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Hawkgirl is coming to Infinite Crisis on January 21
Turbine continues to release new champions for its Infinite Crisis MOBA. The latest such is Hawkgirl, who is scheduled to debut on January 21st. A new preview video characterizes Hawkgirl as "an aggressive bruiser who excels at isolating and disrupting her opponents." You can get all the specifics on her skills and abilities by watch the clip embedded after the cut.
Guild Launch rebrands as Gamer Launch, targets MOBA players
Remember Guild Launch? Sure, you do. Hasn't everyone signed up for the firm's instant-MMO-website services at one time or another? Anyway, Guild Launch is now Gamer Launch thanks to a scope expansion designed to "support additional game genres" and broaden the company's "appeal within the larger gaming community," according to a new press release. "In recent years we've seen a significant influx of players from a variety of other gaming communities including MOBAs and Minecraft," president Stephen Johnston says. The firm currently services over four million gamers and now offers new features designed for League of Legends, Dota 2, SMITE, and Minecraft players. [Source: Gamer Launch press release]
Another university is adding League of Legends scholarships
Robert Morris University made waves last summer when it announced its intention to add e-sports -- and more specifically, League of Legends scholarships -- to its athletic department. This week Kentucky's University of Pikeville followed suit when it publicized its offering of "at least 20 scholarships" to LoL players who will be treated like the school's other student-athletes. "There will be practice time and video time when they have to study other teams for upcoming competitions," said the university's new media director Bruce Parsons.
Riot is building a dedicated network for League of Legends
How important is ping disparity to the makers of the world's biggest MOBA? Well, Riot is currently building a dedicated network specifically for League of Legends, so it must be pretty important. The firm explains why in a Q&A posted this week, and the short version is that your ISP is focused primarily on moving large amounts of data in seconds or minutes, which is fine for streaming video but not so fine for real-time gaming. To make matters worse, your internet connection "might bounce all over the country instead of running directly to where it needs to go," Riot says, "which can impact your network quality and ping whether the game server is across the country or right down the street." The solution is a direct network for LoL traffic as well as some sort of partnership with US and Canadian ISPs to facilitate player access.
SMITE's cinematic trailer on the eve of the World Championships
SMITE is hosting championships (with its gigantic and record-setting prize pool) very soon, and the team behind the game wants players excited. What's the best way to get players excited? Why, with a three-minute cinematic trailer in which a bunch of characters beat one another up, naturally. Look, it's not as if there's a whole lot of additional lore here that hasn't been chronicled in various mythological texts anyway. The rivalry between Thor and Guan Yi isn't usually acknowledged by mythology experts, but that's doubtlessly an oversight. The point is that if you want to watch an improbably busty goddess tap about in heals while fighting a wolf-beast, now is your chance. Click on past the break to watch the full trailer. It may not give you a whole lot of insight into mythology, but it will give you an idea of the game, at least. [Source: Hi-Rez Studios press release]
Hi-Rez offers more advice on how to break into the games industry
If Hi-Rez's last set of videos on how to break into the games industry didn't scare you off for good, then congrats: You are exactly the kind of idealistic glutton for punishment who should totally jump into the games industry to be underpaid and overworked for your valuable skills! Last time, the SMITE developers covered design, programming, and QA; this round, they're focused on 3-D character art and 2-D concept Art. Just before the holidays, they also pushed out a trio on marketing, shoutcasting, and streaming. Enjoy!
