MLG Orlando Details SC2 Casters and Streams

October 11th, 2011

Today Major League Gaming announced the full commentator line up for the StarCraft II portion of its Orlando event. Featuring ten casters in total, MLG will be providing the standard Red and Blue streams like previous MLG event. What’s new for Orlando is that MLG will also have two Members-only Beta streams featuring the casters Adebisi, Nerski, Tumba and Robin as they cast matches from the floor stations. This means that on top of the two stages, eSports fans will now be able to see Championship and Open Bracket matches from the tournament floor.

In addition to Adebisi, Nerski, Tumba and Robin, MLG is bringing back Day9, djWheat, JP McDaniel, Tastless, Artosis and Husky. According to MLG “With six casters switching off on the Red and Blue streams, we can ensure that the broadcast will have even less downtime, as teams will be ready to step in whenever one team needs a break.”

To give eSports fans an idea of what MLG Orlando will look like this weekend, the organization has released a pretty in depth schedule. From the looks of things MLG Orlando is looking like one of the best events of the year. Be sure to tune in this Friday at 5:00 PM EST to see all the great games. While you’re watching, be sure to root for the compLexity crew as they’ll definitely be bringing their A game.

The Devil Plays Protoss: MLG on TV

October 8th, 2011

The Devil Plays Protoss: MLG on TV

by Jacqueline Geller

Any opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of compLexity Gaming or its parent company.

MLG Sundance

Last Friday, Sundance DiGiovanni, the CEO of MLG, tweeted “Twitter and Reddit nation. StarCraft on ESPN2… Would you tune in? I am sitting with a TV exec who wants to know. You’ve got an hour.” Both the Reddit post and tweet had splendid feedback. Not all of the feedback was positive, but there was constructive feedback mixed in with the negative comments.

Since the beta, the SC2 community has had thousands of tournament matches and millions of games streamed live online. Streaming is something that the gaming community has perfected, and it a comfortable method of providing tournament coverage. In today’s market, it’s easy to get online viewers for any tournament, even the smaller ones. When the local, Edmonton SC2 tournaments were streamed in early 2011, the tournament would have approximately 1000 viewers at a time. As long as the production quality is good and the players are known, it’s simple for a tournament to get viewers.

Moving to television would be a big step outside of the comfort of online streaming. There are no guarantees of view numbers or that eSports fans would even consider tuning in. As someone who neither owns a television nor has cable, I won’t be trading in streaming for ESPN2, but I do think that some SC2 fans would watch MLG on ESPN2. There are both positives and negatives for this move, and MLG has to decide if the risk is worth it.

The biggest concern is that a number of individuals is bringing up is that MLG on television has to be done right. It’s a fragile experiment that could either encourage eSports to be on more television channels or detour other channels from ever considering eSports in the future. This won’t be competitive gaming’s first foray onto American television, but the most memorable moments in the relationship between the two was WCG Ultimate Gamer. That show did not leave the best of aftertastes. I’m no expert on channel scheduling or show production, but I know one of the other major concerns was how to properly schedule SC2 games around conventional show norms like commercial breaks and time slots. Unlike hockey periods which run for 20 minutes, a SC2 game could be shorter than 10 minutes or longer than 60 minutes. I can only imagine the logistical nightmare of putting eSports events on a sports network.

“In order to be on a sports channel, the game does not have to be mainstream.”

I work at a family restaurant where sports channels are played on the lounge’s televisions screens. Because of the layout of the restaurant, you can see at least one of the five screens from any seat in the house. The standard football, hockey and poker games are often on the televisions, but I have seen my fair share of obscure sports from cliff jump to darts. ESPN even airs the US National Gr. 8 Spelling Bee. In order to be on a sports channel, the game does not have to be mainstream. On a basic level, having MLG on television will expose more people to eSports. I had no idea cliff jumping was such an organized competition and community until I saw it on television at work. I know people who have never played video games would be exposed to competitive gaming just with it being on a television network.

In order to watch SC2 with friends in a public venue, it needs to be planned. The BarCraft at Rouge Lounge in Edmonton for MLG Raleigh required a significant amount of planning and set up. Screens had to be brought it, projectors had to be rented, the bar had to be packed to prove it was worth it… It was not easy. It was worth it, and the numbers were impressive, but it was not easy. If MLG was aired on ESPN2, it opens up more possibilities for BarCraft as well as for groups of friends simply wanting to watch SC2 at a bar. Ten friends showing up at an empty restaurant on a Sunday afternoon would most likely be obliged if they ask to watch ESPN2 while having a few beers. That is not possible with online streaming unless restaurant is set up for BarCraft events. The number of venues possible for SC2 events drastically increases when the games can simply be watched on cable.

