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The world's most-played video?game has a brand new world champion.
The Taipei Assassins, a team from Taiwan, has won the "League of Legends" World Championship Finals and the $1 million in prize money that goes with it.
On Saturday, the?Taipei Assassins took on South?Korean team Azubu Frost at Galen Center in Los Angeles. The finals set the two five-man teams against each other in a best-of-five competition that ended when the Taipei Assassins -- the underdogs -- beat Azubu Frost three games to one.?
?These guys --?against all the odds!" said a thrilled?Brandon Beck, CEO and?co-founder of Riot Games, as he awarded?the enormous?Summoner's Cup to the winning team. "They just showed up tonight!"
Launched three years ago, the online?multiplayer PC?game "League of Legends" -- created by Riot Games -- has emerged as an immensely popular game around the world. And it has?shot to popularity especially over the course of the last year.
Back in November 2011,?Riot reported?that the game was pulling in?4.2 million daily active?players and 11.5 million monthly players. But last week,?"League of Legends" claimed?the title of "most played video?game in the world" with Riot revealing that the game?now?pulls in 12 million daily active players and?32 million monthly active players for a total of?1 billion hours of?play time per month.
For comparison, "World of Warcraft"?currently?has 10?million subscribers ?and "FarmVille 2" -- the most popular game on Facebook at the moment -- has?8.5 million daily active users.?
"League of Legends" -- which?is a strategy-heavy game that drops players into a fantasy-themed battle arena?-- is also a highly competitive game that has become immensely popular as an electronic sport (aka eSport).
Tickets to the?Season Two World Finals at the 10?thousand-seat Galen Center?sold out in just?three days. And on Saturday evening, the arena was packed with cheering fans.?Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide watched the games play out online where they?were being broadcast via Twitch.tv ?and Own3D.tv?in 13 different languages.?For more on that, see InGame editor Todd Kenreck's video report from Los Angeles?below.
Jon Stein,?eSports Coordinator at Riot Games,?tweeted?during the finals that they had surpassed 900,000 concurrent?viewers ...?and that wasn't counting online?streams in?Korea and China.?
Azubu Frost and the?Taipei Assassins emerged as the two very best teams in the world after a series of playoff games took place in Los Angeles last week pitting?12 teams?from around the world against each other. Teams arrived in L.A. from?China, Vietnam, Korea, Taiwan, North America, and Europe.
Azubu Frost and the Taipei Assassins?had never faced off before Saturday's event, but Azubu Frost went into the finals heavily favorited to win with announcers?calling it "a David and Goliath match-up."
Azubu Frost hails from Korea, where eSports are immensely popular and teams are known for their dedication and extremely high level of?skill. And they?had?dominated?throughout?the playoffs. They triumphed over North America's?Team SoloMid winning 2 ?games?to 0. And in the semi-finals, they took down?European?team?Counter Logic Gaming EU 2 games to 1.
The Taipei Assassins found themselves taking on the powerful Korean?team after?surprising?everyone with two upset victories during the playoffs. They beat Korean team?Najin Sword with a 2 to 0 victory. They then took down the?Moscow Five -- a team many had predicted would win the finals -- in a?2 to 1 matchup.?
On Saturday evening with many betting on an Azubu Frost triumph, the Taipei Assassins came out strong and seemed to be ahead early on in the first game. But Azubu Frost came back to win the match, which saw a surprising number of kills -- 54 total. The Taipei Assassins then won the second game and followed that with an?even stronger third game,?forcing Azubu Frost to surrender after?22 minutes.?
With momentum on their side and the crowds cheering them on, the?Taipei Assassins sealed their Summoner's Cup win and the million dollar prize?with an aggressive fourth game.
For more "League of Legends" photos and videos see below and stay tuned here for more coverage of the World Championship Finals as we update this story.?
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Winda Benedetti?writes?about video?games for NBC?News. You can follow her tweets about games and?other things on Twitter here?@WindaBenedetti,?and you can?follow her?on?Google+.?Meanwhile, be sure to check?out the?IN-GAME?FACEBOOK PAGE?to discuss the day's?gaming news and reviews.
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