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Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth guide — Build your dream Fellowship
Use these tips to help you spending above your means
EA has launched Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth. It plays similarly to Galaxy of Heroes, one of the best Android gacha games. So players familiar with the turn-based strategy gameplay will feel right at home with Heroes of Middle-earth. But, of course, our guide covers all the basics, from learning the essential upgrade systems to getting a handle on the right heroes — this way, you won't fall into the common traps of spending more resources than you should while playing on your favorite Android phone.
Gacha-style gambling invades Middle Earth in EA's latest Lord of the Rings game
Collect all your favorite LoTR characters in Heroes of Middle Earth
Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle Earth is a free-to-play strategy game where you'll collect characters from the world of Middle Earth and pit them against each other in PvP turn-based battles. It's developed by the same team behind Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, so prepare yourself for tons of microtransactions and gacha-style gambling.
Electronic Arts is working on a Lord of the Rings game and it sounds awful
You guessed correctly, it's free to play, and you'll collect LoTR characters
There's a new Lord of the Rings game coming to Android, this time from Electronic Arts. It's called The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth, and it will be set in Tolkien's literature world (not to be confused with the Warner Brothers movie world), as EA has partnered with Middle-earth Enterprises and not Warner Bros. (like NetEase did with The Lord of the Rings: War). The game will offer collectible characters and is set to enter regional beta this summer, currently being worked on by Capital Games, the same developer behind the pay-to-win cash-grab Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes.
Battlefield Mobile's gameplay leaks online, and it actually looks great
Please EA, don't screw this up
Earlier this month, we learned that Electronic Arts would begin rolling out playtests for the mobile version of Battlefield in autumn. Now that fall is here, the game has entered into early testing in Southeast Asia, so gameplay videos have started to leak online, providing the first look of the Battlefield Mobile in action. So if you've been eager to see what the early alpha gameplay for Battlefield Mobile looks like, we have several enlightening videos to share.
Check out Battlefield Mobile's new Play Store listing ahead of playtests planned for autumn
Five new screenshots offer a first look at the upcoming shooter
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Industrial Toys is working together with DICE to create a Battlefield game for mobile. This will be a standalone game, and Electronic Arts has made it clear that this mobile interpretation will be completely different from the core console and PC versions. Currently, we know the game is entering a testing phase per today's announcement, though Battlefield's mobile version won't be officially released until sometime in 2022, so it's still a long way off.
Google yanks game from Stadia Store while progress-breaking bug is fixed
F1 2020 was pulled offline, but now it's back, and new customers won't be able to buy it until the issue is resolved
The official F1 2020 game has been pulled from the Stadia Store in the wake of a save corruption issue. Previously, the company pulled the game "offline" and prevented customers from playing it following those first reports of save issues. A community representative has since stated that it is now playable again for those that already purchased it, but the game has been pulled from Stadia's digital shelves until a solution is found.
FIFA 21 may be an underwhelming entry to the long-standing series, but for those of us who use Stadia, it couldn't be more exciting — it's the first game in EA Sport's football (okay, soccer) franchise to make the jump to Google's game streaming service, hot on the heels of Madden NFL 21. Following the initial announcement in early February, FIFA 21 is finally available on Stadia for $24.59 (£25.19) today.
PC and console EA games are coming to Android, thanks to Xbox Game Streaming
The artist formerly known as Microsoft xCloud
Xbox Game Streaming (formerly known as xCloud) is shaping up to be one of the best game streaming services around, and after the platform's recent ban from the Apple App Store, Android will be its only mobile home. Later this year, the service will have even more games from publisher Electronic Arts, thanks to a new partnership between the two companies.
Google, EA Sports, and Adidas are working together on Jacquard-powered smart insoles (Updated)
The greatest crossover event in history
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Remember the Nike+ tracker device for shoes from the mid-2000s that could record your physical activity when paired to an iPod? Google appears to be working on a similar device, and it has struck a partnership with Adidas and Electronic Arts to make it happen.
Shortly after the disappearance of EA's Tetris titles on the Play Store, the new mobile Tetris license holder N3twork has published a classic alternative. In contrast to its Tetris Royale that adds a 100-player mode and daily challenges to the classic game, the brand-new Tetris is as barebones as it gets.
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Almost a decade ago (!) in 2011, EA released Tetris for mobile devices, following it with Tetris Blitz in 2013. Being the only way to play "official" Tetris on your phone, the two apps have been extremely popular for fans of the classic brick-stacker game. Unfortunately, EA is ending its run with Tetris and will be abandoning the games in April.
Game news from E3 is in full swing, and just yesterday EA announced at its event in LA that the company was returning to an old franchise. Command & Conquer should be a familiar title for those of us that grew up playing PC games in the late 90's and 00's, and EA has just announced the first new game to bear the name since 2012. Command & Conquer: Rivals is an all-new PVP real-time strategy game designed for mobile, and it's already available in "pre-alpha" testing on the Play Store.
Soccer (or to non-Americans, football) is one of the most popular sports in the world. As a result, the FIFA video game series has had tremendous success on all sorts of gaming platforms, including Android. Proving this, FIFA Soccer has just hit an incredible 100 million downloads on the Play Store.
Google trotted out a number of new Daydream titles the other day, one of which was supposed to be Need for Speed VR. However, the actual release of the game lagged behind all the others. Now, it's available, and the price is a little lower than what Google originally quoted. It's not cheap, but for $15 it's probably the most ambitious Daydream game yet.
If you just can't get enough NFL football on Sunday, Monday, Thursday, occasionally Saturday, and also on major holidays, then there are worse ways to spend your money than EA's Madden franchise. And if you still can't get enough, you can bring that video game football experience with you everywhere (sort of) via the official companion app. The latest version for the "2017" edition includes most of the features you'd expect, with a heavy emphasis on the game's Madden Ultimate Team mode.
Plants vs. Zombies started as a fairly simple lane-based tower defense game, much loved thanks to its tight gameplay and whimsical style. But like any casual game that gets a big following, it's now branching into other genres as well. The Garden Warfare spinoffs on consoles have done well as Team Fortress-style multiplayer shooters, and now PopCap is going after another multiplayer giant: Hearthstone. PvZ Heroes, now out of geo-limited beta, brings semi-random card decks into the eternal undead-rhododendron fight.
There was a time back in 2000 when I loved playing FIFA on my computer. I'd mastered the art of the keystrokes so it was quite easy for me to win any length of match against any opponent on any level of difficulty. But as time passed and I got more busy with school and work, I didn't have enough time to learn the new tricks and options of new versions of FIFA and I fell behind. Now, I can't have my player run for 2 seconds without being tackled by someone on the opposite team. Oh well...
Remember when console sports games were just about, you know, sports? RBI Baseball back on the Genesis was basically just Street Fighter with nine guys on a side: pick a team, pick an opponent, and go. EA's latest soccer games have season modes, manager modes, career modes, and on and on and on. The FIFA Ultimate Team mode, a mix of franchise management and "fantasy" sports with full-length matches, is designed so that players can pit their team-building skills against online opponents all over the world. (Oh, and also spend a bunch of money on in-app purchases for a $60 game).
Last year EA released a companion app for the NBA Live console game that let you stick your face on a basketball player. This year, forget the gimmicks. You get a full blown NBA Live experience to play on your touchscreen.
The original Mirror's Edge came out nearly a decade ago, and immediately garnered attention with its unique first-person running gameplay. This success was not followed immediately by a sequel, which seems strange for EA (since when does EA leave money on the table?). Instead, it's taken this long to get another Mirror's Edge game, and there's a companion app live in the Play Store in preparation for tomorrow's release.