DOTA 2

Valve's Dota 2

Yup! You've read that title and seen that image crystal clear! DOTA 2. Defense of the Ancients. If you have zero idea of what DOTA is then I don't know if you're one of the ancients or this thing called technology just hasn't hit your side of the planet yet. Fine. I shall explain briefly. DOTA is a Warcraft-based somewhat real-time strategy (RTS) slash role-playing game (RPG) which hosts 10 players max on a 5-on-5 basis with the goal of conquering their enemies' territory. This game has been around since 2000 something and the gaming frenzy grew so big that until now it's nowhere near the brink of vanishing. My teammates are the very example to show this game is very alive during this time.

Dota 2 Bloodseeker

Anyhow, Valve, a massive game-development company that produced Counter-Strike, Half-Life, Left 4 Dead and some more finally ended the rumors by announcing that they are releasing DOTA 2 next year, 2011 for the PC and Mac. As for the original DOTA All-Stars heroes, items, maps, etc. Everything will be brought over to sequel with of course improvements or maybe disappointments for some. But the mere idea of a new game makes it all the more an improvement.

Dota 2 Drow Ranger

Valve must be in full force working on this one. They don't want to disappointment the massive community of DOTA players worldwide, do they? And by the way, Icefrog, that famous genius-minded game developer who handles DOTA since 2005 is the captain once again of this monster ship. Icefrog, whose real name is still anonymous, was hired by Valve last year, 2009. The company has nothing but praises on the ingenuity of the guy so we can expect an amazing output from them.

Dota 2 Lina

Aren't the artwork samples looking so darn good? The images are some of the famous heroes of DOTA and they have been modified one way or the other but keeping the main features all the same. I mean look at those! Hands down to their art team over there. But what about the features Valve will put into the sequel and all the changes that will happen? Well, they do announce some of it but most of it are still on development but I do remember a "Coaching System" and in-game voice chat but I'm too lazy and kind of sleepy at this point to talk about everything else so please refer to the link by GameInformer. (Valve's New Game Announced, Detailed: Dota 2)

Dota 2 Morphling

I don't have any idea if this will change everything, anything but not maybe nothing, again. I don't know what will happen to Heroes of Newerth (HoN) and League of Legends (LoL), DOTA-based games that got some share of the RTS market. But I am actually excited on how this game will turn out after all. Valve has created promising games after all and add Mr. Icefrog to the equation. What do you think?

Other Stuff:

• I have watched countless DOTA games because of my teammates and I really like the game especially when I watch professional aka addicts play.
• But I have actually only played around 5 times in a span of 2-3 years. Wow.
• I don't really play DOTA because when I was still in highschool (this was the time the game became effhing popular), I resisted and tried everything not to get addicted to any computer shop games again during this point in my life. Hence, I miss the DOTA wave when everyone was practicing and learning the basics.
• When I wanted to play DOTA after all, I was too late to catch up on everyone else and I eventually decided not to play anymore. In short, I was lazy to catch up and I didn't want to spend my time and money on it. Sad.
• I got addicted to HoN when it came out because it's online (I can play at home and it's free then. Haha.) and more importantly, I'm a graphics kind of person and DOTA can eat the dust of HoN on this aspect. Unfortunately, I stopped because I have to buy an account. Boo.
• I shall practice for DOTA 2!