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Its not easy being king. League of Legends, and the studio behind the hit MOBA, Riot Games have been a major leading force in the gaming industry for years. This week, the legendary studio finds itself under assault. One broadside against Riot Games is a lengthy investigative piece by Kotaku alleging rampant sexism at the studio's offices across the world. The other salvo comes from tech industry news source The Information which alleges that Riot's relationship with parent company Tencent has deteriorated over the past few years. Disagreements on a mobile strategy seem to have frayed relationships, especially after Rioters saw just how similar Arena of Valor was to League of Legends. More startling than accusations of sexism or fraying corporate relations, it seems the bloat at Riot Games has grown to large for even the League of Legends money-machine to keep up. Both former and current employees have told The Information that a company-wide meeting in March informed workers that the … [Read more...] about The Weekly Raid: Riot’s Riotous Week

On August 9th Perfect World Entertainment revealed a new shared-world Action-RPG game titled Torchlight Frontiers. Frontiers will be the third game in the Torchlight franchise, and based on what we know so far, it will be the most MMO-esque installment yet. Torchlight Frontiers is being developed by Echtra Games, PWE's newest development studio. The new studio is being led by Max Schaefer, co-founder of both Runic Games and Blizzard North. While the previous Torchlight games proved to be a hit, they offered only very basic multiplayer features. It seems Mr. Schaefer has broader ambitions with Torchlight Frontiers. “Evolving the Torchlight universe into a shared world has always been a goal for the franchise, and I’m excited that we’re finally able to make it a reality." Torchlight Frontiers promises to retain the elements that made the original games stand out in the crowded ARPG space while adding a shared, persistent and dynamically generated world. While we don't … [Read more...] about Perfect World Entertainment Announces Torchlight Frontiers

Three years after its public release, the chat and video platform Discord is ready to reveal the next phase of their plan for world domination. Starting today, beta invites have started to trickle out for Discord's new gaming storefront. The Discord Store will offer a curated gaming selection with personalized notes accompanying many titles, written by various Discord employees. The idea is borrowed from small neighborhood book shops with the hope that a well curated storefront helps Discord standout from the bevy of game launchers that have proliferated over the past few years. Accompanying the store will be a new 'Universal Library' tab that scans the user's computer for other games/launchers installed and allows them to be opened right from Discord. Discord also hopes to broaden the indie gaming ecosystem with their 'First On Discord' initiative. Indie games that agree to launch on Discord exclusively for the first ~90 days can expect financial support from the company. While … [Read more...] about Discord Announces The Discord Store, Beta Starts Today

Nexon launched their 'Lab Server' for MapleStory today which is built on an entirely new rule-set than traditional MapleStory. The game's Lab Server is considered an ultimate test of skill as monsters are more powerful and the game has permadeath. Every death results in a complete reset of progress. In addition players won't be able to escape death easily by spamming potions as they'll have a 10 second cooldown. The lab server will be up from today until August 28, 2018 and players who participate will get rewarded with goodies on their main server. Check out full details of the Lab Server below: For a limited-time, you can play in Lab world where you can experience different concepts and try out new systems! This is a hardcore game style where your character's level and stats reset after death! The following characteristics apply to Lab: Only 1 Explorer-class character can be created. The character will begin at Lv. 10 in Henesys. Speak with Job Instructor Dr. Bebe to choose your … [Read more...] about MapleStory’s Lab Server Now Live

With the latest expansion for World of Warcraft set to launch next week, the internet busy digesting the lore cinematic Blizzard has put out. Of particular interest on the web is the direction the writers have taken Sylvanas. The latest lore video has ordering the destruction of the Teldrassil tree. Many were outraged that such a storied figure in the Warcraft universe would carry out such a blatantly evil act. But as the trailer shows, her impulsive act earned the ire of her fellow Horde peers. Fans accused Blizzard of turning Sylvanas into a one dimensional, evil character but my interpretation was starkly different. If anything, her acting out on such an emotional outburst adds more depth to the character. Often the heads of the factions are shown as flawless logicians. A bit of impulsive decision making is a welcomed addition. Whatever your opinion on the Sylvanas matter, the discussion it has stirred shows that many players are still invested heavily in the lore. That brings us to … [Read more...] about The Weekly Raid: How Important Is Lore In MMORPGs?