League of Legends: Dominion Available Now!

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!

League of Legends - Champion spotlight Riven

With the new league of legends patch a few weeks ago, we have seen a few things happen. Such as the new game mode Dominion that is still in beta, as well as a very interesting Champion by the name of Riven
I personally have played riven for quite a few league of legends matches now and I must say she is a blast to play. This champion packs quite a punch.


A quick look at the lore behind Riven:


" In Noxus, any citizen may rise to power regardless of race, gender, or social standing – strength is all that matters. It was with committed faith in this ideal that Riven strove to greatness. She showed early potential as a soldier, forcing herself to master the weight of a long sword when she was barely its height. She was ruthless and efficient as a warrior, but her true strength lay in her conviction. She entered battles without any trace of doubt in her mind: no ethical pause, no fear of death. Riven became a leader amongst her peers, poster child of the Noxian spirit. So exceptional was her passion that the High Command recognized her with a black stone rune sword forged and enchanted with Noxian sorcery. The weapon was heavier than a kite shield and nearly as broad – perfectly suited to her tastes. Soon after, she was deployed to Ionia as part of the Noxian invasion. What began as war quickly became extermination. Noxian soldiers followed the terrifying Zaunite war machines across fields of death. It wasn’t the glorious combat for which Riven trained. She carried out the orders of her superiors, terminating the remnants of a beaten and fractured enemy with extreme prejudice. As the invasion continued, it became clear that the Ionian society would not be reformed, merely eliminated. During one bitter engagement, Riven’s unit became surrounded by Ionian forces. They called for support as the enemy closed in around them. What they received instead was a barrage of biochemical terror launched by Singed. Riven watched as around her Ionian and Noxian alike fell victim to an unspeakably gruesome fate. She managed to escape the bombardment, though she could not erase the memory. Counted dead by Noxus, she saw an opportunity to start anew. She shattered her sword – severing ties with the past – and wandered in self-imposed exile. Now she seeks atonement within the league of legends and her own way to serve the pure Noxian vision in which she believed."


And a quick look at her abilities:
Passive - Runic Blade : Riven's abilities charge her blade, causing her to do bonus damage on her next autoattack. Riven can store up to 3 charges, but only expends one at a time.
Broken Wings : Riven steps forward and lashes out in a series of powerful sword slashes. This ability can be reactivated up to 3 times in a short period.
1st Use/2nd Use: Deals damage to a small area in front of her.
3rd Use: Jumps into the air and slams downward, causing a larger impact nova that deals damage and knocks nearby enemies back.
Ki Burst : Riven damages and stuns nearby enemies.
Valor : Riven dashes forward and gains a shield for a short duration.
Blade of the Exile (Ultimate) : Riven's sword reforms, giving her a percentage multiplier on her total attack damage, extended range on her damaging abilities and basic attacks and the ability to use Wind Slash once.
Wind Slash : While Blade of the Exile is active, Riven can reactivate the ability to cast Wind Slash which emits a large shockwave that deals damage to all units hit based on their missing life. "I love the Wind slash mechanic of her ult, It is pretty impressive and deals a ton of damage to other the champion"

In the league of legends, Riven is the newest champion that they have released and I must say, she is quite the addition to the champion lineup. With her double ultimate using Blade of the Exile and Wind Slash, She is quite the champion to be reckon with.

Stay tuned for more topics featuring the new and upcoming map in the league of legends!

League of Legends - Dominion First Impression

Dominion is a new game type announced by Riot Games. It features the use of a new map, the Crystal Scar, and features a new Capture-and-Hold playstyle. Players choose Champions, as in the "standard" Summoners Rift games, but the Inhibitors and Turrets have been removed. Instead, the map has five Capture Points.


The League of Legends map Dominion went live for about 10 hours yesterday for people who were level 30 to play, I myself got in about... 6-7 hours of that time to play, Which if most of you know that can be only 6-7 matches of Summoners Rift (the 5v5 map). Well, with Dominion that's more like 25-30 games. They are fast paced, strategic, and fun as hell!


There are a few problems with it though, certain champs are just overpowered just as some are in Twisted Treeline (the 3v3 map). I quickly hit a few forums and the league chat rooms and came up with a list of a few champs who are just doing a little too well in Dominion.

1. Rammus -- The king of Dominion at this point, His power-ball gives him the fastest movement and best defensive response around the map. Along with Armor being a large plus for him and most AD champs are being played heavily at the moment.
2. Evelynn -- Stealth makes for good baiting.
3. Master Yi -- Stacking phantom dancers has never been so good
4. Tryndamere -- all around great pusher and heavy hitter
5. Pantheon -- Ult lets him get to points fast for capture
6. Gangplank -- Fast heavy hitter, makes for offensive pushes
7. Karthus -- being able to cancel opponent capture casts with his wall and his Q just has his ult as icing on the cake
8. Shaco -- Stealth and his Boxes make him a great choice for dominion where CC and movement are key.

