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<generator>Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/</generator><item><title><![CDATA[Blizzard DOTA, coming soon to a new platform called Blizzard Arcade]]></title><link>http://www.joystiq.com/2011/10/25/blizzard-dota-coming-soon-to-a-new-platform-called-blizzard-arc/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.joystiq.com/2011/10/25/blizzard-dota-coming-soon-to-a-new-platform-called-blizzard-arc/</guid><comments>http://www.joystiq.com/2011/10/25/blizzard-dota-coming-soon-to-a-new-platform-called-blizzard-arc/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<div style="text-align: center;">
	<a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2011/10/25/blizzard-dota-coming-soon-to-a-new-platform-called-blizzard-arc/"><img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2011/10/blizzarddotaheader.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid; margin: 0px;" /></a></div>
<em>Blizzard DOTA</em> was back on the floor of BlizzCon 2011 last week, after spending a year away from the spotlight <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2011/08/22/blizzard-dota-hits-the-reset-button/">being "completely rebooted."</a> We <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/10/21/hands-on-with-blizzard-dota-tweaking-the-genre-blizzard-created/">played the game as soon as we possibly could</a>, finding it to be a much more polished take on the popular multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) gametype.<br />
<br />
"Last year we had basically the style of the art, and the look that we were going for," says Samwise Didier, Blizzard's Senior Art Director. But as I said <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/24/starcraft-2-mods-preview/">when I played the early version of the mod</a>, the game itself wasn't quite as polished as the look and feel. "This year," says Didier, "we really focused on taking the DOTA-style game and really making it our own."<br />
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Blizzard has done a few interesting things to the gametype that has made <em>League of Legends </em>and <em>Heroes of Newerth</em> so popular. But the most interesting may just be how the company plans to release it. Blizzard is going to make sure everyone has a chance to check it out, even if they don't own <em>StarCraft 2</em>. "We haven't figured out the details," says Didier. "But there will be a free-to-play <em>Blizzard DOTA</em> on our Blizzard Arcade. We don't know how many heroes there will be, or how many maps, but we definitely want to make sure that everyone knows it will be free-to-play."<br />
<div class="postgallery"><p><strong>Gallery: <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/photos/blizzard-dota-10-21-11/">Blizzard DOTA (10/21/11)</a></strong></p><a href="http://www.joystiq.com/photos/blizzard-dota-10-21-11/#4548211"><img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2011/10/arthas-fighting-ogrekingsized_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" /></a><a href="http://www.joystiq.com/photos/blizzard-dota-10-21-11/#4548212"><img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2011/10/arthas-goes-for-the-towersized_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" /></a><a href="http://www.joystiq.com/photos/blizzard-dota-10-21-11/#4548213"><img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2011/10/assaulting-the-red-basesized_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" /></a><a href="http://www.joystiq.com/photos/blizzard-dota-10-21-11/#4548214"><img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2011/10/characterselectarthassized_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" /></a><a href="http://www.joystiq.com/photos/blizzard-dota-10-21-11/#4548215"><img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2011/10/characterselectmuradinsized_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" /></a></div><p><a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2011/10/25/blizzard-dota-coming-soon-to-a-new-platform-called-blizzard-arc/" rel="bookmark">Continue reading <em>Blizzard DOTA, coming soon to a new platform called Blizzard Arcade</em></a></p><p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://www.joystiq.com"><img src="http://www.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Joystiq" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2011/10/25/blizzard-dota-coming-soon-to-a-new-platform-called-blizzard-arc/">Blizzard DOTA, coming soon to a new platform called Blizzard Arcade</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://www.joystiq.com">Joystiq</a> on Tue, 25 Oct 2011 10:45:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2011/10/25/blizzard-dota-coming-soon-to-a-new-platform-called-blizzard-arc/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.joystiq.com/forward/20089385/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2011/10/25/blizzard-dota-coming-soon-to-a-new-platform-called-blizzard-arc/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>blizzard-dota</category><category>blizzcon-2011</category><category>dota</category><category>kerrigan</category><category>moba</category><category>pc</category><category>samwise-didier</category><category>starcraft-2-heart-of-the-swarm</category><category>thrall</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Schramm]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 25 Oct 2011 10:45:00 EST</pubDate></item></channel></rss>