MLG on TV?

I’d love to introduce more of my friends and family to competitive SC2, and having SC2 on television would make that a bit easier. Not that it’s hard to begin with, but it would be easier. My apartment is set up for friends to watch games when they come to my house, but how much easier would it be to simply turn on the channel at my parent’s house to watch SC2 with them? The only time my dad watched SC2 was in a hotel lobby on a small laptop. Not ideal for introducing someone to the GSL. I’m sure there are other individuals who would love to have the opportunity to watch MLG on their living room television without having to drag a computer tower down a flight of stairs while tripping over cables.

MLG on a major sports network would be great exposure for eSports. I’m hoping that it’s something that both ESPN and MLG research and seriously consider before jumping into or deciding against. There are numerous pros and cons which the thousands of replies to Reddit brought up, and all of them must be weighed before decisions should be made. Either way, I won’t be heartbroken or ecstatic, but I would love if ESPN looking into the idea before immediately dismissing it, and I would love if MLG took the time to get it right. MLG on ESPN2 could be the start of something great.

GL HF,
Jacq

 

About the Author – Jacqueline Geller

After years of playing World of Warcraft, a friend introduced Jacqueline to Starcraft early last year. Jacqueline’s relationship with Starcraft started out slowly: a handful of casual dates, a little bit of flirting but nothing serious. She took her relationship with the game to the next level after BlizzCon 2010 where she experienced eSports magic first-hand and realized that Starcraft was the one. Despite being a mediocre player, she has been clambering the ladder at a glacial pace and has spent more time watching Starcraft online than she’d like to admit. In March, Jacqueline made the leap from eSports fan to eSports professional when she was hired by the Handsome Nerd as their Art Director, combining her design skills with her love of Starcraft. Since its start in April, Jacqueline has been a contributing writer for the North American Star League, writing coverage for Division 1. Offline, Jacqueline is a bookworm, a runner, a freeride snowboarder and has a Human Ecology degree with a Clothing and Textiles major.

View Jacqueline’s profile here.
Visit @jacquelinesg on Twitter

Devastation 2011

October 7th, 2011

Today, Devastation 2011 kicks off in Phoenix, Arizona at the Phoenix Convention Center. coL.CC is on hand to represent compLexity Gaming, as we are the official sponsor of the event, as well as competing in the various fighting events taking place over the course of the 3 day weekend.

Devastation will play host to the following events:

Friday

  • 8:00 AM. Registration Opens
  • 9:00 AM. Event Opens
  • 9:00 AM. Areas open for casuals
  • 10:00 AM. Madden NFL 12, Tournament 1
  • 10:00 AM. Marvel vs Capcom 3, Tournament 1
  • 11:00 AM. Heroes of Newerth, Tournament
  • 11:00 AM. Mortal Kombat, Tournament 1
  • 11:00 AM. Halo Reach, Tournament 1
  • 12:00 PM. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Singles), Tournament 1
  • 12:00 PM. BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, Tournament
  • 1:00 PM. Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, Tournament 1
  • 1:00 PM. Costume Contest: Steampunk Theme
  • 2:00 PM. FIFA 12, Tournament 1
  • 2:00 PM. Rock! Paper! Scissors!, Tournament 1
  • 3:00 PM. Mortal Kombat, Tournament 2
  • 3:00 PM. Madden NFL 12, Tournament 2
  • 3:00 PM. Michael Jackson the Experience, Tournament
  • 4:00 PM. Marvel vs Capcom 3, Tournament 2
  • 4:00 PM. Halo Reach, Tournament 2
  • 4:00 PM. Tekken 6, Tournament
  • 5:00 PM. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Singles), Tournament 2
  • 6:00 PM. Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, Tournament 2
  • 7:00 PM. Rock! Paper! Scissors!, Tournament 2
  • 8:00 PM. Halo Reach, Tournament Finals
  • 11:00 PM. Event Closes

