IceFrog has just made another Q&A session. And do you know what? He give us a hint that one of the new heroes on the Dota 6.68 is Icarus the Phoenix! Wow! That's also mean he confirmed that there will be more than one new heroes on the next map. See it for your self ;)

Q: When will we hear more about you and Valve? Some people say it will take 2-3 years, can you give us any clues? (from Zeyall)



A: It certainly won't take that long. There are a lot of very talented people here at Valve that are working hard on it every day to ensure high quality in a timely manner. We'll be making an announcement soon actually, and based on the feedback I've been getting since the last mention, I'm sure you all will be as excited as I am.

Q: Can you tell us how you first met Valve and how you like it so far? (from Sodoes)

A: It started off with an email from Valve where they mentioned that they were big fans of DotA wanted to fly me out to spend some time with them and visit their studio. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the trip. After arriving and chatting with them, the first thing I noticed was how much of their decision making process was like mine. They shared the same aspirations towards building a long term and sustainable community without having short sighted business goals that end up hurting the quality of the game. One of the most important things for me though was that there wasn't going to be anyone standing above telling me how I should be doing things. They trust the developers that have experience to make the best decisions for their playerbase. The atmosphere at Valve allows everyone to be very comfortable and able to focus on what they love doing. It also doesn't hurt that they are huge DotA fans.. until their favorite heroes are nerfed, then I'm the bad guy for a week!

Q: How popular is DotA these days? (from china_white)

A: I can only give estimates based on getdota.com usage, because I can't track ingame downloads or fansites or downloads from China. It is roughly estimated (based on the statistics from popular Chinese sites) that the Chinese DotA audience is about 40-50% of the worldwide audience. Not counting China, the playerbase is estimated to be somewhere between 7-11 million. I expect the audience to grow even more in the not too distant future.

Q: Is your goal to make everything picked the same amount of times? (from j.walsh)

A: I don't think about it that way exactly. Sure it's good if there is a nice distribution and that is something to work towards, but really the goal in DotA's development is, first and foremost, to make the gameplay quality the best it can be. It is the combination of all the heroes, items and mechanics together that makes DotA what it is and not the individual elements alone. Sometimes that means certain things are carefully adjusted to be more frequent than others, sometimes it doesn't, but ultimately the main judge of a game's quality is not in some artificial balance metric, but in the overall gameplay quality and depth that it has.

Q: Can you tell us something about 6.68? (from Carlos)

A: It is still a work in progress and needs some time, but it will have new heroes, more balance improvements, and some new features as well. Here is one of the new heroes in development: Icarus, the Phoenix


Q: What do you think about DotA's future, will it continue to grow? (from Amir)

A: Definitely. I think players like to spend their time on something they both enjoy and trust. While DotA has a lot to offer now in terms of content and gameplay quality, I will always be working hard to improve it and all that work will be maintained when it matures to something that solves all the other non-gameplay elements that it needs to go to the next level. I think it is a good option for players that want to spend time on a game that will grow with them. It also has a very bright future in the competitive scene. In addition to the already announced SMM ($32,000), ESWC ($24,500), a soon to be announced online ($30,000) event and another huge offline event that will be revealed soon, there will also be an even bigger set of opportunities in the future for players that are dedicating their time and energy into DotA. I think players on all levels of play will be satisfied with their choice and experience with the game.


Q:Why are some heroes unavailable in -CM mode? (from Brandom Lim)

A: It is a largely experimental idea so it may or may not remain for the future. There are a lot of different reasons for it though. In some cases it's balance or bug-potential related. Other times it is done to limit the number of simultaneous changes so that certain changes can be more easily measured. In a lot of cases where the above aren't a factor, it is actually done to give enough opportunity for players to understand how to play with and against them and understand the strengths and weaknesses better. This also makes new versions less destabalizing for competitive gaming while still providing a continuous stream of fresh content. That being said though, I've gotten a lot of requests from players that use the mode for casual or semi-competitive play and miss omitted heroes, so I may add a subcommand to unlock all.


