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League of Legends reimagines Sion, the undead juggernaut
A new and terrifying Sion is stomping across lanes in League of Legends lately, thanks to a long-overdue "reimagining" and re-release. Riot Games was pretty harsh in its post-mortem of the old version, saying, "Old Sion had countless problems: He was a mage with an ax, he'd end up with two redundant abilities regardless of how he built, his model had aged horribly, and he had some pretty... interesting voiceover." The team decided to rebuild him to fit his profile as an unstoppable undead warrior. The new Sion is tanky with powerful attacks that can be deployed dupliciously in order to mess with the reflexes of opponents. You can check out Sion's champion spotlight video after the jump.
Korean League of Legends shoutcasters are too much fun
Riot's shoutcasters – the hosts, analysts and interviewers on the ground during League of Legends tournaments – are professional, friendly and informative across the board, but there's something special about the Korean casters. Something energetic, frenzied and, most importantly, so much fun. YouTube user BaegMon collected a few stand-out moments from Korean shoutcasters during groups A and B in the 2014 League of Legends Worlds tournament earlier in September. The 2014 League of Legends World Championship is heading into its Knockout Stage, slated to start on October 3. The Finals take place on October 19. See who's in, who's out, and the tournament schedule at lolesports. [Image: Riot]
League of Legends introduces Ranked Restrictions for toxic players
League of Legends is a really popular game, but it also has a pretty noxious community reputation. That's something that's on the forefront of the mind of the Riot Games team, and it's being addressed with the latest patch. Players voted down for negative behavior are already operating under a chat restriction, requiring them to play a certain number of games before they can speak in the game again. Now those players will see another restriction, though: the inability to access ranked play. Rank restricted players will have a certain number of games that they must play before they can return to queueing for ranked matches just like with chat restrictions. Players who are deeply into negative territory and rank restricted at the end of a given competitive season will also be ineligible for receiving special rewards for ranked play, meaning that poor sportsmanship doesn't pay at any level of the game. While there are potential abuses for the system, it's an obvious effort to make the play experience on all levels a more positive one for players.
Play League of Legends in college, win scholarship money
The League of Legends North American Collegiate Championship returns for the 2014 - 2015 season with a larger competition layout and new region splits. Last year, 540 teams competed from 300 universities across the US and Canada. "This year, the competition's even bigger," Riot says. "The season now spans the entire academic year and we've split North America into four competitive regions: North, South, East and West. We're also making it easier for new players and teams to compete by collaborating with four community partners with a solid history of running League tournaments." The Qualifiers kick off on October 17 and registration for both the Ivy League of Legends and Collegiate Star League tracks are open from now through October 16. Two additional, shorter Qualifier rounds hosted by TeSPA and WellPlayed Productions take place in early 2015. Each Qualifier track crowns one winning team per region, for a total of 16 groups in the playoffs. The playoffs should be held around April or May 2015, Riot says, and the North American Championship will take place in Los Angeles, California, later in 2015. The top four teams win scholarship money: $30,000 per team member for first place, $15,000 each for second, and $7,500 each for third and fourth. See the full registration schedule and rules in the NACC FAQ, and check out your school's clubs here. Good luck, Summoners of academia! [Image: Riot]
League of Legends, Imagine Dragons team for Worlds song
The League of Legends World Championship is so on, with 16 teams competing for the top spot across a road show of tournament locations in Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea. The Championship ends at the home of the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Sangam Stadium in Seoul, on October 19. See? ESports are sporty. To kick off the Championship, the band Imagine Dragons contributed a song for another stunning piece of animation from Riot, this time in a more cartoony style than its standard cinematics. "While working on the next album, we took a break to collab with League of Legends (our favorite game) on a song," the band tweeted. Download the song here and see the League of Legends World Championship stream schedule here.
Get Imagine Dragons' League of Legends song for free
League of Legends has an official song for its 2014 World Championship, and you can get it for free today. The song is "Warriors" by the band Imagine Dragons. "To kick off the start of the action, we set out to craft a war cry to rally behind in a creative collaboration with Imagine Dragons," Riot posted on its site. "Whether you're a solo queue warrior or fighting off the LCS jitters –- every moment counts." The MP3 is available for free on the site, but if you want the full animated music video, all you have to do is hit the jump below.
Like WildStar music? There's a concert for that
If you happen to be in Poland on September 26th, make sure to grab tickets for the GameOn multimedia show, the first part of which will feature selections from the scores of popular video games, including MMOs like WildStar. Composer Jeff Kurtenacker blogged that he is "absolutely honored to announce that the GameOn concert in Krakow, Poland, will be premiering a new arrangement of Our Perception of Beauty (Drusera's Theme), which [he] composed for the MMO WildStar by Carbine Studios." According to Kurtenacker, this concert will mark "first time WildStar music will be played in a concert setting"; he also notes that flutist Sara Andon, spotlighted throughout the WildStar score, will again perform at the concert. Music from World of Warcraft, League of Legends, and other games will also be featured. Kurtenacker spoke to Massively's resident Jukebox Hero last year about his work on WildStar. He has since released several exclusive and free music tracks for players.
