Six months after an in-depth Kotaku report revealed a pervasive "bro culture" at League of Legends studio Riot Games, the company has hired Angela Roseboro, formerly of Dropbox, as its first Chief Diversity Officer. Roseboro will oversee all diversity and inclusion activities at the studio, as well as the creation of new programs aimed at encouraging a more inclusive culture, and will "lead the recruiting team in driving inclusivity in Riot’s hiring and talent sourcing processes." 

"I've had the opportunity to meet some incredible Rioters who are passionate about creating a culture where everyone thrives together. I was so taken by the heart and soul of this company and—in spite of setbacks or hurdles—I'm excited to be part of this journey," Roseboro said in a statement. "I can't wait to get started and to do my part to make sure we have a culture that embraces the uniqueness of every Rioter and a community where everyone feels a sense of belonging." 

Riot posted an update on "Diversity, Inclusion, and Riot Culture" earlier this week, detailing the efforts it's made so far to improve its workplace culture. That includes "revisiting cultural definitions" at the studio, bringing in third-party consultants to make recommendations and audit performances, improving its internal investigation processes, and improving its recruiting, training, and education systems. 

The studio also said that it's already investigated and acted on "dozens of new claims" since the initial allegations were made public, "and took appropriate action in each case, including cutting ties with Rioters at almost all levels of the company where appropriate." 

Prior to joining Riot, Roseboro served a similar role at Dropbox as the company's Global Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. "We’ve been searching for the right person to help us become a positive force for D&I in our industry and beyond, and I’m thrilled to welcome Angela to the team," Riot chief people officer Emily Winkle said. "I know I speak for the entire Riot leadership team when I say that we can’t wait for her to start." 

In September 2018, Riot hired former Uber senior vice president of leadership and strategy Frances Frei to help guide the company's internal changes. Riot was sued in November 2018 over allegations of gender discrimination.   

If I wanted to become a videogame artist, Riot Games probably wouldn't be my first choice of instructors, but even if I'm pretty sure this Champion is just Iron Giant with boxing gloves, Riot's 'So You Wanna Make Games' video series is pretty good, offering a basic overview of the various fields aspiring game artists can pursue. 

The first episode is embedded above, and you can find all the videos in this playlist. They cover everything from VFX and UI design to concept art and animation, running through the basic principles that guide each field (anecdotally, I hear VFX artists are in demand).

You won't find anything instructional in the videos, but a glimpse into the processes each artist goes through as they build fireballs and environments and health meters. If you have an interest in creating art for games but don't know where to start, the series, which was posted last month, is worth a watch.

A new League of Legends hero named Sylas the Unshackled is coming to the game in the 9.2 patch that's set to go live tomorrow. Sylas brings "merciless magical attacks" to the fight, including an ultimate ability that enables him to steal an opponent's ultimate and use it himself. 

Sylas' Chain Lash attack damages and slightly slows enemies, and also causes a delayed explosion (with an increased slow effect) where they intersect. Kingslayer is a powerful lunging attack that damages enemies and heals Sylas, with an increased effect if either Sylas or his opponent have low health, while Abscond/Abduct enables him to dash a short distance and shield himself; recasting the ability within a short timeframe will enable him to use his chains to stun and damage enemies, and pull himself toward them—sort of a reverse Scorpion maneuver. 

His passive, Petricite Burst, causes his chains to whirl around him and damage nearby enemies in his next basic attack after casting a spell, and his ultimate, appropriately named Hijack, lets him take other ultimates for his own use. Opposing players can still use their ultimates, even if Sylas has swiped it; he can steal an opponent's ultimate ability anytime Hijack is off cooldown, but he can't repeatedly swipe the same ultimate in quick succession. 

"By the late game you can seize multiple ultimates in quick succession, using the enemy team’s own strength against them and bringing your revolution to a violent conclusion," Riot said on the Champion Reveal page. 

"You can’t Hijack the same enemy for a while after you take their ability, so plot out the full revolt before you start stealing ults. There’s no rush to use what you have, but hesitate too long and you’ll miss opportunities to unleash even more ultimates." 

Sylas the Unshackled is set to go live Thursday, when the League of Legends 9.2 update comes off the PBE where it's been in testing. Riot also recently teased new things for LoL in 2019 that we'll be hearing more about soon, and there's also a new "Awaken" cinematic that you might enjoy too. We'll update with the full 9.2 patch notes when they're posted. 

Riot Games has posted a sneak peek at what’s coming to League of Legends across 2019, teasing future game modes, the new Marvel comics, tournament venues and a new support champion. Check out the video below. 

Here’s everything that was teased in the video:

•  New game modes 
•  Upcoming Marvel comics 
•  Location of MSI and Worlds 
•  Preview of next Versus event 
•  An update for Kayle and Morgana 
•  Returning skin lines 
• New support champions

The season kicks off tomorrow, so expect more details soon. In the meantime, check out the very flashy Awaken cinematic.

