Fancy a peek at a video and some screenshots and gifs from Dota 2‘s [official site] newly arrived VR spectator mode? The video has snippets of what you can expect if you boot up VR Spectator Mode at the moment and you’ll find that just after the jump!

For the screenshots use the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard or the arrows above (and then below because our gallery likes to be contrary) the image*.

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The biggest event on the Dota 2 [official site] calendar is almost upon us, The International. Valve’s huge tournament starts on August 3rd, hosted in Seattle as ever, but folks at home can now join in the fun too. The International Compendium update is now live, with packs of virtua Dota Top Trumps cards to collect, swap, and put into fantasy challenge sorts of… look, it’s all complicated. I’ll explain. But most exciting is the launch of the Dota 2 VR Hub, a way to watch matches in cyberspace which I assume lets you nestle between Tidehunter’s legs like he’s a big salty armchair.

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The klaxon which has been going off since I got up this morning tells me that the Dota 2 [official site] prize pool for The International 2016 has now surpassed its own previous world record for an esports tournament prize pool and is now sitting at over $18.5 million.

$18.5 million. To be shared amongst people who are very very good at digital wizard sports.

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Ooh – the direct invitees for The International 2016 (that’s the massive annual Dota 2 [official site] tournament with the eye-watering prize pool) have been announced. There’s also a bunch of information on how the qualifiers work so YOU, dear reader, could theoretically be in the running to scoop part of that $12.4m. Well. $12.4m so far….

Two-time Major winners OG are obviously going straight to Seattle, while star squad Secret and last year’s winners Evil Geniuses will need to work their way through the open qualifiers. That’s thanks to some roster swap action which means both violated Valve’s roster lock conditions.

Read on for the full list of direct invitees as well as who’s going to be duking it out in the regionals so far:

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The winner of Dota 2 s Manila Major [official site] has been crowned and multinational squad, OG, are now the first team to win two of the Valve-sponsored mega-tournaments. The team’s latest win comes seven months after OG claimed the inaugural Frankfurt Major and prompted a stage invasion by fans.

OG – consisting of Fly, Cr1t-, N0tail, Miracle- and MoonMeander – bested Team Liquid in the grand finals with an unusual Elder Titan/Wraith King draft to win $1,100,000 and score a historic Major double.

Read on to see what you might have missed – who excelled, who crashed and burned, and which games offered up the best competitive Dota 2!

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Now that we’re a few days into the Manila Major [official site], and given how unimpressive the Shanghai Major was in terms of showcasing professional Dota 2 [official site], I wanted to say how much I’m enjoying this event and how much better of a production it is.

This isn’t an in-depth look, more of a pat on the back, but I think there are three or four elements I particularly like:

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Hello there. This week, I’m writing not just as an RPG columnist, but as president of the newly formed League Of Folks Who Don’t Really Play MOBAs But Are Bizarrely Hooked On All The Trappings. As far as I can tell, our membership is roughly a billion people and counting. That’s what happens when the likes of Blizzard and Riot spend literally tens> of dollars creating gorgeous videos to promote their worlds, yes, but it goes somewhat deeper than that. Have you ever watched a new character reveal for a game you know you’re never going to play? Then the sickness might have spread.

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Dota 2 s Manila Major [official site] is almost upon us. The full complement of 16 top teams were decided by a combination of direct invites and the regional qualifiers that took place early in May. They’ll be competing for a cut of $3,000,000 at the Philippines tournament – the third and final Valve-sponsored Major before August s annual grand Dota-fest, The International.

Valve slightly changed up the invite/qualifier system this time round. Ostensibly faced with too many high-achieving squads to choose from, Gabe and co. directly invited twelve teams instead of the usual eight, leaving just four spots for the four regional qualifier winners. Now that they ve been filled, all that s left to do is wait until the main event kicks off, possibly while praying that the many and varied catastrophes that befell March’s Shanghai Major don t repeat themselves.

Not up to speed with the invitees or the Manila Major? Here’s what you need to know!

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Vulkan is the new big exciting Thing That Might Make Your Games Run Faster Without You Having To Buy A New Graphics Card Or Anything, Jeremy recently explained in slightly more technical detail, and now Dota 2 [official site] supports the new graphics API too. In beta. And it might not make a difference for you. Or may be worse. If you want to be on the bleeding edge of technology (a phrase which always makes me think of eXistenZ> and meatcomputers), you can now download and try Dota 2’s Vulkan beta.

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Valve have announced this year’s Dota 2 [official site] compendium for The International – it’s part of The International Battle Pass – so I’ve locked my wallet in a drawer before writing this news post because I can’t be trusted around compendia. 25% of the proceeds go to bolstering the prize pool for the tournament. There are no stretch goals this year but there are special rewards if this year’s prize tops the $18,429,613 of 2015.

This year’s shebang features a Vengeful Spirit taunt where she does Lindsay’s chicken dance from Arrested Development, the ability to turn the river into blood rather than water, and weekend mini tournaments…

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