World of Warcaft is important. The developers tell Kotaku they even dared to dream that they'd some day get a million subscribers. But to tell the story of the fifth anniversary of WoW, we first have to look at the game that started 15 years ago, Warcraft.

It All Started On Arrakis

In 1992, Westwood Studios released a game that changed the way real-time strategy games were made. It was Dune II, the first RTS to incorporate mouse movement, resource gathering, technology trees, and unique weapons and units per faction, all elements that are still being used in RTS games today.

The game caught the eyes and imaginations of several members of Silicon & Synapse, a game development studio that had mainly focused on porting games from other studios. After a brief stint as Chaos Games the studio took on the name Blizzard Entertainment in 1994.

As Blizzard art director Sam "Samwise" Didier explains it, the team's fascination with Dune II led directly to the development of its first blockbuster hit, Warcraft: Orcs & Humans.

"Back in the Jurassic period we all loved playing games like Dune II. We got inspired and thought this game was awesome and wanted to make something like it. We were all big fans of Dungeons and Dragons and Tolkien, and we wanted to make a fantasy world real-time strategy game."

Taking cues from existing titles was the norm for Blizzard in the early days. Samwise points to another early Blizzard title, The Lost Vikings, which was born out of the team's love for PC puzzle game Lemmings from DMA Design, the studio that would go on to become Rockstar North of Grand Theft Auto fame.

So Blizzard took the formula established in Dune II and expanded upon it in Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, adding goals beyond simply building your army and decimating your enemies. Players found themselves rescuing friendly forces from enemy camps, assassinating key members of the opposition, and rebuilding ruined towns. It was also the first RTS game to feature hand-to-hand combat and magic.

One more important innovation was borrowed from a decidedly different sort of game – Doom. Inspired by the fun of playing Doom together, Blizzard added the ability to play multiplayer battles via modem and local area network to Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, a feature that would become a key feature of the RTS genre.

Expanding The Story

While Orcs & Humans laid the groundwork for games to come, it was relatively light on story. Blizzard rectified that oversight with the game's 1995 sequel, Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, elevating Azeroth from game setting to fully realized fictional world.

The game saw the Orcs and Humans gather allies in the Trolls, Goblins, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, and Gnomes, laying the foundations for the Alliance and the Horde as we know them today. The game and it's expansion pack, Beyond the Dark Portal, introduced characters and locations that would play a large part in the games to come.

Tides of Darkness also expanded on the multiplayer of the original game. In 1999, Blizzard released both the game and its expansion as Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition, allowing players to engage in multiplayer matches over the internet using the Battle.net service introduced with 1997's Diablo.

Class Clowns And Failed Comedians

Along with solidifying the world of Azeroth and strengthening the foundation for the fiction that would grow with each new game in the franchise, Warcraft II also established another signature feature of the series: its sense of humor.

"We had lots of class clowns and failed comedians on the team," explains Didier. "We never really took it too seriously. We wanted really cool characters and events while making fun classic fantasy stereotypes. We included anything we thought was cool, serious or humorous."

For instance, clicking on a unit once in Warcraft II elicits a normal verbal response. Click repeatedly on a unit for no reason and they become annoyed, spouting humorous phrases like "are you still touching me?" Samwise cites this feature as a prime example of adding humor to a game without alienating those craving a serious experience. "Only the people who wanted the comedy had to deal with it."

The Lost Chapter

As Warcraft was inspired by Dune II, Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans was inspired by classic LucasArts adventure games like The Secret of Monkey Island. Development on this adventure game began soon after the completion of Warcraft II. Using a combination of cartoons and point and click adventure gameplay it would tell the story of the Orcs trapped in Azeroth following the destruction of the Dark Portal, and the rise of the famed Orc warchief Thrall, Sadly, the game never saw the light of day.

In a move that Blizzard would later repeat with StarCraft side-story Ghost, the company canceled the game days before the 1998 E3 Expo in Atlanta, despite the game being mostly complete. The animation was finished, the puzzles in place, and even the voice over work had been fully recorded, but Blizzard felt the game wasn't up to their high standards.