Q: What do you think about the fan support of competitive teams? (from Mooseman)

A: Fan support is, for the most part, very good. I think it's great how passionate many of them are about competitive DotA. At times, though, some of them can be a little too judgmental towards teams based on their last few consecutive wins or losses. They have a lot of pressure on them and sometimes they make mistakes or just want to relax and try something different. I don't think it is always fair to judge them for that. They also face top competition regularly, so its hard to win every time. Teams have a lot of pride and spend a lot of time practicing, so it can be demoralizing to them when some fans change their attitudes towards them so fast.


Q: Are we going to see more visual effects in the future? (from Zikaro)

A: Visual upgrades can be a good thing (and they will come in the future) but is extremely important to not add too much visual noise. You want a scene that has a nice atmosphere and theme but isn't too cluttered or shiny that it negatively affects gameplay by making it hard to tell what is going on.


Q: Should we expect to see any more loadscreens by Kunkka? (from 27302)

A: Yes, he is planning a new one now, but I can't tell you when it will be done since it depends on his free time.


Q: Do you use WC3 Editor by itself or other things as well? (from Sasha200)

A: Most of the map development is done outside of the editor actually. There are a lot of separate script files and program tools that are used together to create the map file.


Q: Any interesting bugs or features that were in beta maps? (from OpyyuRDs)

A: We once had a different ability for Techies that used the same visual art and sound effects from starcraft one for the ghost nuke. When he used it, a red indicator would appear on the ground like in Starcraft and then it would play the classic "Nuclear Launch Detected" audio. It sounded a lot cooler than it played out in practice and it was near the end of a beta cycle and had some balancing and design issues, so we decided to remove it instead of rush it in. As far as bugs go, Chaos Knight could pull towers in one beta version, so you were able to have a line of towers pushing on the enemy side!


Q: Will more heroes get an Aghanim upgrade to their ultimate? (from Akder)

A: Yea, I usually try to add some more every version or two. I think it's a good idea to add them in slowly though, instead of too many at once. I've also gotten more requests for extra graphic animations for the ones that already have, so I'll try to find suitable ones for those as well.


Q: What is the hardest part when developing dota? What risks are there? (from Bannion)

A: The hardest part is actually not the development itself, but in how to measure success. The thing I always try to work on the most is increasing the measurability/prediction of a successful patch. The goal is to be able to improve the development process and feedback systems for better accuracy to what reasonates best with players. The riskiest thing is making a change where it might take too long to discover its true impacts on the game where it becomes hard to reverse. We work really hard to eliminate that stuff early on in the theory phase with either careful analysis or specific beta testing.


Q: How do you decide when to release a new patch? (from VinceX)

A: There are two separate considerations for this. The first is frequency. If you update too frequently players do not get a chance to settle into the previous changes and learn the game, if you update too slowly then you aren't providing enough fresh content. It is a balance between the two that I'm always trying to find a happy medium between as I get more feedback from players. The second is when it's "ready". I usually release it as soon as I feel that the value we get out of more internal testing is too low compared to external feedback we'd get from the larger community. If we are still in the experimenting phase where we are trying out ideas then it's not ready. Once it feels like it needs external testing to be able to make more good decisions, then it is released. From my perspective, the game is in constant development and improvement regardless, it just becomes a matter of what is the most effective way to improve something.


Q: What takes the most time each patch? Researching, Balancing, Implementing or Bug Hunting? (from Enders)

A: The two most time consuming are usually research and experimentation. Research involves more than just playing the game, it's also watching replays, reading a wide range of feedback and talking with players. Experimentation is the other time consuming part. It would be fast to just reproduce a patch if I already knew exactly what to do, but the hard part is usually figuring out what you want to do and doing the proper testing before making changes.


Q: What are you most happy about with regards to DotA? (from Artem)

A: I am really thankful for all the support players have given this game, it is more than I could ask for. I see a vibrant community that, despite the very hard learning curve DotA has, grows through the dedication and passion of its players. That shows me how much more potential the game has and encourages me to work harder.

DotA 6.67c Map has been released, just short after 6.67b. This map fix some bug/exploit found in the 6.67b map.

