Riot Games has officially gone live with League of Legends: Dominion, the brand new, capture-and-hold style game mode.

On the official website, Riot had this to say:

"Nearly a year in the making, League of Legends: Dominion represents the largest and most ambitious update to League of Legends since its launch in October of 2009. In Dominion, summoners do battle on a brand new map, the Crystal Scar, and vie for control over five Capture Points, a style of play never before attempted in the League of Legends universe.

 

League of Legends: Dominion is the latest example of our ongoing commitment to bringing you the best of the MOBA genre in new and innovative ways. You've been requesting new battlefields upon which to test your skills, and today you'll do battle not only on a brand new Field of Justice, but in an entirely new and groundbreaking game mode!

We've had a lot of fun playing Dominion and we think that diehard League of Legends fans will love it, but we also think that it has something to offer new players as well. The capture and hold gameplay is so familiar for fans of first-person shooters, that we think a whole new crowd of players may find something to love in League of Legends.

For more information on the game or to get started playing for free, check out http://na.leagueoflegends.com/.

BioWare heads Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk just announced the EU and NA launch dates and subscription options for Star Wars: The Old Republic. December 20th for the NA, and December 22nd for the EU.  Yes, of 2011. Mark those calendars!

“This is an incredible moment for everyone at BioWare and our partners at LucasArts who have dedicated their lives to build this extraordinary game. We appreciate the patience from the millions of fans who have been waiting for the game’s release.”

It's also worth noting that those who pre-order will still get early access, so if you're anxious to get in ahead of everyone else and you haven't already done so, you may want to pre-order now.

Read more over at the Official SWTOR Site.

The release window for Diablo 3 has shifted from sometime this year to early next year. Blizzard have decided to use the time to extend the current beta. “We didn’t put so many years of work into Diablo III to release a game that was almost ready,” says co-founder and CEO of Blizzard, Mike Morhaime. “The beta test is going very well, and we look forward to making the most of the extra time we’re taking to deliver an experience that lives up to our vision for the game and the expectations of our players.”

The announcement also says that Blizzard will be “potentially adding more testers than initially projected,” so if you’re eager to get an early look at one of the most anticipated PC games in development at the moment, make sure you’ve opted in on your accounts page on Battle.net.

Today Riot Games has announced a limited open beta testing of its new game format "Dominion".

Summoners!

Last week we announced that Dominion would be available for limited periods of time leading up to its official release as part of a limited beta test . Well, we’re pleased to announce that the limited beta is under way!

Over the coming days, we’ll be opening testing windows on our platforms during off-peak hours, each of which will be prefaced by a forum announcement to let you know you can and participate. And if you miss one of the testing windows, remember that there will be plenty more opportunities to help test Dominion as we speed toward launch!

We’re entering the home stretch, summoners! The dawn of League of Legends: Dominion is almost upon us!

Save the world without spending a dime.

If the proposition of buying DC Universe Online and then paying a monthly fee has been keeping you away from Sony Online Entertainment's MMO, prepare to enter Gotham City next month. In October, DC Universe Online goes free to play.

Both PlayStation 3 and PC players will be able to download and play the game for free. Three tiered levels will act as the game's revenue source from there along with in-game microtransactions. Here's the official breakdown from SOE

Free
New players will now have access to the current gameplay in DC Universe Online (including Gotham City, Metropolis, and all current raids and alerts), with the ability to create two characters, join a league and many other benefits. Free level players will be able to purchase downloadable game packs/updates, additional character slots, powers and more through microtransactions.

Premium
Any player who has spent at least $5 (including former paid subscribers and new players who have purchased $5 of in-game items) will qualify for the Premium access level. Premium level players will have more benefits available to them than the Free level player, including additional character slots, additional inventory slots, and higher cash limits. Downloadable adventure packs, additional character slots, and more can be purchased in-game.

Legendary
Maximum features and benefits are included at this level. Loaded with enhanced additional features, Legendary access will be available for a $14.99 monthly fee and includes all DLC packs at no cost, more than 15 character slots, more than 80 inventory slots, the ability to form unrestricted-sized leagues, and many other benefits.

If you've already paid for a PC lifetime subscription or a PS3 plan, that deal still stands when this switch happens in late October. This event also marks the end of DCUO's auto-renew feature. In the past, the game would automatically resubscribe you when your subscription lapsed. That's over now – a result of the more than 40 percent of people who quit EverQuest II and complained about the auto-renew in a SOE survey.

"We decided 'Let's listen to them'," said Lorin Jameson, SOE executive producer. "I don't know about you, but my credit card statement every month is this amalgam of s*** of MMOs that I'm too lazy to cancel. What we want is to offer people a way to not worry about that."

The announcement of the free to play move comes just seven months after SOE released DC Universe Online. SOE wouldn't go into the exact number of subscribers currently playing the game, but Jameson said numbers are up since the move to megaservers and that free to play was not in response to subscriber numbers.

"In terms of 'Is it a result in a drop in subs' – absolutely not," he said. "This is the right business model. If I can be honest, the game ended up costing a lot more than we thought it would, and this was our preferred business model from day one."

If you're a stickler for fair play, SOE said you don't have to worry about microtransactions breaking the game. Super-powerful items such as Superman's raid suit will not be purchasable and experience won't be for sale in October. The experience will be similar to Free Realms' free to play model, SOE said, and you can expect to see it in games that are out now and future releases.

"We are really seeing the benefits of free to play, and we're really liking it," Jameson said. "Needless to say we're paying close attention to it and maybe looking to make some surprise moves a little later."