In an announcement issued on the 22nd of May, 2008, Blizzard explained the cancellation to fans. "The decision centered around the level of value that we want to give our customers. In essence, it was a case of stepping up and really proving to ourselves and gamers that we will not sell out on the quality of our games."

When asked if there was ever a chance of Adventures being released, Samwise was skeptical. "We're not taking the old one and finishing it. It wasn't up to par and we'd have to polish the hell out of it. DVDs are really popular because of deleted scenes, but when you watch them you can see why they weren't included in the movie. That's what Warcraft Adventures is."

Still, Blizzard felt the story of Thrall too important to gloss over, commissioning Star Trek novelist Christie Golden to write Warcraft: Lord of the Clans, a novel that bridges the gap between Warcraft II and the next game in the series, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.

Further Evolution

Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, released in 2002, delved deeper into the lore of the series than ever before. It chronicles the rise and fall of Arthas Menethil, the prince who would become the Lich King; introduces the Night Elves and the Undead; and introduces the Burning Legion, the demonic scourge of the Warcraft universe.

Deviating from previous entries in the series, Warcraft III and its expansion, The Frozen Throne, integrates storytelling into the gameplay itself, rather than feeding the player through mission briefings. This allowed for a more seamless and immersive game, further cementing Blizzard's reputation as top-notch storytellers.

Warcraft III, like Warcraft II, included a World Editor program, allowing players to craft their own scenarios and maps, and players took full advantage of the feature, creating their own game types. One such custom game, Defense of the Ancients, gave rise to a new sub-genre of RTS, in which players control a single champion that gains levels and abilities as it battles alongside computer-controlled units. Defense of the Ancients-inspired games like Gas Powered Games' Demigod and the recently released League of Legends from Riot Games serve as a lasting reminder to the legacy of Warcraft III.

Welcome To Our World

In early 2000, Blizzard's development team found themselves fascinated by another type of game.

"Everyone here had been playing a bunch of Everquest and Ultima Online," says Samwise Didier. "It goes all the way back to the whole Lost Vikings/Lemmings thing. It was a genre we enjoyed, and Warcraft was a good fit."

Blizzard announced World of Warcraft, the massively multiplayer take on the Warcraft universe in 2001, and for three years fans eagerly awaited their chance to take their first steps into the world of Azeroth, unfettered by the rules of the real-time strategy genre.

The game would pick up the story four years after the events of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, with the world split into two major factions – the Alliance and the Horde. Players would experience the battle for Azeroth from an entirely new, more personal point-of-view.

As the 2004 release approached, Blizzard was aware it had something special on its hands, though some members of the development team had more faith than others. World of Warcraft production director J. Allen Brack relates a particularly amusing story about a pep talk given by Blizzard co-founder and lead designer Allen Adham.

"Allen Adham got everyone on the team in a room to talk about how great his confidence was in the game, and how he thought we had something great. He said, 'One day this game will have a million subscribers.' No one believed that. We thought it was crazy. We thought, 'You're a liar.' There was no way that any game would have a million subscribers."

World of Warcraft launched in North America on November 23, 2004. Fan reaction to the release was so massive that the game was plagued with downtime and server queues for the first week, as Blizzard opened new worlds to deal with the exploding population. By December 2005, the game had 3.5 million subscribers. By December of 2008, that number had jumped to 11.5 million.

How does a PC game attract 11.5 million players? World of Warcraft game director Tom Chilton says the game has something for everyone.

"It's easy to learn, but hard to master, which attracts different sorts of gamers. The hard to master part keeps the hardcore players around, while the casual players enjoy the wide variety of things to do," Chilton explains. "Ultimately it's just a really good game."

Massively Mainstream Appeal

The success that World of Warcraft has achieved over the past five years is nothing short of astounding. It was the best-selling PC game of 2005 and 2006 according to NPD data, knocked from the top spot in 2007 by its own expansion, The Burning Crusade. In 2008 the game's second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, took the top spot.

The success of the game goes far beyond sales numbers. World of Warcraft has become a pop culture phenomenon. It's been used to advertise products like Coke and Toyota, while its own advertisements have feature pop culture icons such as Mr. T and William Shatner. A 2007 episode of Comedy Central's cartoon South Park, "Make Love, Not Warcraft," won the 2007 Creative Arts Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program.

