Turbine Inc, developer of the incredibly influential and revered MMO, Asheron's Call, has been acquired by the sleeping giant that is Warner Bros. Interactive, as yet another intelligent stake in their careful ascension to gaming giant.

Turbine were also the dev studio behind both Dungeons & Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online, the latter being the obvious choice for acquisition (alongside its obvious heritage), given Warner currently have access to all LOTR games licenses barring the option to create an MMO. With the purchase, they also gain access to Turbine's successful merchandising and online distribution platform.

Where they go from here with this purchase is ripe for guessing, but there's no denying they [Warner] have big plans for the games industry, having nabbed Lego (insert cool license here) developer, Traveller's Tales, in 2007, Snowblind Studios in 2009 and most recently, Batman: Arkham Asylum developer, Rocksteady Studios in 2010. They also happen to now own the Mortal Kombat franchise along with the aforementioned Lord of the Rings and pretty much anything DC or Warner films or animation-related. Keep an eye out for these cats.