Lore:

For those who brave the harsh seas of Runeterra, attaining one’s own ship and crew is the pinnacle of success. Sarah Fortune, a well-respected (some would say legendary) bounty hunter from Bilgewater, was able to achieve this feat just after her sixteenth birthday, etching out her name as the go-to gal for resolving special troubles. No bounty was too difficult or too dangerous for her feminine charm and her renowned use of her twin pistols, “Shock and Awe”. Her success gave her the means to legitimately purchase her own ship… with a little flirtatious haggling, of course. Things weren’t always so fortunate for Miss Fortune, though. When she was young, trade ships began to dot the horizon of her quiet home along the northern shores of Blue Flame Island’s largest chunk. Trade routes brought piracy, and the inhabitants soon found themselves caught in a frenzy of pillage.

One day, young Sarah returned home to hear gunshots and screaming. Her front door was smashed open; inside, she saw her mother lying in a pool of blood. A sudden blow to her head made her collapse next to her slain mother. The last thing she could remember were her attacker’s red eyes, as his face was blocked by a rogue’s bandana. Miss Fortune has a strong distrust for pirates and she finds herself constantly bickering with the infamous Gangplank (the only captain to resist her charms) over the direction of Bilgewater politics. Her two goals: to unite the people of Bilgewater, making them into a strong and independent society, and to find the pirate who killed her mother. To that end, she has entered the League of Legends as a champion, trading her skills for the wealth and influence that will help her accomplish both.

“More men have voluntarily surrendered to the care of Miss Fortune than any other bounty hunter.”
-Grinnick Torip, Bilgewater Bonds

Abilities:

Double Up: Miss Fortune fires a single bullet at an enemy target, dealing that enemy and another target behind the first.

Impure Shots: Miss Fortune passively increases damage dealt to a target with each strike. This ability can be activated to increase Miss Fortune’s attack speed and cause her attacks to lower healing received by the target.

Make It Rain: Miss Fortune unleashes a flurry of bullets at a location, dealing waves of damage to opponents and slowing them.

Bullet Time (Ultimate): Miss Fortune unleashes a flurry of bullets at a location, dealing waves of damage to opponents and slowing them.

Strut (Passive): Miss Fortune gains an additional 25 movement speed after falling out of combat for 7 or more seconds, increasing each second up to 80 maximum bonus speed.

I have managed to hunt down more juicy info on our little pirate friend Miss Fortune, the Bounty Hunter, including her skills, abilities, and a screenshot of her. Hopefully my source ( http://www.gamerzneeds.net/forums/blogs/lllae86lll/league-legends-new-champion-leaked-miss-fortune-916/ ) is true about all this, but it seems legit.

Skills

(Passive) Strut
Miss Fortune gains an additional 25 movement speed after falling out of combat for 7 or more seconds, increasing each second up to 80 maximum bonus speed.

(Q) Double Up
Miss Fortune fires a shot at an enemy target, dealing X (+75% of her attack damage) as physical damage and 120% of that damage to another enemy target behind the firs

(W) Impure Shots
Passive: Increases Miss Fortune’s damage on her target by X (+AP ratio) with each attack, cumulatively stacking up to 4 times.
Active: Miss Fortune’s attack speed is increased by Y% for 6 seconds and causes her attacks to lower healing received by the target by 50%.

(E) Make It Rain
Miss Fortune fires hundreds of bullets into the air which rain down at a location after 0.5 seconds, dealing X (+AP ratio) magic damage over 2 seconds and slowing enemies hit by Y% for 1.5 seconds.

(R) Bullet Time
Miss Fortune channels a barrage of bullets into a cone in front of her for 2 seconds, dealing X plus the higher value between (AP ratio) or Y magic damage per bullet, hitting up to 8 times to each target.