Like Super Mario Bros. or Grand Theft Auto, World of Warcraft is a game that has gained recognition far beyond its already expansive audience. For a fantasy game that is strictly PC-based, that's no mean feat.

The Future

So where will the World of Warcraft be in another five years? Tom Chilton delivers a blissfully blurry outlook for the world's most popular subscription-based MMO.

"One of the cool things is: who knows where it will go next? The world itself is filled with so many possibilities. We've got outer space demons. We're about to add little green guys and werewolves (in the upcoming Cataclysm expansion). There are so many different directions you can go in. Magic, guns, machines – anything we want to come up with we can fit into the World of Warcraft with no problem."

And the continuing success of World of Warcraft doesn't preclude the possibility of a Warcraft IV. Just don't expect it any time soon, with teams tied up with Diablo III and StarCraft II.

Real-time strategy or massively multiplayer, the Warcraft universe continues to make its mark on the world, with each new game and expansion adding layer upon layer to a tale that J. Allen Brack believes could go on forever.

"We've got quite a bit to do before we run out of ideas. New people are constantly joining the team, bringing their own ideas with them. The full story will never truly be written."

Check back all week for more stories related to World of Warcraft's fifth anniversary.

In League of Legends you take on the role of a summoner, calling forth a champion that you control in Warcraft-esque skirmishes as you work to tear down defensive positions and destroy the enemy nexus. Working with other player-controlled champions, the game is based on cooperation and collaboration, with all of the micro-managing thrown out the window.

As with its mod-inspiration Defense of the Ancients, League of Legends won't cost you a dime to play, but is it good enough to convince you to shell out cash to upgrade and excel?

Loved
Simplified Strategy: Built on the core of Warcraft III, League of Legends strips away the need to micro-manage, or manage at all. Defense towers exist when a match starts, minions spawn automatically and course through a map's paths on pre-determined routes, stopping to attack the first foes they encounter or to try and level enemy defense towers. You have no control over any of that. What you do have control over is your single champion, his or her ability to impact the lines of minions, and the champion's growing power, which can be used in battles to shift the tide of war. Of course you also have to look out for the other champions on the map looking to take you out or clear a path to your nexus home base.

Cornucopia of Champions: In many ways, League of Legends plays like a straight-up action role-playing title. The character you level up over the course of a match is selected from a growing number of champions, each with their own abilities, spells, attack styles and look. As you play through a match your champion earns experience and levels up, unlocking skills and spells that only last until the match ends. The game launches with 40 of these characters with a steady stream promised from the developers. Mastering the game is one challenge, but learning the ins and outs of each champion is the sort of enjoyable task that could takes months to complete.

Mastering Masteries: While the champion you summon and control is drawn from the same ever-expanding pool all of the other players draw from, the summoner (that's you) levels up over time, earning mastery points which can be applied to three different fields: Offense, defense and utility. The way you spend these points impacts whatever champion you decide to use in a match giving them stronger attacks, better defense, improving their magic or even tweaking the spells they can cast. This summoner leveling adds another level of complexity to the already cleverly constructed game.

Items and Spells: Champions all start out as level one at the beginning of a map, but as you gain experience they level up, letting you assign points to their abilities and spells. The fact that you have some choice means that even if two of the same champions meet in battle, there's a good chance they won't play the same. On top of that, you can spend the gold your champion earns in battle to buy magical items that augment attack and defense abilities, spells and give your character new skills.

Stealth: While the maps can get a little old over time, the fact that there are creatures stalking the marsh and woods between paths can make things interesting. Better still, certain areas of the map allow you to hide from other characters, making it possible for you to slip behind them during battle and pull off a stealth attack.

Anime Warcraft: The selection of champions include a wide variety of art styles, from large-eyed, big-headed anime-ish characters, to characters that would fit in as heroes in Warcraft III. The look, as much as the abilities, of these champions are the biggest reason you may want to take the time to master one.

Free Forever: While it's probably worth dropping $30 to pick up the collector's pack, and score special runes, items and a champion, you can actually play this game for absolutely nothing. The better you are at it, the more points you earn to use in the online store to purchase new champions and other power-up items. And the game always gives you access to 10 of the 40 champions. If you're not good, or you're impatient, you can also spend cash to buy items, champions or new skins. It's a serious win-win.

