LA-based developer/publisher Riot Games has announced that its first title will be League of Legends, an online team-based game that mixes role-playing and real-time strategy elements, for the PC. The LoL development team is partially made up of former modders that developed the popular Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne mod, Defense of the Ancients, so I imagine that the two projects will have quire a bit in common; heck, even the screenshots in the gallery are showing a Warcraft III graphical direction.

League of Legends will see players taking the role of a Summoner that works for an entity known as the Institute of War. It seems that, due to period of intense warfare, the various governments came together to create this Institute so that only a few chosen Champions would need to fight in order to settle disputes. Sort of sounds like a robotless G Gundam, eh?

In a game session, each player-controlled Summoner will take control of a different Champion -- Riot is promising “dozens” of different Champions will make it into the final game. Both Summoners and Champions can level up independently of one another, gaining new skills, items, and abilities, which can then be used to help your teammates beat down the guys on the other side of the map.

League of Legends doesn’t have an estimated release date just yet, but Riot Games has stated that a beta will be taking place in 2009. In fact, they’ve already got a page to sign up for it on the game’s newly launched Web site.