Instant Messenger/Voice chat

The built in instant messenger works fine. It messages people whether they are in game or not, but it will not leave offline messages. The voice chat, on the other hand, is quiet,low quality, and call-based instead of room based, minus clan/group chat rooms (though you can have group conversations and IM conversations). I really dislike it. Even worse, it’s built in to a lot of games, so, though you can set it t push to talk as well as mute yourself, I dislike being obligated into voice when I play with a clan that uses another voice chat software

Game Selection and Sales

The selection on Steam is amazing. All top games (minus those by Blizzard) are on Steam, and usually have sales if you preorder them. Indie games are everywhere and are under constant sales (for example, I just bought a $10 game for $2 because of a sale), and are of very high quality. During Christmas there was a huge sale, most games had a sale on them at least once Christmas week. Steam offers 4 packs of some games that let you and 3 friends save a ton of money, permitting one person buys the game and sends out the other copies. There are also packs of games sold on Steam occasionally that usually save you at least 25%, usually more like 75%.

Almost every month Steam lets all gamers try a game for free for a weekend, and during that time it’s usually on sale. The last few games that had this were Team Fortress 2 and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2.

There are also many free demos of games, trials of MMOs, free mods, and a few free to play games available.

Community

The community on Steam, though better than Xbox, is worse and more apt to cursing random people out than in most PC communities. The modders and game developers on Steam keep it alive and kicking though, with helpful forum posts and game mods compatible with Steam games. The indie devs actually reply to most support mosts you make!

There are built in achievements if the developer so wishes to include them, as well as leaderboards. Competitions are very easy to come by and usually the best of the best are on Steam.

Overlay

The overlay built into Steam is activated using shift+tab, one of the oddest combinations ever. I accidentally hit the combination every so often when checking stats while running/walking in game. Yes, I bet I can change it, but I shouldn’t have to.

The overlay itself has almost every function steam has out of game (voice chat, instant messenger, store, server browser, friends list and statuses). It’s handy, until it randomly pops up and annoys you. Oh well.

Overall Quality

Overall, Steam is the best for buying new games because of their cheap prices, but there are better options out there for instant messengers and voice chat. It’s handy to see who is playing what games and having the ability to invite them to play, but Steam is bulky and likes to glitch up every so often, especially when it’s updating or downloading games. It’s a shame Steam has such a monopoly on electronic distribution, but maybe I’ll find more luck with Impulse or the future Xfire.

You can get Steam at http://store.steampowered.com/

With the recent increase in ninja population at the Institute of War, there has been some PR backlash amongst pirate enthusiasts. For those like myself, who proudly sail under the Black Flag, Riot Games has asked me to inform you that you have not been forgotten! Every scurvy dog has his day, and very soon, you shall have yours!

To appease these constituents, we have our latest pirate champion coming up! Her name is Miss Fortune, the Bounty Hunter, and she’s got everything a lady buccaneer should offer. I mean, just check out the pair on her! Those are some seriously huge, enormous, titanic pistols she’s got there! That’s right, pistols. What did you think I was talking about? So start getting excited! Miss Fortune will be sailing into your port, soon!

NOTE: New leaked info on Miss Fortune has been posted HERE!

Step Mania does a very good job porting the game. Songs must be downloaded from the internet from sites like http://otakusdream.com/ and http://www.stepmania.com/wiki/Download_Songs. They are all user-made using the in-game tools. Song creators have the same options to make songs as the people who make real DDR songs, but user made ones are often of higher quality. Many Step Mania songs are only offered to higher skill levels (just Google it, there are people that are absolutely crazy with their keyboards), but there are still enough songs for newbies to get a hang of the game with and for pad play.

Step Mania is skinable, supports videos in songs, lyrics in songs, easter eggs in songs (they make the directional keys show up in funny ways on screen, or sometimes not at all), a song unlock mode, custom characters that dance to the songs while you play, local multiplayer play, game options including difficulty settings if the song allows it, special settings like unlimited play, slot-machine mode (the game can be used to run an actual DDR arcade system), and online multiplayer play with people who have the same songs as you (note you must have Step Mania version 4 to play online, which is in beta at the time of writing this post).

I really love this game. It has such low system requirements I play it on my higher-end netbook whenever I am bored in the car. The only problem is that the keys are small, so I change up down left right to WASD and it works fine. I get no lag that would effect gameplay, and, as long as the song is in beat, the game is always registering the keys correctly.

