Lord of the Rings Online free world tour of Middle Earth begins today. The game is open to players leading up until the April 24th launch. Check out the details below.

Turbine, Inc. announced today that the World Tour of Middle-earth has officially begun! Over one million North American gamers are planned to be invited to this unprecedented event where they can experience The Lord of the Rings Online(TM): Shadows of Angmar(TM) for FREE from April 6th until its scheduled launch on April 24th. Even more exciting, the World Tour also serves as a head-start for pre-order customers, allowing them to roll their characters into the launched game.

"The only thing better than adventuring in Middle-earth is being able to adventure for free!" said Jeffrey Anderson, president and CEO of Turbine, Inc. "The World Tour is a unique opportunity to try The Lord of the Rings Online for yourself before the game launches."

During the World Tour, players will be able to advance up to level 15 and experience the most authentic online persistent recreation of Middle-earth ever created. Players should visit www.lotro.com/worldtour to get more information on how to obtain a World Tour key.

Players can still pre-order The Lord of the Rings Online at www.lotro.com/preorder or at select retail stores nationwide until April 24th to take advantage of the exciting Founder's Program. The Founder's Program is available for a limited time and rewards all players who pre-order the game with the following benefits:

Two special membership options: $199/lifetime or $9.99/month

Unique in-game bonus items

Ability to roll World Tour characters into the launched game

Read more here.

Originally posted by Janus35
Why not just call it a World tour of Countries that dont include Europe and Asia?
Ppfftt! World tour my Ass.

Wow, it's a World Tour of Middle Earth, you know, as in Tour the World of Middle Earth.  It has nothing to do with RL Earth, so the first response to the OP is based on misinterpretation.   

Originally posted by Endemondia
I wanted to play so much I moved from Staines in England to a place called Compton in Los Angeles. As soon as I can get an internet connection I will be there touring Middle Earth - hurrah

Originally posted by Janus35
Last time i looked at a globe of the World, and i must admit its been a while, i seem to remember that there were more Countries than the US,Canada,New Zealand and Australia in the World. Was Europe some how rubbed off the map without me knowing?
Why not just call it a World tour of Countries that dont include Europe and Asia?
Ppfftt! World tour my Ass.
What in fact has happened with this so called World Tour is that they wanted to open it to North America to try and added two of Countries with smaller gaming communities in so they wouldnt be accused of playing favorites by just relasing it in North America. Im glad Australia and New Zealand got in but you can hardly call it a World Tour without Europe and Asia.

Hi,

I agree with u here, i'm from Egypt (which in Africa/Middle-East, for people who don't know what Egypt is :P), i think that they should know DSL is everywhere around the world now, people play MMOs from everywhere, so u're right, what if someone from Africa, Asia or South America wanted in, ah well!

In the end i got in, tried it for a bit, but as i didn't like WoW's style, i have to say 'I' didn't like the game, time for me to go back to EQ2 now, hehe.

Btw, i 'think' that there's a World Tour version for Europians, not sure though!

Originally posted by Lukain
Isn't the Codemasters version for Europe ?

Originally posted by soponyai
I did not play them to much, mostly because the huge server lag but it is an okay game.

"During the World Tour, players will be able to advance up to level 15 and experience the most authentic online persistent recreation of Middle-earth ever created."

The most authentic online persistant recreation of Middle-earth I ever experienced was a Neverwinter Nights server - not this!