Players liable for £2.8m in legal fees to brain injury case defendant…

Riot Games' League of Legends MMO has been a long time coming, with very little information actually shared about it, but studio co-founder Marc Merrill is still confident it's going to work despite thinking there are plenty of "smart reasons as to why we shouldn't do what we're doing."

As spotted by PCGamesN, Merrill shares his latest thoughts on the MMO's challenges in a new episode of the Lemonade Stand podcast (below). Merrill is asked why he thinks the game can succeed when it'll be launching into a difficult space – one where die-hard MMO fans are generally older with less free time to spend on games, especially when other massive games like World of Warcraft exist and may well be eating up a bunch of their time already.

"I don't disagree with a bunch of your concerns," Merrill admits. "There's all sorts of smart reasons as to why we shouldn't do what we're doing." …It's not the sort of statement that'd fill worried fans with confidence, let's face it.

"MMOs are insane," he continues. "The scope, the expectations, the challenge… the argument that they're niche, all these different types of things. But there are lots of decisions you can make in terms of how to approach it."

One thing going in Riot's favor, Merrill suggests, is the dedicated fanbase that the League universe has accumulated. "We've been building this world of Runeterra for 20 years, and pouring our hearts and soul into it, and there's an awful lot of players around the world that have developed [a] deep affinity and love for these characters, this world, for our factions," he says.

"And that fandom is expressed in so many ways, through League, and through Riftbound, and through all these other things that we're doing, all of our great games… People want to live in that world, and we want to deliver the ability for people to do that."

Riot "didn't want to even try to go take on this sort of insane space until we had a global fanbase of hundreds of millions of people," in addition to "great revenue streams," a strong team, and plenty more, he adds.

The studio has all that now, Merrill suggests, but that's not to say making the MMO is straightforward. "The challenge is around, can we do justice [to the IP], and if so, how?" he explains. "It's a mistake to try to make absolutely something for everybody, because, like we just talked about, you often end up making something for nobody by trying to make it too watered down."

Merrill isn't afraid to reiterate that "there are some really hard problems," but he reckons they're the sort of problems that are worth getting "out of bed for every day" to solve. In fact, he says, everything he's helped build up to now – from League of Legends, Riot itself, to the Arcane TV show – "all felt crazy and stupid" at the time.

Despite his confidence, you can understand fans feeling a little bit cautious about the whole thing. In August, it was announced that League of Legends fighting game 2XKO is ending active development in December… after its full console launch in January. At the time, Riot explained that "we haven't seen enough players stick with the game to get to a path toward sustainability," and ultimately couldn't see "any viable future." Let's just hope the MMO doesn't meet the same fate whenever it eventually launches.

League of Legends MMO is Riot's "Grail quest" and "many a brave knight are going to die," boss says, but fans aren't confident after 2XKO's fate: "Hope this time you don't cancel it."

By the time he stepped down as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2025, Mike Tomlin—then the NFL's longest-tenured coach—had led the team through a 19-year run without a losing season, securing 13 playoff appearances, eight division titles, and a victory at Super Bowl XLIII.

Since 2014, however, Tomlin has been answering a higher calling: He's been building. In a YouTube video on Wednesday, he unveiled his true masterwork: A sprawling Minecraft metropolis that he's been meticulously hand-sculpting for the last 12 years. And it's magnificent.

As the video starts, Tomlin—PlayStation controller in hand—explains that he was introduced to Minecraft by his children, who were obsessed with the game during their middle school years. While he didn't have much history with videogames, he was "mesmerized by what could occupy their attention," and as he's "always had an interest in architecture," he naturally gravitated to Minecraft's creative mode.

Eventually, his kids moved on to other interests—but Tomlin remained transfixed by the "therapeutic" act of crafting buildings, communities, and neighborhoods.

"It allowed me to detach from the realities and pressures of life," Tomlin says. "Let's take you through it."

The video then transitions to Tomlin's first-person view as he surveyed his works from on high, revealing the purest product of a grown man's hyperfixation I've ever seen: a waterfront district, with a bay surrounded by skyrises, hotels, and apartment blocks—each with its own color schemes, exterior detailing, balconies, courtyards, balustrades, awnings, and plazas.

"I started small," he says.

The former NFL coach then takes us on a tour of his city's first completed building, a "boutique hotel" built from cut red sandstone with marble and birchwood walkways, featuring—as Tomlin casually explains—a multi-floor executive spa with therapy rooms, a glass-ceilinged multi-purpose conference room, an indoor-outdoor restaurant with balcony seating, and "appropriate amenities" like public restrooms with sinks and stalls recreated from cleverly repurposed Minecraft fixtures.

It also has a basement speakeasy with a glowstone-illuminated window looking out into the hotel pool. With an adjacent employee area. And kitchen.

The tour continues through themed residential high rises-slash-aquariums with detailed bedroom interiors, past recreated CVS pharmacies, baseball fields, and soccer stadiums, and over rooftop penthouses. Throughout, Tomlin reiterates how he tried to consider both function and aesthetics by keeping conscious of interior lighting and what types of views building occupants would enjoy.

It's delightful—but it may not have been entirely delightful for the Steelers. Since he presented his city on Wednesday, many have noted that the years in which he would've been building his Minecraft magnum opus overlapped with the team's declining playoff performance.

From his first season as head coach in 2007 to 2013, the Steelers had a postseason win rate of 62.5%. Between Tomlin breaking ground on his Minecraft city in 2014 and stepping down as head coach in 2025, however, the team's postseason win rate was a mere 25%. During those years, the Steelers won only three playoff games, and suffered nine consecutive years without a playoff win.

It was also apparently a trying time for Tomlin's son Mayce, who had to endure his dad bogarting the PlayStation.

Now, we can only speculate whether Minecraft actually played a role in the Steelers' playoff record—but even if it did, I think we can all agree the price was worth paying. Have you seen how many aquariums this town has? Coach, if you're reading: I'm ready to move in.

The initial showing of Tomlin's Minecraft city was only the first episode: He and his son Dino—who's been handling the video production of his dad's build showcase—evidently have more tour videos planned. It's unclear when we can expect the next, but you'll be able to find it on Tomlin's YouTube channel.

The first free DLC for 007 First Light has added New Game Plus options, meaning that players can go back into James Bond's adventure with elements that they may not have unlocked the first time around. However, what they can bring with them may be a little underwhelming: don't expect to be doing the tutorial with the Missile Pen, or driving the spy car before Q's finished building it. If you're considering playing NG+ in 007 First light, here's how it works and what you'll actually get.

How to play 007 First Light NG+

To play New Game Plus in 007 First Light, simply reload any mission from the "Select Chapter" menu, after having completed the game. When the mission loads, you'll now be replaying it in the 007 First Light Outfit that you equipped from the "Customisation" option in the main menu, instead of the standard one you're normally wearing, as shown above.

Yes, that's the other thing to mention: The only thing that carries into New Game Plus is your outfit choice, not any other equipment or abilities. NG+ is simply a way to replay missions in whatever clothing you want, with no option (currently) to bring 007 First Light gadgets and weapons from other parts of the game in with you. It's possible that the functionality of NG+ in 007 First Light will be expanded on in the future, but right now it's simply giving you the power to choose your wardrobe.

It's worth mentioning that the update and DLC also provides a new higher difficulty setting option called "00", so while players don't have a huge leeway to customize their second playthrough, they are being given a greater challenge if they want it, not to mention expansions to the 007 First Light Tacsim and other features besides.

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