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League of Legends unveils A New Dawn cinematic
Did you know that a game of League of Legends involves your team fighting another team? It's true! And you can watch a dramatized version of exactly that in the game's latest cinematic trailer, A New Dawn, embedded just past the cut. Spoiler warning: There is blood, people die, and it would all be very dramatic if not for the fact that most of them will respawn in the not-too-distant future. Want a peek behind the scenes? You can get more than that; Riot Games has also released a full making-of featurette that shows exactly how the newest cinematic went from concept to completion. And you can also check that out past the cut. Consider it the bonus feature. [Source: Riot Games press release]
League of Legends cracks down on more bad seeds
Riot Games has announced its next level of enforcement for problematic players in the wildly popular League of Legends. After working toward player reform over the last few years, the studio is now looking at a more aggressive approach. In cases of "extreme toxicity" (i.e. racism, death threats, homophobic remarks, etc.), troublesome players can expect a more severe penalty ranging from a 14-day ban to a permanent ban from the game. In the case that an "unfair ban" comes into question, Riot says they will now be fully transparent with chat logs and post the exact log that led to the player's ban. Intentional leavers/AFKers are also a concern for Riot as they plan to address these problems in the future.
The Daily Grind: Do you play MOBAs?
We joke a lot on Massively about how there's a new MOBA released every day, but let's be fair: It's more like every other day. The first MOBA I ever played was Demigod, and that was back before the term had really become popular, before League of Legends had launched, and long before the deluge of MOBA clones had hit us. I had fun, but I pretty much knew the genre wasn't for me. I like a bit more persistence to my PvP, and I really prefer larger-scale battles and worlds. This is why I play MMOs. But the MOBA genre is young and evolving. Some MOBAs even seem to be trying to attract MMORPG players with cosmetic gear and first-person perspectives and even something that still looks a bit like personal housing. So here's the question for today: Do you, as an MMORPG gamer, play MOBAs? What would it take to get you to play them? 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!
Report: League of Legends hacker made $1,000 a day
If being a jerk on the Internet is a competition, Shane "Jason" Duffy might be in the champion's running. Police raided the 21-year-old's room regarding a League of Legends security incident in 2011, which Riot eventually addressed in 2012, and Duffy's online activity while on bail earned another visit from police in 2013. In an interview with The Daily Dot, Duffy claimed involvement for brute forcing League accounts, selling character skins from accounts for $200-$800, leaking League of Legends: Supremacy through a Riot employee's Twitter account, and creating a service that could knock League players out of games in exchange for money. Duffy told The Daily Dot in November that his group had scored access to millions of accounts, which he claims were harvested via a senior Riot employee's account. Duffy says that despite Riot noticing a breach and telling staff members to change their passwords, this employee did not, allowing Duffy's group to set up backdoor software on Riot's servers. By the time Riot realized what was happening, Duffy claims they had grabbed information for 24.5 million accounts.
League of Legends retires skin codes to fight scam artists
Riot Games is retiring skin codes released prior to April 2014 in an effort to curb third-party re-selling and fraud, according to Community Coordinator Ben Forbes, AKA Riot Draggles. If you're just tuning in, skins in League of Legends change a character's visual look, so that a pirate might become a cowgirl, or a hamster-looking creature might don a spacesuit. So what does this mean if you're a League player with your eye on that sweet new skin for your favorite champ? Nothing, actually - skins sold through the League of Legends client will still work just fine. The new policy affects codes that are printed onto cards and given out at events such as PAX, Gamescom and Anime Expo, and only those created before April of this year. These skins, due to their limited availability, are sometimes considered rare, and thus have been sold through third-party sites at a hefty markup. Forbes wrote on the game's forums that Riot found one skin selling for more than $1,000. If you find yourself stuck with a legitimate skin code that you haven't yet redeemed, you have until July 23 to submit a ticket to League of Legends customer support with info verifying authenticity. Visit the skin code FAQ page to learn more. [Image: Riot Games]
Raptr's Most Played PC list shows strong start for WildStar
Raptr has released its Most Played PC Games list for June 2014 and we spot six MMOs gracing the company's list this time around. As no surprise to anyone, World of Warcraft still dominates in the number 3 spot, behind League of Legends and Dota 2, but we also see WildStar's debut at number 6. World of Tanks, Final Fantasy XIV, Guild Wars 2, and The Elder Scrolls Online finish out the remaining MMOs on the list. Interestingly enough, The Elder Scrolls Online's hours played were nearly cut in half from May to June, and Star Wars: The Old Republic was bumped from the list entirely. It's important to note that these rankings are only based on hours played by those who use Raptr for each play session. Check out the complete infographic and press release after the cut. [Source: Raptr press release]
League of Legends public chat rooms disabled by Riot
What's the fastest and easiest way to deal with the problems in League of Legends chat channels? Apparently, just shutting them down completely. Riot Games has removed several of the public chat rooms until the company finds a way to turn them into something "useful and accessible." The company is aware that there are great communities in the game, but it's too easy for toxic individuals to mask that. Not only were the public chat channels problematic, but even the private channels lacked effective moderation tools outside of an ignore button. The development team is starting over from a new foundation, hoping to make the chat rooms a place to hang out with friends and more easily organize matches instead of being... well, what they were before. Feedback is welcome, so chime in on the official forums if you know what you want to see when the chats finally return.