Changelog:
* Fixed casting distance exploits with Skewer
* Fixed a bug that could sometimes cause everyone in the game gets a massive FPS drop for a minute
* Fixed Cleave/Anchor Smash from instantly killing Swarm creatures
* Various performance improvements when casting The Swarm
* Fixed Soul Steal channeling text in the tooltip
* Non-hero units now do half damage to The Swarm
* Commands like -test and -wtf are now restricted if there is a gamebot deciding the mode to be used
* Fixed a bug with lifesteal and The Swarm creatures
* Fixed a rare Mac issue with shared Soul Ring
* Added passive icon for Strygyer's Thirst
* Added passive icon for Plague

Dota Allstar 6.67c Map Download:

http://www.mediafire.com/?myzymjnznzn

2PTU8HGTSPDS

If you’re a fan of the most loveable sea creature – the dolphins – then definitely you would have fun watching the Oscars Best Documentary Film 2010 Winner, “The Cove”.
“The Cove” is a movie which features the protection of dolphins against these people who would like to kill them for their meats. Personally, I don’t understand the fact that people kill these dolphins for their meat because according to research, dolphin meats contain high levels of mercury that are 5 times the allowable mercury in our body and too much of this mercury can lead to mercury posioning.

“The Cove” movie did not only win the most prestigious Oscars Awards for Best Documentary Film but also gained several awards and recognitions from different movie critics circle.

The amazing part of the movie “The Cove” was the way the film was shot. Producers of the movie had to devise a plan on how to access the cove where the dolphins were hidden by fishermen. Interestingly, a visual effects company named KernerFx gave some special HD cameras that looked like rocks. These hidden cameras, disguised as rocks, were used to shoot the movie.

While there maybe some negative reviews of the movie “The Cove” which includes the Mayor of the town of Taiji and the chief of Taiji Fishery Union claiming that the movie does not respect dietary traditions and culture of some local communities, I certainly agree that killing of dolphins should be banned.

According to the Mythbusters show in Discovery Channel which I watched, dolphins are saviours of humans against sharks. Based on their findings, sharks are afraid of dolphins.

Dolphins are friendly animals. They should be loved and not killed for our selfish greed. The movie “The Cove” teaches us to protect these mammals as they soon become one of the endangered species of earth.

Source: mashable.com

IceFrog has just made a post about the new features for Dota 6.67. The first one is the zoom ability for the observers. As you know, it's pretty difficult to keep touch with all part of the Dota game with the current Warcraft 3 default view. This update hopefully will help the observer maintain a larger area and can spot the interesting event faster. Another one is a new game mode, Capture Point! How long since we got a new game mode guys? I can't remember it. Capture Point is kinda fun mode with bonus aura for your team if you manage to capture it. Curious? Check out the complete quote from IceFrogblog:

Hey guys, I just want to share some small information about the upcoming patch. It is too early for me to give a complete list of features or changes to expect, so I'll just be sharing a couple of small features as a sneak peak.

First, I've implemented a zoom mode for observers to allow spectators and shout casters to see a larger part of the battlefield rather than the current view.

The second is a Capture Point action style game mode. It is designed to be a short fun mode with lots of movement and action, as a break from the usual stuff. There will be many capture points (6+) spread around the map that, when captured, will provide various auras (Damage, Armor, Gold, Regen, Movement Speed, etc) for your team depending on which one is captured. The Capture Points all spawn after the first 10 minutes of the game. You gain control of a CP by standing on it for a certain amount of time (the more allies the faster). Capture Points can always be reclaimed by the enemy team after it is taken or it can also be interrupt during the capturing process itself. Keep in mind that all the mechanics and numbers are not final yet.

These are just two misc things in 6.67 that I wanted to share with you guys. There will of course be more work done on improving the current content with balancing and misc features. If there is something specific you want to see, don't hesitate to let me know.

This update is really exciting. It's been a while since we got a new fun game mode. Too many serious game can make us stressed a lot and WTF mode sometime is too rigged. Hope this new mode can be an alternative to find a new joy.

Changelogs:

==============
Dota 6.66b AI (v0.2141)
==============
-Rewrote Overpower and Summon Familiars to prevent AI crashes
-Undid the fix added for Pounce in 6.66b that was causing the game to crash
-Added a workaround for when AI attempt to attack a dropped Divine Rapier (item will be removed)
-Fixed AI from destroying the Aegis after having them attack Roshan

Download: Mediafire | Rapidshare | Megaupload

Dota 6.66b AI 0.214 Map Download. After waiting for a very long time, the Dota 6.66b AI map is now released by BuffMePlz.. Dota Allstars 6.66b AI has all the changes which were implemented in Dota 6.66b. Keep in your mind that DotA v6.66b AI would require Warcraft 1.24b/1.24c Patch. There are still some abilities which AI Bots can not use properly. So don't worry it is not a bug.