Saturday

  • 8:00 AM. Registration Opens
  • 9:00 AM. Event Opens
  • 9:00 AM. Areas open for casuals
  • 10:00 AM. Madden NFL 12, Tournament 3
  • 10:00 AM. Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, Tournament 3
  • 11:00 AM. Heroes of Newerth, Tournament
  • 11:00 AM. Mortal Kombat, Tournament 3
  • 11:00 AM. Gears of War 3, Tournament 1
  • 12:00 PM. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Singles), Tournament 1
  • 12:00 PM. Costume Contest: Open/Any Costume Theme (Under 12 Only)
  • 1:00 PM. Costume Contest: Open/Any Costume Theme
  • 1:00 PM. Marvel vs Capcom 3, Tournament 3
  • 2:00 PM. FIFA 12, Tournament 2
  • 2:00 PM. Rock! Paper! Scissors!, Tournament 3
  • 3:00 PM. Mortal Kombat, Tournament 4
  • 3:00 PM. Madden NFL 12, Tournament 4
  • 3:00 PM. Dance Central, Tournament
  • 4:00 PM. Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, Tournament 4
  • 4:00 PM. Gears of War 3, Tournament 2
  • 4:00 PM. SoulCalibur IV, Tournament
  • 5:00 PM. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Singles), Tournament 4
  • 6:00 PM. Marvel vs Capcom 3, Tournament 4
  • 7:00 PM. Rock! Paper! Scissors!, Tournament 4
  • 7:00 PM. Super Street Fighter II Turbo: HD Remix, Tournament
  • 8:00 PM. Gears of War 3, Tournament Finals
  • 8:00 PM. Rockband 3, Tournament
  • 11:00 PM. Event Closes

Sunday

  • Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Singles)
  • Heroes of Newerth
  • FIFA 12
  • Madden 12
  • Mortal Kombat
  • Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition
  • Marvel vs Capcom 3
  • People’s Choice Award: Costume Contest
  • Rock! Paper! Scissors!

 

The official stream can be found below:

 

 

More information about the Devastation 2011 event can be found by clicking here.

ESEA Reveals Season 10 Prize Pools

October 6th, 2011

With the registration period almost over for Season 10, today the ESEA announced the prize pools for each of its eSports leagues.

Knowing the ESEA’s history with Counter-Strike it shouldn’t come as a surprise that both Counter-Strike 1.6 and Counter-Strike: Source top the prize pools with $31,150 apiece, granted each game has several divisions based on skill. The full prize money breakdown looks like:

Counter-Strike 1.6 – Total cash prize pot of $31,150

Invite Division, Prize Pot: $19,600

1st place: $10,000
2nd place: $4,000
3rd place: $2,000
4th place: $1,400
5th place: $1,100
6th place: $1,100

Main Division, Prize Pot: $5,100

1st place: $1,800
2nd place: $1,200
3rd place: $800
4th place: $600
5th place: $350
6th place: $350

Intermediate Division, Prize Pot: $3,700

1st place: $1,200
2nd place: $750
3rd place: $550
4th place: $400
5th place: $250
6th place: $250
7th place: $150
8th place: $150

Open Division, Prize Pot: $2,750

1st place: $900
2nd place: $550
3rd place: $400
4th place: $300
5th place: $200
6th place: $200
7th place: $100
8th place: $100

Counter-Strike: Source – Total cash prize pot of $31,150

Invite Division, Prize Pot: $19,600

1st place: $10,000
2nd place: $4,000
3rd place: $2,000
4th place: $1,400
5th place: $1,100
6th place: $1,100

Main Division, Prize Pot: $5,100

1st place: $1,800
2nd place: $1,200
3rd place: $800
4th place: $600
5th place: $350
6th place: $350

Intermediate Division, Prize Pot: $3,700

1st place: $1,200
2nd place: $750
3rd place: $550
4th place: $400
5th place: $250
6th place: $250
7th place: $150
8th place: $150

Open Division, Prize Pot: $2,750

1st place: $900
2nd place: $550
3rd place: $400
4th place: $300
5th place: $200
6th place: $200
7th place: $100
8th place: $100

Team Fortress 2 – Total cash prize pot of $12,780

Invite Division Prize Pot: $10,080

1st place: $4,800
2nd place: $2,400
3rd place: $1,680
4th place: $1,200

Intermediate Division, Prize Pot: $1,500

1st place: $780
2nd place: $330
3rd place: $240
4th place: $150

Open Division, Prize Pot: $1,200

1st place: $600
2nd place: $270
3rd place: $210
4th place: $120

StarCraft II – Total cash prize pot of $5,000

Open Division Prize Pot: $5,000

1st place: $2,800
2nd place: $1,200
3rd place: $600
4th place: $200
5th place: $100
6th place: $100

If you want a shot at winning some of this loot, you can still register for this season of ESEA. You need to act quickly though, registration ends on October 17th. To register, click here.