Riot Games offers new hires 'cash to quit'
League of Legends developer Riot Games has announced a new company initiative called Queue Dodge, which allows new North America hires to receive 10 percent of their annual salary if they leave the company within 60 days. "Basically, we're offering new hires cash to quit," the company stated. Riot notes that this doesn't mean they want to actively push employees out or "dare them to leave," but that instead, the move is aimed at helping new hires who feel the company isn't the right fit for them find a "well-lit, safe exit path." Judging by the picture Riot chose to headline their announcement, it is also an exit path filled with memes and shiba inu dogs. Additionally, Riot hopes to strengthen company culture. "We operate on a foundation of shared mission, values, passion, trust, and mutual respect," Riot stated in the news post revealing Queue Dodge. "If someone gags on the unique flavor of our culture, they'd be doing themselves and the company a disservice to hang on just for the paycheck." [Image: Riot Games]
University adds League of Legends team to its athletic program
Could being at wiz video games get you a scholarship and a college degree? As far-fetched of a dream as that may seem, it's now becoming a reality at one institute of higher learning. Robert Morris University in Illinois announced today that it will be forming an official League of Legends varsity team as part of its athletic program for the 2014-15 academic year. Team members will be treated on the same level as other athletes, meaning that they're eligible for tutoring, support, and scholarships. The team is a result of the university's associate athletic director's love of competitive PC gaming and acknowledgement that it requires the same level of teamwork as other sports. "Although e-sports have long been a part of the culture of gaming, competitions have seen a large surge in popularity in recent years," the university posted. "Robert Morris University recognizes the value and legitimacy of e-sports and is excited to add e-sports to its already rich athletic program."
Riot seeks 'culturally aligned' devs, offers cash payouts for quitting
League of Legends developer Riot has unveiled an initiative called Queue Dodge which is designed to strengthen the gamemaker's workforce and "reinforce" its internal culture. "We operate on a foundation of shared mission, values, passion, trust, and mutual respect," says the company's announcement post. "If someone gags on the unique flavor of our culture, they'd be doing themselves and the company a disservice to hang on just for the paycheck. Culturally aligned people and teams are more effective, and alignment around mission and values allows us to better serve players. We've designed Queue Dodge to help self-identified mismatches move on in an open, positive, and constructive way." Riot new-hires can opt in to the program during their first 60 days on the job. They will be paid 10 percent of their annual salary -- up to $25,000 -- to leave.
Illinois college offering scholarships to League of Legends players
Robert Morris University in Chicago put out a call recruiting League of Legends players to its first varsity eSports team earlier this month. According to Riot Games, RMU will become the first university to offer a competitive team at the varsity level, and will offer scholarships to players "of up to 50 percent tuition and 50 percent room and board." RMU is in the process of recruiting its team to join the Collegiate Star League (CSL) in the fall quarter, beginning in September. The CSL consists of teams from 103 educational institutions, including Arizona State, George Washington and Harvard, though RMU is the only one currently offering scholarships for competition. Robert Morris University's team comprises one varsity team and two practice teams. [Image: Riot Games]
Riot Games summoning update to League of Legends' 5v5 map
Like an enemy champion leaping out from tall grass, Riot Games has revealed that League of Legends will be getting an overhaul to its 5v5 map, Summoner's Rift. According to a post highlighting some of the changes, the update is focused on five main tenets: clarity and readability, visual fidelity, gameplay, thematic cohesion and performance. So what does that mean for you? For one, the map is getting new textures and a new color palette. The bright, saturated hues in the current map have been toned down, making minions, monsters and champions stand out more against it. The map is also being redesigned so that north and south sides more closely mirror one another, and the camera angle is being tweaked. Monsters in the game's jungle areas are being redesigned and, in some cases, replaced with completely new ones. A frog-like creature named Gromp, for example, is a new enemy with a powerful ranged attack. Beasts also make animated entrances when players come within range, instead of instantly appearing when revealed on the map. The Summoner's Rift update is in pre-beta, meaning it's still a ways away from being playable on either the public beta test or live game servers. [Image: Riot Games]
League of Legends takes a top spot on ... iTunes?