DotA Allstars 6.66b AI Map Download:
DotA Allstars v6.66b AI 0.214.w3x (mirror 1)
DotA Allstars v6.66b AI 0.214.w3x (mirror 2)

Blizzard may already be handing out keys to the highly-anticipated StarCraft II Beta.

Various StarCraft II websites are reporting to have received official Blizzard notices in regards to the upcoming beta. This post announces that The War Center actually received keys along with a message from Blizzard, giving an indication that the company may launch the beta soon. Unfortunately, there's no official launch date provided in the notice, however Blizzard is requesting that websites provide the information of five members by 5PM PST, January 28.

Korean website ThisIsGame also provides a similar date, claiming that StarCraft ProGamers have been requested to sign up for the beta by January 26. StarCraft Gamers also points out that the official StarCraft II Support Page is now officially online over on Battle.net, possibly signaling that Blizzard's beta may launch within the next few months.

It's possible that we'll know more about what's going on when Activision Blizzard releases its fourth quarter and calendar year results on February 10, 2010. The company said that it will host a conference call that will be broadcast over the Internet, and hopefully that's when Mike Morhaime finally reveals what every StarCraft fan has waited for all this time.

Source : Tom's Hardware US

When I woke up today, it took me about half an hour to get up to speed with the iPad. After I’ve read a couple of articles, I already knew everything there was to know about it (and more): its advantages, its flaws, and its potential.

But hidden between the lines of all that iPad coverage I’ve learned a thing or two about Apple and its plans, mostly from the things iPad is missing.

The thing is, Apple didn’t omit a camera or multitasking by accident. An engineer didn’t come up to Steve Jobs on Tuesday saying “I don’t know how to tell you this, Steve, but we’ve forgotten about the camera. No, please, not the head! Ouch!” They’ve omitted all these things on purpose, and this purpose tells you more about Apple’s plans than the things they did put in.

First of all, Flash. For years, we’ve been hearing that Adobe and Apple are in talks to bring full Flash support on the iPhone. It was almost always described as “nearly there”. Well, now that the iPad is out – a bigger device, perfect for browsing the web – and there’s still no Flash in sight, we can assume that Apple is not only not bringing Flash to its mobile devices: it’s fighting against it. For some reason, Apple doesn’t see eye to eye with Adobe when Flash is concerned, and if they haven’t reached some sort of agreement now, it’s probably not just around the corner, either.

Then, there’s multi-tasking. Nearly everyone I’ve talked to thinks this is a huge deal-breaker, but I think it makes sense. Although Steve Jobs was trying hard to prove to us that the iPad is a computer, it isn’t. Just like the iPod and the iPhone, its main purpose is to give the users an easy way to consume certain types of digital content. After music (iPod) and mobile applications (iPhone) comes iPad with video, photos, e-books, e-magazines, games. Apple doesn’t really want you to do complex photo editing on the iPad; you’ve got your Mac or PC for that. Apple wants you to touch a button, and start consuming content (preferably paying a couple of dollars for it).

Finally, the camera. Yes, it would be nice to have video chat. But once again, Apple wants you to do that on a Mac. If you want to snap photos, you should do it on the iPhone – you’re carrying it with you all the time, anyway. Once again, it becomes clear that Apple doesn’t want to sell devices that can do everything; they want to find the best form factor to consume some types of digital content, and then focus on them. If you look at it, you can do pretty much everything on your personal computer; by that philosophy, you don’t need anything else besides a laptop. And yet, you’ve now got smartphones and e-readers selling very well. Could it be that one powerful device is not as good as several less powerful, but more focused ones?

The way I see it, the iPad is not about creating; it’s all about consuming content. It shouldn’t be sold in Apple stores, it should be sold on newsstands (together with a 24-month subscription to some newspaper), in video clubs, in libraries. I honestly expected a lot of subsidized options for the device if you agree to buy some content with it, but Apple hasn’t really delivered that – yet. If I’m right, and if Apple starts doing that, most of iPad’s shortcomings won’t matter.

