Defense-of-the-Ancients posts

It's been over two months since Valve officially announced its plans to release DOTA 2, the stand alone action-RTS sequel-remake to the popular Warcraft III mod Defense of the Ancients. Since then there's been no direct info from Valve about the game (even its official web site hasn't been updated since November 1) but this week IGN got Valve's Erik Johnson to talk more about DOTA 2.

Johnson says that fans of the original mod shouldn't worry about the main gameplay design of DOTA 2, saying, "We'd be pretty hard-pressed to improve on that." The article claims that Valve is concentrating on "infrastructure, art, and providing helpful tools to newcomers so they can figure out what's going on." There's even an attempt to create a fictional back story for the game's heroes with Johnson saying, "In the game there are heroes that fictionally have a relationship with each other so from time to time they may say something to someone else that's kind of one-off." DOTA 2 is still planned for release sometime in 2011.

A few weeks after its official reveal, Valve has now launched its official web site for DOTA 2. There's still no official screenshots of this upcoming remake of the Defense of the Ancients mod but the site does feature a Q&A with answers provided by the mysterious "IceFrog."

Some of the questions deal with spectating in matches, how the new game will handle online lag, if there will be a beta test (in short, yes) and more. One question that Valve has yet to address publicly is the issue of the company trying to secure the trademark for DOTA 2 which is an issue of contention with former Defense of the Ancients developers as well as Blizzard who made the game (Warcraft III) which was used as the basis of the original DOTA game.

You can add Blizzard VP Rob Pardo to the list of folks who don't care for Valve's attempt to trademark the use of the name DOTA for Valve's upcoming game DOTA 2. In a chat with Eurogamer at BlizzCon, Pardo stated, "Valve is usually so pro mod community. It's such a community company that it just seems like a really strange move to us... I really don't understand why [they would do it], to be honest."

Valve first filed a trademark for use of the name DOTA earlier this summer. In October, Valve announced that it would release DOTA 2, a stand alone graphical remake of the original Defense of the Ancients mod that was first made for Blizzard's RTS game Warcraft III. Pardo stated, "To us, that means that you're really taking it away from the Blizzard and Warcraft III community and that just doesn't seem the right thing to do." Valve has yet to comment on the DOTA trademark controversy. Blizzard, however, is still planning to release Blizzard DOTA, an upcoming custom map for StarCraft II. Pardo says that if Valve tries to contest the use of DOTA for the StarCrat II map he states, "Our contention is that it should continue to be available to Blizzard and to our community."

BlizzCon 2010 has started in Anaheim, California and the StarCraft II section of the show floor is showing off some Blizzard-made custom maps for the hit RTS game that reference other well known games, along with a cult hit cooking TV show.

According to Shacknews, the maps include maps that make references to Valve's zombie shooter Left 4 Dead, PopCap's puzzle game Bejeweled, the hit WarCraft III mod Defense of the Ancients and even the Iron Chef TV show. The StarCraft II section is also showing off the maps made by the winners of the recent custom map contest. During the BlizzCon opening ceremony it was announced that the Blizzard custom maps will be released for free in the coming months.

As promised, Valve has announced their plans for a stand alone sequel to the popular Warcraft III fantasy RTS mod Defense of the Ancients. The game is called DOTA 2 and is due out for PC and Mac in 2011. That means Valve will actually be releasing two stand alone commercial games in 2011 (Portal 2 is due out in February).

Game Informer's web site has the first details on DOTA 2 (the web site, as of this writing, is super slow due no doubt to high traffic). Basically the core gameplay behind the original mod version of DOTA will remain the same but it will be using a more advanced version of Valve's Source Engine with improved lighting and support for more realistic cloth animations. There will also be AI bots for skirmishes and training. Valve will also put in community features that will let players get in-game bonuses for things like participating in the game's official forums and there are also plans to allow veteran players to coach less experience players in some way. You can also expect DOTA 2 to be constantly updated with new content much like Valve's Team Fortress 2.

