Valve To Unveil Dota 2 At Public Tournament

Valve will unveil its next game in a novel way, announcing Monday that its upcoming action-RTS Dota 2 will be seen for the first time outside of its offices at a tournament in Germany. The five-day tournament, which Valve is calling "The International," will take place August 17th through the 21st at the Gamescom conference in Cologne, Germany. Competing for a $1 million prize will be the 16 top-ranked online teams for Defense of the Ancients, the Warcraft 3 mod that Dota 2 is based on. The tournament will be broadcast in Chinese, German, Russian and English, according to the company. "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 Valve president Gabe Newell. "I have had the good fortune to watch the competitors as they prepare for the tournament, and the level of play is extraordinary." Development of Dota 2 is being led by IceFrog, the lead developer of the original mod. The game is scheduled to be released by the end of the year.