REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 28, 2006--Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS - News) officially announced today that the highly anticipated, The Lord of the Rings(TM), The Battle for Middle-earth(TM) II has shipped to retailers nationwide and will be in stores on March 2, 2006. The sequel to the critically acclaimed The Lord of the Rings(TM), The Battle for Middle-earth(TM), this real-time strategy (RTS) game offers the chance to experience Middle-earth in a way you have never seen.

Developed at EA's Los Angeles (EALA) studio for the PC under the EA(TM) brand, The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II includes all new content from J.R.R. Tolkien's original fiction, and allows the player to delve deeper than ever before and engage in new battles that go beyond the award-winning movie trilogy. The development team at EALA have brought The Lord of the Rings(TM) world to life in accordance with an agreement with The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Tolkien Enterprises that grants EA the rights to develop games based on the books, in addition to a separate agreement that allows for games based on the New Line Cinema films.