League of Legends Patch v1.0.0.126

October 5th, 2011

Today, League of Legends received another update, adding a brand new champion – Xerath, the Magus Ascendant. The patch included changes to Lee Sin, Miss Fortune, Morgana, Singed, and Taric. This patch also fixed the ignite bug where the visual effect would remain throughout the duration of the game.

Xerath, the Magus Ascendant

Xerath

Ascended Form (Passive): Xerath feeds on arcane power, making him increasingly resilient to physical harm. He converts a percentage of his Ability Power into Armor.

Arcanopulse: Fires a long-range beam of energy, dealing magic damage to all targets hit.

Locus of Power: Xerath anchors himself to a source of magical power, increasing the range of all spells and granting him bonus % Magic Penetration. Although he is immobilized while Locus of Power is active, his movement speed increases upon disabling the ability.

Mage Chains: Deals magic damage to an enemy and marks them with Unstable Magic. The next spell Xerath strikes this enemy with stuns them.

Arcane Barrage (Ultimate): Calls down a blast of arcane energy, dealing magic damage to all enemies in an area. May be cast up to three times before going on cooldown.

Release Notes Excerpt

Lee Sin

  • Sonic Wave
    • Cooldown increased to 11/10/9/8/7 from 10/9/8/7/6
    • Attack damage ratio reduced to .9 from 1
  • Safe Guard range reduced to 700 from 750

Miss Fortune

  • Bullet Time now scales with attack damage and ability power

Morgana

  • Soul Siphon spell vamp decreased to 10/20/30 from 15/25/35
  • Black Shield ability power ratio reduced to .7 from .8

Singed

  • Poison Trail linger time reduced to 3.25 from 3.5
  • Insanity Potion crowd control reduction lowered to 10/15/20% from 10/20/30%

Taric

  • Radiance cooldown reduced to 60 seconds at all ranks from 100/90/80

For a complete look at the official release notes, click here.

CatsPajamas IPL3 Behind the Scenes Tour

October 5th, 2011

CatsPajamas, a popular caster in the Starcraft II community, has released videos which feature a behind the scenes look at the IGN IPL3 event that is set to kick off tomorrow, October 6th and will run until Sunday, October 9th.

 

IGN Releases IPL 3 Program Guide

October 3rd, 2011

The IGN Pro League has really been stepping up their game they past few weeks. First they announce the IPL 3, their first live event hosted at Caesars Atlantic City October 6-9th. Then they get NBA star Gordon Haywood to help promote the event. Now that we’re less that one week away, IGN has released an online program guide for the IPL 3.

This program guide has absolutely everything you’d what to know about the IPL 3. There’s a detailed schedule listing when and where all the matches will be played, a floor plan of Caesars Atlantic City so you can get to the matches you want to see, and a detailed infograph showing how the open bracket and pool play system work. There’s even several pages giving a small bio of each of the invited players as well as the commentators and presenters.

Other live event really should take note on how IGN is running the IPL 3. So far it’s looking like the best Western eSports event this year. If you are going to the IPL 3 keep an eye out for coL.LoL as well as CatZ, TriMaster and Minigun from the coL.SC2 squad.

NASL Season 2 Grand Finals Detailed

September 30th, 2011

Today the North American Star League announced its plans regarding its Season 2 grand final event. Again, the finals will take place in Ontario, California at the Ontario Convention Center this winter December 2nd-4th, 2011.

This time the NASL is boating it’s largest prize pool yet, $140,000 split between StarCraft 2 and Heroes of Newerth. Of the $140,000, $40,000 is allocated for the HoN tournament, which compLexity Gaming was just invited to.

As of right now the NASL has yet to make any announcements regarding who will be commentating the finals, although I feel safe in assuming Andre “Gretorp” Hengchua will be there along with the HoN commentators Nick “BreakyCPK” Caras and Phil “The_Thrill” Haller. Expect to see more posts as new information surfaces.