When the match starts your team is on a platform and everyone is already level 3. you quickly hit level 4 as you take your first point and head toward the conflicting team. The map has a scaling buff that every champ gets that covers things such as Armor pen/Magic pen and other things, as long as giving you a passive Exp gain so everyone stays really close to the same level throughout the whole map. 

Due to the different pace of the game, Dominion will offer new items available only on the Crystal Scar as well as prohibit other items to maintain balance. Each champion will also be provided with a new set of recommended items for the new map.

Many of the new items are variations of the removed items to maintain balance. For instance, the Prospector items are the removed Doran items with double the stats and unique added to the health stat to prevent stacking,  Odyn's Veil is a variation of the  Banshee's Veil that remains benefitial to the faster paced game style,  Kitae's Bloodrazor replaces  Madred's Bloodrazor and  Sanguine Blade is  The Bloodthirster that doesn't lose stacks from deaths.

There are also a brand new set of buffs, these new buffs came in three forms: Greater Relics, Health Relics and Speed Shrines. Greater Relics are consumable resources located in the middle of the map that yield an individual benefit and respawn at fixed intervals. Health Relics are items that provide champions using them with an instant burst of HP and mana. These were placed to counter the advantage that sustainable champions had. Speed Shrines provide a short bonus to any champion who enters their sphere of influence.

As the beta goes on, I will be covering more features as well as getting some footage up and lots of screenshots. Stay tuned!

Dead Island Review

Conceived in 2005, Dead Island finally makes its shambling way to shop shelves, invigorated by a promotional boost but carrying some telltale traits picked up during its six-year gestation. What began as a straight survival FPS – a wide-eyed go-anywhere, wield-anything premise – arrives looking a bit peaky. We spy Borderlands-shaped toothmarks on its loot-focused weapon customisation and fourplayer online co-op. Elsewhere, NPCs bear Oblivion-esque side missions – with none of Bethesda’s branching outcomes – while zombie types echo Left 4 Dead’s. Only Banoi Island itself remains Techland’s own, complete with all the texture, audio and animation glitches we’ve come to expect from its Chrome Engine.

Dead Island delivers death by a thousand cuts, both literal and figurative. The literal cuts are almost good fun. As zombie hordes (or, thanks to limited tech, zombie tens) shuffle closer, a series of melee blows result in chucklesome injuries. Wrenches split heads, butchers’ knives cleave legs clean off and baseball bats dislocate arms, leaving them swinging impotently from the shoulder. Hit a sprinting infected with a well-timed swipe and its head pops off in slow motion as momentum sees the body comically run on by. In a game about bashing zombies, the zombies look suitably bashed. The problems arise from the bashing.

For a game built primarily around melee combat, the swinging arc is an inexact science. Some blows clip enemies visibly out of reach, while others refuse to snag bodies filling the screen. The vital kick move, handily knocking attackers down, sees the player’s leg constantly alter its length. Sometimes we are lanky Bruce Campbell, at others a wee Sarah Michelle Gellar. The mystery of this ever-changing limb is more engaging than Techland’s yarn. Console players get the added bonus of an inconsistent auto-aim, refusing to dish out the head lops that come more easily to PC mouse-wielders. What should be laughs of vindictive satisfaction are more often snorts of genuine surprise.

The survival fiction is particularly inept. Items respawn after a short window of time, lending infinite resources to a narrative that trades on desperate struggle. On a micro level, it leads to the absurd. Characters cry about dehydration as energy drinks lie at their feet, while tricky supply runs sit at odds with the infinite quantity of canned food in the room next door. And these inconsistencies cannot be forgiven with a weary shake of the head. Ongoing trade missions can be exploited as XP mines, while weapons need never go blunt thanks to endless trading funds. Only an awkward shopping interface dissuades such underhand play – every item has to be sold one unit at a time. Selling 17 magnets in a row is a true survival horror.

Enemies also magically reappear in precisely the same locations. Banoi operates with the mechanical efficiency of a ghost train: you mentally map which corpses suddenly spring to life and note the back alleys that lead to bigger brute types. Where progress should be a tense procession of life-or-death decisions – do you settle for a knockdown or sacrifice weapon integrity on a kill? – Banoi undermines your every move. Is Techland riffing on Dawn Of The Dead’s notion that zombies return out of ‘some kind of instinct. Memory of what they used to do’? In the 1978 zombie movie, it was satirical. Here, it seems farcical; a neat and tidy undead Westworld, reset every morning for the next busload of Romero buffs.