The game is so small you can have it and a few songs just to play once in a while on your computer without any hassle at all, and since it’s free there is no reason not to try it! You can get the Mac, Linux, and Windows versions at http://www.stepmania.com/wiki/Downloads

More/Less Lanes

A lot of people say that more lanes would be better and 1v1 would be fun. I really doubt either would work out. Through the 3v3 map Twisted Treeline on League of Legends worked perfectly, if not better than the original 5v5 map, a map with, say, 7v7 would simply be too chaotic. Too many lanes mean that ganking the lane on the other side of the map without walking for five minutes straight would get boring. Soon everyone will just say “screw it” and initiate a teamfight. People will come to help from the other side of the map, and they won’t make it. If they choose not to try to help, the teamfight will have no actual effect on the because it was on the other side of the map; the winners of the fight cannot gank that far fast enough to be a threat. Also, more people mean the team chat will be clogged (especially if they are on voice chat) and information will not be exchanged as easily.

As for 1v1, some characters can simply beat other characters early game. There is no way around it. That person will, inevitably, win the game. Besides, the game would have to either be blind pick (ie, your chances on winning are random) or you flip a coin to see who goes first (ie, the second chooser has a huge advantage). Also, jungling would be pointless if there is only 1 lane; there would be no one to hold it, so the person who is winning just gets more XP so that they can win even more.

I think that a single lane 2v2 map would work out, though. Blind pick or drafting characters would be fine because you could have two people that compliment each other and keep each other alive, even against characters that would otherwise completely kill them. One could hold the lane while the other jungles, and if one dies the other can hold the lane. Plus, communication would be perfect because there would be no question of who you are talking to and less targets to confuse you or your teammate over.

Capture the Flag

Also a popular idea among the communities, but it ultimately fails. Though it sounds good on paper (tanks defend the flag, stunners and mages intercept enemies, and DPS run like crazy to get the flag), I really doubt it will work out well. You see, people fail to remember that leveling up, getting items, and the minions are a core part of what makes a game DotA based. There would be no place for the minions, as people will have not much reason to kill them if they can get the flag. Levels and money could come from getting the flag, but that would only make the winners better. You would need to throw sight and vision wards down in the jungle no matter what, or else your team would spread too much. DotA is a game where you always have a chance, no matter how slim, and capture the flag cannot be carried out with that mindset.

Oh, and, in LoL, Teemo would be OP. ’nuff said.

Multiple teams

In normal games, having multiple teams would probably not work. Now, I like the idea of 3v3v3 with bases in a triangle and one lane going from one base to the other, with the jungle in the middle. I think the set up would work perfectly. That is, until one team’s base is destroyed (ignore the fact that the two other teams ganged up on the third to destroy it, though that is a problem) and one lane goes nowhere. So, what do you do then? Well, one could try to push the super long lane that goes to the dead team’s base then to the enemy base, but that’s an awful long walk while your teammates are on the other side of the map. So, what if there were three lanes and it was 5v5v5 (the third lanes clashing in the middle, then going to each base, respectively, the bases still in a triangle)? That would probably work even better.

But, like I said, it would be easy for one team to get destroyed by the two others, and that would suck for that third team. There has to be some sort of incentive for that one loosing team to keep playing and not give up. Maybe an XP/Gold bonus if the battle takes place inside/just outside their base so that they could push out? That would mean that if they push an enemy back to their base the enemy could use the XP/gold bonus to defend and retaliate, and the game would either go to the team that was able to push the hardest the fastest into the enemy base (thus not letting the enemy take advantage of their XP/gold boost) or, when everyone has full levels and builds, the team that simply has the best skill and build. I actually like that idea.

King of the hill

I was going to say this wouldn’t work, but then I had a thought: what if neutral minions spawned from the center of  THE HILL instead of your base, and that your base was defenseless, and that your enemies could not get into your base to destroy it, only the minions? So, the hill would be in the center of the map, and two or more teams could fight on the hill for control. I doubt any team would ever be left alone on the hill, so give points every second for each player a team has on the hill. If a team ignores the minions going down their lane, their base would be destroyed or they would be underleveled, or both.

