THE LORD OF THE RINGS™: WAR OF THE RING™ ASSAULTS RETAIL STORE SHELVES

Epic Real-Time Strategy Game Allows Gamers to Fight for Good or Evil in the J.R.R. Tolkien’s World of Middle-earth™

LOS ANGELES, CA (November 4, 2003) - Vivendi Universal Games (VU Games) announced today that The Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring (War of the Ring) has shipped to retail stores nationwide. War of the Ring is a PC real-time strategy game based on J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

In War of the Ring, massive battles erupt as the Men, Elves, Dwarves, and Hobbits of Middle-earth battle Sauron's minions. Players can choose to play as the forces of good and valiantly fight for the One Ring's destruction or assume command of the forces of evil to claim control over Middle-earth forever.

War of the Ring delves deeper into the stories of the good and evil heroes in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, allowing the player to see the events that led to the founding of The Fellowship of the Ring, and participate in some of the important battles that occurred during the Ring quest.

The storyline for the forces of darkness follows the expansion of Sauron's evil in the Third Age. The player can lead armies of creatures like Orcs, Trolls, and the cruel Haradrim to spread the power of Sauron across the face of Middle-earth.

In addition to its epic single-player mode, War of the Ring also includes robust multiplayer gameplay over a local area network or the Internet.

More information can be found at the game's official website: http://www.lordoftherings.com/war/.