Just before its summer press event, Electronic Arts officially unveiled Lord of the Rings: The White Council, the next gen RPG formerly known as Project Gray Company. Scheduled to ship at the end of 2007, White Council features an original storyline based on J.R.R. Tolkien's literary works, and will include an open-ended world with gameplay elements from previous LOTR console titles.

At the beginning of the year, EA developer Jim Norwood confirmed the existence of a new LOTR RPG -- and even dropped the name, "The White Council". After the game's web site launched in April, keen observers may have also noticed that many members of The Return of the King and The Third Age design teams were on board with Gray Company. It was just a matter of putting two and two together, although many of us still missed the connection (like an M. Night Shyamalan flick). A new introduction on White Council's web site explains: "We really wanted to get the web site up and running so we could start talking with everyone about what makes a cool RPG." Hopefully, you've all given EA some good feedback on constructing the ultimate RPG before they apply the Tolkien license.