WoW and FFXIV see boosted playtime on Raptr; ArcheAge playtime 'cratered'
Another month, another Raptr report. Yesterday Raptr.com posted its most played PC games list for November, and MMOs did rather well. Unsurprisingly, World of Warcraft surged up the list to #2 thanks to the Warlords of Draenor expansion. "The MMO's monthly play time was up 71.3% versus October," Raptr's press release says. And though WoW "likely" drew from League of Legends' numbers, it couldn't quite usurp the MOBA's #1 seat. Among other MMOs, ArcheAge playtime "cratered by 39.97%," but World of Tanks and Final Fantasy XIV both saw rises in theirs. Guild Wars 2 rose in rank, Raptr says, but lost playtime in November vs. October. SWTOR fell two places since October. As always, Raptr roundups come with the caveat that they represent Raptr users on PC, not all gamers; some MMO studios are also known to boost their Raptr numbers with in-game incentives. But since some of these games refuse to release population data, you might call this the next best snapshot of popularity outside of touring the servers yourself.
SMITE explores Awilix in depth and kicks off Saturnalia
There are a lot of goddesses of the night or the moon, period, and there's no shortage of playable ones in SMITE, either. Awilix is also a figure without a whole lot of prominent lore trying to provide a different take on the general role of assassin. So how did the design team go from a name and a few details to a playable character? Through interplay with her pet jaguar, a different series of abilities, and an emphasis on mobility and hit-and-run tactics. Already have all of the gods you need right now? You've still got a reason to log in to SMITE as the game runs its Saturnalia event, offering free bonus gems to everyone and doubled experience gains for each match played. A series of rolling sales on the pantheons of the game will also persist through the whole of Saturnalia, so if you decide you would like to pick up some new skins, you've got that option. [Thanks to Sorenthaz for the tip!]
The Daily Grind: What's your favorite MOBA?
I'm a bit late to the MOBA party, but this past week I've been having a grand old time playing Infinite Crisis. Previously I'd dabbled in SMITE and Guardians of Middle-earth, but I'd never seriously considered a MOBA as part of my regular fun-time rotation. That's all changed thanks to IC, though, and I've downloaded a few other genre titles to try while I'm at it. What about you, Massively MOBA players? Which is your favorite? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
How to break into the games industry according to Hi-Rez
If for some reason you find yourself possessed of an urge to seek a career in the video games industry, convinced that it's a stable meritocracy that will help you build skills and provide financial support for your family, then don't watch the videos in the post; instead, flee, flee for your lives! Just kidding. Mostly. Hi-Rez Studios -- of SMITE, Tribes: Ascend, and Global Agenda fame -- has released a series of videos this week all about breaking into the games industry. Unless you already have a giant pile of money to fund your own studio, the videos actually provide some useful advice, focusing on cultivating a specific skill in demand at game studios. There are five videos in all: two on the basics and one apiece on design, programming, and that most glamorous of jobs, QA. Check 'em out below.
Get a free Infinite Crisis Green Arrow skin via Facebook
If you're partial to MOBAs and Green Arrow, you might want to take a look at the latest promotion for Infinite Crisis. Turbine is giving away a Starling City Green Arrow skin that's all yours as long as you don't mind logging into Facebook. The offer expires on December 10th.
Infinite Crisis dredges up Swamp Thing
Swamp Thing, you make my heart sing! You make everything groovy... especially when you show up to stomp evildoers with the power of peat. Coming to Infinite Crisis on December 17th, Swamp Thing will be the newest super-powered character in the game. According to his description, "Swamp Thing can endure tremendous damage and is capable of complete regeneration. He also has control over plant life, and can command it to do his bidding." We've got a video preview of Mr. Thing after the break, so check it out and then hug a tree afterward so that you'll end up on his good side. [Source: Turbine press release]
27 million people watched League of Legends' world finals
Riot has posted the viewership numbers from League of Legends' 2014 world championship, and they're pretty impressive. That said, the total unique viewer count for the finals (27 million) dipped by five million from the 2013. Riot says that this year's viewers tended to watch for longer periods of time for an average of 67 minutes as opposed to 42 minutes the previous year. You can soak up the rest of the numbers at Riot's official website.
