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League of Legends spotlights Kalista, the Spear of Vengeance
Yesterday, Riot Games formally unveiled the long-rumored Kalista, the Spear of Vengeance, a new champion coming to MOBA League of Legends. Says the studio, Kalista is a marksman who cooperates with her Soul-Bound to deal substantial sustained damage, access her full repertoire of abilities and wither her enemies under her relentless assault. Kalista’s potential is unlocked by solid communication and cooperation with allies rather than raw mechanical skill. While still capable in her own right, Kalista misses out on Soul-Marked's bonus damage and effective use of her ult without direct cooperation from her ally. Riot has a brief unembeddable spotlight clip on the official site; we've included a longer one from YouTuber SkinSpotlights below.
Exclusive: Zombies Monsters Robots launches T-Rekt update tomorrow [Updated]
En Masse's not-so-massive co-op online shooter Zombies Monsters Robots heard you liked dinosaurs, so it's launching a dino-themed update tomorrow. In the aptly named T-Rekt patch, "players will find themselves battling for survival against some of the most terrifying, prehistoric beasts that walked the Earth, including a T-Rex with a rocket launcher strapped to its back" because of course it's a T-Rex with a rocket launcher strapped to its back; the game is called Zombies Monsters Robots for skies' sake. The studio also promises three new co-op maps, three new competitive maps, and new gear in the patch. We've got the launch trailer as well as some fresh screenshots below. Enjoy!
Sci-fi sandbox Beyond Sol hopes you'll Greenlight it on Steam
Here's a ray of sandbox sunshine to brighten your morning: Praxia Entertainment has unveiled Beyond Sol, sci-fi pseudo-MMO focused on space exploration, trade, crafting, and piracy. It's even got cities. According to the devs, Beyond Sol is a multiplayer, buccaneering, open world sandbox game, set in the distant future when humanity has developed into a young galactic space-faring civilization. As an independent ship captain, you venture to a newly colonized and virtually lawless outlying system within the rim in order to pursue new opportunities. Once there, anything goes: explore, mine asteroids, salvage derelict ships, plunder merchant vessels, hunt pirates, pilot capital warships, construct an epic orbital city, and make friends with – or rival – other factions and players. Just how MMOsy is it? "The game is designed for 1 to N players (N being dependent on your hardware capabilities)," says Praxia, "meaning you can play single player or you can invite people into your session." The game is angling for approval on Steam Greenlight and intends to hit early access in winter 2015. We've included the game's trailer below.
The Soapbox: Actually, that really isn't an MMO
In last week's edition of The Soapbox, Mike Foster argued that online gaming has evolved over the past few years and that the term MMO should be expanded to cover other online games like MOBAs. He examined the blurred dividing line between new online games and the classic MMOs of yesteryear, and he made the controversial argument that Call of Duty and League of Legends should now fall under the MMO umbrella. I found myself disagreeing with many of Mike's arguments and wanting to make additional points of my own, so this week I'd like to offer a few counter-points on the same topic for debate. The MMO market has certainly evolved since Massively was founded, with some pretty big innovations in gameplay and new ideas like the free-to-play business model taking hold. As much as people like to complain about a lack of innovation in the games industry, the same level of experimentation and evolution has hit industry-wide. Call of Duty has borrowed unlock and XP systems from the world of orcs and dragons, and League of Legends came from nowhere to be at the forefront of a global MOBA revolution, but neither of them is an MMO by any stretch of the imagination. In this in-depth opinion piece, I break down the definition arguments surrounding the term MMO, offer a reasoned view of where the line can and should be drawn, and look at why Massively covers games other than MMOs.
Torchlight 2 has sold more than a million copies
If you're the proud (or maybe humble; that's OK too) owner of a copy of Torchlight 2, you're far from alone; Runic Games recently announced that over a million copies of the game have been sold. If you're not the proud (or maybe humble) owner of a copy of Torchlight 2 but have been toying with the possibility, this is a pretty good time to pick it up. Steam, known for its annual wallet-eating sales, has marked the game down to $9.99 (or 50% off). You can also pick up Torchlight for a measly $3.74 if you're the kind who likes to test out the original.
League of Legends releases Ahri, the Nine-Tailed Fox
Back in September, Riot Games was so excited about an upcoming League of Legends champion it had barely begun working on that it released the concept to fans far ahead of schedule. The champion later became known as Ahri, the Nine-Tailed Fox, and last week we got a sneak peek at her abilities and the balance changes that would be accompanying her arrival. That patch went live this weekend, and Ahri has now been officially released. In a new champion spotlight video, LoL's resident strategic expert Phreak discusses each of Ahri's abilities in detail and gives tips on playing the champion effectively. Ahri is a mage assassin, able to dish out considerable damage in a short space of time. After landing a number of spell attacks, Ahri's next spell will hit with a huge bonus to spell vamp. By sending an Orb of Deception through a whole wave of enemy creeps once the spell vamp buff is active, Ahri can heal herself for a significant amount. Her ultimate allows her to quickly dash around the field of play, either to chase down a fleeing champion or evade pursuit. Skip past the cut to watch the full champion spotlight video in HD, and stay tuned to our weekly Not So Massively column every Monday for more LoL news and updates.
