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Valve Announces “The International” Dota 2 Tournament To Be Held At Gamescom, August 17th To 21st

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Valve announced that they would be releasing Dota 2 in the fall of 2011 back in October of last year. The announcement was quite controversial, and came as a huge surprise to both Valve fans and Dota fans alike. Valve fans were wondering what Valve is doing developing a fantasy, action RTS title that first came about as a Warcraft 3 mod. Dota fans were wondering what the hell IceFrog is doing working with Valve.

Almost one year on, many of these original impressions live on. Valve has not had the opportunity to show the game off as of yet. It would seem as if Gamescom is going to be Dota 2’s lucky day, but what exactly is Valve going to do? Through whispers and rumors, we know a bit about that. But not quite as much as we’d all like to know!

Valve Announces “The International” Dota 2 Tournament To Be Held At Gamescom, August 17th To 21st

Valve has just announced “The International”, a Dota 2 tournament that will bring gamers the world over their first ever look at Dota 2. It will take place at Gamescom, from the 17th of August to the 21st of August, in Cologne, Germany.

The International features the 16 best Dota teams in the world competing in the Dota 2 Championships through a group stage, double elimination playoff format over the course of Cologne’s five-day trade show.

The tournament will be broadcast in four languages (Chinese, German, Russian, and English) free of charge.

Free of charge? Ah, yes, Valve truly is Valve. Imagine if we were dealing with another, more insidious game corporation here. Would they be so willing to let potential money fly away?

The winning team will receive $1 million.

Oh my.

“The International is the first public Dota 2 event and will give the tens of millions of gamers playing Dota around the world their first look at the new game,” said Gabe Newell, president and founder of Valve.  “I have had the good fortune to watch the competitors as they prepare for the tournament, and the level of play is extraordinary.”   

Sounds great. In addition, to the cash prize, which comes straight from Valve’s pockets, hardware for the event will be provided by NVidia. The 16 teams in question are:

  • GGnet, from Europe.
  • MYM, from Denmark.
  • Na’vi, from Ukraine.
  • CCM, from China.
  • LGD, from China.
  • TyLoo, from China.
  • OK.Nirvana.int, from China.
  • M5, from Russia.
  • MiTH-Trust, from Thailand.
  • EHOME, from China.
  • StarsBoBa, from Vietnam.
  • OK.Nirvana.cn, from China.
  • nevo, from Denmark.
  • Scythe.SG, from Singapore.
  • MUFC, from Malaysia.
  • Mineski.Infinity, from the Philippines.

These guys are the elite – the best of the best when it comes to Dota, so show some respect! Watching these heavyweights duke it out should prove to be a treat for gamers all around the globe. The Dota 2 website now redirects to a splash page featuring information on the championship, and they’ve also got a post on the Dota 2 blog with info on the event. You can also check out the official press release on Steam’s news page. Also of interest is the fact that both the blog post and the press release yet again mention that it will be out “later this year”. If all goes well, this may be one of the few Valve games that haven’t slipped a single release date.

We’ll keep you posted, as we’re sure we’ll be seeing more Dota 2 info coming out before the tournament begins.

7 Comments

  1. One Ticket to German, Please.

  2. EPIC!!!! 😀

  3. Well, now would be a great time for Valve to start working on that damn Half-Life sequel, right?

  4. If only Valve were as generous and passioned about competitive play with their earlier games… *looks askew at left4dead*

  5. Great work! This is the fastest I’ve seen you work yet!
    I haven’t been the biggest fan of RTS games, but this is really exciting!

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