League of Legends World Championships week two round-up: the six biggest moments

By Jem Alexander.

The League of Legends World Championship continues to impress this week with some stellar games. Eight hard-working teams fought to proceed in the competition, but sadly only four could continue to the quarterfinals. Let’s take a look at the most spectacular moments of week two, featuring two of the most enjoyable games of League of Legends I’ve ever seen.

If you’re not caught up, check out our highlights of week one’s group A and B matches for the story so far.

If you only watch one game

Picking just one game for this category wasn’t easy, but in the end this mammoth match between Europe’s Fnatic and China’s OMG had to take the spotlight. The death knell for Fnatic‘s tournament dreams and an emotional rollercoaster for everyone involved, this 71 minute long marathon is tense from beginning to end.

Things take a serious turn at around the 60 minute mark, when OMG’s Nexus turrets are destroyed by minions. OMG fights back by assaulting Fnatic’s base head on, but a great 1v5 play by mid-laner xPeke sends them packing while top-laner sOAZ teleports into OMG’s towerless base, and it looks like it might finally all be over.

Then, heartbreak for Fnatic, as their attack on OMG’s Nexus leaves it with the tiniest sliver of health before the team gets beaten back. All it would have taken is one last hit and the game would have belonged to Fnatic, but OMG soon crowned themselves the victors with a final push against their opponent’s Nexus. Never before have two pixels meant so much to so many.

Biggest play

Despite a humiliatingly close defeat at the hands of OMG earlier in the day, Fnatic didn’t allow it to affect their performance. Their next game against America’s LMQ was impeccably played, with Fnatic’s ADC Rekkles at the top of his game. Between him and mid-laner xPeke the team ended the match with 26 kills versus LMQ’s 8.

Five of Fnatic’s kills came from the second penta kill of the World Championships, with Rekkles’ team mates setting up kills for him during a late game team fight. Rekkles ended the game with 18 kills, zero deaths and 4 assists, raising hopes of a Fnatic comeback leading to a quarterfinals spot. Sadly, it wasn’t to be, but that doesn’t negate the fact that this is the biggest play of Groups C & D of the World Championships.

The perfect game

Europe’s Alliance may be out of the competition, but that isn’t to say that they aren’t an incredibly skilled team. The calibre of play shown during this week’s group stages has been wonderful, and Alliance more than demonstrated their abilities during this match against Korea’s Najin White Shield.

Watch as Alliance pulls out a super-rare perfect game. That is to say that during the 40-minute match, Najin White Shield weren’t able to score a single kill, tower, dragon or baron. Alliance waltzed through the game completely untouchable, scoring the first win in the competition against the Korean team. It’s a sight to behold and certainly not something I’m expecting to see again in the run up to the finals.

Biggest surprise

Surprises aplenty this week, but none more shocking than Brazil’s Kabum taking a victory over Europe’s Alliance on the final day. Much like Group A’s wildcard entry, Turkey’s Dark Passage, Kabum battled valiantly but seemed unlikely to collect any wins against the bigger boys from Korea, Europe and America. Many viewed their upcoming match against Alliance as a definite loss on a day when every win counted, but Kabum managed to pull off a surprise victory and score one for the underdogs.

This was especially shocking as Alliance came fresh from winning their perfect game against Korea’s Najin White Shield. Perhaps complacency got the better of them. Whatever it was, Kabum’s win caused quite an upset in the standings and ultimately led to the removal of Alliance from the competition. Kabum’s impact on the standings ended up being huge.

Equally surprising was Fnatic’s first match against Korean powerhouse Samsung Blue. After Samsung White’s perfect record last week, it seemed like their Blue cousins would sail through with similar results. They almost did, but Fnatic were able to score a win. So far they remain the only ones able to do so.

Bonus fun: We called it. The return of jungle Rammus! Alliance’s Shook brought back the roly-poly armadillo for one last fight in a match against Cloud 9. Could this spark some Rammus copycats in the quarterfinals and beyond? Probably not, to be honest, but we can dream.

The ace that shook the standings

America’s Cloud 9 came into the last day of Groups with the daunting prospect of having to defeat two worthy opponents in order to secure their quarterfinals spot. The standings were such that there was a very real possibility of a three-way tie for first place. Luckily for Cloud 9, Europe’s Alliance unexpectedly lost to Brazil’s Kabum, making Cloud 9’s path to finals that little bit smoother.

Their match against Korea’s Najin White Shield was guaranteed to result in an additional tiebreaker game at the end of the day. A win here meant C9 and NWS would later battle for first place, while a loss would lead to a tiebreaker against Alliance to secure second place. Which just goes to show how closely matched the teams have been this week.

