It's a bit of a quiet weekend for eSports, but DOTA 2 fans will at least be able to watch several games in the ProDOTA 2 Worldwide League. It's a new league, but a number of major eSports teams from the Americas, Europe, and Asia are already participating. It's divided into pro and amateur leagues, with the pros battling for a $20,000 season prize purse.

The action starts at 12 p.m. Eastern tomorrow, and you find the whole schedule here, and more information about this weekend's play over here. Casters TobiWan and Luminous will be calling the games for English-speaking audiences.

However, not to be outdone, the MLG had some big StarCraft and League of Legends-related announcements today.

Start with the big news first: the MLG Pro Circuit will now feature League of Legends, starting with the MLG Spring Championship in Anaheim (June 8 - 10). Eight teams will be invited to the Spring Championship, and another 12 will be able to sign up. At the moment, LoL will just be happening at MLG Championships, not the Arenas.

On top of that, the MLG also announced that Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm will be playable at the Spring Championship. A "large number" of demo stations will be available for people to try Heart of the Swarm's latest multiplayer build. This would probably be a good time to point you to where you can get a spectator pass.

Anything else going on this weekend that eSports fans should check out? Be sure to bring it up in the comments.

" is going to be free-to-play. It'll have some twists, but that's the easiest way for people to think about it."

As reported by Polygon, that's what Gabe Newell had to say on a recent Seven Day Cool Down podcast. Valve's big wheel has already admitted to playing the MOBA for a staggering 800 hours, and now he's talking cash. Valve have already developed some interesting ideas on how to reward valued members of the community: the Team Fortress 2 workshop allows people to create in-game items, and make a significant profit if they sell. Now Valve are hoping to reward player's good behaviour too.

"The issue that we're struggling with quite a bit is something I've kind of talked about before, which is how do you properly value people's contributions to a community?" says Gabe. "We're trying to figure out ways so that people who are more valuable to everybody else recognized and accommodated. We all know people where if they're playing we want to play, and there are other people where if they're playing we would be on the other side of the planet."

According to the master of Valve, individual games don't need to have completely separate communities. Valve have already experimented with this way of thinking in Steam's item trading system, where you can feasibly swap a Team Fortress 2 hat for a copy of Portal, if you find someone who's willing.

"When you start thinking about the different games that people play and you try to think about how people can create value or a service in one game and benefit somebody in a different game, you can start to see how the different games sort knit together," said Valve's big wheel.

We'll have more on DOTA 2 soon. If Steam stats are anything to go by (which they are), a lot of you are playing it right now.

Enthusiasm for Dota 2 is steadily growing as more and more participants are invited into the beta. Dota 2 regularly features on Steam's most played list, but those numbers are nothing compared to the number of Dota fans worldwide. One of the biggest international markets is China. Tim spoke to Doug Lombardi recently about Valve's plans to bring Dota 2 to Chinese audiences.

"You’ve got to address that market, it’s the biggest DOTA population in the world, right?" he said. The problem is that Valve can't release Steam in China. Publishers need make distribution deals with Chinese companies to gain access to that vast player base. Valve have previously teamed up with Nexon to release Counter-Strike Online in Asia. Now they're looking to forge a similar deal for Dota 2.

"We’re actively looking for a partner to work with over there," Lombardi said. "It’s pretty cut and dry - you need a Chinese partner to be in China, period."

Lombardi describes the prospect of a Chinese release of Steam as "a whole different ball of wax." A more likely scenario would have Steam tech powering a Chinese service to keep the Asian version of Dota 2 updated.

"It’s thorny and it’s something that is new for us," Lombardi admitted. "But it’s mandatory if we want DOTA to succeed so we’re on it and various senior people have been to China many times in the past few months."

Valve haven't announced whether or not Dota 2 will be free to play or not, but a fan has delved into Dota 2 beta files and turned up a number of references to items, announcer packs, loot buffs and other items that would be perfect for a Dota 2 item store.

Dota 2 player Cyborgmatt has been rummaging through the files of a Dota 2 test build, and has found evidence of dozens and dozens of items that we might be able to buy in the final release. They include new announcers, taunts, new couriers, new hero items, hero skins and more.

