Riot unveils Warcraft-inspired RTS

Riot Games has unveiled League of Legends, a competitive online game attempting to blend RPG and RTS gameplay.

The idea is to occupy the persistent role of a Summoner (RTS general), who watches battles from a far and participates in them through Champion units, which gain levels, unlock abilities and gather items by being active.

Then, eventually, the Summoner will also gain rank, unlocking its own array of abilities to unleash on enemies.

Clans, statistics, rankings, anti-cheat systems and all the necessary features of an online PC game will be included. And Riot Games is even adding a single-player bot mode for people who do silly things like practice.

LOL (what a wonderful acronym) sounds rather like Warcraft III mod Defence of the Ancients, then - and looks like it. But that's no surprise, seeing as staff from Riot Games made the mod.

League of Legends is due for beta testing next year. Until then, pop into our League of Legends gallery for the very first shots.