Raptr shows MMOs and MOBAs dominating the top 20 in August
Raptr's tracking of play choices among the service's gamers in August paints a picture of a wide love for MMOs and MOBAs. World of Warcraft holds a respectable #2 spot, followed by Final Fantasy XIV (#10), Warframe (#11), Guild Wars 2 (#12), Star Wars: The Old Republic (#14), and Firefall (#20). However, former Raptr #6 holder, WildStar, has dropped out of Raptr's top 20 entirely. "With a late July release, Firefall made a 40-spot jump into the top 20 for August. Not too surprisingly, Firefall is converting more players from fellow F2P shooter Warframe than any other game, with Dota 2 coming in second," Raptr posted. Other online titles fleshed out the list, such as League of Legends (#1), Dota 2 (#3), SMITE (#5), and World of Tanks (#13). Card battler Hearthstone is still hanging onto the top 10 at #8.
Here's a League of Legends Ascension gameplay preview vid
The League of Legends YouTube channel dropped a new gameplay preview video earlier today. It's called Ascension - Gameplay Preview, naturally, and it's one-minute-and-48-seconds worth of footage from LoL's latest featured game mode. You can view the clip after the cut and you can learn more about the game mode at the official website.
Riot Games kicks off e-sports documentary
Want to know more about e-sports without all of the "watching e-sports" that it would otherwise entail? That's the purpose behind a new documentary being assembled by Riot Games. Road to Worlds is all about tracking the path of professional League of Legends players as they fight through the championships, culminating in a shot at the top prize at Worlds. The first episode is available past the cut and runs for about 25 minutes, exploring the origins of several competitive teams and how players first broke into the industry. If you want a deeper look at the culture, or if you're already a big fan of e-sports and want to watch more about them, jump on past the break. The remaining portions of the documentary will be posted later this month, on September 12th and 15th.
League of Legends moves beyond its own lore
What are your current thoughts about the storytelling in League of Legends? Yes, it's entirely acceptable to respond to that question with a cocked eyebrow and a confused expression. A new developer blog by Tommy Gnox addresses precisely that, explaining that from the beginning, the narrative side of the game has always focused around creating a justification for how the game works. That's all well and good, but it winds up not creating a great deal of space for any exploration of stories beyond the game itself. Gnox goes on to lay out a new plan for the game's storytelling in the future, explaining that there will no longer be a perfect one-to-one correspondence between the game and the lore. While older elements will remain in place, some of them will be allowed to fall by the wayside in favor of more interesting stories and character perspectives. If you've got an investment in the game's world and characters, check out the full blog for more information.
Heroes of the Storm is late to the MOBA party, but Blizzard isn't worried
Blizzard's upcoming MOBA, Heroes of the Storm, has a lengthy development history. Officially, development on the game began in 2010. The full story however, goes back to 2002, with the release of Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos and a mod called "Defense of the Ancients" (DOTA). If that acronym sounds familiar, it's probably because it's also the name of Valve's popular game, Dota 2. If you're confused on the capitalization, the former is an acronym while the latter doesn't stand for anything. As for why Valve would use the name of a mod created for a competing company's game and why Blizzard would let go of the name that kickstarted a genre worth hundreds of millions of dollars well ... there's a story there, too.
Seen@PAX: A girl and her adorable teddy bear
There are some video game characters and props we don't mind seeing transformed into life-sized statues - Evolve's Goliath monster is undeniably cool, and seeing the Batmobile at E3 made our feet yearn to press pedal to metal - but sometimes things you find cute and cuddly from a distance turn out to be chilling and creepy up close. Such is the case of League of Legends' Annie, a little girl who can transform her teddy bear from being a huggable, wuv-able wittle fwend into ... well, just take a look. They call him Mister Tibbers.
Riot Games starting programs to help support retired e-sports players
So what do you do when you're too old to play e-sports on a professional level? Do you accept that you had a good run being treated like a rock star for playing a lot of games and move on with your life? Heck no. You need to start worrying about leveraging your brand and your media training. That's the sort of material covered by a new program headed by Riot Games, guiding professional League of Legends players on the path from the start of their career to their expected retirement at around age 27. The accepted retirement age for professional players is due to a decrease in fine motor control and reflexes, which means that as in physical sports, it's impossible to continue playing as you get older. While the symposia Riot is offering don't yet go into detail about what players can do after playing, they are meant to help keep professionals in the spotlight and support them when they can no longer keep up with the events. It's useful training for professional e-sports players looking to move through their career and have some direction for after the game.
