Google Chrome Experiment Let’s You Battle Through Middle Earth Like The Hobbit You Are

For fans of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth, Google released “A Journey through Middle-Earth.” It is an interactive map of the Middle-Earth where everyone can explore all 27 locations that were shown in the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies. But now the map has been updated to include a peer-to-peer battle game.

“Completely new for this year’s version is a peer-to-peer battle game where you can challenge your friends to a test of skill,” says Google Chrome product manager Ellison-Taylor. “The peer-to-peer gameplay experience was built primarily using the latest web technologies, including WebRTC and WebGL. It’s touch optimized for laptops, phones and tablets, bringing you a stunning interactive experience across all your devices.”


Developed by North Kingdom in collaboration with Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, A Journey through Middle-Earth is available through Google Experiments. Google Experiments is a way for the coding community to show off their web experiments that are built in HMTL5 and JavaScript.  As for the updated Middle-Earth map, it allows users to visit 27 locations which will offer tidbits of information and, in some cases, provide a tour with additional information about the location and characters while featuring clips from the movies and voice work from the actors.

Aside from just randomly visiting locations such as Rivendell, Hobbiton, Helm’s Deep, and Mount Doom, visitors will also be able to follow the journey of certain characters. Bilbo Baggins, Legolas Greenleaf, Frodo Baggins, Thorin Oakenshield, Bard the Bowman, Meriadoc Brandybuck, Peregrin Took, Aragorn, and Gandalf the Grey are all characters whose journey users will be able to follow along in the map. For example, you’ll see the path Gandalf took in The Hobbit, when he first recruits Bilbo in Hobbiton, and then see the path he took from there to Trollshaw Forest where Thorin and company encountered the trolls that were turned to stone.
  
It’s a beautifully rendered map that Tolkien fans will be able to appreciate with information that newcomers to the world of Middle-Earth will enjoy checking out.