Facts:
Starcraft 2 went free today,
Custom games are free (on rotation),
Valve debuts Dota 2 later this month,
There is a visible rivalry between Blizzard and valve over the dota brand,
Blizzard Dota has been under wraps for almost a year,
Blizzard has dropped the ball with this community at every corner (sorry had to throw that in)
Prediction:
Before DOTA 2 comes out, blizzard will release blizzard DOTA proving they weren't too busy surfin' the nets at work to fix the custom community, they were simply too busy chasing their rage filled hatred for Valve in the hero arena genera.
Wrong or right it'll be interesting to see how things shape up between these two titles.
The way I see it Blizzard isn't even in the 'DOTA battle'? It's just a couple of random guys from the firm putting forth their own maps, Blizzard DOTA being one of them. I don't think they specifically mean to profit of it.
At some point you're right, but they somehow started this fight by going to court.
They wanted to take the name DOTA from valve so they can make profit of that name.
There already was a huge discussion about that so no point in advancing this thought.
Blizzard DOTA will come before DOTA 2, and with the star (available for Starcraft Starter Edition). In other words, it will be FREE. It's a good marketing strategy to not let Valve take over all the DotA players.
@RodrigoAlves: Go
Well they will take over me anyway...
Blizzard Dota will sure be a lot of fun, but I want more than that and Dota 2 on source engine from valve? Hell yeah!
I think Dota 2 will impact like a bomb and will be a huge game in the circle of League of legends, Heroes of Newearth and so on...
The way I see it Blizzard isn't even in the 'DOTA battle'? It's just a couple of random guys from the firm putting forth their own maps, Blizzard DOTA being one of them. I don't think they specifically mean to profit of it.
I always saw it like that as well. I mean you have LoL, HoN, Original DotA and even Demigod already in the market at the moment with Valve DotA soon to follow. Furthermore, many of the the standalone games (LoL, and HoN too I believe) have reconnection (after you disconnect from the game) and other features that Starcraft 2 does/ can not offer.
I don't think the developers ever intended Starcraft 2 Allstars to seriously compete against these games. It's not like Starjewelled was made to compete in the Bejewelled genre against all the apps, flash games, etc. I can't imagine anyone would buy a copy of SC2 in order to play Starjeweled.
Also, this whole trademarking lawsuit crap was mostly blown out of proportion. Cant be bothered explaining it or sourcing it either.
Blizzard sued Valve over Dota? When did this happen? Can you provide a link?
No need to provide links as most of the articles were incredibly biased and out of context. The bottom line is that Valve is trying to TM DOTA which is pretty silly when you think about it. That's like trying to TM Tower Defense or TDs when you release one.
No, it'd be more like trying to trademark a name like "League of Legends" a specific game within the Hero Arena Genera. Defense of the Ancients was a mod popularized among many, many competing Hero Arenas. But it's just a name, the name represents the quality of the team of people who created said mod that used the same art and game assets that all their competition used.
What we are largely oblivious to as bystanders are the people behind these mods. Some of them went off to form Riot and some of them stayed on DOTA, to this day it live on the warcraft 3 servers keeping that game alive and supplying blizzard with extra revenue. Specifically "icefrog" i believe is considered the "main guy" behind the DOTA brand. It's all shrouded in secrecy but at the end of the day the obvious conclusion is that blizzard isn't as hip on sharing with outside mod developers as Valve is.
That's a pretty narrow view to have, especially given how twisted the story of DOTA (which isn't a hero arena) is. Icefrog wasn't the "main" man behind the game, he is merely the one who took all of the ideas from the team he was on and ran with it. It would be a lie to say that Icefrog and Valve are entitled to TM DOTA, the name, when it is more a genre than a specific game. This is evidenced by the fact that there are literally hundreds of versions of DOTA that existed before and after Icefrog commercialized it. I could understand getting a TM on DOTA 2 (being the first to have the title) or even DOTA Allstars (emphasis on the suffic), but DOTA itself isn't something that can really be trademarked anymore.
If you actually read what is quoted in the articles and cut out the slanted opinions of the article authors, you'll notice that the guy is more shocked that Valve is trying to TM DOTA than he is jealous Blizzard didn't try to do it first.
If Blizzard were actually interested in getting a TM they would have done it long ago. To them, DOTA is an example of the success of both their game and their modding community. If they had tried to TM it they would have tarnished their reputation. I see them wanting to preserve DOTA as being a public domain more than wanting to hog it for themselves.
Blizzard has shown that they are capable of some pretty stupid stuff, but I don't think this is one of those examples.
AoS refers to Aeoin of Srife, often considered the grandfather of the hero vs hero genera, not the genera itself but the game that put groups of heroes on each side and had them fighter across sides.
@Prozaic
You presume a lot. I think at this point the idea that blizzard would want ANYTHING public domain is a bit absurd. Blizzard are absolute control freaks. If you look at their history they are unable to work with anyone, including blizzard north. They have lost huge amounts of their human capital and influence in the pursuit of controlling everything themselves.
Just look at Diablo 3 or Starcraft 2. They leave nothing in anyone's hands but their own and this is likely why DOTA didn't end up in their hands. Who wants to give their IP to a company that controls everything and monetizes purely for their own interest?
Facts: Starcraft 2 went free today, Custom games are free (on rotation), Valve debuts Dota 2 later this month, There is a visible rivalry between Blizzard and valve over the dota brand, Blizzard Dota has been under wraps for almost a year, Blizzard has dropped the ball with this community at every corner (sorry had to throw that in)
Prediction:
Before DOTA 2 comes out, blizzard will release blizzard DOTA proving they weren't too busy surfin' the nets at work to fix the custom community, they were simply too busy chasing their rage filled hatred for Valve in the hero arena genera.