Najin White Shield had Cloud 9 on the ropes for a lot of the early game, but the American team managed to fight back and demonstrate the wonderful team synergy they’re known for. A skillfully fought team fight resulted in an ace that allowed C9 to walk into NWS’s base and take the game. Meanwhile, Alliance watched backstage as their hopes for a quarterfinal spot crumbled around them.

Samsung Blue’s Spirit is MVP

My MVP is a member of the almost-undefeated Korean team Samsung Blue. Jungler Spirit has the highest KDA of groups C & D and has a consistency across his games that almost makes him unremarkable compared to the likes of Rekkles, xPeke and Shook. The high highs of those players are counterbalanced by their low lows, which may help to explain why they have all now left the competition.

But KDA isn’t everything and it’s Spirit’s (ahem) spirit after Samsung Blue’s defeat against Fnatic that really won me over. “I’ll never let you cry again”, he said to a tearful Deft after the match. “Just follow me”. Such camaraderie is endearing. So too is Rekkles’ decision to approach Deft with a hug and words of encouragement. League of Legends may have the cuddliest professional scene on the planet. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

This week we move into the quarterfinals, with one best-of-five match taking place per day between Friday and Monday. The brackets have been decided, with American teams Team Solo Mid and Cloud 9 each facing off against one of the Korean giants Samsung White and Blue. Next up is a Chinese showdown, with Star Horn Royal Club taking on Edward Gaming, before Korea’s Najin White Shield goes head to head with China’s OMG.

These matches won’t just be a test of skill, but one of endurance as each day is likely to take upwards of five hours. That’s a lot of quality League of Legends to look forward to.

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Cosmochoria: a space gardening shooter hitting Early Access today

I blame Droqen and Starseed Pilgrim for the recent spate of indie space gardening games, and by ‘blame’ I of course mean ‘celebrate profusely’, because indie space gardening games are great. On the weekend I banged on about the aptly named Space Gardener, and today I’m going to tell you about the lovely Cosmochoria, which hits Steam Early Access today. I just need to…plant this thing and…shoot these aliens…hang on.

Cosmochoria puts you in the role of a naked (I’m not sure why) astronaut, able to bound around from spherical planetoid to spherical planetoid with the aid of their trusty jetpack. If you’ve played Super Mario Galaxy or Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time, you’ll be familiar with this game’s rotatey platform gravity mechanic. Cosmochoria isn’t a platformer, however, but a survival game. You survive by defending yourself against aliens, and by planting and cultivating plants on the procedurally generated galaxy’s many, differently sized planets and moons. Grow enough plants on the same planet and a heart thing will fill up that restores your health. It’s not difficult to grasp, and the act of piercing, and leaving, gravity wells is great fun.

You can chase the high score or you can dedicate yourself to survival and gardening, but I’ll note that Cosmochoria isn’t nearly as serene as the likes of Starseed Pilgrim and Pixeljunk Eden. That’s fine, it’s a different type of game: a mixture of arcade shooting, gardening/building and exploration. There are giant bosses and weapon upgrades, for example. This Early Access version feels pretty complete, and I didn’t notice any bugs when I was playing, words that are an increasingly rare pleasure to type these days.

Creator Nate Schmold expects Cosmochoria to leave Early Access by early 2015. Here’s a trailer to whet your appetite:

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Online crafting RPG Trove enters closed beta

If you were worried that voxels might be going out of fashion, then a) what’s wrong with you, and b) don’t panic, because voxel-based RPG/crafting game Trove has arrived. Well, OK, it hasn’t quite arrived yet, but after its announcement late last year, a wild closed beta has appeared. A nice new trailer features all the dragons, football, futuristic racing and flying carpets you were probably expecting.

While Trove’s eventual 1.0 release will be free-to-play, you’ll need to buy your way into the closed beta by purchasing one of its starter or credit packs, the cheapest of which will set you back $5/£4. The main site is a little misleading about this, with no mention of the closed beta on any of the cheaper credit packs, but this blog post reveals that you can buy your way in for $4.99/£3.99. (Look for the ’750′ credit pack at the bottom of the page here.)

I can’t say whether Trove is worth it, but the following trailer succeeded in capturing my attention—there’s a hell of a lot going on there.

Trove is the voxel crafting sandbox game that lets you own a “trans-dimensional” home that persists across different servers and worlds. The team have outlined their plans for the future here.

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Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor trailer details upcoming DLC, including Sauron mission and “legendary” monsters

Sauron was a bit of a wrong’un if you ask me, so I’m grateful for games that let me take him on with some glimmering, fancily named elf sword. EA’s The Two Towers game opened with an impressive fight against the Lord of the Rings, as did the recent, joyous Lego version. I was starting to think that Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor would be one of the few not to let you stab Sauron in his necromantic face, but I’m happy to be proven wrong with this new trailer. Shadow of Mordor has been given, groan etc, a season pass, and the things it contains have been detailed in the following video. Perhaps the most interesting Thing is a new mission that lets you “play as Celebrimbor, the great Elven king of the Second Age, and face Sauron and the might of his forces”.

Firstly, here’s the trailer, so we’re all on the same page.

There’s quite a lot to take in there, so here’s a list of all the content in the £19.99 season pass. All this will of course be made available separately, when others can tell you whether it’s any cop or not, but the trailer mentions that season-passers will be given a headstart on the DLC challenge modes.

• Guardians of the Flaming Eye Orc Warband Mission: Face Sauron’s elite Defenders before the Black Gate and earn the Rising Flame rune
• Lord of the Hunt Story Mission: Players will gain new skills and earn unique epic runes as they hunt and tame legendary monsters of Mordor
• The Bright Lord Story Mission: Play as Celebrimbor, the great Elven king of the Second Age, and face Sauron and the might of his forces
• Early access to the Trials of War, including:
• Test of Speed Challenge Mode: You can demonstrate your efficiency in battle and earn high scores for Talion’s speed in defeating your foes
• Test of Wisdom Challenge Mode: You can prove your strategic abilities, through earning points for skill, speed and efficiency
• Endless Challenge Mode: This mode will continually spawn new legions of enemies. The Runes that you will earn will provide powerful upgrades
• Access to future content: Including runes, skins and additional add-on content

Those story missions sound like the highlights of the list, particularly the aforementioned Sauron DLC, though I’m intrigued by the “legendary” monsters in the hunting one too. Is this Lord of the Rings or Monster Hunter? And where did all those giant cat-beasts come from? While our review is in the oven, have a watch of our video of the game at max settings on the Large Pixel Collider, or this trailer that tells/spoils you everything you need to know.

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The Evil Within Trailer reminds us that bullets count

The world is getting another Shinji Mikami horror game in just a few weeks’ time, and I have every crossable limb entwined that it lives up to the great man’s legacy. I know that Andy was impressed by The Evil Within, and that I won’t be able to play it on PC, and thanks to a new trailer and blog post I now know how to survive it without being made into mincemeat.

The new trailer, below, shows how to survive when you run out of ammo: you can hide, sneak, or turn enemy traps against them. If you feel truly outmatched you can pass through a mirror to visit a place known as The Asylum, and upgrade your abilities with the aid of some sort of electro-shock machine. Even when it’s being nice, The Evil Within is not very nice.

Bethesda have some more detailed survival tips here (plus bonus gifs), but we’re so close to release now it seems a shame to gorge on details that are probably going to make the game feel less tense. The following, three-and-a-bit-minute video is more of a whistle-stop tour of some of The Evil Within’s systems.

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Battlefield 4′s enormous Fall Patch now live

DICE’s spelling of the word ‘Autumn’ continues to confound me, but I can get behind their ginormo ‘Fall’ patch for Battlefield 4, which adds a new sub-game mode and and tweaks a bunch of things the community wanted tweaked. It’s a big patch, in both senses of the word, being a not-inconsiderable 1.16GB download on PC. The update’s live on Origin now, and while there are no patch notes available yet [Update: here they are], we kinda already know most of what it contains.

Among other changes, the patch alters player movement so that it’s “almost identical” to Battlefield 3′s, while tweaking the revive mechanic and making changes to the ‘visual recoil’ of close and medium-range weapons. It also tidies up the HUD and adds a new sub-game mode named Obliteration. That’s the one where players finally put down their weapons and hug their problems out instead, if I understand correctly.

You can find an overview of the giant ‘Fall’ patch right here, or read these patch notes for a more detailed look at today’s update. They’re a bit too enormous to copy-and-paste.

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28 Developers Share Their Picks For Best Horror Games Ever

We ranked the Top 25 Horror Games of All Time for our recent Game Informer issue celebrating everything horror. But we're not the only ones interested in naming and ranking the best the genre has to offer – 28 developers from the game industry have shared their individual Top 5 Horror Games of All Time lists with us.

The participating developers include the creators of games like Left 4 Dead, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Resident Evil, Dead Space, Alan Wake, Borderlands, and more. Have fun finding your favorite developers, comparing their picks to yours, and looking for the most popular choices. Check out our analysis of these developers' choices at the end of the article to see which game received the most votes, discrepancies between our list and the developers' picks, and more.

Thomas Grip Frictional Games Creative Director Best Known For: Penumbra, Amnesia 1. Silent Hill 2. Silent Hill 2 3. Resident Evil 4. System Shock 2 5. Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth	Chris Ashton Turtle Rock Studios Design Director and Co-Founder Best Known For: Left 4 Dead, Evolve 1. System Shock 2 2. Resident Evil 3. The Walking Dead Season 1 4. Slender: The Eight Pages 5. Limbo
Bruce Straley Naughty Dog Game Director Best Known For: Uncharted, The Last of Us 1. Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly 2. Resident Evil 4 3. Dead Space 2 4. Condemned: Criminal Origins 5. Outlast	Phil Robb Turtle Rock Studios Creative Director and Co-Founder Best Known For: Left 4 Dead, Evolve 1. State of Decay 2. Left 4 Dead 3. The Walking Dead Season 1 4. Resident Evil 5. Limbo
Neil Druckmann Naughty Dog Creative Director Best Known For: Uncharted, The Last of Us 1. Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly 2. Manhunt 3. Silent Hill 2 4. Resident Evil 5. Condemned: Criminal Origins	Steve Papoutsis Visceral Games General Manager Best Known For: Dead Space, Battlefield: Hardline 1. Resident Evil 2. Doom 3. Dead Space 4. System Shock 2 5. The Walking Dead Season 1
Ted Price Insomniac Games President Best Known For: Ratchet & Clank, Resistance, Sunset Overdrive 1. Resident Evil 4 2. Doom 3. Left 4 Dead 4. Dead Rising 3 5. Parasite Eve	Drew Murray Insomniac Games Game Director Best Known For: Resistance, Sunset Overdrive 1. Resident Evil 4 2. Call of Cthulhu (pen-and-paper) 3. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow 4. Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly 5. Alan Wake

It’s Almost Timey Wimey For Doctor Who To Visit Minecraft

A new batch of skins is coming to Minecraft on Xbox 360 this Friday courtesy of the BBC. Doctor Who, along with some of his companions and greatest enemies, will be coming to Mojang’s blocky wonder.

As we previously detailed, the pack includes six version of the Doctor, including Peter Capaldi’s take on the character. The Daleks, the Weeping Angels, and some companions (Clara, Amy, and more) are included, too.

This first skin pack will cost you $2.99. That’s right, this is only the first batch. It’s safe to say we can expect more Doctors, their companions, and maybe some Cybermen later.

[Source: PlayXBLA]

Lego Imps, Cacodemons, And Revenants Head To Seattle BrickCon

We often think of older 3D games as “blocky,” and this Lego take on id Software’s Doom plays that up in the best ways. The diorama pictured above was created by Iain Heath for the upcoming BrickCon in Seattle, so feast your eyes on the carnage.

If you can’t make it out to BrickCon, which is taking place at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall on October 4 and 5, you don’t have to miss out on this amazing homage. Heath put together a flythrough, so you can see the detail on the imps, cacodemons, revenants, and more.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

We know it probably won’t happen, but we wouldn’t mind seeing Traveler’s Tales and Bethesda/id team up to give Doom the Lego treatment. We suspect that the building brick company might have some qualms about the subject matter, though.

Don’t worry. It’s not too long (we hope) before we know more about the upcoming Doom title that we got to see at QuakeCon. For more images, check out Heath's website.

Top 5 Games About Middle-earth

Tomorrow, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor hits store shelves. It gives us a closer look at the blasted wasteland that Sauron calls home during the time period between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring. Our review is pretty positive, so it's definitely a title that should be on your radar…but it isn't the only game set in Tolkien's universe worth playing. If you want to avoid the dreadful licensing cash-ins and focus on more interesting titles rooted in Middle-earth's history, this is what you should be playing.

5. The Hobbit (1982)

You might expect the first official video game foray into Tolkien's world to be a mess, but Middle-earth seemed right at home here. Maybe it's because the text-adventure genre still relied on words more than images to convey the action, but Beam Software crafted a fitting adaptation with this popular PC title. It has a special text parser that allows for more nuanced instructions, leading to more freedom and less frustration than is typically associated with titles of this era. Sure, it seems primitive by modern standards, but it was a surprisingly strong start.

4. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

A third-person action game might have trouble matching the majesty of Peter Jackson's films, but Stormfront Studios still makes it fun to fight through the key events. Despite the name, this PS2, Xbox, and GameCube title includes levels from both The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. Assuming the roles of Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas, players hack and slash through legions of familiar foes. The experience may not dwell too much on thoughtful characterization or compelling lore, but it still a great way to dip your toes into Middle-earth. Because it emphasizes the action elements, you don't spend time moping around as Frodo; as the other members of the fellowship, you slaughter orcs and defend Helm's Deep, resulting in fun and fast-paced gameplay. Some fans prefer the 2003 follow-up, The Return of the King, but we have fonder memories of this installment.

3. The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (2004)

The story concept for this turn-based RPG (on PS2, Xbox, and GameCube) is a disaster. It involves a second fellowship containing characters that are basically just copies of actual members of the fellowship, like the ranger, the dwarf, and the man from Gondor. They are always a few steps behind Frodo and the gang, which means that they do all of the same stuff – fight the Balrog, for instance – just in a less spectacular and definitive way. So why is The Third Age on this list? The gameplay is remarkably solid, borrowing combat elements from popular RPGs of the era like Final Fantasy X and Xenosaga. With a decent difficulty level and an emphasis on buffs and debuffs, encounters have a tactical edge and require you to make every turn count. Even if the plot doesn't pay off, the adventure is entertaining.

2. Lord of the Rings Online (2007)

Tolkien's universe is a large place, and few video game genres can faithfully represent. The sprawling zones of an MMO are an ideal fit for Middle-earth, and Turbine brings it to life with epic quests and extensive lore. The standard suite of features – PvP, crafting, group instances – are all here, along with some rock-solid RPG gameplay. Combat is entertaining (though not revolutionary), and the trait and title systems are a satisfying way to progress. All of this is augmented by the inherently rich world, which players are free to explore and learn more about as they see fit. Though it initially launched with a subscription model on PC, the game went free-to-play a few years back, and remains successful today. Achieving a seven-year lifespan isn't easy for an MMORPG – a testament to the quality of Lord of the Rings Online.

1. Lego The Lord of the Rings (2012)

While Lord of the Rings Online lets players explore a vast, open version of Middle-earth, sometimes you only need the highlight reel. That's where Lego Lord of the Rings excels. Traveller's Tales splits the main campaign into separate levels (played solo or co-op), but also lets players explore an open-yet-condensed version of Middle-earth in between. You still get to see all of the iconic locations from Mordor to the Shire, but you don't have days of riding or walking between landmarks. Wandering the world, collecting Mithril blocks, forging items, and doing quests for citizens adds variety to the standard formula. Plus, seeing the story told with the Lego series' signature brand of humor makes this a lighthearted and unique vision of Middle-earth.

Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare ‘Legends of the Lawn’ update goes live tomorrow

If you’ve been enjoying the simple pleasures of foilage-versus-undead rivalry then you’ll be pleased to know that Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare is getting an update this week. The free update brings seven new character variants, five ‘spawnable’ characters, a new game mode and more than 200 customisation items.

Taco Bandits is a new game mode which involves plants fending off zombies in an effort to defend “Crazy Dave’s deliciously grilled tacos”. If the plant team manages to protect three tacos it’s victory, while zombies will need to capture and return the tacos to a UFO in order to win. It makes sense because zombies always fly in spaceships. That’s just the way it is.

Meanwhile, the seven new Character Variants include the Golf Star, Centurion, Paleontologist, Chomp Thing, Alien Flower, Jade Cactus and Sanitation Expert. Some of those sound more exciting than others. The pack is scheduled to release September 30, though expect it Wednesday in the Southern Hemisphere.

Here’s the trailer:

 

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Interactive Cave Shooting Simulator brings (part of) the Destiny experience to PC

A lot of fuss has been made about the Destiny loot cave. The exploit involved players shooting endlessly into a distant cave in order to grind for rare items. Before Bungie patched it up earlier this week, it came to represent the lengths players will go to in order to subvert Destiny’s notoriously stingy loot system.

Destiny isn’t on PC, so most of us have not had the privilege of shooting into the loot cave. Even in the event the shooter is ported to PC (which looks like a possibility) there’s no way the exploit will remain intact. It’s quite sad when you think about it. The loot cave was kinda beautiful in its own, brown and cavernous sort of way. A silent camaraderie would emerge between players shooting into it. Which is why it’s great that Daniel Rosas has taken the initiative to build a special PC loot cave with the sensible name ‘Interactive Cave Shooting Simulator’.

Boot up the Interactive Cave Shooting Simulator and you’ll be able to shoot into the loot cave for as long as you wish. There is no limit, and no looming threat of a patch. You don’t even have to reload your gun like you do in the real game, which is preferable because the more you can shoot into the loot cave the better. It’s also more lucrative than the Destiny loot cave: I got three legendary engrams within minutes. It’s just a shame you can’t pick them up.

Thanks Kotaku.

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