Hated
Need More Maps: With the game already out for more than a week, there's really only one map to play on and earn experience. A snow version of the map is said to exist, but I could never find a match with one. A third, smaller map, is in beta right now. As much as I love the game, and I borderline can't stop playing love it, the lack of maps is a serious issue. Riot Games' biggest push right now should be on rolling out more maps so the current one doesn't go so stale no one will ever want to play it again.

Slow Matchmaking: Matchmaking in League of Legends is a surprisingly long affair. I've waited as long as 15 minutes to find a match, though waits of closer to a few minutes is closer to the norm. While it's hard to directly control, I also found a high percentage of whiney, insular gamers in the matches I played. They complained about tactics, about losing, about experience points. Maybe creating different rooms or leagues could help cut down on the player in-fighting because it's a real turnoff.

As a long-time fan of real-time strategy games, I approached League of Legends with more than a little doubt that it could provide the sort of engagement and intellectual stimulation I'm used to from my RTS gaming sessions. But it only took a couple of matches to prove me wrong.

My biggest concern with League of Legends is not whether it's worth playing, but whether it can survive under the creative micro-transaction pricing system that Riot Games has established to financially support the title.

League of Legends was developed by and published by Riot Games for the PC on Oct. 27. The game is free to play, though you can spend cash on upgrades. The collector's edition sells for $29.99. A copy of the collector's edition and a $10 gift card for in-game item purchases were given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played through training mode and dozens of matches with 20 of the 40 champions.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

The announcement was made via the DotA forums, with IceFrog writing that he is "now leading a team at Valve" and "finally have all the resources needed to do some very exciting stuff that you guys will love." And by "you guys," we're guessing that means Defense of the Ancients Allstars players. Which would hopefully mean continued development of the mod.

What exactly the DotA dev will be doing at Valve, we don't yet know. But we did confirm that hire with Valve who was regrettably unable to offer any further details into the addition to the team.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Great News For DotA Fans [DotA Forums]

League of Legends is an action-strategy game with roleplaying elements, fashion after the Warcraft III Defense of the Ancients game type. The player takes on a role of a Summoner, who calls forth a Champion to fight for him against other players. Riot has put a ton of work into developing the game, revealing new Champions on a regular basis and tightening up the graphics on level three, so the announcement that the game will be free-to-play comes as a bit of a surprise.

"One of our goals at Riot has been to set a high quality bar for core games that are available for free online as we believe that a relentless focus on delivering tremendous value to online communities will earn player loyalty," Brandon Beck, co-founder and CEO, Riot Games, said. "League of Legends is being built as a highly competitive core game that we believe will change many people's minds about the type and caliber of games that can be offered for free."

For those of you averse to not spending money, fear not! League of Legends has two currencies. Influence points are earned by simply playing the game, allowing players to purchase runes that will enhance their powers, much like experience points. Riot Points, on the other hand, are purchased using real currency and exchangeable for new Champions to play and cosmetic enhancements.

Riot Games is confident that their Riot Points won't be able to purchase anything that would give one player a distinct advantage over another. They'd best keep a close eye on Champion balance then, as players will eat them alive if they sense money gives their opponents any sort of leg up.

When the game goes live in September, players will be able to download and play for free, or they can opt to purchase the League of Legends Collector's Pack at their local game store, which offers exclusive Champion skins, new Champions, Riot Points, and Runes.

Interested in learning more? Riot Games will be hosting a Q&A session this Friday from 2-4PM Pacific, where developers will answer every question you can imagine in an exhaustive fashion.

Signing a contract to play for WeMade FOX team for 700 million Korean won, the 22-year-old is currently the highest paid player in the Korean e-Sports scene and the second highest paid player in its history. Back in 2007, StarCraft legend Yoon Yeol 'NaDa' Lee inked a deal to play for 750 million won.

"I am honored to play for a Korea professional gaming team for Koreans," Moon stated. "As setting good circumstance of playing, I will give everything to my fans and FOX team by winning lots of titles in 2009." And making lots and lots of money.

FOX officially unveils record signing Moon [SK-Gaming Thanks to all who sent this in!]