As with every DotA based game, the winner has to have some sort of disadvantage and the looser has to have some sort of advantage. I think that the best thing for this in King of the Hill would be respawn time. That or have a tower on the hill that only shoots at the winning team. Hm… sorry, just brainstorming concepts over here. What do you think? (leave your comments!)

Node-based games

My personal favorite idea for a new game type would be a Starwars Battlefront – like system of bases on the map that you have to stand on for so long in order to take control of it. You may pick which base you would like to spawn from. I guess there would be nutral minions spawning from the base and towers around it to defend it even when no one controls it, and when you take control of it the minions become your minions and the towers respawn. You loose if someone takes over all the bases (for other Battlefront fans that know what I am talking about, no, I don’t think having a team total of lives will work well; besides, it would make the gameplay different, especially for the loosing team).

I think there would be an option to implement a “shared energy” system in this mode to keep a balance: all your bases and towers use the same source for energy, and when you have more than one the power literally splits between them all, splitting up the power and hp of towers and buildings in your possession. This means that the middle bases will constantly be under strife from tanks and DPSs trying to backdoor, so you would have to have priorities.

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Well, that’s all the ideas I have for LoL. I think the future of League of Legends is bright and shiny with such a dedicated developer and community. Now, I want your opinions! Post them below as comments!

Instant Messenger/Voice chat

Xfire’s instant messenger has all the standard IM features, but no offline message system. It has compatibility for AIM, MSN, and Twitter connectivity, which is pretty impressing. It’s voice chat is of lower quality than Skype and Mumble, but higher than Steam, TeamSpeak, and Ventrilo. It has support for group chats with up to 50 people.

Game Selection and Sales

Xfire was not originally made to be a platform for selling games, but when Viacom/MTV bought it they tried very hard to sell a few games, but got almost no sales, so they sold it to Titan Gaming. Titan wants to make Xfire more of a platform for selling games, like Steam, but for now they haven’t changed anything (just a note, it looks like Titan will be very indie friendly). With this all being said, at the moment of this post, games on Xfire are all sold for retail price, but the Xfire community heavily embraces free to play games, many of which you can download via Xfire.

Community

The people on Xfire are very fun and exciting. There are always trolls in every community, but even they get hyped up when an event is being planned by the Xfire team. There are often prize events in free to play games for players or groups that play so many hours, as well as live interviews with developers. The forums are always heavily used.

Group are everywhere on Xfire, and starting one is easy. Once you get one friend, there is a friends-of-friends list on your IM list, where you can add friends of friends, then once you add them you can add even more, and you can invite them all to your group. Groups on Xfire aren’t very professional due to the lowest average age (14 seems to be average) I’ve seen on any gaming platform, but they are fun.

Overlay

Xfire’s overlay is simply amazing. With it you can:

• Take screenshots
• Take in-game video
• Message others
• See your FPS
• Browse the internet
• Use voice chat like you would out of game
• Control your media player
• Server browser
• Game Laucher

and probably even more that I don’t know about. All videos and screenshots can be uploaded to Xfire and displayed on your group’s homepage.

Overall Quality

Xfire is a no-budget group’s dream. It has everything a gaming group needs to communicate, function and have fun. It’s overlay allows for in-game group conversations and calls, as well as a way to record your finest moments and show them to your friends. Of course, Xfire’s downfall is that if you use a third part website, voicechat, or forum the point of having Xfire is halfway removed, and that in its near future it will be heavily monotized. Hopefully Titan Gaming knows what they are doing and gives us a ton of cheap games instead of Xfire’s current list of a few expensive games.

You can get Xfire at http://www.xfire.com/

Not many people know that Skype was originally created by Ebay. They have since sold the majoity of their ownership of Skype to focus their attention on other, more Ebay-like things.

