ZAM Network is proud to announce our first large scale League of Legends beta key giveaway. Thanks to our friends at Riot Games, we're giving away 3000 keys on a first come first serve basis. If you're unfamiliar with the game, League of Legends is a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game similar to the popular Warcraft III mod, Defense of the Ancients (DotA). It's also a game that we've been watching closely because of its fun, session based, competitive gameplay that keeps players engaged via rich community features and persistent MMORPG elements. Want to check it out for yourself? Grab a key!

Once you've obtained your beta key, go to http://signup.leagueoflegends.com/ to redeem the key and create your beta account. Make sure to read the Terms of Use and the End License User Agreement (EULA). Also, remember that by playing League of Legends, you've agreed to comply with the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). Please do not share information about the game with anyone.

• Terms of Use - http://www.leagueoflegends.com/legal/termsofservice
• Beta Agreement - http://www.leagueoflegends.com/pages/betaagreement
• EULA - http://www.leagueoflegends.com/legal/eula

We're looking forward to having you join us in the most intense Multiplayer Online Battle Arena - the League of Legends!

Riot Games today announced that they're bringing the highly anticipated League of Legends to the community for free! While you'll be able to download and play at no cost to you, there will be a retail Collector's version of the game available for $29.99. This version will contain "exclusive items, such as two unique Champion skins, as well as a number of Champions, Runes and Riot Points." For players who don't want to buy the game, there will be two forms of currency available: Influence Points and Riot Points. Influence points will be earned by playing the game while Riot Points will be purchased with real money. Players will be able to use these points to unlock new Champions, Champion Skins and other goodies that the Riot Games team will have available.

League of Legends is being designed and built so that the launch of the product is the START - not the end - of the gaming experience that we want to deliver to users. We want to work with our community to grow the product in the direction that they want to see it go - and if we do our jobs well - then we believe our players will reward us with their play time and eventually financial support. We want to earn business from gamers over time and we're in this for the long haul.

For more information about this and the recently fully announced Summoner system, check out the League of Legends FAQ. You can also find the full press release after the jump.

Members of the ZAM team were on the floor of the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2009 at the Los Angeles Convention Center last week to bring you all sorts of information on your favorite MMOs. You can check out all of our coverage on our E3 news feed, but we've compiled all of our noteworthy features and news posts in this post for easy access. So keep reading below and after the jump for our in-depth E3 coverage, from the unveiling of Final Fantasy XIV Online to our impressions on Star Wars: The Old Republic!

ZAM E3 Features

All Points Bulletin E3 Impressions: Andrew "Tamat" Beegle gives us a first look at All Points Bulletin, Realtime Worlds' upcoming fast-paced third-person action MMOG. While he didn't see any live gameplay, he was highly impressed with the level of depth available in character creation, as well the number of car models and in-game MP3 player.

Star Wars: The Old Republic at E3: The ZAM team had the opportunity to enjoy a private gameplay demonstration of Star Wars: The Old Republic, and everyone was amazed by what they saw. Of course, the team wasn't allowed to record footage of any of the gameplay, but Tamat did get an exclusive interview with SW:TOR Lead Writer Daniel Erickson and Lead Designer James Olhen. Check out the video!

The Potential in Heroes of Telara: Trion World Networks unveiled its new fantasy MMO at E3, and Tamat gives us his first impressions on the game. While he says it's too early to tell if Heroes of Telara will deliver on its promises, he does emphasize it's a beautiful game with some new ideas and improvements to ideas that have potential.

E3 Interview with Jens Andersen: Once you've watched the PS3 gameplay demo for DC Universe Online, check out our interview with Jens Andersen, the game's creative director.

E3 Gameplay Footage of The Agency: The ZAM team was able to get some video of a mission being played out in The Agency. Take a closer look at this espionage action game from Sony Online Entertainment.

More news for anyone who's craving any info on League of Legends! After users went on the League of Legends forum and asked questions that arose our E3 interview, Zileas decided to make a nice big post and clarify a few topics - ranging from the Matchmaking system in League of Legends to Summoner abilities and to what degree they affect the game. Players should understand that match-making in League of Legends will fully support pre-made teams and Zileas stresses that a "well tuned matchmaking system can predict game outcomes (and thus, find good matches) a lot better than typical players can in wc3-style custom games doing a "pub game" can do."