MBC Game also broadcasts Warcraft III, Tekken and Counter-Strike. As game site Siliconera points out, all three home consoles are available in Korea; however, none of them have reached the popularity of PC gaming. Perhaps that guy's gray vest will help.

Starcraft TV Network Gives Halo Wars Its Own Show [Siliconera]

League of Legends began life as Defense of the Ancients, a custom scenario for Blizzard's real-time strategy game Warcraft III, which features teams of player-controlled hero units trying to infiltrate the opposing team's base in order to destroy their Ancient - generally a strategically placed destructible building. Widely considered to be one of the most popular gaming mods ever created, Defense in its various incarnations is also one of the most played player-created gaming mods, in some parts of the world even rivaling the popularity of Counter-Strike, the ridiculously popular mod to Valve's Half-Life.

So how does a popular gaming mod make the leap to full-fledged video game? Just ask the team at Riot Games, the developer behind the upcoming persistent strategy title League of Legends, which takes the core gameplay of the Defense of the Ancients mod to the next level. Better yet, we asked them for you.

The Evolution of Defense of the Ancients
Marc Merrill, the Executive Producer for League of Legends and President of Riot Games, explains that League came about primarily due to the limitations of Defense of the Ancients as a game mod. Being an offshoot of Blizzard's Warcraft III, there were simply too many features that players were demanding that wouldn't work within Warcraft's framework.

"League of Legends primarily came about because the fans and players of (Defense of the Ancients Allstars) were constantly demanding more features and better around-game services that simply couldn't be provided in the mod. All of our guys felt this pain as early members of the (Defense) community and came together to help address this gap and to deliver something awesome to fans."

League of Legends' Director of Systems Design Tom Cadwell elaborates on some of the features that players craved that Defense of the Ancients couldn't deliver, such as matchmaking, stat tracking, and methods to deter players from simply quitting halfway through a match when their team was losing, which has ruined many a Defense game.

"It also lacks polish in a lot of little places — there are no custom hotkeys, the interface is built for an RTS, not for (Defense), there is no tutorial, etc. And of course, the item shop gameplay is tricky to use since the War3 store interface is not designed to support it. As we thought about developing LoL, it became more and more clear that there were many areas where we could make things better suited for a (Defense)-style game and provide a much more fun experience for players."

Assembling the Team
With exactly that goal in mind, Riot Games was formed in late 2006, with the intention to create League of Legends as its first product. Over the course of the past two years, the team has grown to include nearly 40 members spread across design, art, gameplay, engineering, platform engineering, and community.

Riot Games' team member credits include Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, World of Warcraft, Total Annihilation, Neverwinter Nights 2, Counter-Strike, Dungeon Siege, Sly Cooper, and Heroes of Might and Magic, but despite the high level of pedigree among the professionals, Merrill explains that the core development is still being driven by "the mod guys", including original Defense of the Ancients Allstars co-creator Steve "Guinsoo" Feak.

"The product vision is really being driven from the consumer point of view and is largely in the hands of Guinsoo and the mod guys; they have amazing ideas and are really talented guys."

Tom Cadwell himself worked extensively on the talent system on World of Warcraft, as well as heading up play balance for Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne during his time with Blizzard.

"When I was working on War3 at Blizzard, a lot of us were fans of (Defense). It's been a lot of fun to work with Guinsoo and the guys to instill some additional game design principles into League of Legends."

So What is League of Legends?
While League of Legends does benefit from the incredibly large fan-following Defense of the Ancients enjoys, Merrill explains that introducing new players to a title that is very nearly a new genre - team-based tactical role-playing - presents a real challenge.

"By far the more difficult thing for us will be explaining to non-(Defense) users how the gameplay works and why it is fun. It's extremely fun, but it's also new to many people, so breaking through that user education challenge is one of the problems we're focused on solving. "

Breaking out of the Defense of the Ancients mold a bit, League of Legends presents a much more persistent experience. Players take on the role of a Summoner - an avatar tied to the player's account that advances in power and grows over time. Summoners call forth Champions to represent them in combat, aiding their team in defeating the enemy team. Champions come in many different forms with a variety of unique functions, delivering what Merrill compares to the experience of playing different classes in various traditional role-playing games.