Skype’s features include:

• Group chats
• Calling and texting real phones (for money; this is the only feature Skype charges for)
• One-way screen streaming video (only works in a 1 on 1 conversation)
• Video chat with webcams

As a gamer, Skype should not be your first choice for VOIP in games, but it should certainly be your second or third because a) most people have it on their computer, b) it’s free, and c) no one has to set up a server. But, as I said, Skype is the #1 resource hogger among voice chat programs, even if it does a very good job hiding it (if your computer isn’t that good, Skype does give leeway to your games, but you will notice better performance without it running).

Many people find it annoying when people call you while you are in game, as a ring tone plays and a popup appears, sometimes throwing you out of your game. Because of this, and its resource consumption, I tend to shy away from using Skype now, but if you just need a quick VOIP with lots of features and simple to start using and get friends to use, Skype is your best bet (and the streaming your desktop to a single person really helps you give computer assistance!).

Get Skype at http://www.skype.com/

A video card, also known as a graphics card, is what allows the user of a computer to see what they are clicking on, typing, managing, etc. Video cards can either be integrated (Also known as “On board Graphics”, but for the sake of this essay we will be calling them integrated), or separately adaptable through PCI, AGP, or PCIe slots on the motherboard. All video cards consist of the following things: A GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), a Video BIOS (Basic Input/Output System), and Video memory.

Integrated graphics

Integrated graphics are called on board graphics since, ofcourse, they are directly attached to the motherboard. An integrated graphics card usually has a low level of performance, when it comes to heavy 3D applications. Integrated graphics are available with all motherboards, for the reason that every person using a computer needs to see what they’re doing. With that in mind, the motherboard manufacturer figures 2 things: 1. They need to make their motherboards as cost efficient for them as possible, so a not so high-performing card is integrated in. 2. They can’t put one in through PCI-e and what not, because the motherboard needs to manufactured as a whole part, not 2 or 3 things put together.

Integrated Graphics usually overheat when executing heavy 3D applications, because of not having a heatsink or a fan. Some DO have heatsinks, but thats far and few. In fact, I can relate from personal experience because as you’re reading this paragraph, my computer’s side tray is open and i have a fan blowing on my graphics card, considering that if the fan isn’t on, it will overheat to 120 degrees Celsius (248 degrees Fahrenheit. Thats hotter than the boiling point of water!) during any type of 3D game. Then I’ll get about 4 fps, and somehow, my audio will start to repeat, and that’s when it all goes to hell. On rare occasions, I’ll end up with the Blue Screen of Death (It’s happened about 4 times so far). So there’s your example on how integrated graphics cards can overheat.

Separate Video cards (Through PCI, AGP, or PCI-E)

Video cards can also be bought separately through either a store whether it is online, or right in your hometown (i.e. Best Buy, Radio Shack, Newegg, Amazon, and so on). The only thing is that you have to open up your computer case and look to see if the video card slot is PCI, PCIe, or AGP. PCI and AGP are quit PCI slots are VERY commonly used, especially on somewhat newer to somewhat older makes of motherboards. AGP slots are not used as much as PCI or PCIe, thus causing manufacturers of video cards not making them compatible. PCIe (PCI Express) slots are starting to become very popular among the newer makes of motherboards. Video cards can be bought after you have purchased your new computer, or if you customize one from an online source, for example IBuyPower, you can add in what video card you want, or you can go with on board graphics. These types of cards, 90% of the time, have their own fans. The other 10%, is either heatsinks, or on old models, nothing at all. This is definitely the way to go if you play lots of heavy 3D games, and want your card to perform at it’s best, and yet, staying cool at the same time. I highly recommend using this type of card, whether it be PCI, PCIe, or AGP.