The Devil Plays Protoss: Let’s Talk About Maps

September 28th, 2011

The Devil Plays Protoss: Let’s Talk About Maps

by Jacqueline Geller and guest contributor Josh Folland

Any opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of compLexity Gaming or its parent company.

Metalopolis.

“The map pool is so shit.” coL.MVP DongRaeGu on the MLG SC2 Pro Circuit, Live on Three Ep.89

SCBW tournament map pools stopped including Blizzard maps shortly after the first year anniversary of the game’s release. If you’re a fan of both SCBW and SC2, you may have noticed that the landscape of the map scene is extraordinarily different between the two. Major tournaments such as the North American Star League continue to consistently use Blizzard ladder maps instead of community created maps, preferring the comfort of the outdated Xel’Naga Caverns over the excitement of balanced and fresh Sungsu Crossing AE. Maps that were included in the SC2 beta (see: Metalopolis) are regularly used in SC2 tournament map pools while melee custom maps are often overlooked in tournament map pool selections. Why is the lack of custom maps in SC2 tournaments an issue?

A melee custom map is designed from the ground up with one goal: to provide balanced and entertaining SC2 at the highest level of play.

On a balanced map, each race has a relatively even chance to win throughout all stages of the game -from early to late- and can use a variety of strategies throughout. A balanced map allows players of all three races to use different strategies and adapt different play styles to suit the map. Balance is achieved through both map testing and routine editing. Editing older maps ensures that the map is usable with the current patch and game balance issues. A single patch change has the potential to make a balanced map imbalanced, and it is important that balanced maps are used to ensure balance between the races.

Not all maps are macro maps and not all maps are rush maps so build orders, openings and strategies need to be altered by the players to account for that. That brings us to the second part of the goal of a melee custom map: entertainment value. The point of competition is to show who is better than the other at something. A SC2 tournament’s goal is to determine who was the best player of among those who entered. In a SC2 game, build orders, openings, strategies and many more things have to be taken into account in order for a player to be successful. Maps are designed around that knowledge. Important areas to control, rush vs macro maps, what builds work and so on are taken into consideration during the initial map design stage. In competition, a measure of a player’s true skill will display his knowledge of the map’s intricacies as a player goes into a match with more than a few builds in mind. Pro players must go into each game with a plan for every game on every map in the tournament map pool. Both a rush and a macro map (and everything in between) can be boring or entertaining depending on the depth of the map. The more depth a map has leads to a higher skill ceiling which leads to a better showing of the better player.

“The main difference here between custom and Blizzard maps is that goal of providing balanced and entertaining SC2 at the highest level of play.”

The main difference here between custom and Blizzard maps is that goal of providing balanced and entertaining SC2 at the highest level of play. Blizzard maps are focused on providing different things – a simple SC2 game between two players that at a lower level of understanding can be interpreted as entertaining. Ladder maps are designed for the average player, not the pinnacle of the SC2 competitive scene. Once you approach the higher levels of play, you quickly realize that Blizzard maps simply do not work. Ladder maps are designed to be some slight variant of Fastest Possible Map – take some expansions, build an army and run it into your opponent. These maps offer few important features of the map to control, and at times, these features are no more complicated than a Xel’Naga Tower or a single choke point. While you can still have an epic and entertaining game, it’s far less common on a map that’s designed to be played exactly the same way you would any other map.

Why is using Blizzard maps bad for competition? Games that end on 2 base timing, all ins are generally won because of a coin toss scenario. An all in are typical strong against everything but one one or two builds. If the opponent flips a coin and does the right build, he wins. A rush strategy is possible on many maps but there are a number of ways to mitigate the effects. It’s important to note that when a player sees an opportunity to end the game they’ll take it or use it to build an advantage. The simplicity of Blizzard maps allows players to easily figure out how to end the game. Many custom maps have an added degree of complexity that makes those simple solutions either more ambiguous or not possible. An example of this would be a rush distance so huge that the defenders advantage allows them to rebuild in time after successfully defending. The attacking player can gain an advantage but the game goes on. Metagame evolution is another important factor to consider when debating the use of more custom maps. It can be argued that the lack of map rotation within the SC2 community is slowing down that process. Although players and teams are getting more time to flesh out older maps such as Metalopolis, they’re also not exploring anything new. Players and teams are simply rounding down to a smaller set of variables. Within SC2, less variables equals an easier to control game. The state of the metagame will remain much more stagnant on Blizzard maps due to their relative simplicity and similarity. The lack of depth means lack of new things to explore and results in familiar games and the recycling of matches.