League of Legends to introduce big changes with the Ahri patch
Riot Games has revealed that the long-awaited League of Legends champion Ahri the Nine Tailed Fox will be coming in the very next patch. In addition to heralding the arrival of the new champion, the Ahri patch will introduce some major gameplay changes. In a new patch preview video, lead champion designer Morello and spotlight announcer Phreak discuss the biggest balance and gameplay changes coming in the next patch. Twisted Fate's attack range will be increased, and he'll now be able to manually pick a target for his attack once he locks a card. This should prevent cards hitting the wrong target and make him better able to harass in a lane without leaving himself exposed. Tryndamere receives a much-needed nerf to his self-heal as he tends to have a full rage bar when he's doing well in a lane and the heal ends up being much too powerful. The "perseverence" mastery in the utility tree is being removed and replaced with an old "strength of spirit" mastery that converts maximum mana into bonus health regeneration. With the removal of dodge runes, Phreak and Morello also discuss some new ones being added to make the game a bit more interesting. Skip past the cut to watch the full patch preview video, and stay tuned to our weekly Not So Massively column every Monday for more LoL news and updates.
Blizzard's Jay Wilson discusses the creation of Diablo III
The big title on Not So Massively's current waiting list is, of course, Diablo III. It may be a bit before we get a solid release date out of Blizzard "Soon" Entertainment, but in the meantime, the company is keeping the hype training running steadily. Today we have a new interview from the folks over at PC Gamer, during which Diablo III's game director, Jay Wilson, talks about the challenges of building a new game based on the Diablo pedigree while also ensuring that the title has a soul of its own. For example, while many have decried the game's "more colorful" environments, Wilson states that "if you make something, you can't just copy. You have to infuse it with your own personality, your own interests, your own opinions, your own desires. If you don't, then it will be soulless." For the full interview, just click on through to PC Gamer.
League of Legends spotlight introduces Shyvana, the Half-Dragon
Earlier this week, Riot Games released details of League of Legends' Shyvana patch, including small nerfs to champion Graves and some much-needed buffs for Shaco and Wukong. Each patch is named for the champion it introduces, and this time it's the turn of melee champion Shyvana to take center stage. Shyvana excels at dealing damage to one target and scales up extremely well with attack speed, as each of her abilities modifies her basic attacks. Twin Strike causes Shyvana's next basic attack to hit twice, Burnout increases her movement speed and deals damage in a radius, and Flame Breath deals damage to a target and lowers its armour. Where Shyvana really comes into her own is with her ultimate -- a spell with no cooldown that transforms her into a dragon. Shyvana leaps in the target direction and deals damage to everything in the area as she transforms, and gains bonus armour and damage while in dragon form. Shyvana must gain 100 fury by landing enough basic melee attacks before she can transform, and while in dragon form her fury meter depletes over time. Fury is still gained by landing melee attacks while in dragon form, which can be used to extend the duration of the form. Skip past the cut to watch the full League of Legends Shyvana champion spotlight video in HD.
League of Legends Shyvana patch delivers Shaco buffs and more
All this week, Riot Games has been releasing snippets of information on League of Legends' upcoming melee carry champion Shyvana, the half-dragon. Shyvana's sneak peek comic hinted that the champion may be able to transform into a full dragon form. When the champion's mechanic preview article went live, we got the first details on how this ability will work. Shyvana builds up stacks of a resource called Fury with each basic melee attack she lands, and once she has enough fury, she can activate her ultimate to transform into a dragon. The ability interestingly has no cooldown, so enemies fighting against Shyvana will need to be aware of how many fury stacks she has to tell when her ultimate is ready. In a new LoL patch preview video, Riot delves into the details of the upcoming Shyvana patch set to introduce the champion alongside a series of balance changes and gameplay tweaks. In addition to the draconic champion's arrival, players will find new champion Graves has been nerfed following feedback demonstrating that he's a little overpowered. Monkey King WuKong will be getting buffs to his offensive capabilities and his decoy ability will see a series of bug-fixes that should make it a more useful skill. Read on to find out how Shaco is being buffed and what's happening with Dominion, to watch the full patch preview video, and to have your say on whether this is a good patch.
MV Guide: October 10-16, 2011
MV Guide is a weekly rundown of the MMO gaming events planned on Massively's Livestream channel. Every week, the Massively staff logs in to play various MMOs live and in person, and we'd love for you to drop by the channel and visit. We have a combination of regular weekly games and new surprises, so you'll find a variety of titles to take a look at. During livestream events, you can participate in the live chat, ask questions to learn about the game, and simply spend some time with Massively staff and readers. (Of course, livestream events are subject to the whims of outside forces like server-side gremlins once in a while.) Follow along after the jump to see what's on this week's schedule!
Sony buying back Cell chip fabrication facilities from Toshiba, it's official
It's official. Sony and Toshiba just issued a press release saying that the two companies have signed a binding memorandum of understanding to transfer Tosh's fabrication facilities, operated by Nagasaki Semiconductor Manufacturing, back to Sony. A deal that is rumored to cost Sony some 50 billion yen (about $835 million) -- a bargain considering that Sony sold the facilities that manufacture the Cell Broadband Engine, RSX graphics engine, and other SoCs to Toshiba for 90 billion Yen back in 2008. Unfortunately, Sony's being coy about its plans for the new facilities. The two hope to complete the transfer sometime in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012.