Wrong or right it'll be interesting to see how things shape up between these two titles.
Blizzard's take on the DotA genre should have been implemented at Diablo 3, imo.
I release Tofu, change's Blizzard's mind about their UI for Dota, put the project on hold for another year, ???, PROFIT!
Blizzard already lost this "DOTA"-battle.
Valve is going to release DOTA 2 at Gamescom starting a tournament with the best 16 DOTA Teams in the world including 1.000.000$ prize money.
So what is Blizzard doing against that?
They are releasing a crappy custom map in their crappy system far too late.
But putting all speculation aside, as always, time will tell.
The way I see it Blizzard isn't even in the 'DOTA battle'? It's just a couple of random guys from the firm putting forth their own maps, Blizzard DOTA being one of them. I don't think they specifically mean to profit of it.
@Mozared: Go
At some point you're right, but they somehow started this fight by going to court.
They wanted to take the name DOTA from valve so they can make profit of that name.
There already was a huge discussion about that so no point in advancing this thought.
@h34dl4g: Go
Blizzard sued Valve over Dota? When did this happen? Can you provide a link?
Yes! You have a nice prediction!
Blizzard DOTA will come before DOTA 2, and with the star (available for Starcraft Starter Edition). In other words, it will be FREE. It's a good marketing strategy to not let Valve take over all the DotA players.
@RodrigoAlves: Go
Well they will take over me anyway...
Blizzard Dota will sure be a lot of fun, but I want more than that and Dota 2 on source engine from valve? Hell yeah!
I think Dota 2 will impact like a bomb and will be a huge game in the circle of League of legends, Heroes of Newearth and so on...
I always saw it like that as well. I mean you have LoL, HoN, Original DotA and even Demigod already in the market at the moment with Valve DotA soon to follow. Furthermore, many of the the standalone games (LoL, and HoN too I believe) have reconnection (after you disconnect from the game) and other features that Starcraft 2 does/ can not offer.
I don't think the developers ever intended Starcraft 2 Allstars to seriously compete against these games. It's not like Starjewelled was made to compete in the Bejewelled genre against all the apps, flash games, etc. I can't imagine anyone would buy a copy of SC2 in order to play Starjeweled.
Also, this whole trademarking lawsuit crap was mostly blown out of proportion. Cant be bothered explaining it or sourcing it either.
No need to provide links as most of the articles were incredibly biased and out of context. The bottom line is that Valve is trying to TM DOTA which is pretty silly when you think about it. That's like trying to TM Tower Defense or TDs when you release one.
No, it'd be more like trying to trademark a name like "League of Legends" a specific game within the Hero Arena Genera. Defense of the Ancients was a mod popularized among many, many competing Hero Arenas. But it's just a name, the name represents the quality of the team of people who created said mod that used the same art and game assets that all their competition used.
What we are largely oblivious to as bystanders are the people behind these mods. Some of them went off to form Riot and some of them stayed on DOTA, to this day it live on the warcraft 3 servers keeping that game alive and supplying blizzard with extra revenue. Specifically "icefrog" i believe is considered the "main guy" behind the DOTA brand. It's all shrouded in secrecy but at the end of the day the obvious conclusion is that blizzard isn't as hip on sharing with outside mod developers as Valve is.
That's a pretty narrow view to have, especially given how twisted the story of DOTA (which isn't a hero arena) is. Icefrog wasn't the "main" man behind the game, he is merely the one who took all of the ideas from the team he was on and ran with it. It would be a lie to say that Icefrog and Valve are entitled to TM DOTA, the name, when it is more a genre than a specific game. This is evidenced by the fact that there are literally hundreds of versions of DOTA that existed before and after Icefrog commercialized it. I could understand getting a TM on DOTA 2 (being the first to have the title) or even DOTA Allstars (emphasis on the suffic), but DOTA itself isn't something that can really be trademarked anymore.
If you actually read what is quoted in the articles and cut out the slanted opinions of the article authors, you'll notice that the guy is more shocked that Valve is trying to TM DOTA than he is jealous Blizzard didn't try to do it first.
If Blizzard were actually interested in getting a TM they would have done it long ago. To them, DOTA is an example of the success of both their game and their modding community. If they had tried to TM it they would have tarnished their reputation. I see them wanting to preserve DOTA as being a public domain more than wanting to hog it for themselves.
Blizzard has shown that they are capable of some pretty stupid stuff, but I don't think this is one of those examples.
Isn't "AoS" the genre of these games?
Sort of. To me, Dota is a sub-genre of AoS. It branched out to a more hero-centric approach and design.
I wonder what those quotes in D1000's signature say about my personality when viewed out of context.
@D1000
AoS refers to Aeoin of Srife, often considered the grandfather of the hero vs hero genera, not the genera itself but the game that put groups of heroes on each side and had them fighter across sides.
@Prozaic
You presume a lot. I think at this point the idea that blizzard would want ANYTHING public domain is a bit absurd. Blizzard are absolute control freaks. If you look at their history they are unable to work with anyone, including blizzard north. They have lost huge amounts of their human capital and influence in the pursuit of controlling everything themselves.
Just look at Diablo 3 or Starcraft 2. They leave nothing in anyone's hands but their own and this is likely why DOTA didn't end up in their hands. Who wants to give their IP to a company that controls everything and monetizes purely for their own interest?
Still haven't fixed the peekaboo filter bug. rocking the 8 month mark, bliz. Top notch work.
That will be called Blizzard DOTA 2.
It's actually funny how many big-time games came from the random and creative maps that spawned in SC1/War3.
P.S. I miss Tides of Blood, an actual fun AOS.