League of Legends spotlights Gnar in a new video
So you've heard a lot about the newest League of Legends champion, Gnar. You've read about his abilities. But do you know how to play him? Have you seen him in action? Then perhaps you should watch the newest spotlight video, which sheds some light on how to play the angry little guy -- which is good, since Gnar is currently the only champion whose transformation doesn't lie under the direct control of the player. The video gives an overview of Gnar's abilities in both forms, then runs through a quick guide to handling combat situations with the hoppy little bundle of rage. Essentially, it's all about keeping an eye on when you'll transform and making the most of the situation, hopping in and out as the change takes you and wears off. Take a look at the video just past the break for a more visual demonstration of how to make the most of the character.
Ubisoft analyst examines League of Legends' alleged business model flaws
Despite League of Legends' mind-boggling 67 million players and $624 million in revenue through 2013, it's not doing as well as it should be, at least according to Ubisoft Blue Byte's Teut Weidemann, who has been studying the game first-hand in conjunction with behind-the-scenes data. Weidemann argues that League of Legends' model has three major flaws: It gives too much away for free, it keeps releasing overpowered champions that are nerfed later after purchase, and it has a terrible 3.75% conversion rate from free to paying customers. Why is 3.75% bad? Weidemann explains: "Usually, conversion rates for client-based games is between 15 and 25 percent. World of Tanks has 30 percent. It could afford to have one-third of the customer base and have the same amount of money as League of Legends." He believes the only reason Riot is staying afloat is through the studio's extensive playerbase, and as such smaller games should steer clear of the same model.
Co-Opinion: How sporty are eSports?
This is Co-Opinion, where two Joystiq editors play a game and discuss their experience. This edition focuses on the merits of eSports and how they fit with traditional sports. .portal-left { padding: 10px; background: #CCC; margin: 20px 0; min-height: 85px; } .portal-right { padding: 10px; margin: 20px 0; min-height: 85px; } .portal-right img { padding-left: 5px; } .portal-left img { padding-right: 5px; } Jess Conditt: Let's lay out the foundation here: I'm a fan of eSports and sports in the same way. I play games from both categories, but I'm far from a professional in any sense (though I shoot a mean three-pointer). When I see sports fans lashing out at eSports players, or saying that these games don't require any sports-like skill, I'm equally surprised and confused. Those who argue that eSports aren't "real" sports are not simply stripping professional players of a title; they're de-legitimizing the time and talent it takes to compete on that level. The word "sport" itself may not matter that much, but the intent of those withholding it does. Many of the arguments feel like bullying, or at the very least, caustic comments from those wary of change. Obviously, eSports require different skills than those needed to play physical sports, but they take skill nonetheless: strategy, quick thinking, fast reflexes, communication, perseverance, creativity, teamwork. I understand that these are not necessarily physical attributes, but I don't think that negates their value. I wonder if "athleticism" is the issue here, rather than whether eSports are, in fact, sports.
League of Legends properly introduces Gnar
After teasing players about the nature of the newest champion arriving in League of Legends, Riot Games has provided a full introduction for the prehistoric yordle known as Gnar. He looks nice enough, actually, even sort of cute. At least until he gets angry and transforms into Mega Gnar, a hulking brute who's happy to crush everything in his path and then start down a new path so he can crush more things. Anger issues, in short. So how does Gnar play? It's all about managing the rage. In mini form, he's a quick attacker with some range who also has access to a handy escape ability. When he enrages, though, he's a tank-happy fighter with plenty of durability and burst damage. Both forms have their own weaknesses and strengths, so the art of playing him comes down to carefully maximizing his fits of rage before getting back out of danger. After all, who'd believe the little cute guy could get that angry?
League of Legends previews Gnar without a word
Who is Gnar? An upcoming champion for League of Legends. How does he or she play? We don't know. All we know is a little bit of what Gnar is all about, and that is shown in a quick teaser site that manages to convey a story without using a single word other than Gnar's name. Gnar seems like a pretty happy sort at first, but when a calamity befell Gnar's family, Gnar didn't handle it too well. Gnar can be seen breaking out of an ice tomb and setting forth on what we can only assume will be a rampage filled with enemy champions. Take a glance at the preview page to watch the whole thing play out, and keep your eyes peeled for more information on how Gnar will play. (Speculation has him focused on crowd control and area denial.)
Riot Games promises to increase diversity in League of Legends
League of Legends features a lot of diversity among its male champions, but the female champions all feature a fairly uniform body type. That's something the developers at Riot Games are keen on changing. In response to a fan question at SDCC, producer Omar Kendall said that the company has been introducing new ways of looking at body types and shapes, with the end goal of making female champions who don't look like the others. Kendall went on to specify that the call for more diversity is one that players should see represented soon in a new character coming out. He also noted that diversity is being strongly considered with further character designs and any new champions. Game designer Brian Feeney noted that it would be a net boon to the game as a whole -- as Riot is very concerned with distinctive silhouettes, a more robust selection of body types makes it easier to tell champions apart.
