Jokers_Wild

http://blog.dota2.com/2012/10/diretide/

For Halloween, Dota 2 has changed the skin to a more festive theme, and added a new game type: Diretide. You basically run around collecting candy and stealing it from enemies. It culminates in a boss fight with Roshan.

I've played a few rounds of Diretide and I love it. It's a nice change of pace from standard play. What do you guys think?

Other than the part where i killed the two sectopods and elite mutons immediately spawned and killed my support, I didn't find the last mission very challenging.

I'm normally a PC gamer, but I've been playing this on the 360, and it runs fine other than a few bugs. Most notably, the sniper kill-cam sometimes has terrible slowdown for me.

Congratulations to IG for a well-earned victory. The level of sportsmanship displayed after that game was amazing. The whole crowd cheered when Puppey started carrying Ferrari around.

Got to sit in on Na'Vi vs DK while I had some spare time at PAX. The setup Valve's got running is insane. Being in a theater full of people who are all excited about the game is intense.

The first day of preliminaries have ended, and it was surprising all around.

Na'vi, the current champions, going 2-4 was something I doubt anyone predicted. Amazing performances by LGD and CLG, who both went 6-0.

At this point, all bets are off. I think the coming matches are going to be mindblowing.

@Dizzyhippos: The first game had problems in Dota TV, which Valve admitted to on Twitter. After that they got it working

It's that time of year again. The International is starting soon. Sooner than expected, actually. MUFC had some last minute passport issues, and so their spot in the tournament has opened up. Mousesports and World Elite are currently playing a best of 5 to decide who gets it.

For those who want to watch in their browser, Tobi is casting at JoinDota:

http://www.joindota.com/en/live/tobiwan

You can also watch the games in the client. Even if you don't have a beta invite, you can still use the spectator features in the client. It's available here:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/570/

Finally, keep in mind that there are team pennants available in the Dota store. You can sport them while you watch games, and when your particular team does something of note you have a chance to get an item drop.

The people calling Fish a sellout are ridiculous. Paying tens of thousands of dollars to put out a patch is harsh for a small developer. This has nothing to do with his artistic integrity.

I love it. It's a high risk, high reward weapon