With The Golden Compass nearing release (a videogame based on the film of the novel by Philip Pullman, the first in the His Dark Materials trilogy), developer SEGA is doing its best to gear up the hype machine by claiming that the franchise could repeat the success of The Lord of the Rings movies and games.

“Lord Of The Rings was a fantastic success which not only delivered for the core book fans but also managed to appeal to a wider cinema going audience.”

“The great thing about The Golden Compass is that the story can be appreciated by all age groups,”, added SEGA, reports QJ. “New Line is targeting eight to 80 year-olds for their movie advertising – the best possible audience.”

In the upcoming title, players assume the role of a young girl named Lyra Belaqua as she travels through the frozen wastes of the North in an attempt to rescue a friend (Roger Parslow) kidnapped by a mysterious organization known as The Gobblers. Travelling with her are an armoured bear named Iorek Byrnison and her daemon Pantalaimon (Pan). Together, they must use their truth-telling alethiometer and other items to explore the land and fight their way through various enemies in order to help Lyra’s friend.

The Golden Compass is released on the PS2, PS3, and PSP on December 05 and December 07 in North America and Europe respectively.

What do you think? Does The Golden Compass have the potential to rival the The Lord of the Rings phenomenon of recent years or is SEGA just ‘Tolkien’ (sorry) rubbish?