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'League of Legends' World Championship moves from China to Europe due to COVID-19
Riot cited travel complications amid the rapid spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant.
LEGO Minifigures Online rolls out a mythological update
With a month or so to go before LEGO Minifigures Online fully launches, the game has brought forth its biggest update yet. So what does it contain? Nothing less than the new Mythology World, which also brings an increase in the level cap to 25 along with its new areas and monsters. The area also continues the main story if that's more of your thing. Aside from the new area, the Series 11 minifigures have been added to the game, along with the first batch of cash shop figures that includes the Yeti, the Mountain Climber, and the Pretzel Girl. Players can also find their friends more easily with the addition of a friend code, and the loot system has been overhauled to allow players a chance to build minifigures from loot. Check out the full set of update notes for more detail and get building in the game if it's just what you've been waiting for.
Blizzard wins court case over patent troll Worlds Inc.
A Boston court ruled in Blizzard's favor last week against a lawsuit brought on by Worlds Inc. (aka Worlds.com) that claimed the studio infringed on four patents that Worlds Inc. made in the mid-1990s. This ruling is the latest development in a case that spans back to 2012, when Worlds Inc. filed the suit. The company claimed that Blizzard violated patents that showed the invention of "a method for enabling a first user to interact with other users in a virtual space," among other items. A U.S. District Judge ruled that these patents are invalid because those inventions already existed prior to the filings. This isn't Worlds' first attempt to sue an MMO studio over these allegations, as it went after (and lost to) NCsoft and Linden Lab several years ago.
The Summoner's Guidebook: The real hero of the LoL World Championships
If you watched or heard anything about the League of Legends World Championships, it's almost certain that you heard about Faker. Perhaps the best mid-laner in the world, Faker was the star of the show at the World Championships. With his incredible midgame plays, he distinguished himself as "Faker the playmaker" early in the tournament. But in most of the games where he dominated, Faker didn't do it alone. In fact, a good many of the other world-class mid-laners gave Faker a run for his money. He often did poorly in the laning phase, largely due to counter-picks and targeted bans. But even with the picks and bans against him, SK Telecom T1 had a secret weapon -- their jungler bengi. Before Faker would get the ball rolling, bengi would arrive from the most unexpected locations and often with perfect timing, giving Faker the early game advantage. Throughout the mid and late games, bengi would be everywhere, always at the right moment to win the match for his team. While Faker had an impressive highlight reel, it was really bengi's constant coverage that pushed the team to the top.
The Daily Grind: Which MMO world would you inhabit in real life?
Some MMOs have horrid character models, let's be honest. But I think we can all agree that game worlds are usually the most compelling part of our favorite MMOs. Whether it's the quality of writing that pulls us in or the realism of the environmental art itself, there are just some games that we'd all love to live in. So which one would you pick? Would you enjoy skipping through a tater field in The Shire? How about picking apples with Mary Malone in Tyria? Possibly you'd prefer riding a giant Gryphon in Azeroth. Let us know in the comments below which MMO world you'd live in, given the chance. 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!
Lessons learned in virtual worlds
Nic Mitham from K Zero is going to offer up the key things he's learned about virtual worlds in the last 18 months. But who is Nic Mitham, you wonder, and what is K Zero? Mitham describes himself as a "one time corporate strategist, ad man and analyst. Now spreading the metaverse word." K Zero describes itself as a virtual worlds consultancy, 'specialists in connecting real world brands and companies with the residents and environments of virtual worlds.' Mitham's most recent blog post, '50 lessons I've learned in virtual worlds' is an introduction to his upcoming series of reflections on the unpredictable nature of the metaverse. The series of posts will be a look back at what Mitham's seen in the 18 months he's been immersed in the virtual. It's chiefly aimed at those interested in doing business in virtual worlds. Mitham writes,"The point to getting my 50 lessons 'out there' is to attempt to ensure mistakes made by companies along the way are not repeated by others and also to hopefully assist new companies in this space get traction as quickly as possible, because that's in the interest of everyone."That's not to say that only biz types will get something from his blog; the series of insights is likely to have some significance to the people who populate the virtual worlds already in existence, and those who will flock to the birth of new worlds in the future.
Welcome to S-zzz-nake Gulch
Cryptic has revealed a third area within the Champions Online world and it's a pretty dang interestin' one ta boot. Snake Gulch wouldn't be any different from other water-deprived, western-theme amustment parks if it weren't for the fact that it's populated entirely by robots. Snake Gulch is full of robot cowboys, it's true.Oh and it's also right next to a maximum security supervillain prison, too. We're sure that has nothing to do with the fact that nobody lives in -- or near, so far as we can tell -- Snake Gulch, though. At least nobody but robots. (Just so we're clear: robots are people too) The preview is given entirely in the first person by Belle Steele and after listening to the audio clip provided by Cryptic we're pretty sure she's a robot, too. While you looking at the preview don't forget to check out the very cool concept art or you'll miss out on a sweet robot-horse.
New It's a Wonderful World screens
Some new screenshots of Square Enix's bizarre action-RPG It's a Wonderful World (Subarashiki Kono Sekai) have surfaced, and they are ... interesting! We think that this game is the best use of Tetsuya Nomura's distinctive style yet. We're actually getting something of a Jet Set Radio vibe from the near-future Tokyo/kids in baggy clothes theme, and we love getting Jet Set Radio vibes.The control scheme is pretty clearly on display here, we think-- the arrows represent commands given to the character on the top screen, while the bottom screen is stylus-driven.We're excited! Much more than we ever were about Kingdom Hearts, and not just because that's a mainly-PS2 franchise. Wonderful screens are posted after the break to test your Action-RPG Excitement Potential.
