There was this old computer game, called Asghan The Dragon Slayer. Basically, it involves a big tough warrior with a big sword (what else?) going around this enemy island killing various baddies to eventually kill his evil uncle, the sorcerer Morghan, who had killed Asghan's father. Although it sounds very generic hack'n'slash (and frankly it is) I enjoyed it a lot as a kid, and now I see it as my first real introduction to the fantasy genre, and also to Middle-Earth itself - looking back on it now, one of Asghan's friends was called 'Capon the hobbit', he drank 'elvish drink' to keep his health up, many of the monsters were called orcs, and here's the big one - the company that made it was called 'Silmarils'
That game was simple and nothing very big, but it made me want to do more with this wonderful, magical world I had found and Tolkien was the real deal that it led to.