EA Battles for Middle-earth on the 360

Frodo and co. should start prepping for another journey, as Electronic Arts has announced that its forthcoming PC real-time strategy game Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II will be making the trek to the Xbox 360 for summer 2006.

As the sequel to the 2004 real-time strategy game that used assets from Peter Jackson's award-winning motion pictures based on the fiction of novelist J.R.R. Tolkien, The Battle for Middle-earth II will put players in control of hundreds of units in battles pulled from the films as well as the books.

That might sound like a little too much for one controller to handle, but EA is promising a new console-specific control scheme that will "allow novice players to enjoy the game's signature strategy gameplay while giving expert players the flexibility needed to engage in a deeply complex strategy experience."

When it arrives for Microsoft's newest console, Battle for Middle-earth II will also feature multiplayer support over Xbox Live. The Xbox 360 version isn't rated yet, but the PC game is rated T for Teen. For more, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.