who confirms rumors of a Battle for Middle-earth Ii add-on, offering the title of the project: The Rise of the Witch-king.

These have shipped:

• Civilization IV (Mac)
  
• Disciples II - Gold Edition (Steam)
  
• GODS: Lands of Infinity
  
• Jagged Alliance 2 (Steam)
  
• The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earth II (X360)

• Civilization IV: Warlords

EA has announced its lineup for this years E3, which begins tomorrow. The lineup consists of titles for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS, PSP and the PC which will be shown in booth #1000 in the South Hall.

The mega-publisher will be showing off the recently-announced Army of Two, Will Wrights Spore, and Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars behind closed doors at the event. EA will also be showing off Madden NFL 07 for the PS3, X360, Wii, PSP and DS at the show. Other titles include NASCAR 07, Battlefield 2142, Crysis, Battle for Middle-earth II (X360), Superman Returns and Def Jam: Fight for NY: The Takeover.

More details inside.
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Ah, patches. Can’t live without them!

• The Battle for Middle-earth II v1.02 on 3D Gamers, EA’s FTP server and Worthplaying
  
• Massive Assault Network 2 v2.0.197 on the Official Website

A v1.0.1 update for MX vs. ATV Unleashed has been released, enhancing the editor and menus, while addressing some bugs. Get the patch from 3D Gamers, FileFront and FilePlanet. Matrix Games has made available the v1.095 patch for Maximum Football, offering gameplay improvements, among other things.

In patch related news, EA’s Battle for Middle-earth II website has details on recent hardware upgrades as well as plans for the v1.02 patch and the subsequent v1.03 update.

Quite a few games have been released. Check them out:

• 24: The Game (PS2)
  
• Black (PS2, Xbox)
  
• Dungeons & Dragons: Online Stomreach (PC)
  
• FIFA Street 2 (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, DS, PSP)
  
• The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II (PC)
  
• The Sims 2: Open for Business (PC)
  
• SWAT 4: The Stetchkov Syndicate (PC)