dota posts

It may be the week between Christmas and New Year's but that isn't stopping developer Riot Games from offering up a look at a new champion character for its popular online action-RTS game League of Legends. This week the game's official web site offered up the first look at Caitlyn, the Sheriff of Piltover.

The woman who wears a Mad Hatter-like top hat and holds a big gun (the Piltover Peacemaker) is apparently the law in the game's town of Piltover. Her gun needs a revving up time of one second before firing its deadly bullet at foes. Some other of Caitlyn's abilities in the game include setting magic traps that freeze up enemies and firing nets that can slow down opponents. One of her special abilities is the Ace in the Hole, which lets her take her time to fire a much more powerful shot that can inflict massive damage.

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."

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]

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.

Ok, let's go over what we know so far. First, "IceFrog", the lead developer of the popular Warcraft III mod Defense of the Ancients announces nearly a year ago he has been hired by Valve to lead a team on an unnamed project. In late April 2010 he states that an announcement of what he would be working on would be made "soon".

Fast forward to a few days ago when a Twitter post by voice actor John St. John (since deleted) revealed he had been working with Valve "recording for DotA." Now comes word that Valve has applied for a trademark for the term "DOTA". The trademark application was filed only yesterday which has many speculating that Valve may be making an announcement in the very near future.

[Via superannuation]

Technically S2 Games' upcoming multiplayer action-RTS game Heroes of Newerth has been in closed beta for quite some time. However today the developer has decided to open the flood gates and let anyone sign up to play their game, which is blatantly inspired by Defense of the Ancients.

The open beta registration has a small catch. It's only available to the public until the end of the day on Christmas Day. While the web site is also taking both gift and personal purchases of the full game for $30, there's still no word on when Heroes of Newerth will come out of its beta state and actually become a commercial title.

[Via Blue's News]

The Warcraft III map Defense of the Ancients (or DotA) is becoming much more of a separate genre of its own, thanks to the many imitators. One of the first was the game Demigod, created by the folks behind the Total Annihilation and Dungeon Siege games. Now there are a few more, such as Heroes of Newerth. One of the best of these knock-offs, and a game that rivals its inspiration in scope and excellence of execution, is League of Legends. It launched recently with a big celebration, and while it still has some issues that need ironing out, it's easily a retail-class game that any strategy or role-playing fan should give a try.