At the ongoing E3, we took an up-close look at Middle-Earth Online, VU Games' upcoming Tolkien-inspired online role-playing game in development at Turbine Entertainment. The version we saw was, according to Turbine president Jeffrey Anderson, "in a prototype state," though the already-impressive graphics engine suggested otherwise. Though the game will be based on the same engine the developer used to create Asheron's Call 2, it will look considerably better, featuring enhanced support for improved water and dynamic lighting and shadow effects, as well as support for far, far more graphical detail, especially with respect to character models. We watched a human character wearing a suit of extremely ornate, glossy plate-mail armor underneath a worn traveling cloak stride through a festival in a colorful hobbit village in the Shire. The Shire itself was also remarkably detailed, complete with cozy-looking hobbit holes and groups of hobbits milling about outside.