The lack of accessibility of custom maps is a huge factor in the lack of custom maps in major tournament map pools. Players often use the ladder practice for a major portion of their training regimes. This in turn results in tournaments using ladder maps because that’s what players are familiar with and want to see included in the map pool. If players do not want to enter a tournament because of the map pool, it results in no business and no tournaments. Tournament organizers must find the ideal balance between familiar maps and fresh maps in order to encourage both entrants and fresh play. A prime example of the balance needed between fresh, new maps and familiar, old maps is the NASL Open and Semi-Open Tournaments. In an effort to use new maps and involve the map-making community, the NASL is partnering with the Planetary Workshop. There will be 9 new maps added to the Open and Semi-Open Tournaments map pools, and 3-4 of these maps will be selected to be added to the NASL Season 3 map pool. It’s a great initiative, but the registration for these tournaments have been a bit lackluster. The first Open Tournament is this weekend and according to the BinaryBeast tournament page, it only has 16 registrants. A number of other factors can be attributed to the low registration numbers from last-minute registrants to lack of marketing and everything in between, but the thought of having to learn the ins and outs of nine new maps specifically for one tournament qualifier in intimidating.

Bel’Shir Beach.

That being said, teams practice in custom games using whatever maps the tournaments are using whether it’s a ladder map or a melee custom map. The only way for a custom map to be used in tournaments is for it to pick up momentum. Both Dual Sight and Bel’Shir Beach by LSPrime have been able to do this, starting out in the GSL map mool and making its way into NASL, MLG and so on. Blizzard and Battle.net do not help custom maps whatsoever. The custom game system misrepresents demand by making pickup games on unknown maps impossible, and getting a custom map onto ladder is hopeless so there is this borderline insurmountable hill to climb just to get a map played. Custom maps being added to tournament map pools is an important step for the evolution of the SC2 game. This change must happen gradually and cannot happen overnight, but it does need to happen. I’d like to strongly encourage tournament organizers to starting including one or two custom maps in its tournament pool. Don’t be afraid of adding one or two new maps to the mix! Custom maps keep the game fresh, entertaining and epic.

GL HF,
Jacq

PS. A big thank you to map maker Josh “prodiG” Folland for his wisdom and contributions to this article.

Visit @prodiGsc on Twitter

PPS. Want to learn more about SC2 maps? Check out the new show, hosted by prodiG and myself, “MapCraft: State of the Terrain” debuting October 2, 2011, at 12:00pm MDT on ESV.tv!

 

About the Author – Jacqueline Geller

After years of playing World of Warcraft, a friend introduced Jacqueline to Starcraft early last year. Jacqueline’s relationship with Starcraft started out slowly: a handful of casual dates, a little bit of flirting but nothing serious. She took her relationship with the game to the next level after BlizzCon 2010 where she experienced eSports magic first-hand and realized that Starcraft was the one. Despite being a mediocre player, she has been clambering the ladder at a glacial pace and has spent more time watching Starcraft online than she’d like to admit. In March, Jacqueline made the leap from eSports fan to eSports professional when she was hired by the Handsome Nerd as their Art Director, combining her design skills with her love of Starcraft. Since its start in April, Jacqueline has been a contributing writer for the North American Star League, writing coverage for Division 1. Offline, Jacqueline is a bookworm, a runner, a freeride snowboarder and has a Human Ecology degree with a Clothing and Textiles major.

View Jacqueline’s profile here.
Visit @jacquelinesg on Twitter

League of Legends: Dominion Released

September 26th, 2011

Today, Riot Games has announced the full release of their new game mode for League of Legends – Dominion:

This mode differs from the regular DotA like style that players are used to, and so it is a new scene to MOBA gameplay. The mode uses Capture Points instead of bases which makes players feel more of a pressure to stay alive. This Battlefield-like gameplay will appeal to many veteran players as well as new players that want to play League of Legends. Riot Games posted on their site the following:

 

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!

 

This release came after only a short while in limited beta with great reviews from players. League of Legends: Dominion is now available to play at any time for free. The next update will add a brand new champion to the League – Xerath, The Magnus Ascendant, so stay tuned!

For a look at League of Legends Dominion, click here.
To look at League of Legends itself, click here.