EA have revealed over the weekend that despite the completion of the cinematic trilogy, that more games remain firmly in their plans. A next-generation title secretively referred to as Project Gray Company had been in existence for some time, and the world's largest publisher has now confirmed that the title will in fact be an called Lord of the Rings: The White Council.

The game will apparently kick-off some eighty years prior to the events of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and will be created by San Francisco. In the world EA are crafting, Aragorn is just ten, whilst Bilbo has yet to find the Ring he discovers in the original Hobbit novel. The 'White Council' referred to in the title includes Gandalf, Galadriel, Elrond and other wizardy-types. That should give you a clue as to the stars of the new game.

Starting from scratch with a character of your own design, you'll have to journey Middle-Earth toughening-up in order to earn an invite on to the White Council, where you will then have to perform all manner of world-saving tasks. Numerous familiar faces and places are promised, but EA will also add new bits, whilst promising to remain faithful to the source material.

Combat will be the focus of the new game, but deeper-than-usual RPG elements will also be incorporated to please fans of the genre. Apparently the graphics are already looking absolutely lovely, with some scenes looking extremely close to footage from the films. An autumn 2007 release on the PS3, and appears on the cards, though this isn't final, yet. More soon.

By Luke Guttridge