That doesn't look like a FPS...

Surprise! HL3 is a MOBA.

What's even more important is that Dota 2 now has MOD SUPPORT. It's time to recreate all the great WC3 custom maps.

I saw someone on my flist jump into the workshop tools and figured that's what was going on. This might be what re-piques my interest in Dota.

Well on account of everything is 3D rendered (I'm fairly sure I saw a demo, once upon a time in a mystical venue, where they showed that Dota 2 could work with any camera angle, but I could totally be crazy), technically it can all be in the same engine. Would be pretty kickass to mix Counter Strike with Dota... FPS Dota, just saying... Yeah, you're probably right, that's a terrible idea.

Oh, also, did they officially call this Source 2.0 anywhere? I'm pretty sure when Portal 2 came out they were saying it was "Source 2.0?"

To be fair, you've been able to dick around with the camera angle in Dota 2 while the game is paused for about a year now.

Can't wait to play some Uther Party and LoL in dota!

So I'm no modder or anything but people seem damn certain this is Source 2.0. I'm still not entirely convinced until we hear from Valve (if we hear anything at all).

I can understand why folks might be excited, I don't play Dota 2 on an hardcore level but I'm excited to see what game modes/levels people create. I think a lot of the excitement comes from the fact that a lot of Valve's future games (Left 4 Dead 3 is the only one I think which as been confirmed in development) is rumored to be running on Source 2.0.

HNNNNNNNNNNNG

Dota 2 twitter just tweeted this.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN. They might just sell merch at Gamescom.

Those of you who know me understand that I'm a pretty collected guy, not prone to outbursts of emotion either positive or negative. With that said, I'd like to contribute to this here discussion:

YEAAAH! God fucking damn it, yes! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!

Now, now, now, I do want to remind you guys that both Half-Life 1 and Half-Life 2 were introduced at the start of the engine cycles, and that there's been rumours for ages that Valve was developing HL3 as a means to usher in and present a brand new engine. Now, I don't want to get your hopes up here. I don't want to be that childishly optimistic. But you know what? I am.

@do_the_manta_ray: I like the optimism but until we get even a hint of HL3, source 2 should be treated has what it's probably meant to be: a tool to grow their Dota 2, F2P and engine licencing businesses. They didn't use their rebuilt engine to put on a cool trailer for HL3 or a gamplay demo or a teaser or a single screenshot. They re-rendered Dota 2 with it because OF COURSE THEY DID.

I guess we'll see at gamescom but all my money is on a prettier Dota 2 and maybe F2P L4D3.

Hey, guys! November 16th will be the 10th anniversary of Half-Life 2! What better time to finally announce Left 4 Dead 3?

This has been an "open secret" for a couple of years now where you could see the evidence of this on pictures from people doing tours of Valve's offices. People were expecting games like Dota 2 were the last games on this generation of Source and the next set of games will be on the brand new, cross platform, modern tech Source 2.

Next gen games such as... Dota 2!

Oh boy Dota 2!

Naw, Dota 2 is still works like Source (quacks like a duck...). It isn't so much the models but that map and data files can be loaded into the SFM. Or do you mean that the first thing they should release on Source 2 is Dota 2?

A big feature Source missing is "streaming asset data" and "dynamic load/unloading" which isn't needed for Dota 2 but you still see the restriction in the "player loadout" being set and locked once the match starts. Everyone is expecting will be in Source 2 since it is in every other engine from Unity to Unreal.

What does this mean for people who aren't modders?

More Workshop content for Source games hopefully

That Valve can finally start the development on HL3! \o/

That is what I've thought for awhile. I mean, if you're going to launch your new engine you might as well save your potential biggest haymaker (although arguably Dota is already surpassed Half Life in fan base) for when you have to push new tech.

QFT

I thought source was modular so they never had to make a "2.0"

Also based on those pictures, that a lot more of us can become modders and map-makers.

Does this mean we can finally make DotA in Dota 2?

Something is happening!

I dont care about HL3 or Dota so.......Sin: Episodes 2 hype! I bet they were just holding it back for Source 2! And the third episode will launch on source 3!

If Dota2 has custom games like WC3 did back in the day that would be fucking AMAZING.

SOMEONE CREATE KODO TAG ASAP.

Half Life 3 is going to release one day. You're going to play it, beat it, and it will feel like a split second of your life came and went. The same can really be said about life itself. Half Life 3 is an allegory for the passage of life, having high expectations for your future, and ultimately dying unfulfilled

Okay, there's a bit of dry sarcasm in the above sentences, but some of it holds weight to me as an honest sentiment.

In other words, don't over hype it. Just go with the flow. It's only a game, not the second coming.

@mb: Noticed the same change on the Windows taskbar. You can even see some coloration changes on the Steam interface itself. Honestly, the reaction, myself included, is something we rarely see out of anyone but Valve and Nintendo these days and I kinda miss it.

@bacongames: Haven't gotten the icon change on windows, but steam looks a bit different (more blue than there was before and the design is a bit cleaner, though pretty much the same).

@bacongames: Yeah I noticed it when I got a message from someone a couple hours ago and the style was different. Been awhile since a Steam update like this.

ok where is a tech demo valve?

sad that it doesn't make any financial sense for them to develop a hl3 anymore.

@alexgbro: In the meantime, I'll be refreshing on the demo that blew my mind 11 years ago.

I'm excited! I don't know why, but I am!

Valve isn't a company where all it's ideas are ruled by financial viability. They aren't ruled by investors who are only out to turn a profit, they're a company made up of creative people who want to make cool things. Valve takes enormous risks all the time, and steam is what allows them to do that. People probably forget this, but DOTA2 was a huge risk for them. It's esoteric, utilizes a lax f2p system where the game is truly free and they only make money from cosmetic stuff, the competition is huge (LoL), and it was the subject of a big legal battle with Blizzard. On paper it sounded like a horrible idea, but somehow they carved their own place in the genre.

What's the financial viability of a virtual trading card system? There isn't one, but valve wanted to do it and made it work. What's the financial viability of a counter strike game in this day and age? 2 years later it still has a huge userbase.

So sure, Half Life isn't going to be a consistent money maker like TF2 of DOTA2, but that doesnt mean it wont be successful. It will, without a doubt, sell 10's of millions of copies, probably that much on steam alone. It will start a huge conversation and attract even more people to steam. It will be an event that the entire internet will, in one way or another, hear about. And valve knows that and knows how valuable that type of thing is.

Thanks to your avatar i read that in drunk dave lang's voice, it was beautiful

Well I just read something on the Dota client front page of upcoming support for map creation.

So yeh it's that.

Finger twirls all around....

Is the new editor still brush based? That was the best part about hammer, it was the only map editor I could actually get into and the new tools look even easier to use.

You know, aside from the massive trading card market on Steam's own marketplace where Valve takes a cut on everything and gives a cut to the developers, further enticing developers to improve integration with the Steam platform.

How much money do you think the trading card market makes for valve/developers? I don't have any concrete info/statistics, but I bet it really doesn't make that much for either group in the scheme of things. But they don't do it for money, they do it because it's cool and adds another layer to the community aspects of steam (strengthening it, making it distinct, and more appealing to people). Not everything that they do needs to benefit them monetarily. Like I said, they make so much money from Steam itself that they can do little things like the trading card market and even though it doesn't make them a lot of money it strengthens steam in the process. To a company like activision or ea they don't see the point in doing stuff like this if it doesn't immediately benefit them monetarily. That's what separates valve from everyone else.

Really want to get my hopes up...but then they just get dashed again...