Turbine holds an Infinite Crisis tournament against itself
Have you ever wondered what developers do in their spare time? Apparently, they cook up crazy schemes like hosting an inter-office tournament and then broadcasting it to the world. This tournament is called DEvember and comes to you courtesy of Turbine Entertainment. Starting on December 2nd and continuing through the 18th, the tournament will feature several rounds of 1v1 Infinite Crisis action starring 32 employees spanning all of the studio's teams. Other than being entertained by devs beating up each other, players can benefit from the tournament by winning prizes via guessing who will win. Our money is on Rock Star Wonder Woman™.
Ask Massively: Ridiculing e-sports is bad for MMOs
I don't love e-sports. I've never really been a fan. I used to enjoy spectating Guild Wars matches, but only in short bursts. Truth is, I prefer playing in PvP to watching it. I feel that way about real sports too; the ones I like, I'd rather play than watch. (Except tennis. I have no idea why, but I could watch that all day.) And if the MMORPG community's comments are any judge, I am not alone in my indifference to e-sports. Actually, "indifference" is probably too tame a word; some MMO gamers are outright hostile to e-sports, be those e-sports jammed into proper MMORPGs or waaaaay out on the fringes of the online gamosphere. That hostile ridicule of e-sports, however, degrades online gaming, our corner of it as much as anyone's.
Riot will pay you cash to find League of Legends bugs
A discovered vulnerability in League of Legends led Riot Games to the conclusion that it not only needed to react to such issues when they arise, but to be more proactive in discovering these weak spots in the game. To wit, the studio has implemented a bug bounty program that will reward players who find vulnerabilities in LoL's code. The studio has been testing out the program with a smaller group and has given $100,000 in rewards so far: "Currently in closed beta, the Riot bug bounty program is only available to a few security professionals who we've already identified. These professionals have helped us squish more than 75 bugs, vulnerabilities, and exploits, including client crash exploits, vision related exploits, and vulnerabilities that could potentially lead to player impersonation on forums."
TOME: Immortal Arena MOBA lands on Steam today
KIXEYE's brawler-MOBA -- not to be confused with those other daisy-picking MOBAs -- TOME: Immortal Arena officially launches on Steam this afternoon. TOME's claim to fame is the voice of Evil Dead's Bruce Campbell, who acts as the title's in-game announcer. Feature-wise, it boasts short matches, in-lane healing, no last-hitting, auto-buying, and 20 playable characters to date. The latest trailer awaits your eyes below.
New SMITE vid reveals the Dragon King of the Eastern Seas
I keep thinking that SMITE is going to run out of minor gods to turn into MOBA characters. And I keep being wrong since every week or so, Hi-Rez takes a deity I've never heard of and plops him or her down in the middle of its free-to-play fight club. The latest example is Ao Kuang, the Dragon King of the Eastern Seas that we mentioned last week. This week, though, he's got a video! Click past the cut to see how he fares in the online battleground of the gods.
League of Legends rewards positive behavior
Just how toxic is League of Legends' community? According to Riot Games, it may not be as bad as it once was. The team posted a letter praising "positive behavior" in the community, saying that 95% of players have never received punishment. Furthermore, only 1% of the crowd have caused issues that resulted in lengthy bans or chat restrictions. Riot says that it is trying out new ideas to further combat bad behavior: "We've recently been focused on addressing extreme cases of verbal toxicity, and will soon be testing additional systems that address gameplay toxicity like leavers, AFKs, and intentional feeders." To players who haven't received any punishments in the 2014 season, Riot will be granting four-win IP boosts next week.
Vainglory mobile MOBA launching on Tuesday
Vainglory, "the MOBA perfect for touch," will be launching on the Apple app store in North America on Tuesday, November 18th. "Once the game is live worldwide, you can look forward to future updates with more heroes, more player-requested features, and other fun stuff," the team promised. If you want to give this free-to-play title a try, you're going to need an iPad 2 or better or an iPhone 5 or better. Vainglory is already out in other parts of the world and boasts a top-notch gaming experience for mobile devices. It was first mentioned during Apple's September press conference and was developed by former Blizzard, Riot, and Supercell developers.
