Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Well, this is something of a nice surprise. Once upon a time, Heroes of Newerth – a pretty solid MOBA that can’t shout quite as loudly as genre giants like League of Legends – cast off its price tag and went free-to-play. Now, though, it’s taking things one rather large step further. Following in DOTA 2′s footsteps, HoN’s sending all of its Newerthian heroes into battle with no strings attached. In other words, starting today, every last one’s totally, completely free.

Read the rest of this entry »

Remember when Valve said it was looking to hire all sorts of people from every walk of life – from lowly programmers to the giant-bow-tie-wearingest of fungineers? Well, one bit in there stood out: “And if you’re a first-class economist,” Michael Abrash wrote, ”please check us out. You’ll have a sandbox with 40 million users, and I promise you’ll never be bored.” Well, apologies to RPS’ substantial audience of budding TF2 hat economists. That position, you see, has officially been filled.

Read the rest of this entry »

Valve have posted some details about DOTA 2′s (previously revealed) free-to-play status, over on the the DOTA 2 blog. They’re pretty upfront about two points: “Dota 2 will not be a pay-to-win game. All the items in the store are cosmetic, and don’t affect gameplay.” But also: “All of the heroes will be available free of charge. We believe restricting player access to heroes could be destructive to game design, so it’s something we plan to avoid.”

Perhaps more interesting still – and something I hadn’t realised – DOTA 2 is already part of the Steam Workshop, meaning folks can submit items just as the have for Team Fortress 2: “If you’re a Dota 2 fan with some artistic skills, here’s your chance to get in on the ground floor of what’s sure to be a vibrant community for years to come, and be able to contribute directly to the game you’re already playing non-stop.”

Well, that was close. When last we checked in on Blizzard and Valve’s legal frontlines, the two were arming up for all-out war over the DOTA name. Blizzard was adamant that it owned the “Ancients” part of “Defense of the Ancients,” and therefore, Valve had no right to trademark “DOTA” for use in DOTA 2. Happily, however, neither side will be drafting up a legal defense (of the Ancients), as the PC gaming empires have called off their cold war. Hands have been shaken and babies kissed. So then, let’s have a look at the terms.

Read the rest of this entry »

A couple of bits of DOTA 2 news turned up. The first is that Valve have announced that The International Dota 2 Championships 2012 will be held at PAX Prime in Seattle, which takes place from August 31st to September 2nd. Valve report that the event will entail “16 of the most elite Dota teams competing in a group stage, double elimination playoff format for a grand prize of $1 million.”

The second bit is that PCG noticed the game is now moving ahead of Counter-Strike: Source, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and Skyrim on Steam’s player stats. And it’s still just in beta. Huge it is going to be. Yes.

Back when DOTA was nothing more than an elaborate WarCraft III map, it used to be my way of relaxing. Sure, I wasn’t some unholy whirlwind of might and magic, but it was an experience that fell somewhere on the spectrum between “pleasant” and “killing a million things.” Flash forward to today: I don’t really play LoL very often. It’s stressful! If I can get a couple friends together, sure, but the community’s a grab-bag of mean people who use curse words. So, how does Valve plan to avoid walking down a similarly suicidal lane with DOTA 2? How does an oddly utopian-sounding player-driven wonderland strike you?

Read the rest of this entry »