There are two types of announcers listed, a general announcer who will commentate on important in-game events like the fall of a tower, and a kill streak announcer whose job it is to shout things like "DOUBLE KILL," or "UNSTOPPABLE" or "GODLIKE" when one player goes on a roll. One of the announcers is listed as Dr. Kleiner (item_description: “Oh Fiddle Sticks!”). That's just the start.

A number of new couriers are listed, including a "mini-Pudge," a sheep, a war yack, a giant badger and the "shitty wizard." New hero items include masks, beards, new weapons, horns, shoulderpads and chest plates.

"Souls" are also listed. It looks as though we'll be able to equip these to improve drop rate bonuses. There's also a "Repentant Soul" which will promote the player that equips it out of the "low priority punishment queue". This is interesting, because it suggests that players that have been reported for misbehaviour will be able to pay to avoid penalties.



This tallies with Gabe Newell's comments to Develop last year, when he talked about "charging customers based on how much fun they are to play with."

"Some people, when they join a server, a ton of people will run with them. Other people, when they join a server, will cause others to leave. We should have a way of capturing that. We should have a way of rewarding the people who are good for our community," he said.

"So, in practice, a really likable person in our community should get Dota 2 for free, because of past behaviour in Team Fortress 2. Now, a real jerk that annoys everyone, they can still play, but a game is full price and they have to pay an extra hundred dollars if they want voice."

The Dota 2 files also contain references to item bundles, a free trial upgrade and "treasure caches," which look as though they'll work in a similar way to Team Fortress 2's crates. The full list is available on Cyborgmatt's blog.

Masks are the new hats! Hats are so last season, why on earth were we spending money on putting things on our heads when we could have a regal beard instead? What do you think of these items? Here's a badger while you think.

Dota 2 player Cyborgmatt has been rummaging through the files of a Dota 2 test build, and has found evidence of dozens and dozens of items that we might be able to buy in the final release. They include new announcers, taunts, new couriers, new hero items, hero skins and more.

There are two types of announcers listed, a general announcer who will commentate on important in-game events like the fall of a tower, and a kill streak announcer whose job it is to shout things like "DOUBLE KILL," or "UNSTOPPABLE" or "GODLIKE" when one player goes on a roll. One of the announcers is listed as Dr. Kleiner (item_description: “Oh Fiddle Sticks!”). That's just the start.

A number of new couriers are listed, including a "mini-Pudge," a sheep, a war yack, a giant badger and the "shitty wizard." New hero items include masks, beards, new weapons, horns, shoulderpads and chest plates.

"Souls" are also listed. It looks as though we'll be able to equip these to improve drop rate bonuses. There's also a "Repentant Soul" which will promote the player that equips it out of the "low priority punishment queue". This is interesting, because it suggests that players that have been reported for misbehaviour will be able to pay to avoid penalties.



This tallies with Gabe Newell's comments to Develop last year, when he talked about "charging customers based on how much fun they are to play with."

"Some people, when they join a server, a ton of people will run with them. Other people, when they join a server, will cause others to leave. We should have a way of capturing that. We should have a way of rewarding the people who are good for our community," he said.

"So, in practice, a really likable person in our community should get Dota 2 for free, because of past behaviour in Team Fortress 2. Now, a real jerk that annoys everyone, they can still play, but a game is full price and they have to pay an extra hundred dollars if they want voice."

The Dota 2 files also contain references to item bundles, a free trial upgrade and "treasure caches," which look as though they'll work in a similar way to Team Fortress 2's crates. The full list is available on Cyborgmatt's blog.

Masks are the new hats! Hats are so last season, why on earth were we spending money on putting things on our heads when we could have a regal beard instead? What do you think of these items? Here's a badger while you think.



POST-BADGER UPDATE: In the comments, SpiderNinja points out that the Dota 2 wiki has gathered together all of Dr. Kleiner's lines. He seems bemused by the whole concept of Dota. "Oh, I see. Are those little…little people down there? Wonderful what they can do these days."