Proving that you don't need to be real to earn real success, the debut album from Pentakill, a band made up of five League of Legends characters, is currently sitting at number one on the iTunes metal charts. Look, we'd be clever and throw in a pun or two here, but this news really speaks for itself, don't you think? A real album from a fake band made up of not one, not two, but three undead - one of whom is undead because the guitarist shred so *bleep*ing hard on his axe that he went berserk and killed him - is sitting at the top of iTunes. What more can be said at that point? Here, just read the lore behind the band's legendary guitar:
Fans watched 2.4 billion hours of eSports in 2013
Got some spare time on your hands? Apparently so, according to a recently-unveiled report from IHS Technology, which claims that people tuned into eSports-themed video programming for a total of 2.4 billion hours in 2013. Just in case that slipped by, that's billion. With a B. Which is roughly 273,973 years.IHS expects this trend to continue, predicting that we'll watch a combined 6.6 billion hours in 2018. Another number on the rise: advertising dollars. According to the report, eSports generated more than $32.8 million in online advertising revenue in 2013, and IHS expects that number to grow by more than 250 percent over the next four years. League of Legends was the most-watched competitive game in 2013, followed by Dota 2 and StarCraft 2. The largest audiences for top competitive games were found in China, with silver and bronze for number of spectators going to the USA and South Korea. [Image: Riot Games]
How to win more in League of Legends: play as blue team
Would you believe that a team's color can influence how often they win or lose? If you're shaking your head and thinking 'of course not," The Daily Dot has some data to show you regarding wins vs. losses in League of Legends. According to the Dot's data sampling, in ranked matches with draft pick rules, the blue team won a solid 15 percent more than red team. (Note: We'd say it's more of a "byzantine magenta" than red, but to each their own.) What's particularly interesting about the data is that the Dot attempted to eliminate as many variables as possible from its numbers, and even found data that would logically suggest blue should be losing more games. For example, the red team killed more Dragons than the blue team, and often killed Dragons before the blue team. This should give the red team a boost to their gold, allowing them to buy items and become stronger faster than their opponents. Yet clearly this didn't happen, as blue team won more often against teams ranked lower than them and against teams ranked higher than them. There's no solid answer as to why this is happening. And while we could spend all day looking at bar graphs, it's important to remember that correlation does not imply causation. Just because it looks like the rain in Howard County, Missouri causes people to get hit by a railway train doesn't mean that's what actually happens. Likewise, there's probably more to this data than a first glance would suggest. Or, maybe blue is just a more powerful color, like how the Green Lantern used to be weak to the color yellow. Who knows! [Image: Riot Games]
Artist takes League of Legends from MOBA to 2D fighter
League of Legends may not share much in common with your average 2D fighter, but the hyper-popular multiplayer online battle arena does feature a large, diverse cast of champions, which was enough impetus for Brazilian artist Iury Padilha to reimagine the MOBA in a more intimate combat style. Padilha recently uploaded images to his DeviantArt account which depict League of Legends characters squaring off in traditional Street Fighter-esque mano a mano fisticuffs. While Padilha clearly owes much of his personal style to anime and manga influences - somehow even moreso than Capcom's stable of Japanese artists - he does an excellent job of translating champions from one medium to another. Even more impressive are the backgrounds Padilha has designed, which depict small scenes drawn from League of Legends' various battlegrounds with a slightly muted color palette. This tone seems more apropos for the source material, even as it contrasts with the more cartoonish style Padilha lends his characters. You can find the entirety of Padilha's efforts by visiting his DeviantArt page, along with a much higher resolution version of the image above. [Image: Iury Padilha]
Build your dream League team with Fantasy LCS
Haven't cracked the realm of League of Legends play that'll let you earn thousands of dollars from competing in the League Championship Series? Neither have a lot of other people, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy watching the world's best compete! Riot Games is launching the beta of Fantasy LCS this summer, which will let players construct imaginary team-ups between contestants from the North American and European LCS Leagues. Players can either join a pre-existing Fantasy LCS league or create one and invite their friends. Once a league is completely filled, players can begin selecting their roster. Teams include seven starters, which cover the top, jungler, mid, support and marksman positions in League matches, along with one extra flex player for any desired position and one real-life, non-imaginary LCS team. Participants will also pick three alternate players to sub for those in starter positions, but only starters will earn points in a league. Starting lineups can be modified each week, allowing for reactions to a LCS player's real-world performance or to just heed gut instincts. Players that weren't selected by anyone in a league can also be swapped in from a free agent pool. After starters are decided for the week, a player's team will be matched against a competitor's in their league, earning points for the abilities of their roster both on an individual LCS player and general LCS team level. The highest-scoring team wins a week's matchup, with the overall best record earning bragging rights for a league's top player at the end of the season. There's a fair amount of interest in Fantasy LCS, which has led to stability issues for the service, but everything is operating as normal at the time of this writing. [Image: Riot Games]
Joystiq Streams: Lessons with the League of Legends voice cast [UPDATE: Relive the stream!]
