Every family has a relation with a memory problem - one of the favourite tales in my own is that of the great-aunt or gruncle who attended to the fire with a full bladder and found themselves shovelling coal into the toilet bowl, ho ho - but only in the PCGamesN family of N games are they rewound to a earlier version as a consequence. That’s what’s happened to Dota 2 this morning after its new patch introduced a memory issue for players running the game on 32-bit Windows.
Papa John’s are offering eSports fans 50% off if they order using the promo code “PIZZAGG", and major eSports organizations like Evil Geniuses, Team Liquid, Onemoregame.tv, and ROOT Gaming are all participating in the chain’s eSports initiative. It’s clearly a significant moment for eSports, since Papa John’s is a massive pizza chain and exactly the kind of mainstream brand that many eSports stakeholders want to attract. Over on TeamLiquid, a statement from EG, Liquid, and ROOT suggests, “If you feel like eating a pizza (or two or three or ten) this week, please consider using Papa John’s and help us show them what we can do!"
The reaction from other members of the eSports community, however, has not been quite as universally enthusiastic. What’s interesting is that the objections aren’t about “selling out" or the highly debatable quality of Papa John’s pizza, but about values. It’s a debate that may have ramifications for how eSports culture differs from that of traditional mass-entertainment.
German eSports mammoths Mousesports secured their place in the final of Valve’s annual Dota tournament in a 3-1 victory over dd.Dota last night. They’ll have a shot at The International 3’s prize pool, now the largest ever for a single event.
Last week saw the launch of Steam’s trading card game, a new system that sees cards dropped while playing through some of Valve’s catalogue. Collect a full set of cards and you can craft them into a badge for XP that levels up your player profile. Collect a set of cards again and you can craft a better badge.
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The International is the biggest Dota 2 tournament in the world. With Valve slapping down over one million dollars in prize money, the best teams from the around world flock to Seattle to claim their share.
A lot has happened since the last International. No Tidehunter (now known as Alliance) stomped at Dreamhack Winter. One of the most famous teams in the world, Na’Vi, has had multiple team alterations to try and reverse their declining performance. It would be rude not to mention Invictus Gaming, The International 2012 champions who put China on the Dota 2 map. They’ve been training hard since that day, and are ready to do it all over again.
While League of Legends $5 million prize pool for its entire season may still beat the prizes on offer at this year’s Dota International, that’s a pot stretched out over a whole season and final tournament. With the money raised by the International Interactive Compendium, Valve’s Dota 2 tournament is offering a almost $2 million dollars in prizes for a single ladder tournament. The largest prize pot for a single tournament in all of eSports.
The Compendium is Valve’s handbook to The International 2013, the world’s biggest Dota tournament by any yardstick worth measuring with (prize pool, global reach, surprises). For $10 you’ll get up-to-the-minute results and fixtures, MvP polls, and match betting without fear for your kneecaps. You’ll also be adding $2.50 to the International prize pool, and pushing the total closer to a series of new stretch goals for the benefit of all.
A week ago, Valve released the International Interactive Compendium - a $10 digital tome designed to guide you through Dota 2’s annual tournament as it happens. The developers have pledged to add 25% of the proceeds to the event’s prize pool, and announced three ‘stretch goals’ - the second of which promised more mounts for the International’s celebratory Smeevil courier. It’s that goal that the Dota community have ably surpassed this week.
Another week, another patch. Valve are starting to make preparations for the biggest Dota 2 tournament ever, with The International prize purse getting even fatter. A new Interactive Compendium has already added another $200,000 to the 1.6 million dollar prize pool. In this week’s update, Valve have added a new solo matchmaking option. The new queue will only be populated by solo players; cutting out the chance of going head to head against pre made teams. Also in the update: a huge amount of unreleased custom UI’s that have been unearthed in the files.
Last night, the tickets for the Dota 2 International 2013 sold out in two short hours, leaving many fans disappointed. However, tickets have begun to show up on the Steam Marketplace: if you’re prepared to pay over the odds.
While the tickets have now vanished, they were listed for as much as £180.
As of right now you can now go and purchase a ticket to The International, Valve’s very own Dota 2 tournament sporting a massive $1.6 million prize pool, and then some thanks to the Interactive Compendium. If you want to be there in person between August 7th-11th, then you’re going to want to buy a ticket. They’re selling faster than a charging Spirit Breaker.
Valve want to guide you through this years International with the introduction of The International Interactive Compendium. It’s a fancy virtual book that is host to a wide range of functions including betting on matches, MvP polls, up to date results/fixtures. Buying it will make you eligible for special item drops throughout the tournament. What’s more interesting is that Valve are adding 25% of all sales to the already gargantuan 1.6 million dollar prize pool, making the worlds biggest Dota 2 tournament just that little bit bigger.
For this year’s third official Dota 2 championships, Valve have decided to break from form and put all tickets up for sale at once on May 7. Fans will descend on the official Dota store in droves at 10am PDT for a chance to watch the top 16 teams in the world play at the finals in Seattle.
Whether or not Dota 2 has overtaken League of Legends in the player number stakes (clue: it hasn’t), the question is, how big could Dota 2 be? Valve’s MOBA is massive, in a way that dwarfs every other game available on Steam. At its busiest point today, 261,609 people were playing Dota 2. Its nearest competitor, Football Manager 2013, boasted 56,981. But while we’re talking numbers, you’d better take a look at Dota’s trajectory over the past year.
Some of you might know the new Elder Titan by the maiden name he sported in the original Dota, Tauren Chieftain, which he’s since relinquished to Blizzard. In the process, though, he’s picked up some rather dramatic lore - it seems our Titan was accidentally responsible for shaping creation itself.
Alex commented on Dota 2 International 3 to be kicked off by Invictus on August 7