So rather than building up forces as you would in your normal real-time strategy game, you pick one Champion at a time, selecting them based on the powers and abilities you feel would best enhance your team's performance. League of Legends in effect adds specific classes to the RTS formula, similar to a game like Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare giving players a choice of which role they hope to fill in their team.

The Call of Duty 4 similarity is no coincidence either, as Cadwell reveals the game was a major influence on League of Legends progression system as well.

"There is no perfect gaming analogy to capture the Summoner / Champion relationship, but some games are starting to come close. We drew a lot of inspiration from the COD4 and Battlefield 2142 unlocks system in designing this system. These offer very simple advancement compared to an MMORPG, but players love the sense of progress and purpose they get from knowing that a couple more wins will unlock something cool. We feel that by further expanding this, and creating a cool persistent identity that players can customize based upon their accomplishments that we can create something even more fun. "

So, in a nutshell, League of Legends is an online team-based strategy game with persistent-world elements akin to the sort of ranking system you would find in a first-person shooter like Call of Duty 4.

Creating a League of Their Own
Taking a mod for an established title like Warcraft III and crafting it into a standalone title takes more than just building upon the gameplay elements established in the Defense of the Ancients mod. The team at Riot has poured a great deal of effort into breaking out of the Warcraft III aesthetic, creating a world that is truly their own.

Art direction plays a big part in creating any game, and especially in a title that springs from

"Our Art Director, Hokyo Lim, is the key artistic visionary for the look and feel of League of Legends. Hokyo was previously on Sly Cooper 1, 2 & 3 up at Suckerpunch Studios in Seattle and just has a phenomenal eye. He brings a very stylized look to the game and has a team of talented guys who have worked on distinctive stylized games like Jak and Daxter and Psychonauts prior to joining Riot. "

The artistic pedigree of the League of Legends certainly shines through in the design of the world and its Champions, a motley crew of super-powerful beings that the player's Summoner can command. From the adorably deadly dark child Annie to the mysterious cardmaster Twisted Fate, each is completely unique to the world of League of Legends, the products of a creative team positively overflowing with new ideas.

"We've created a robust internal process that allows everyone to create Champion ideas," Merrill explains. "We have so many cool ideas, Champion themes and ability kits that by far the hardest part is filtering them down to focus on the best ones that also fulfill a core design need of the game."

Further aiding in making League of Legends is the team's focus on keeping things fun, creating what Tom Cadwell calls "a unique blend of whimsy with hardcore."

"Humor is pretty important to League of Legends. We wanted to create a universe that appeals to the hardcore while maintaining the ability to make fun of itself and not take itself "too seriously". We think that a lot of great games (Team Fortress 2 and World of Warcraft come to mind) have managed to create great gameplay that appeals to the hardcore gamer with lots of badassery, but still manages to have a good sense of humor and reach a wide audience. "

For an excellent example of Riot Games' sense of humor, be sure to visit their team bio page, where each team member is not only given a brief paragraph explaining their existence, but is also assigned a special power, such as Marc Merrill's "Night Merrill" ability.

Marc temporarily enters Beast Mode, which causes all employees to fervently increase in productivity by 300% for the next two hours.

What Comes Next
Nearly two years in development, League of Legends is rapidly approaching the the initial beta phase, where the game will be put to the test by the same people who inspired the original Defense of the Ancient mod, and Tom Cadwell couldn't be more excited.

"We're excited to have gotten the reactions we have seen so far, but ultimately can't wait to get users in the game because that is really what matters. That's really what it's all about for us. For me personally, all of my best experiences in design have been during betas, when you get to see how the stuff you worked on plays out, and see people enjoying the work you've done. "

Players interested in getting in on the ground floor of what could be one of the biggest games ever to sprout from a game mod can visit the official League of Legends website to get the scoop on upcoming beta dates while checking out the game and the talented team behind it.

As for what's coming next from Riot Games, the developer currently has two more games in the works, and while Merrill was tight-lipped about details, he assures us that Riot will continue to innovate in the multiplayer gaming space.