Find three other Romero buffs and Dead Island improves. For starters, competing to find the NPC with the worst acting on Banoi is a fun pastime, but playing with company certainly helps make sense of the four character skill trees. In singleplayer, both the throwing and firearms classes are at a disadvantage against the AI’s rush tactics. And the gun-free opening area makes the markswomen all but pointless for the first five hours of the game. Let two melee-trained friends take the close-quarters brunt, however, and some semblance of tactics emerges. And neat matchmaking – the game automatically invites you to join strangers with similar level and story progress – means Dead Island rarely has to be endured alone.

Playing with close friends proves more problematic. Enemies level with the highest-ranking player, so newcomers joining at a later point find the odds stacked against them. Thanks to weapon levelling, during our playtest one online companion was unable to wield any of the tools available to him. In order to develop his stats to a basic stick-waving standard, we had to sniff out lone zombies, disarm them (literally) and let the newbie sheepishly kick them to death. Pangs of paternal pride aside, this is a ludicrous solution to a problem that shouldn’t be there in the first place.

The remainder of the time is spent wrestling with a checklist of flaws. Lazy asset recycling, ugly character models (every female has porn-star proportions and the bikini to prove it), loose driving and inconsistent world logic (some doors breakable, some not) remind us that Banoi comes from the same place as Call Of Juarez: The Cartel. An additional quirk sees everyone refer to your character as ‘him’ – even if you play as a woman.

Considering our aforementioned proportions, this seems particularly inexplicable. The world doesn’t have the charm to warrant forgiveness, and progress-halting bugs prevent it anyway. With regular AI freezes and vanishing items, a mistimed autosave can prove fatal. Ultimately it all invites the refashioning of another line from Romero. When there’s no more room in development hell, the dead losses will walk the Earth.

Diablo III General Information

With the Diablo 3 Family beta underway and the public beta beginning soon,  I decided to add some  general information on what exactly will be coming to you soon by Blizzard Entertainment. I will also be dumping a decent amount of imagery as well as some wallpapers and character models. Happy hunting!


Q: What is Diablo III?
A: We’re developing Diablo III to be the definitive action role-playing game, and a true continuation of the Diablo series. Players will adventure through rich and varied settings, unraveling an epic storyline, engaging in combat with hordes of monsters and challenging bosses, growing in experience and ability, and acquiring items of incredible power. Diablo III will be a fitting sequel to Diablo II, with the easy interface, fast-paced action, and visceral gameplay that Diablo players have come to expect and enjoy. It will also include many new features that will take the Diablo action-RPG experience to the next level.


Q: Which characters will be in Diablo III?
A: Players will create a male or female hero from one of five distinct classes, such as barbarian, witch doctor, or wizard, each equipped with an array of spells and abilities. New customization options will provide for an even greater level of character specialization than the previous Diablo games, allowing the player to create unique characters brimming with power.


Q: What can you say about the announced classes?
A: Returning from Diablo II, the dual-wielding barbarian is one of the stoic guardians of Mount Arreat.  Retooled with powerful new abilities and moves, this plate-wearing savage wields ferocious weapons to annihilate the demonic forces threatening the world of Sanctuary.
The fearsome witch doctor hails from the terrifying Tribe of the Five Hills of the legendary umbaru race. The witch doctor is equipped with spells and alchemical powers; can summon mongrels, locust swarms, and zombie armies; and hurls fiery concoctions to annihilate any demon foolish enough to trifle with the powers of the umbaru.
The wizard is a wielder of the elements and a master manipulator of time, who combats the hordes of the Burning Hells by launching environment-shattering lightning bolts, channeling explosive arcane energies, and creating pockets of space outside of the normal flow of time.


Q: What is the story of Diablo III?
A: The game takes place on Sanctuary, a world of dark fantasy. Unbeknownst to most of its inhabitants, Sanctuary was saved some twenty years ago from the demonic forces of the underworld by a few brave and powerful heroes. Most of those warriors who directly faced Hell’s armies -- and were fortunate enough to survive -- went mad from their experiences. And most of the others have buried their haunted memories and pushed the horrors from their thoughts. In Diablo III, players will return to Sanctuary to confront evil in its many forms once again.


Q: Will Diablo III be running on a new engine?
A: Diablo III is powered by a new graphics engine that can display characters and hordes of monsters in lush, fully 3D environments. Powerful special-effects systems and Havok-powered physics allow for realistic object dynamics and cloth simulation, and enable players to lay waste to the minions of the Burning Hells in spectacular ways.



Q: Will Diablo III still have randomized events?
A: Diablo III builds on the random environments of the previous Diablo games by adding random scripted events and encounters throughout the game, creating a dense and exciting world alive with quests, NPCs, and dynamic encounters.


