Valve announce Defense of the Ancients 2

interesting article nabbed from Penny Arcade about IceFrog
The Truth About IceFrog: Behind the Bullshit

sounds a right cunt if that's all true.

Intra-industry sniping is, as any commenter will tell you, the fuel that powers the engine of gaming blogs. Imagine our disappointment, then, upon seeing Blizzard's design VP Rob Pardo being completely reasonable when he explained to Eurogamer why he thought Valve trademarking the word "DOTA" was a misstep. "DOTA" is, of course, short for "Defense of the Ancients," a WarCraft III variant created by the game's fan community. Valve recently announced it was working on a sequel to the mod, prompting them to file a trademark for the acronym (but not the full title) earlier this year.

"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 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."

Pardo's sentiment echoes that of two of the original mod's designers, Steve "Pendragon" Mescon and Steve "Guinsoo" Feak, who spoke out against the trademark in August. Blizzard, for its part, is clearly undeterred by Valve's claim, as evidenced by the fact that it's currently fashioning a StarCraft II mod called "Blizzard Dota."

Blizzard's Pardo: 'DOTA' belongs to community, not Valve | Joystiq

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Done, even though I probably won't play it.

Originally Posted by rec

Done, even though I probably won't play it.

Yeah, doesnt look very exciting. Plus the dota comp stream they had last night saw massive lag issues with the game.
It just looks pretty nothing more.

1.5 million people streaming in 4 different languages. I think that is a pretty awesome feat.
Watched the M5 MYM game last night from start to finish. Seems very unpolished in my opinion screen was not shaking when they went to kill the boss at mid (called Kongor in HoN). Even if this is still the beta part of it. Heroes look un textured to a degree.
The ground looks awesome - same with the trees.
Towers look gay.... Buildings in the spawn area just are bland.

Creep blocking is quite different to what I am used to with DoTA on war3 and quite different to hon/lool also. Not saying this is a good or bad thing, just felt quite different.