"Our plans for the future are to continue to develop titles that leverage our core technology platform that includes a proprietary back end as well as a game engine and associated toolset, while staying true to our core design philosophy which focuses on replayability through multiplayer emergent behavior, instead of creating massive amounts of linear content that you really only want to play through once. "

For now, Riot continues to work on League of Legends, taking a relatively simple player-made mod for Warcraft III and creating something hopefully as legendary as its name.

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StarCraft and Diablo II Battle.net Ban Policy Update

As part of our continued effort to ensure a fair and fun online experience for all Battle.net players, we have expanded our efforts to remove cheaters from StarCraft and Diablo II. We have identified and closed over 350,000 StarCraft and Diablo II accounts which were found to be using third-party hacks.

The Diablo II CD keys associated with the closed Diablo II accounts are now restricted from playing on Battle.net for approximately 30 days. Repeat offenders will have their accounts closed and their CD keys permanently banned from Battle.net.

As a reminder, we reserve the right to close the accounts and ban the CD keys of players who are caught cheating on Battle.net. Cheating ruins the game experience for legitimate players, and we will not tolerate it.

NetEase has been a leader in the Chinese game market, and we look forward to working with them to deliver high-quality entertainment to Chinese gamers. This partnership is a sign of our continued commitment to our players in China and to the local industry.

The license will be on a three-year term and have a mutual one-year renewal period. Full details in the release after the jump.

Blizzard Entertainment(R) and NetEase to Introduce StarCraft(R) II and Battle.net(R) Platform into Mainland China

SHANGHAI, China, Aug 12, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. and NetEase.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES) today announced an agreement to license Blizzard Entertainment(R)'s StarCraft(R) II, Warcraft(R) III: Reign of Chaos(TM), Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne(TM), and Battle.net(R) platform, which provides online multiplayer services for these games, to Shanghai EaseNet Network Technology Limited, an affiliated company of NetEase.com, Inc. Blizzard Entertainment and NetEase have also established a joint venture, which will provide support for the operation of the licensed games and Battle.net platform in China.

"NetEase has been a leader in the Chinese game market, and we look forward to working with them to deliver high-quality entertainment to Chinese gamers," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "This partnership is a sign of our continued commitment to our players in China and to the local industry."

William Ding, CEO of NetEase, stated, "We're excited to be partnering with Blizzard Entertainment to bring StarCraft II and Battle.net to China. We hope to combine Blizzard Entertainment's expertise in developing world-class games with NetEase's strength in online-game operation in China to bring the best gaming experiences to our players."

The term of the license will be three years, with a mutual one-year renewal period, commencing from the commercial release of StarCraft II in the PRC. Under the agreements, Shanghai EaseNet will pay a revenue-based royalty over the license period, while NetEase will pay a milestone-based license fee and fund and guarantee certain additional payments and operating expenses in connection with the joint venture.

As I am writing this I am watching the clock slowly tick down on the Diablo Battlechest for $27.99, wondering whether or not I should just go ahead and make the purchase or spend hours sorting through my collection of over a thousand PC CDs and DVDs, searching for the copies I already own. Today Amazon.com is all about Blizzard's big games, which makes sense considering Blizzard isn't exactly known for their small ones. The Deal of the Day is the World Of Warcraft Battlechest for $26.99, which is nice considering the expansion alone still goes for $30 in most stores.

As of this posting we just missed the Diablo Battlechest, but who wanted to play crappy old Diablo anyway? Everybody? Oh. Whoops. Well now we have The Burning Crusade expansion for WoW for , followed by what? The Frozen Throne expansion to Warcraft III by itself and then the Warcraft III Battlechest? Left up to me it would have been The Lost Vikings all day long, with an ever-rising price to punish latecomers for their lack of urgency.

Amazon's Gold Box Deals [Amazon.com - Thanks Travis!]

Karune Debuts as YouTube Rapper — Phear'em Eminem! [Blizzplanet via Evil Avatar]

Gamepolitics clears up what many sites (us included) reported on a Chinese MMO player who flung himself from a window. It seems that the 13-year-old wasn't playing World of Warcraft, but instead was playing Blizzard's RTS Warcraft III. Big difference, hopefully other sites will pull WoW's name from the mud.

Chinese Teen Suicide Victim Did Not Play WoW, Site Claims [Gamepolitics]