LOTR: Conquest out early next year

New action game The Lord of the Rings: Conquest has been given a January release date. Specifically, it's out on 9th January "internationally" (Europe and Japan, presumably) and 13th January in the US. The game is in development for PC, PS3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS.

LOTR: Conquest is being developed by the same team at Pandemic who brought us Star Wars Battlefront. It gives you the chance to play as evil types such as Cave-trolls, Oliphaunts and the Balrog, and even your man Sauron.

"Players will finally be able to fight through Middle-earth along the frontlines of good or evil," said Pandemic boss Josh Resnick.

"And what Lord of the Rings fan hasn't fantasised about joining Sauron's army to slay Hobbits?" he added. What Lord of the Rings fan hasn't fantasised about Liv Tyler doing scissors with Captain Janeway, but that's another story.