One of Riot’s PR managers was kind enough to put together a content roundup from the various sources that got a sneak peek at Dominion earlier this week. There’s some good stuff out there, including the video Berseking put in the comments of a post here (which is now at the top of the post). I figured I’d put up the links so you guys can grab the information that’s out there and get a closer look at the map.

Joystiq
“Dominion certainly turns the genre on its head, in a way that retains the elements that are now standard, and tweaks the gameplay in brand new ways. Riot promised players that it would do something “surprising,” and it wanted to bring something new to the genre, so Dominion seems destined to enable both goals.”

IGN
“Dominion, an entirely new game type for League of Legends, is more exciting than a rollercoaster built on top of a giant rollercoaster car that is actively moving on another rollercoaster. On fire.”

“Dominion is playable at the upcoming Gamescom and Penny Arcade Expo consumer trade shows, and — according to Riot — it goes live shortly thereafter. It’s also freely available to all players from the moment it comes out. Ohhhhhh yeeeeaaaah!”

Eurogamer
“This represents an enormous addition to a game that has been traditional, almost conservative in adhering to its DotA-influenced style of play, and where the focus has almost always been on the development of new characters or new tactics. This Riot has started a revolution, and one that has arrived at just the right time.”

PC Gamer
“From start to finish, each Dominion match felt like it was filled with back-to-back battles, and with the hectic back-and-forth nature of the map, it’s never over til it’s over.”

Gamespot
Video interview with Volibar

Kotaku
“Riot Games describe Dominion as an “accelerated version of the classic League of Legends” with matches lasting about 20 minutes. Gamers will have their first chance to check out the game later this month at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, and later at PAX Prime in Seattle.”

Destructoid
“Riot Games has addressed this issue by introducing something entirely unheard of in the genre. Enter Dominion, the newest gameplay mode that overhauls the classic system to accommodate a more fast-paced, action-packed gaming experience.”

GamesRadar
“There are tons of great mechanics and features that encourage lots of back-and-forth as both teams battle over control of the map.”

G4 TV
“For League of Legends veterans who’ve been waiting a long time for a new mode, you definitely won’t be disappointed with League of Legends Dominion.”

ZAM
“In a nutshell, Dominion is League of Legends distilled into pure adrenaline.”

The Escapist
“The result is a League of Legends experience that has quick and furious combat right at the get go and sustained throughout the average 20 minutes of play. After my first hands-on I couldn’t help but scrawl 23 minutes of awesome in my notepad.”

With all the hype from Rioters over the course of the week, it looked like we might finally see an actual release announcement for Magma Chamber. Well, that didn’t happen, but I think Riot did us one (maybe two) better. Today Riot announced Dominion, a new game mode for League of Legends that’s also played on an entirely new map, the Crystal Scar.

The game mode seems to play a lot like Arathi Basin in World of Warcraft. Two teams fight for control of certain waypoints around the map and accrue points based on how many waypoints they control. Riot says games last roughly twenty minutes, a time frame in which most Summoner’s Rift matches are just getting started.

For my dollar, Dominion is a brilliant release, provided we can play it before the end of the year. There are a lot of people who still enjoy Summoner’s Rift, who are still learning the playstyle for the map or, in some cases, still learning how to play a MOBA. For the veterans, though, Summoner’s Rift can be stale at times. I love the idea of jumping into a 20-minute slugfest on a map that forces players to be in combat at all times. Riot mentioned to several media outlets that they’re trying to make sure the game doesn’t snowball into victory, a goal that makes a lot of sense considering the similarities to other capture-and-defend gametypes in various games.

For all of my excitement about Dominion, I’m also being a bit cautious. Sorry, Riot, but you’ve burned me before. I think it’s a great sign that Dominion will be playable at both Gamescom (August 17-21) and PAX Prime (August 26-28). That could mean the new map/mode are ready for a late September/Early October release. If the past has taught us anything, it’s to be wary of feature releases coming out of Riot offices. Dominion looks to be so fleshed out, though, that I can’t imagine it going live any later than October 15th.

What do you think? Is Dominion going to rock face or stagger toward release?