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Riot Games is hitting "undo" on its recent massively unpopular changes to League of Legends that essentially made everything in the game harder for players to unlock without spending money. After the company saw negative comments spammed across social media, widespread talk of a player boycott and over 32,000 signatures gathered on a petition to fire CEO Dylan Jadeja, the company acknowledged that the recent updates "didn't hit the mark for everyone." As a result, Riot is (among other changes) bringing back Hextech Chests and cutting in half the Blue Essence cost of all champions to win back disgruntled players. For a master class in the corporate art of selling opposing messages with equal gusto, watch Riot Games' last two League Of Legends dev update videos back-to-back. Less than three weeks ago, studio head Andrei van Roon and executive producer Paul Bellezza put on their best Ward Cleaver faces to matter-of-factly explain why too much free stuff for players wasn't good for Riot's long-term finances: Fast-forward to Wednesday's video, and the same pair can be seen hustling to backpedal as hard as possible, acknowledging that "some of you are frustrated, even questioning if Riot is still the company you've always known" while promising they "get it." (I almost expected a crisis hotline number to flash across the screen.) "When our decisions don't land the way we intended, it can damage your trust," Bellezza somberly admits: Setting aside the amusing nature of corporate attempts to personalize business decisions, today's changes should help inspire more confidence from the fanbase. Hextech Chests aren't just returning you'll find more of them. Starting with next week's patch (25.05), you'll be able to earn up to 10 Chests and Keys per Act. Eight will be spread throughout the free Pass (in place of the Seasonal skin and Mystery Epic or Lower Skin); another two will be learnable through Honor (the game's system to encourage good sportsmanship). Riot stressed that these will be identical to the Chests previously earned through Champ Mastery. Other changes include a 50 percent reduction in Blue Essence cost for all champions. In addition, Riot is delaying the widely panned Sahn Uzal Mordekaiser Exalted skin "to take more time to make sure it better delivers on its core fantasy." It also plans to take more time improving future Exalted skins, which means "you likely won't see one in every Act this year as originally planned." Finally, Clash is returning to a monthly schedule, Your Shop will be back in Patch 25.06 and the Blue Essence Emporium will reappear in 25.07. The community is (understandably) pleased with itself in forcing the pivot. "Holy shit, bullying works," u/DirtyChickenBones (an all-time handle if ever there was one) posted in the League subreddit. "NEVER STOP BULLYING CORPORATIONS," u/HunniePopKing yelled triumphantly as if perched on the bow of the Titanic in the same thread. Others retained a grounded realism about the reversal. "Don't think for one second this changes their approach," u/eBay_Riven_GG wrote. "They will keep limit-testing what they can get away with. Keep complaining if you want improvements." Reacting to Bellezza's comment about the changes not resonating with players, u/350 wrote, "'Didn't hit the mark for everyone,' bruh, it didn't hit the mark for anyone except the CEO." You can check out Riot's dev blog post for more details on Riot's reversal on all those changes that "didn't hit the mark."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/riot-is-reversing-its-unpopular-league-of-legends-changes-203925763.html?src=rss
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Warner Bros Discovery recently shut down a trio of game studios, including the well-regarded Monolith Productions. This has put one of the coolest game mechanics of the 2010s in limbo. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor's excellent Nemesis system is locked behind a patent owned by Warner Bros all the way until 2036, according to reporting by Eurogamer. The Nemesis system was featured in both 2014s Shadow of Mordor and the follow-up Middle-earth: Shadow of War. Simply put, its a gameplay mechanic in which enemies remember previous encounters with the protagonist. These antagonists, typically orcs in the LOTR games, would use these humiliating memories to fuel their thirst for revenge as they rose through the ranks. This mechanic also worked both ways, so enemies would remember besting you in a previous encounter. It was the best part of those two titles and Monolith had planned on bringing back the mechanic for a now-cancelled Wonder Woman game. Now the system is lying unused, locked behind a patent vault in David Zaslavs mega-yacht or whatever. Gigantic multinational corporations are awesome! *Monolith makes the awesome Nemesis system for Shadow of Mordor, everyone loves it**WB patents it, making it pretty much impossible for other devs to use it**WB shuts down Monolith*RIP the Nemesis system, I guess! pic.twitter.com/z2KVkT97tV Cade Onder (@Cade_Onder) February 25, 2025 Warner Bros Discovery patented the system in 2016, which you can read right here. The patent is active until 2036, so long as the company keeps up with the associated fees. Its worth noting that in the nine years since patenting the system, its only been used in a single game. Thats Shadow of War, which came out in 2017 and was already in development when Warner Bros went ahead with the patent. It remains to be seen if Warner Bros Discovery will do anything with the Nemesis system. It had nine years of heavy game development to make use of it across its entire IP portfolio, but didnt. In that time period, plenty of Batman games and Hogwarts Legacy all came out. Those would have surely benefited from the unique mechanic. Oh well. WB will still focus some resources on game development, but the companys efforts will be primarily spent on four franchises. These include Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, the DC universe and Game of Thrones. Three of those four seem like good fits for the Nemesis system to me.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/shadow-of-mordors-innovative-nemesis-system-is-locked-behind-a-patent-until-2036-195437208.html?src=rss
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The Nintendo DS' stylus-based messaging app PictoChat wasn't the first place I instant-messaged (that would be my friend's AIM account) but it was absolutely the least overwhelming and most pleasant place it happened. PicoChat, an iMessage app from developer Idrees Hassan that you can download right now, attempts to recapture some of that peer-to-peer messaging magic on your iPhone. PicoChat looks like a version of PictoChat thats been squeezed into the lower-third of your iPhone, complete with alphanumeric and emoji keyboards, and controls to change the line weight of your drawings. It wouldnt be PictoChat without the ability to draw and write with a stylus, so PicoChat also goes the extra mile and displays an onscreen stylus when you doodle with your finger. ian Carlos Campbell for Engadget Nintendo debuted PictoChat alongside the original Nintendo DS in 2004 as more of a curiosity than a play at messaging dominance. The app required both messengers to connect their handhelds over the same Wi-Fi network, which naturally limited its reach as a communication tool. Still, Nintendo included the software on the DS Lite and the DSi in 2006 and 2009, respectively, and the 3DS optional Swapnote app was considered a spiritual successor of sorts when it came out in 2011. PicoChat can't fully recreate the small, personal feeling of PictoChat while strapped on top of iMessage, but if you miss the cumbersome, but considered messaging of your DS days, it's a pretty great hit of nostalgia. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/the-dream-of-pictochat-on-the-nintendo-ds-lives-on-in-this-imessage-app-194040764.html?src=rss
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