fatfoogoo client, and developers of the highly anticipated League of Legends, Riot Games have recently announced the official release date of October 27th on the title’s official message boards. This date will also serve as the official date of the retail version of this free-to-play title hitting store shelves.

Currently, the MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) is in closed beta, but Riot Games plans an open beta invitation beginning later this month, ending with the official release. Although this will be the ‘official’ release date, Riot will be presenting the world with it’s own version of a soft launch, as the game will then be in a “pre-season” mode. This time period will be used by both players and developers as a time to get used to the game and play style, while the Riot folks work out any kinks or bugs in the game, and put the final polish on the product. According to the Riot Games post, “We believe that seasons are a great way to help facilitate competitive gaming and competitive communities.” The first official season of League of Legends will commence in the first half of 2010.

League of Legends is based upon a highly successful Warcraft III mod, Defense of the Ancients, whereby players have a host of demons that they can then summon and engage in intense battles against each other. The game is free-to-play, and supported through various microtransactions, powered by fatfoogoo technology. “League of Legends is being built as a highly competitive core game that we believe will change many people’s minds about the type and caliber of games that can be offered for free,” states Riot Games CEO and co-founder Brandon Beck.

In addition to the already in place cast of champions available to players, Riot has recently released details on two new champions:

Shaco, the Demon Jester

• Deceive – Shaco stealths himself instantly and teleports to target location.
• Jack In The Box– Shaco creates an animated Jack-in-the-Box at target location, which will wait, stealthed, to Fear nearby units and attack them when some come nearby
• Two-Shiv Poison– Shaco’s Shivs passive poison targets on hit, giving them a miss chance and slowing them. He can throw his Shivs to deal damage and poison them.
• Hallucinate [U] – Shaco creates an illusion of himself near him, which can attack nearby enemies. Upon death, it explodes, dealing damage to nearby enemies.
• Backstab [P] – Shaco deals 30% bonus damage when striking from behind.

Heimerdinger, the Revered Inventor

• H-28G Evolution Turret – Heimerdinger lays down a machine gun turret. This turret gains experience from attacking units and can level-up, gaining boosted damage and armor.
• Hextech Micro-Rockets – Heimerdinger fires a number of Champion seeking missiles, hitting random champions within it’s super long range
• CH-1 Concussion Grenade– Heimerdinger lobs a grenade at a location, dealing damage to enemy units / turrets as well as stunning anyone directly hit and blinding surrounding units.
• UPGRADE!!! [U] – Passively increases Cooldown Reduction; in addition increases Heimerdingers and his Evolution Turret’s Attack Speeds. Activate to heal and upgrade one of your Evolution Turrets to lvl 2 to gain Ur’Anium Rounds, or lvl 3 to gain Explosive Cartridges.
• TechmaturgicalRepairBots [P] – Heimerdinger has increased Health Regen.

Find out more about League of Legends at www.leagueoflegends.com.