Zileas also notes that the difference between a level one summoner and a max level summoner is not that large and "is a gap that skill can bridge." Finally, he also says that it's fairly easy to level up in the game and a lot of post-max-level progression "is oriented around the accumulation of broader customization options."

You can check out his full post here!

League of Legends is a game that we've been watching closely because of its fun, session based, competitive gameplay that keeps players engaged via rich community features and persistent MMORPG elements. The gameplay is similar to the famous Warcraft III mod Defense of the Ancients (DotA), only LoL has much more depth. To that point, League of Legends takes the training wheels off DotA.

In our recent interview with League of Legends Director of Systems Design, Tom Cadwell, a name you may recognize because of his work on Warcraft III and World of Warcraft, he said "... we are adding multiplayer matchmaking, the summoner system (which is a persistent advancement system but with more depth than COD 4 or TF2 unlocks), and optimized controls and engine built specifically for this type of game.  We feel that DotA revealed an incredible new game genre, and we are trying to take this genre to the next level in as many ways as we can." At the League of Legends E3 party we had the opportunity to fully explore the game, it's clear they're headed in the right direction.

During our time hanging out with the Riot Games team we had the chance to snag Lead Creative Designer, Shawn Carnes to talk about the game. After the interview I challenged him to a quick match of something we like to call "Bowling for Beta Keys" and as fate would have it, we won! Because of that victory, the first ten comments get access to the extremely closed League of Legends beta. Special thanks to our friends over at Riot Games for the great party and the extra beta keys to hand out. Good luck and enjoy our E3 League of Legends coverage!

As always, we'd like to share with you our ZAM features and noteworthy news stories of the week in case you missed any of them. All of the links can be found below and after the jump, including a story on PETA's decision to protest the slaughter of seals through a World of Warcraft event that generated a lot of discussion in our forums.

ZAM Features

A History of Competitive WoW: Part I: Editor Christopher "Pwyff" Tom begins to delve into the history of World of Warcraft as an eSport. Find out when and how PvP became a sponsored event that made players take notice.

League of Legends Interview: Editor-in-Chief Andrew "Tamat" Beegle sits down with Tom Cadwell, the director of systems design for League of Legends, to discuss the game, which is modeled around a Warcraft III mod.

Killer N.I.C. - Worth the Price?: We spoke with Harlan Beverly, co-founder of Bigfoot Networks, about the next generation of Killer cards. You can even watch a World of Warcraft jump delay demonstration video to see exactly how Killer can affect your machine.

Exploring Ether Saga Online: We interview Product Manager Craig Beers to find out what's going on with the upcoming Ether Saga Online MMO. The game is currently in open beta.

You know that feeling when you play a new game and you're instantly hooked? Growing up it was games like Doom and Utopia: The Creation of a Nation that introduced me to such feelings. Later, games like EverQuest, Command and Conquer: Generals, Battlefield 1942 and WarCraft III gave me that same feeling. Something I noticed in 2008 however, is that, even though there were tons of great games coming out, many of which I enjoyed and spent a great deal of time playing, there weren't any that I found myself uncontrollably passionate about.

Last month, Riot Games had me out to San Francisco to check out League of Legends. I knew little about the game but anyone who models the game's entire concept around a Warcraft III mod has my attention. Of course, I was extremely skeptical, but after I sat down and played my first game, that old feeling washed over me. I was hooked. So much so, our two hour meeting turned into a six hour meeting, causing me to nearly miss my flight. I did however get an interview with one of the stars of the League of Legends team, Director of Systems Design, Tom Cadwell.

ZAM: Hey Tom, it's such a pleasure to have the opportunity to sit down and talk to you today about your latest project. How are things going over at Riot Games?

Tom Cadwell: Things are great!  We are really busy right now, but everyone's pumped.  We are in our friends and family beta period, and getting to play the game with our friends outside the company is causing contagious enthusiasm in the team.  Guys come in after playing, and have some idea they are really passionate about, and put it in.