Q: What can you tell us about Battle.net?
A: Diablo III will benefit from Battle.net upgrades that will provide some exciting new features for players. Cooperative online play remains a primary focus, with multiple enhancements being planned to make connecting with your friends easier and cooperative play even more fun. We’ll have more details on all these aspects as well as other exciting new features at a later date.


Q: How will PvP be implemented in Diablo III?
A: With regard to the multiplayer component of Diablo III, the emphasis will be on cooperative play, but we will also include support for competitive play. What form that support will take is still being discussed, but we are being careful to avoid features that can easily lead to griefing, such as the ability to go hostile at will.


Q: When will Diablo III be released?
A: It’s too early to estimate Diablo III’s release date. As with all Blizzard Entertainment games, our goal is to create a game that is as fun, balanced, and polished as possible. We intend to take as much time developing Diablo III as is necessary to ensure the game meets our own high expectations and those of our players. We’re aiming to release Diablo III on both Mac and Windows simultaneously in as many regions as possible, and to localize the game in several languages. We’ll have more details to share about countries, languages, and specific dates as we get closer to release.  


Q: What will Diablo III be rated?

A: The Diablo III rating will be determined by the ratings boards in each region. We still have a good amount of work to do content-wise, so we’re not quite ready to submit the game for ratings yet.

Q:  Will players interact with any familiar faces or places in Diablo III?
A:  Yes, definitely. Players will return to Tristram and certain other locations from the previous games and they’ll also be exploring new areas of Sanctuary. Players will also encounter several new characters as well as a number of characters from the previous games including Deckard Cain.


Q:  What will questing be like in Diablo III? Will it be similar to Diablo II?
A:  Our plans for the story and quest mechanics are still under wraps. We’ll go into detail on those elements of the game at a later date. We can say, however, that we expect to have class-based quests in addition to the main story-line quests.


Q:  What are the system requirements for Diablo III?
A: We’ll announce specific system requirements at a later date.

Patch 4.3 Interview And Teir 13 preview

 Rogue Legendary and Patch 4.3
Another interview showed up today in The Escapist. The most important part is the Rogue Legendary dagger and new raid level difficulty, but the important points are all below.

• Rogues will get a legendary dagger and exciting quest line to go with it. The lore for the dagger has not been decided upon yet.
• Looking for Raid tool raids will be easier than normal raids using a new level of difficulty (Looking For Raid).
• The Looking for Raid tool will only work for 25 man raids, not 10 man.
• Players will get different achievements and loot from doing Random Raid mode, no normal mode achievements or perks will be gained.
• This will introduce players to the content and mechanics of the fights so that they are more prepared for an actual raid.
• The new five mans will have tighter story integration with the Deathwing Raid than Icecrown Heroics did.
• The Dragonflights will work together to help take down Deathwing.
• Deathwing's random zone burning will continue at least until the end of Patch 4.3.
• They might be talking about Pandas at Blizzcon.

As well as two new tier thirteen previews for the shaman and the mage!

Minecraft 1.8 Adventure Update Now Out!

The Minecraft 1.8 update has finally arrived. check it out, also tell us some of the things you have been making and even post pictures!

Patch Notes:
Here are the main highlights of the 1.8 update:

• Endermen are rare (YAY!) and die in water.
• Zombies now drop rotten flesh (Not feathers)
• All the tame mobs will drop meat except sheep and once killed will not respawn in that area.
• XP will be used for levelling up. You get XP from killing mobs and lose it when you die.
• Food is stackable but eating now takes time and has an animation.
• Larger, and new biomes.
• Added watermelons and made them (and pumpkins) farmable
• Added towns, they might have NPCs (Jeb wants them to talk, Notch doesn't)
• Strongholds near villages.
• Added brightness slider, the deeper down you go the darker it gets. Torches held in your hand may emit light now.
• New lighting system, much faster. Improved chunk generation speeds.
• Exploring will be more rewarding.
• Double-tap W to sprint/run.
• Combat has been revamped, it is more rewarding.
• Added an animation to bows.
• Added a creative mode in which you can fly and spawn items.

Awesome castle

Diablo 3 - Phishing on the rise, Beta looms close

 It seems that the Diablo 3 beta is getting closer and closer. just posted up on the World of Warcraft Client was this little tid bit of information on beta phishing. I see this as a very fresh reminder that the beta can literally be any day now and strongly insist on checking your email daily for a beta invite

New Diablo 3 Information

We have a few goodies for you guys today, including a sneak peak at the Barbarian Character creation animation and some in-game screenshots! As the information starts to pour in, we will be have a wide-spread coverage of the upcoming Blizzard Entertainment game, Diablo 3!