Jungling. Running your bottoms and mids. Bait, aggro, duo lane, facecheck, leash, solo top, gank, and Wota. What? For the uninitiated, League of Legends is intimidating enough thanks to its population of roughly 30 million daily players but that's just the beginning. Standing firm between neophytes and sweet MOBA action are layers of language, rules, and skills necessary to conquer their foes. The Joystiq crew is only partially equipped for play, so we've enlisted both our own experts and the voice cast of League of Legends to help teach everyone else the ropes. Starting at 4PM EST right here on Joystiq.com and at the Joystiq Twitch channel, we're streaming a League of Legends boot camp for new players. Joystiq's own Richard Mitchell, Sam Prell, and Jess Conditt will face off against Legends actors Danielle Macrae (Karma the Enlightened One), Cia Court (Vi the Piltover Enforcer), and Erik Braa (Vel'Koz, Draven, and Jax). Our good friend Adam Harrington of Legends and The Wolf Among Us fame will be hanging in the chat cheering on his fellows, while other members of the Joystiq crew come along for the ride. Come hang out, learn some weird stuff, and talk to some very cool people. Joystiq Streams broadcasts every Tuesday and Thursday at 4PM EST right here on Joystiq.com and at Twitch.tv/Joystiq. Adam Harrington can be found online at Twitter.com/HarringtonVO and on his show with Erik Braa, In the Booth. Erik Braa can be found on Twitter.com/ErikBraa, on Facebook, and YouTube. Cia Court can be found on Twitter.com/VoxGoddessVO, at her website, and at About.me/VoxGoddess. Danielle McRae can be found on Twitter.com/DanielleMcVO and at her website. [Images: Riot Games]
Dota 2's playerbase tops World of Warcraft's subscribership
In the world of online gaming, there's been a longstanding perception that's not actually been true: that World of Warcraft has the most players. Today we can add another title to the "Greater Than WoW" Club, as the official site displays a counter showing that Dota 2 has a larger playerbase. Dota 2 had 7.86 million players log in during April, a number that outmatched World of Warcraft's current shrunken subscribership. Of course, it's important to keep in mind that we're comparing a MOBA to an MMO and a free-to-play title to a subscription game, but even so it's an impressive achievement for Valve. Gamespot noted that League of Legends has both games eclipsed by a teeny, tiny amount -- something on the order of 67 million players per month.
Beefcake Braum is League of Legends' next champion
League of Legends' next champion will be the beefy barbarian Braum, developer Riot Games has revealed. The Freljord native will take up his massive shield to block projectiles and soak up damage from enemy champions. The official League of Legends site has more details on this magnificently mustachioed man, who is, according to Riot, the game's "first true tank support" character. Braum is a support champion, meaning he won't be dealing out much damage of his own, but rather helping his teammates survive and taking the hits for them when he can. That doesn't mean he won't be useful in a fight, though. His "Winter's Bite" ability shoots a line of ice out from his shield, dealing magic damage and slowing those it catches. The "Stand By Me" ability causes Braum to leap to a nearby ally, positioning himself between them and the nearest enemy champion. This move also grants both Braum and the ally a boost to armor and magic resistance. His "Unbreakable" ability lifts Braum's shield and causes projectiles coming contact with it to be destroyed. Lastly, Braum's ultimate ability, "Glacial Fissure," sends out a long-range attack that knocks enemies into the air and slows them. Braum is currently available on the League of Legends beta servers, and is expected to make his way to the main game soon. [Image: Riot Games]