It looks like Wednesday is going to be the day that we get the first real details about Valve's mysterious Defense of the Ancients game project. The official DOTA web site has posted up a note from "IceFrog", the current project head of the popular fantasy-themed WarCraft III mod. He stated that "Game Informer dropped by the office last week" to check out what his team at Valve has been working on. IceFrog added, "They are going to post an article about it tomorrow on their website." This seems to be confirmed by a Twitter post by Game Informer editor Andy McNamara who states, "Tomorrow we have a story. A really kick ass one. You will hear more soon."

Just over a year ago it was revealed that "IceFrog" had been hired by Valve to work on a new project that he hinted would please Defense of the Ancients players.. Earlier this summer Valve filed a trademark claim for "DOTA". This particular move update two former Defense of the Ancients developers, Steve "Pendragon" Mescon and Steve "Guinsoo" Feak, who felt that "DotA name should remain the property of the community at-large, as it always has." The duo, who now work at Riot Games on League of Legends, later filed for the trademark to secure the Defense of the Ancients name.

Update: Game Informer's web site has now confirmed the reveal of the new Valve project.for Wednesday.

[Via Shacknews]

Developer Riot Games is closing in on the first anniversary of the launch of League of Legends, its popular free-to-play online action-RTS game made in part by former creators of Defense of the Ancients. Today there's word that the game will be getting a all new graphical look in an upcoming update.

PC Gamer's web site has posted a preview of an article in its new print issue that shows off examples of the new art style. As you can see from the above character render the new look is a bit more realistic than the cartoon-style of artwork that the game currently employs. There's no word on when the new graphical revamp will be introduced in the game.

In related news, League of Legends got a major new update this week that adds a new champion to the title, the pun-filled Miss Fortune.

Valve has thrown us some turns from left field in the past with announcements like Left 4 Dead 2 coming out a year after the first game and most recently the release of the free game Alien Swarm. But apparently we aint seen nothing yet from the Bellvue, Washington developer. Computer and Video Games (from the latest UK PC Gamer magazine) reports that Valve head mad Gabe Newell is teasing even more from the developer.

Newell states, "I can guarantee you people are going to be surprised at stuff we do." He adds, "We have three pretty big surprises in the next 12 months at least." One of them is likely to be the Defense of the Ancients game that has been strongly hinted at of late. But what could the other two surprises be like? Stay tuned.

Even thought their day job is working on Riot Games' League of Legends title, ex-DotA All Stars developers Steve "Guinsoo" Feak and Steve "Pendragon" Mescon are apparently so concerned about Valve's recent trademark filing of "DOTA" that the duo have now decided to do some counter-trademarking. As reported by PC Gamer, the term "Defense of the Ancients" now has a US Trademark filing from "DotA All-Stars LLC" (a company owned by Mescom.

Even though Valve still hasn't even announced a "DOTA" game, much less its plans for it, Feak and Mescom feel that Valve's trademarking move hurts the spirit of DotA with Mescom saying he and Feak "had hoped that the DotA name would live on in perpetuity as a community project that is both free to play and free to modify and expand." He adds, "If we were to obtain the trademark, we would keep the game and the DotA name freely available to the mod community. That way the game can continue to be worked on and enjoyed by the independent community. We want to ensure that the DotA name remains in the hands of the community and that it is free for all to use."

Last week we reported that Valve has applied for a trademark for "DOTA" suggesting strongly that the long standing rumors of the developer making a Defense of the Ancients game are indeed true. Now a couple of former developers of the popular WarCraft III action-RTS mod have expressed concerns about Valve's actions.

Our sister site Joystiq states that Steve "Pendragon" Mescon and Steve "Guinsoo" Feak, who worked on Dota-All Stars, (and now work at Riot Games on the DotA-inspired title League of Legends) stated that they believes the "DotA name should remain the property of the community at-large, as it always has." Mescon believes that Valve's trademarking of the "DotA" name suggests that the developer is "exercising control over its future."

It should be noted that Valve has yet to even announce a DotA game, much less its plans for the franchise. Also Valve is perhaps one of the most open developers out there, issuing mod tools, supporting mod teams and even releasing free stand alone games such as the recent Alien Swarm.