League of Legends has released a new cinematic, Awaken, to celebrate the Ranked 2019 season, which kicks off on this week.

I'll be honest, I'm not particularly familiar with League of Legends—I did install it once but don't think I got as far as playing an actual game—but despite my ignorance, the cinematic looks absolutely stunning.

Following three separate stories, the cinematic delves into what can only be described as a fight to the death for each character portrayed, with pristine visuals and a whole handful of badassery thrown in. All of this is brought to life by the vocals of Valerie Broussard and violinist, Ray Chen.

While the music may not be quite as upbeat as the recent offerings from K/DA—you know, that K-Pop band that doesn't actually exist—it's upbeat and 'pop-y' enough to fit right in with the theme. But don't take my word for it; you can check out the full cinematic for yourself, above.

The League of Legends Ranked 2019 season kicks off on January 24.

Update: Riot has clarified that the bullet points quoted in the original story are a summary of how Riot will make its new values a reality, not the values themselves. The page has been updated, with the values placed more clearly at the top. They're split into five categories and cover things like Riot's relationship with players and how employees work with each other. 

Original story: In August, after allegations of sexism and toxicity, Riot Games apologised and committed to changing its workplace culture. One of the changes it's made since then is to its company values, posted on the official site. After five months of talking to over 1,700 employees, an updated set of values has been published. It amounts to four bullet points. 

Here are Riot’s new values:

• We will continually invest in cultivating an environment where each and every Rioter is able to thrive and reach their peak performance. 
• We will strive for fair and equitable processes that Rioters can rely on. 
• Our leaders will live the values and actively promote them within their teams.
• Our ambition is that Riot will be the best place to work for all those who are passionate about our mission. 

They're extremely broad, but they're also just one part of Riot’s attempt to fix its cultural problems. 

Last year, Riot created a page where it could update people with the steps it's taken to improve, and it’s much more reflective of what the company’s doing, which includes new hires aimed at tackling the issues raised last year, as well as training programmes that cover things like interviews and inclusivity. 

All of this is easier to post on a company website than effectively implement, but making Riot more accountable—and publicly, too—is a positive step. 

An error on the League of Legends store allowed players to get skins effectively for free, and while Riot has now fixed the mistake, it’s letting people who used the exploit keep their purchases. While that’s good news for everyone who took advantage of the fleeting bargain, some players who had to shell out real cash for their skins aren’t pleased. 

Yesterday, some players noticed that prestige points and blood moon capsules had gone down in price. By quite a bit. The skin capsules, which dole out gems and skin shards and normally cost 750 Riot points, could be snatched up for a single blue essence. Prestige points, used to create exclusive prestige skins, and the Blood Moon Aatrox skin were also available for blue essence.  

Blue essence is a free currency mostly used to unlock champions, while Riot points cost real money. A skin capsule that would normally cost just over $5 could be picked up for free. The cheapest champion costs over 200 BE, so even in the context of the free currency, one blue essence is a drop in the ocean.  

You can see the scale of one player’s acquisitions on Twitter. 

Riot will revert all prestige points that were purchased for blue essence, as well as the Blood Moon Aatrox skin, but League of Legends product manager Adriaan Noordzij said Riot had no plans to revert the capsule purchases. If you want to buy the Aatrox skin now, you’ll need to have 1350 RP, costing you $10. 

Some players who have invested money into the game feel cheated by the decision. One player, who claims they’ve spent $7,000 on the game, said that it felt like they were being punished for not abusing a bug. Other say that they’ll be more hesitant about buying Riot points in the future. 

I’ve reached out to Riot to clarify the decision. 

League of Legends’ fictional pop act K/DA continues to enjoy the sort of popularity normally exclusive to flesh and blood performers. Their hit song Pop/Stars reached the top of Apple Music’s pop and K-pop charts after it was performed during the World Championships, and now it’s spreading to other games. Today, you can play the track in Beat Saber, the neon VR rhythm game. 

Ahri, Akali, Evelynn and Kai’Sa’s tune is available now, so you can slash away at some beats with your lightsabers. You’ll need a VR headset, of course, and Beat Saber supports the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Windows Mixed Reality. It’s a good fit. K/DA is a virtual group whose first gig was an augmented reality extravaganza in front of a live crowd, so a VR game sounds like a logical leap.

Beat Saber is still in Early Access, but at launch it quickly became the highest rated game on Steam at the time with a 99 percent positive rating across nearly 2,000 reviews. It’s at 97 right now, so it remains pretty popular. 

As well as the new track, the free update makes a couple of tweaks to practice mode. The settings screen now plays an audio preview when you change a song’s start time, while levels start with an intro before the start time you set, to avoid instantly failing the track.