It's time for another round of "guess who" for Tolkien fans. Take a guess: who is the cousin of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins. Clue: he and his wife, Lobelia, tried to auction off Bilbo's possessions when he went off on the Quest of Erebor. You might have encountered his son and his wife on your travels through the Shire in Lord of the Rings Online. Got a name yet? Go to the full article to see if you got it right.

If you write down famous landmarks from the "Lord of the Rings" lore, this one would probably reach the list only by the end, but the hobbit hole of Bag End is a landmark nonetheless. If you remember (and you should), Bag End was the home of the ring bearer, Bilbo Baggins, and eventually the successor to the ring, Frodo Baggins. Find out more about Bag End in the Lord of the Rings: Shadows of Angmar in the full article.

What happens when MMORPG and Turbine's Adam Mersky meet in CES 2007? Lotsa new info on how The Lord of the Rings Online will work. Starting with the fact that it will run on DX9, thank Eru. After costing out the needs of a massive Last Alliance of Men and Elves (again), including all the lembas bread being made in Gino D.'s Cooking Mama (we're making them right now in time for Helm's Deep), there is no room left in the budget for a Vista-D3D10 upgrade.

It will still look beautiful, though - next! What is Hope and Dread? It's a LOTRO-unique gameplay concept that works like this: the closer you get to the blasted lands of Mordor where shadows lie, the greater the chance your character will pee his pants. Literally. He accumulates Dread the longer he stays in the blighted lands. The only ways to combat this is (a) get the heck out of Mordor, or (b) start beating up on some Mordor denizens to gain Hope and combat Dread. Talk about the Light of the Evenstar encouraging violence...

You already know "Monsters" as Monster Play, from a dev journal a while back. Here are the more specific deets: the only way you can have a PvP in the Lord of the Rings IP is if one of you guys plays the bad guys. Which is what Monster Play is all about: take over the avatar of a bad guy, beat the crap out of the player good guy, earn experience that is used on your own original good-guy character.

And then Adam brings up a unique (potential) social event in LOTRO. "Player jam sessions!" Create-your-own-soundtrack? Spend your hard-earned gold on instruments, gather all your friends and acquaintances one night under the Party Tree in the Shire and... Are you ready to rock tonight, Bag End?! Guitar solo, Frodo! Good night everybody!!! (Smashes instruments on stage... methinks they are possessed by the One Ring). You get the idea, right?

One word to all those planning to hold their own LOTR jam sessions, though: you guys better have the talent these guys have. Oh, and this brings up an old joke from an old teen flick: "And this one time, at band camp..."

We haven't gone tired of being your virtual tour guide of sorts when it comes to exploring the vast lands of Middle Earth. Now, after recently talking about The Ford of Bruinen and Brandy Hall, we are now going to talk about this little place in Buckland which is actually not that far from Brandy Hall. That place is Crickhollow - the place to relax and and unwind if you're a hobbit, although Crickhollow residents are naturally pleasant, generally they like to be left alone in peace and quiet.

This place became a mute witness to the early journey of Frodo and his cohorts in The Lord of the Rings. Why? Frodo actually bought a house here after leaving Bag End to divert his pursuers from his trail. But if you're thinking of bumping into him when you pass by Crickhollow in LOTR Online, you'll be a bit disappointed as he has not been seen in here since his first day of arrival. Still, Crickhollow is an interesting place to be in.

For today's Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar update, we explore the stumps and corners of Brandy Hall, home of the many generations of Brandybucks.

Brandy Hall serves as the ancestral home of the Brandybuck family and consists of tunnels and rooms which occupy the whole Buck Hill which is found on the east of Brandywine. This hall is one of the biggest mansions in the Shire, with three entrance doors and over a hundred windows. Brandy Hall also served as the home of Frodo Baggins, way before the fellowship was formed and before he went to live with Bilbo at Bag End.

Aside from being a home to the countless generations of Brandybucks, Brandy Hall can also be considered as a librry of sorts, because in it is a huge collection of books that trace and record the history of the Shire. And although the majority of Brandy Hall was built underground, a significant portion of the structure remains visible in and around Buck Hill when viewed from a distance.

We will be keeping you guys updated on Shadows of Angmar before it even gets an American release so keep checking back with us more LOTR updates and info.

As the beta sign-ups begin to pile up for The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, the industrious humanfolk at Turbine have released yet another picture of one of the many places you'll be able to visit as you trod along Middle Earth. This time, it's a nice little countryside town we'll be able to visit.

In fact, tall one, you may want to duck your head.

LOTRO has released their little information packet and screenshot for Bag End, former home of the Baggins. Unfortunately, Frodo won't be there, but his relatives, cranky as they might be, will be keeping the place tidy. As the Turbine site states:

With Frodo now moved to Buckland, to live amongst his Brandybuck relations, Lobelia and Lotho Sackville-Baggins – as unpleasant a couple of Hobbits as you are likely to meet – now live within. The once well-tended gardens and warm lights of Bag End are not as merry as they once were; yet the dwelling remains a favoured topic amongst the Hobbits of the Shire and probably will for generations to come.

Because of the amount of lore related to this one simple town, Turbine assures us that they'll be making an online model that would be truthful to lore, and to existing drawings of the area. No word on whether it will be a starting zone for the game or not, but at least they're making sure not to anger the hobbit and human fans of the Rings lore.

Till we have more information, keep watch, stay sharp, and be careful not to trip on the hobbits.