GPU, VIDEO BIOS, AND VIDEO MEMORY

GPU: A GPU, or Graphics Processing Unit, is quite like a CPU in what it performs. The only difference between a GPU and a CPU, is that a GPU is solely dedicating to the video card ONLY. It is meant to “translate” 3D images into 2D images, in the arrangement of pixels. Every GPU is, what is called clocked, at a certain speed, measured in hertz (Hz). Hertz is the measure of the frequency of a wave. Frequency is how many waves pass a single point in one second (1 Hz= 1 wave passing by a point in one second, whether it be from crest to crest, or trough to trough). In the computing world, it also can be measured in Kilohertz (KHz), Megahertz (MHz), and Gigahertz (GHz). 1 KHz= 1000 Hz. 1 MHz= 1000 KHz. 1 GHz= 1000 MHz. So, in turn. 1 GHz= 1,000,000,000 (1 billion) Hz. That’s a lot of energy! I’d hate to bog you down with all this math, so I’ll stop there. To sum it up, the higher the clock, the faster the information gets processed, which is always a good thing.

VIDEO BIOS: The video BIOS is essentially the firmware for the video card, and regulates what the video card is clocked at, how it performs, information about the memory, and other important aspects of the card. changes can be made to the BIOS to possibly overclock the video, but if done wrong, it can perform serious damage to the video card.

VIDEO MEMORY: Video memory comes in many different forms and amounts. Modern memory amounts can range from 128 MB to 4 GB; integrated video card memory usually ranges from 128 MB to 512 MB. The types of memory consisted with video cards are: VRAM, DDR, DDR2, GDDR3 (Produced by ATI), GDDR4, and GDDR5.

I hope you enjoyed, and learned a ton from this review that I put together. Check back for more reviews, like this one!

Links:

http://www.amd.com/us/Pages/AMDHomePage.aspx

http://www.nvidia.com/page/home.html

http://www.ibuypower.com/

http://www.newegg.com/

http://www.amazon.com/

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_card

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clock_frequency

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/4-types-of-graphics-cards

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GDDR3

Lore:

There are warriors who become great for their strength, cunning, or skill with arms. Others simply refuse to die. Urgot, once a great soldier of Noxus, may constitute a case in support of the latter. Prone to diving headlong into enemy battle lines, Urgot sewed chaos throughout the enemy ranks, often sustaining grievous injuries in the process. When his body was unable to weather further abuse, the crippled Urgot was delegated the position of High Executioner of Noxus. By this time, his hands had been ruined and he could barely walk. Scythe-like grafts affixed to his maimed limbs served to carry out his bloody work.

Urgot finally met his end at what should have been his finest hour. Because of his military background, he often accompanied detachments into foreign territory to carry out judgment. After ambushing an enemy force, Jarvan IV, Crown Prince of Demacia, fell into the clutches of Urgot’s division. Too far from Noxus to risk transporting their prize for ransom, Urgot prepared to dispose of their captive. At the final moment, however, the Dauntless Vanguard, led by Garen, the Might of Demacia, intervened, and Urgot was cut in two by the zealous warrior as he scrambled to free his Prince. In recognition of his service, the executioner’s remains were remanded to the Bleak Academy for reanimation. A lifetime of abuse, however, had left his body in a catastrophic state; proving problematic to the necromancers’ craft. Professor Stanwick Pididly, the prevailing scholar of Zaun, offered a solution. Within Pididly’s laboratories, a nightmarish new body was forged for Urgot. Now as much machine as man, Urgot arrived at the League of Legends in search of the man who ended his life; necromantic energies coursing through his metal veins.

“We can rebuild him. We have the techmaturgy.” –Professor Stanwick Pididly

Ability descriptions:

Acid Hunter: Urgot fires an Acid Hunter missile that slows the target. The Acid Hunter missile locks onto enemies afflicted with Noxian Corrosive Charge.

Terror Capacitor: Urgot charges up his capacitor to gain a shield. While the shield is active, Urgot’s physical damage is increased.

Noxian Corrosive Charge:Urgot launches a corrosive charge that damages enemies in an area and reduces their armor.

Hyper-Kinetic Position Reverser (ultimate): Urgot charges up his Hyper-Kinetic Position Reverser, gaining armor and magic resistance and swapping positions with his target. After the swap, his target is slowed.

Zaun-Touched Bolt Augmenter (passive):Urgot’s attacks reduce the damage that his target deals.