League of Legends: Dominion is LIVE

League of Legends: Dominion is now live. Go!

Summoners!

The moment that you’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived! Today, you’ll step onto the battlefield to face off against your opponents on the Crystal Scar! Get ready to capture, defend and dominate your enemies in this brand new game mode for League of Legends!

We promised to deliver the unexpected in 2011, and today we make good on that claim.

Nearly a year in the making, League of Legends: Dominion represents the largest and most ambitious update to League of Legends since its launch in October of 2009. In Dominion, summoners do battle on a brand new map, the Crystal Scar, and vie for control over five Capture Points, a style of play never before attempted in the League of Legends universe.

League of Legends: Dominion is the latest example of our ongoing commitment to bringing you the best of the MOBA genre in new and innovative ways. You’ve been requesting new battlefields upon which to test your skills, and today you’ll do battle not only on a brand new Field of Justice, but in an entirely new and groundbreaking game mode!

Prepare yourselves, summoners! The battle for the Crystal Scar has officially begun!

Video for the unattenuated:

Combining passions: Green Bay Packer Highlights and Star Fox

Video speaks for itself.  Its my own personal nerdgasm.

It's MOBA, not ARTS

MOBA - Multiplayer Online Battle Arena
ARTS - Action Real Time Strategy

It annoys me, greatly, that games such as League of Legends (LoL) and DOTA2 are referred to as ARTS.  The term action does NOT fit with the term strategy.  Strategy infers some form of logistical component to the gameplay.  None of aforementioned games feature any form of logistical management.  They very much focus on the action, aka tactical, gameplay elements.

MOBA, on the other hand, describes the games perfectly.  They are multiplayer games that feature battles in arena-style maps.  Sure, the DOTA model has lanes, creeps, and towers, but don't be fooled.  DOTA is still about killing the other team.  DOTA just adds objective-based gameplay into the arena (and objective-based gameplay long ago took over straight up death match).

So next time you are out at the pub talking up the latest dime-a-dozen MOBA coming down the line, please remember this post.

Star Wars: The Old Republic Won't Require Origin

News today via a post on the Star Wars: The Old Republic forums that SW:ToR will NOT require Origin.

That's good news for anyone planning on playing the game.

That's bad news for EA that they can't even get their flagship title to promote their system, but at the end of the day maybe not losing sales is a better prospect.

That still means no SW:ToR on Steam (or any other digital distribution system other than Origin).

Wildstar More Interesting Than Star Wars: The Old Republic, both still have boring videos

Wildstar was announced at Gamescom this week. Today an eight minute gameplay video was released and IT WAS BORING. But don't let me make that decision for you, watch the video below.



I was brought this video by this post on Rock, Paper, Shotgun (RPS). The first comment fits directly in with my thoughts and even though Wildstar's footage was boring, it was not nearly as boring as the SW:ToR footage we saw from Gamescom.

RF says: 08/19/2011 at 17:20

Looks like a pretty traditional MMO with some next gen elements.
Like dodging.
And making bear men explode.

Yeah, I think I’ll be getting this. This game is what SW:TOR wants to be but is not.

To back up my thoughts, the one and only RPS regular, Jim Rossignol, chimed in the same idea.

Jim Rossignol says: 08/19/2011 at 17:28

I am more interested in this than SW:TOR.

Screenshot for context/posterity.

Bioware: This Video is BORING

Bioware needs to step up their game with Star Wars: The Old Republic.  The below video is the most recent propaganda from GamesCON and its absolutely boring.  Is this really the advertising they want for the game?  We saw a group of players run up to static groups of NPCs, STAND ABSOLUTELY STILL, while the healer healed, the DPS did damage, and the tank tanked. Epic combat?  Action?  Where the hell is it Bioware.  I fell asleep watching this video.

Warhammer Online going MOBA

Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes was just announced at GamesCON.  It is a 6v6v6 multi-player online battle arena game (MOBA).  Oh and its free to play (F2P).

This has me mildly interested, mostly because its F2P.  I enjoyed Warhammer Online for what it was: a RvR game.  I didn't enjoy Warhammer Online for what it could have been: an instance-heavy RvR game that was consistent with it's path from start to finish.  Unfortunately WAR split it's focus and by the time launch rolled around, it was a bucket full of holes that held water for only so long before being drained.

Wrath of Heroes extracts the RvR and compacts it into an action-oriented mash up.  It is a play for the MOBA market that League of Legends currently dominates and that DOTA2 is currently doing a money grab for.  Fortunately, there is plenty of demand and I cannot fault Mythic/EA for putting their foot into the door.

I will give it a try when it comes out or if I get invited to Beta.  That is unless it requires Origin.  Not really interested in getting involved with yet another digital distribution platform.  Sign up for beta on their site.

DOTA 2 Looks Just Like You Expect

A couple DOTA 2 screenshots for everyone:

New Counter Strike Game from #Valve

I'm not feeling very creative lately.  So, another image to sum up my thoughts on the new Counter Strike game.

"Activision Ruined You"

Clearly this man is not a fan of Blizzard's plans for Diablo III.



But I bet anyone $5 and that day old burger wrapper in my car that Blizzard is thinking: