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Heroes of Newerth from Savage creator S2 Games is the next online game to try to succeed the DOTA mod. The game is apparently taking the approach of trying to re-create the authentic feel of the DOTA mod while updating the graphics. Much of the interface and gameplay seems to stay very true to the original mod with the blessing of “IceFrog,” a key contributor to the DOTA mod and community.

Heroes of Newerth will make itself in DOTA's image.

Though the game has some kind of story somewhere that pits two different factions against each other, Heroes of Newerth is really all about choosing a single hero character to play as, then diving into a real-time-strategy-like match against other teams of heroes to kill off their “creeps” (computer-controlled cannon fodder units that constantly stream out of your enemies' territory), and gain experience levels. You can earn points with each level to increase your hero's statistic points (strength, intelligence, and so on) or to purchase hero powers that are unique to each character. Also, like in DOTA, there's a home base where your hero spawns and where your heroes can heal themselves and replenish their “mana” supply (so they can use their powers more often) while viciously pelting any enemy heroes who get too close with withering projectile fire.

Like in DOTA, your standard game session starts when you find a game from the list of games, which are sorted by various stipulations (some games allow only certain heroes, some games are welcome for newbies, and so on), or you create your own game with your own conditions. Heroes of Newerth will launch with a handful of maps, including two-versus-two on up to five-versus-five.

There will be about 40 heroes planned for the launch of the game, each with its own unique skills and powers.

In all cases, you choose your hero and start with your teammates in friendly territory near your side's shop, where you can buy any number of different gewgaws (which consist of component items that need to be combined together), including different composite armor, weapons, magic-enhancing skills, consumable items (such as healing potions), and various miscellaneous items designed to increase your characters' offense, defense, overall health, and walking speed, among other things. Because there's a huge variety of different items to buy (and different item sets will be ideal for different heroes), it's clear that you'll get the most out of the game if you're already familiar with it, and/or with DOTA, and have an idea of which item sets will work best for your currently selected hero. The game is planned to launch with about 40 different heroes, so there will be plenty of different characters, and character-specific strategies, for you to play with.

Heroes of Newerth's beta is already under way and servers are up 24/7, and the game's beta forums also appear to have lots of activity. The game is scheduled for release later this year at a $30 price point, but beyond that, no subscription fees are planned.

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We just played Heroes of Newerth

The pre-release version of Aion just got a bunch of new pre-release content with the 1.5 update.

Otherwise, Aion's prerelease preparation continues to chug along with more than a million players in the beta and more than 3 million hours logged worldwide; the game is, again, already up and running in Asia and planned for launch in North America and Europe soon, with approximately 6 servers per territory to make sure each area gets good performance. The 1.5 update adds 14 new zones to explore, many of which focus on player-versus-environment (“PvE”) gameplay, including new hunting grounds and new raid bosses to challenge. Interestingly, players in Asia have actually requested additional PvE and raid content–uncharacteristic for an audience that typically seems to crave heavy-duty player-versus-player (“PvP”) content, though some of Aion's higher-end PVE content has a competitive bent to it, since raid bosses carry the best loot and rewards, so in many cases, teams of players will compete to see who can get to the boss and the loot quickest.

Aion's Western development team described the ongoing reception of the game to Western players as being positive. The game has several features that might appeal most strongly to really hardcore players, such as a positional combat system that grants minor offensive and defensive bonuses to characters who are moving while fighting, and a “stigma” system that lets you customize your character's role by embedding stigma stone items into your weapons and armor–the recent 1.5 update actually added three new additional slots and new ways for stigmas to branch out so that players can create even more-customized characters.

But the team is also looking to build in other features for players of all skill levels. For instance, Aion will have various chat channels for different languages, as well as a handy auto-join group feature that will let you search for and remotely (and automatically) join open groups. In addition, even though Aion's characters start out as tall, shapely humanoids, it offers a full body customization that some players have really taken to, even going so far as to create entire legions (the game's version of guilds) that look similar–for instance, there are no dwarf characters in the game by default, but some players have gone so far as to create dwarf guilds that recruit only characters that look like dwarves.

You can fly into action in Aion later this year.

We then jumped into the game itself to see some of the new zones that have been added, including an Abyss PvPvE zone full of new “Balaur” monsters (the fiends that inhabit the Abyss that separates the two halves of Aion's world), as well as a higher-level version of the game's early training ground, overrun by the Balaur, who have started to emerge into the other parts of the world as part of the 1.5 update's storyline. Like with Aion's other zones, the new zones are colorful and detailed, as are the monsters and characters.

Aion's beta events have come to a close and the game is gearing up for its launch in September.

Get the full article at GameSpot

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Spotlight On: Aion: Tower of Eternity

Before I get into what's new with NHL 10, I've got two quick stories about the EA Sports Hockey League which was introduced in last year's NHL 09:

1. As recently as two weeks ago, I was still receiving requests from folks wanting an invite to be on GameSpot's official EASHL team, the Xnmnk Mockobckars. This was despite the fact that the team basically retreated to inactive status some time in early February.
2. Next week, EA will be hosting four of the best EASHL teams for the finals of the first EASHL Championships. Team members will get a chance to travel to EA Canada's Vancouver office to play for the glory (and the prizes) that comes with being the best virtual hockey team on the planet.

[ Watch Video ]

The above stories are just two examples of what has made the EASHL such a huge hit since its debut; the complete focus on making the game's players the stars (as opposed to the pros on the cover); and, perhaps more importantly, the idea of fostering an esprit de corps among players who are determined to make their team the best. If you're not impressed by the spirit of the EASHL, perhaps some numbers will convince you: According to series producer David Littman, NHL 09 reached platinum status for worldwide sales (including more than 775,000 units sold in the U.S. alone) and, of that impressive sales number, approximately 400,000 people participated in at least one EASHL game. When you add that 100,000 teams registered in last year's league, you've got a huge chunk of EASHL players.

Littman hopes those numbers increase significantly in NHL 10. To accomplish that goal, the NHL development team is focusing on improving aspects of the EASHL across the board. First and foremost is the idea of changing up how the league works in order to improve the competition. How the EASHL is organized this year is going to make a big difference in how you play it and, ultimately, your chances for success.

“What we're going to do [this year] is have monthly seasons. That all comes from just the fact that it's tough to get 40 guys to stay together for an entire year and not really play other games. We don't want other people to never play other games. And if you have a league where all that matters is how often you play…because winning percentage is part of our leaderboards [as well as] how often you play…if you only play 10 games, you can't be in the top of the leaderboard– it's impossible. So we found teams were playing thousands of games and splitting off from each other, where a club might have two or three games being played at a time. And people kind of feel like they're not on the same team.

“So with monthly seasons, you have that bond on your team of, 'OK, we're going to win this month. We're going to win the EA Sports Hockey League this month.' I think a month is a great amount of time to have people stay together and play all the time. Maybe not every night, but a few nights a week…and be able to stay together to win that championship. And so at the end of the month…the season's over.”

Monthly seasons will compact your EASHL campaign into bite-sized chunks. It will also offer the added benefit of letting folks who come to the game late (after, say, getting the game at Christmas) a chance to compete for the Cup during the next month's season. The addition of “casual” and “pro” leagues is another big switch. Though the two leagues are ostensibly identical–in that you can choose to enter your team in either skill division–the NHL team is guessing that the hardcore NHL fans will gravitate toward the higher skill of competition in the pro division, with incentives that will include more significant prizes for pro division winners than those found in the casual division. That said, your team will earn medals for finishing in the top percentages of your division, and all of your earned trophies and medals will be displayed on a brand new trophy screen.

With the obvious problem of elite teams joining casual league games and mowing down the competition, Littman said that the team–acting as league commissioner–could choose to intervene with disciplinary action in such a case. Still, for those with the skill, the as-yet-unnamed rewards for winning the pro division will hopefully make this kind of grief a minor issue.

According to Littman, NHL 10 is looking to be many things to many people. At its core, it's a sports game. Yet, it also has elements of fighting games (thanks to the new first-person fighting engine). The GM mode can be seen as a management-style game, and the EASHL and Be a Pro modes are distinctly influenced by role-playing games and massively multiplayer online games, such as World of Warcraft and the like. One particularly obvious manifestation of the RPG influence is found via equipment upgrade in NHL 10.

A hockey shop has been added to NHL 10, where you'll be able to unlock new equipment by either performing well on the ice or paying out of pocket. New equipment includes sticks, skates, gloves, and helmets. In addition to having lots of different styles to choose from–the camouflage gear is particularly strange considering you're playing on ice–this unlocked equipment will include slots to which you can attach attribute bonuses. Unlocking the green camouflage skates requires you to be promoted to the first line of your NHL team as a forward, and these skates accept attribute upgrades for ratings, such as aggressiveness, agility, speed, and more. Similarly, your sticks will include slots for improving ratings, such as face-offs, slap-shot accuracy and power, and wrist-shot accuracy and power. You can change attributes on slotted equipment at any time, though the game will also include gold equipment packages that come with maximum attributes on them–these are packages for each player type and the packages cannot be changed.

Slotted equipment should be a boon for fans who want to quickly progress their players, but my question to Littman had to do with the realism of such a system. Did he feel that this kind of artificial player boost would jibe well with the NHL's simlike gameplay?

“Real life is very similar,” Littman said. “I played pro hockey for 10 years, and believe me, you get the best equipment in the world. And when, you know, you look at the sticks players use nowadays, and even if you're an amateur skating at your local rink, I guarantee you the player that bought the $300, you know, composite stick that's super light and has the perfect whip to it is getting a harder shot than the guy who uses an old wood stick.

“Now, new equipment isn't going to make a superstar. You can't be Gretzky if you're not Gretzky. But you can make yourself a bit better by having new equipment. You know, goalies [it's the] same thing. When I was young, gloves were super heavy, pads were super heavy. When I was younger, I wore the leather pads that had deerskin–or deer hair in it. When those got wet, you were dragging about 15 pounds on each leg, man.

“Just like in our game, this isn't going to make you 99 across the board in everything; this is just a way to make you five, six, seven points better than you would have if you didn't wear this equipment.”

Late last year, I wrote a post in this blog with ideas on improving the EASHL. Among my complaints were such things as improving online league organization, improving the interface for inviting team members, and including more variety when it comes to creating your EASHL team. Thanks to the monthly seasons and the split divisions, the league structure has improved. When it comes to more variety, the team has taken another step in the right direction by adding 20 to 30 new jerseys.

With the success of the Teambuilder system in NCAA Football 10, could we see a similar feature in next year's NHL game? Littman said that they'd like it to be part of the game next year but wasn't willing to commit any further. Personally, it seems like an obvious choice for NHL 11. After all, the whole point of the EASHL is creating your team's individual identity in the game–one that doesn't necessarily have to have any ties to reality. A Teambuilder feature would be an ideal way to make that happen.

My biggest pet peeve from last year's EASHL implementation was the process of adding team members. It was tedious and took far too long, especially when adding those not on your friends list. Thanks to a new club campus screen, those problems look to be behind us. Players can easily request to join a certain club, and you will even be able to scout players on other teams via a dedicated scouting screen that shows you a list of teams and players you've recently played against. From there, you can find the player you're looking for and directly send him an invite to join your team.

Yesterday, I played a couple of EASHL games with fellow game writers and the NHL 10 development team, and I had a good time playing as a defenseman. I even managed to score an overtime win with a slap shot from the point. As with last year's game, the pace of EASHL games is slightly slower than that in the main game or in the Be a Pro mode, but it certainly didn't take away from the fun. Communication between teammates is still the key, as is making sure that you're playing your role on the ice, and not just zipping to the puck whenever it's free.

In many ways, EA Sports hit the nail on the head with the EA Sports Hockey League. Despite initial connection hiccups, the feature worked like a charm right from the get-go, and it will be interesting to see how this feature evolves in the coming years.

So, is it too early to call for sign-ups for the Xnmnk Mockobckars?

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NHL 10: What’s New in the EASHL

[ Watch Video ]

We recently had a chance to revisit League of Legends, the upcoming free-to-play real-time strategy hybrid game, try out a new hero character, and get some new insight into the meta-game content. The game is currently in a closed beta state but will open up in the coming weeks leading up to early September as developer Riot Games will start testing the game with larger groups of people playing all at once.

This game has fast-paced real-time strategy and a sad-but-cute mummy. Yeah, you read that right.

Aside from gearing up for beta, Riot is polishing up the game's interfaces, which, while not complete, will show off some of the meta-game content right as you log in. Even though this is a competitive, single-unit strategy game similar to the Defense of the Ancients modification for Warcraft III, you'll also have an out-of-game avatar called a “summoner” who can rack up three different kinds of abilities (as well as different apparel items), including “masteries,” which resemble the branching talent trees of World of Warcraft, and “spells”–a pool of magic spell abilities from which you can choose only a precious few to take into battle. Spells include abilities like healing and instantaneous teleports–basically, panic-button-type abilities to get you out of a jam.

[ Watch Video ]

Your summoner can also acquire “runes,” which will give your heroes passive bonuses in battle (such as faster energy recovery or quicker cooldown times to re-use skills more quickly, or regenerative healing, or armor or damage bonuses). Over time, you'll acquire a pile of runes, and since you can equip only a handful of them each match, you may opt to combine some of the ones you're not using–if you have the right runes and the right formula, you may be able to create a more-powerful combined rune to equip for your next match.

You can bring your summoner's masteries, spells, and runes into battle to aid whichever hero you choose for your next match.

While these summoner skills are powerful and useful, thankfully, you won't be able to purchase them for real money using the game's cash-op store. Riot plans to implement two types of currency: “influence,” the in-game currency that you can use to buy up new runes; and “Riot points,” which you can use to purchase visual customization items, such as alternate skins for different hero characters. (Riot also plans to start awarding exclusive colored hero skins to different beta players.) In any case, the studio remains firm on the issue that even though the game will be free-to-play-with-microtransactions, it will not allow players to purchase anything with real-world money that will make them more powerful. Instead, the game will be set up in a way that will let most players advance their summoner to the highest level (currently planned to be level 20 at launch) relatively fast, in about a month or two of casual play. At level 20, most players will have a good-sized list chunk of runes and spells to choose from, as well as a fully-fleshed out masteries tree, and from there, they can participate in the game's larger social options.

[ Watch Video ]

You'll be able to create friend lists to keep your friends on call, and you'll also be able to join a larger clan/team system that Riot will most likely add to the game post-launch. This is a highly competitive, team-based game, but the largest match sizes currently planned are five-versus-five–the game just seems to play out best that way. So, in order to accommodate larger groups of players who want to get organized, Riot will most likely implement a larger clan system that will let larger groups of players associate with each other, while also incorporating a smaller team system that will let a handful of players work together across different matches. The studio actually plans to eventually start running competitive “seasons,” just like in professional sports, so ranked team-based matches will be very important down the line.

You'll also be able to play as this guy. Pictured: This guy.

We also had a chance to try out a new hero character, Morgana, a “fallen angel” with useful ranged damage abilities and a handful of support skills. Morgana's skills include a single-target stun that requires you to carefully line up your target; an effect that damages all enemies within a small circular area; and a friendly magic protection spell usable on ourselves or our allies. Morgana's high-level combat ability is currently an effect that links her to any enemy heroes in range and continuously damages those targeted foes as long as she can stay within range (which completely changes her game from an at-a-distance support character to a chase-after-enemy-heroes character). As before, League of Legends still seems like a fast-paced, exciting experience where you're constantly gaining character levels, buying up better equipment from the in-level store, and putting the hurt on your enemies (or running for your life). The game is scheduled to launch later this year.

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We Just Played League of Legends (and Got Some More Updates)