We've talked about Paragon a lot lately. It's got impressive visuals and promising gameplay; we're curious about how it'll do against other MOBAs in the (overly) saturated market. The first free open beta is near closing – it ends on the 30^th – and for some of us, the first open beta wasn't enough. There's a paid early access for those people, granting more access to the TPS-MOBA-action-twitch-shooter amalgam. Starting on May 31^st, early access buyers will be granted control over the next playable character: “Riktor,” the 17th hero to join the cast.

Epic’s Paragon is getting ready for a free beta weekend later this month -- from May 26th to the 30th. Anyone interested can sign-up here to participate, but you must sign up before the 25th.

Paragon is Epic’s take on the MOBA genre; however, the gameplay in Paragon is more like a third-person shooter than a traditional MOBA game. Also unlike other MOBAs, Paragon’s visuals are nothing to smirk at -- nVidia even brought Epic CEO Tim Sweeney out to their recent media event to use Paragon to show off the GTX 1080.

Atlas Reactor is a “turn-based team tactics game” developed by Trion Worlds and currently in open alpha, although that will be replaced by a closed beta on April 14th. Small teams of “freelancers” compete to kill each other in simultaneous turn-based combat, for reasons that aren’t entirely clear (and don’t matter).

The words “fast-paced” get tossed around a lot in Atlas Reactor marketing materials, and it’s an accurate description. The tutorial mission implies a Frozen Synapse-esque game of turn-based strategy and careful planning, and the solo gameplay confirms that initial impression with leisurely minute-long planning phases. Competitive gameplay is much faster, however—decisions must be made in a matter of seconds, and things quickly become hectic. “Turn-based” and “fast-paced” aren’t often said in the same sentence, but it turns out they go pretty well together. The worst part of a turn-based game is waiting for the opponent’s turn to end; Monopoly would be a lot better if everyone had to complete their turns within five seconds. Also if families didn't play it together, but that's another story.

Last week's game news was primarily dominated by actual, emergent games -- a good thing, given the abundance of lawsuits and industry items over the past few weeks. Granted, we haven't been able to escape the legal side of the industry: Palmer Luckey of Oculus VR is still being sued by Total Recall, and that lawsuit has been allowed to proceed (barring some of the more poignant and critical points of the plaintiff).

As for the more fun, gaming-oriented content, we saw major moves for Black Desert Online as it has continued a push into the public eye, Epic Games' Paragon released an alpha gameplay trailer, Minecraft: Education Edition was announced, and Humble Bundle has more sales.

Written and video content below -- take your pick of consumption!

The trouble with slapping “MOBA” onto games is that the genre is associated instantly with the likes of DOTA and LoL. But there's also not a great, succinct way to describe a certain class of “FPS-styled multiplayer arenas with MMO PVP combat” (FMAMP does have a ring to it, though) and so “MOBA-inspired” ends up getting tagged on such games.

Overpower is one of those “MOBA-inspired” games, but it's more relatable to Counter-Strike and Unreal Tournament than a proper MOBA. The game builds around the concept of fast, fun combat with an over-the-shoulder view of staple fantasy RPG characters – your usual gamut of rangers, warriors, mages, and assassins. Chivalry is the closest, current game we could come up with that matches Overpower's mechanical goals, but there are still distinct differences between these two titles.

Epic Games today unveiled its second trailer for upcoming MOBA “Paragon,” featuring alpha gameplay of the vertically-inspired title. Titled “Mid-Lane Push,” this trailer shows significantly more in-game action than previous videos (and initial, info-devoid teasers).

Several new characters are on display in the trailer: Gadget and Feng Mao aggressively assault a tower defended by Rampage and Kallari. So far, Paragon is most interesting for its addition of vertical gameplay elements in a genre dominated by flat, single-map arenas. The trailer also shows a couple abilities for each of the new characters.

This is one of those “announcements of an announcement” – there's almost no information available at present aside from the fact that “Paragon” exists. That, and a trailer (below).

Epic Games released the below teaser trailer and Play Paragon website earlier today, indicating a 2016 release target for the enigmatic title. From a first glance, it looks as if Paragon is either a team shooter or a MOBA, strictly based on the fact that (1) it's got guns and (2) the characters are being called Heroes.

A new high-performance gaming mouse has been unveiled with a slant toward MOBA gamers. Logitech, the company that brought us our “Editor's Choice” winning G700s and Proteus Core mice, today announced the “Daedalus Prime” G302 MOBA gaming mouse, built with assistance from professional teams SoloMid, Cloud9, CJ Entus, and others.

The G302 specifications are detailed below:

It's rare that GN Editor Steve and I are able to play games at trade shows, and even rarer that we enjoy them. Alas, following-up on our Nosgoth coverage, it's time we played Human Head Studios' Minimum, published by Atari.

Named for the game's minimalistic styling, developers Human Head Studios aimed to make a twitch-shooter with borrowed MOBA mechanics. The result is a 5v5 third-person shooter with dialed-back MOBA lane/creep aspects and, despite the seemingly odd combination, we think it works.

Raptr has just posted its Most Played PC Games for May 2014 list, a compilation that spotlights Dark Souls II’s 12-spot climb to #11. The list details the most popular PC games from May, 2014, to include League of Legends, WoW, DOTA2, and 17 others.

Console gamers have been enjoying Dark Souls II since March, but until April 24, PC gamers have had to wait for From Software’s follow-up. Dark Souls II returns players to one of the most successful (and brutal) action RPG games of the century.