Apple has just officially announced the Apple iPad, their tablet device that aims to bring the best of the iPhone and laptops to a slim, attractive device.

The result is a very thin, roughly 10-inch (diagonal) device. The hardware is about what you'd expect, considering that we already know how the iPhone works. It supports touch input, multi-touch, swiping gestures, orientation detection, and all the rest of the features that the iPhone made popular with users.

ự nghiệp của cô nàng nổi loạn Lindsay Lohan có thể sẽ chính thức tan vỡ cũng bởi lí do chuyện ăn chơi trác táng của cô sẽ bị phát tán.

Kể từ khi công khai quan hệ vào tháng 11 và tổ chức lễ cưới vào ngày 3/1, hai chàng gay Zeng Anquan và Pan Wenjie đã trở thành tâm điểm của mọi sự nhiếc móc, xỉ vả đến từ gia đình và bạn bè.

Zeng Anquan (trái) và Pan Wenjie trong ngày cưới. Ảnh: China Daily. "Mọi khoản tiền của tôi trong công ty đã bị em trai phong tỏa", Zeng nói. "Chị gái tôi cảnh báo sẽ từ tôi nếu tôi không chia tay với Pan. Tôi cũng phải trả lời hàng trăm cuộc điện thoại từ bạn bè và người thân. Họ cảm thấy nhục nhã vì tôi".

"Nhưng chúng tôi rất yêu nhau và sẽ không bao giờ bỏ nhau", Zeng, 45 tuổi, trả lời phỏng vấn China Daily.

Hôn nhân đồng tính chưa được thừa nhận ở Trung Quốc. Đám cưới của Zeng-Pan được coi là sự kiện công khai đầu tiên ở đất nước này.

Cả Trung Quốc có khoảng 30 triệu người đồng tính, trong đó có 20 triệu là gay và số còn lại là đồng tính nữ, theo ước tính của Zhang Beichuan, giáo sư Đại học Qingdao.

Giáo sư đã thực hiện một cuộc khảo sát đối với gần 1.300 người đồng tính và thấy rằng 8,7% bị sa thải hoặc buộc phải từ chức sau khi tiết lộ thiên hướng giới tính của mình, 4,7% bị ảnh hưởng tới tiền lương và con đường thg tiến. Khoảng 62% vẫn che giấu bản ng tình dục của mình nơi công sở.

Zeng, một kiến trúc sư tại Thành Đô, cho biết khi 20 tuổi, anh phát hiện ra mình không hề hứng thú với phe khác giới. "Tôi có thể làm gì vào lúc đó? Tôi chỉ cảm thấy vô cùng tủi nhục".

Anh đã cưới một cô giáo dạy nhảy vào năm 1983 và họ có một con gái 3 năm sau đó. Nhưng dù cố gắng thế nào anh cũng không thể yêu vợ mình. "Tôi cảm thấy như đang ôm một khúc gỗ mỗi khi gần gũi vợ", Zeng nói.

Vì vậy anh đã cố tình tìm một công việc xa nhà và chỉ về nhà mỗi tháng 1-2 lần. Anh cảm thấy rất xót xa cho người vợ mà anh miêu tả là "tận tụy" và "chung thủy".

Khi con gái của hai người đã lớn và tìm được một công việc ổn định, Zeng mới thú nhận tất cả với vợ mình. "Cô ấy sốc nặng và khóc liền mấy ngày. Cuối cùng, cô ấy cũng đồng ý để tôi tự do".

Hai người đã ly dị vào tháng 2 năm ngoái. Sau đó, Zeng gặp Pan, 27 tuổi, một lính giải ngũ vào tháng 11 năm ngoái tại một quán bar. Họ yêu nhau ngay từ cái nhìn đầu tiên.

"Nụ cười rạng ngời và quyến rũ của cậu ấy làm tôi choáng váng. Tôi cũng bị thu hút bởi giọng nói êm ái và nhẹ nhàng của Pan. Cậu ấy còn rất vạm vỡ và đàn ông".

Hai người gặp gỡ thường xuyên và nhanh chóng kết thành cặp tình nhân. Một tháng sau lần gặp đầu tiên, Pan chia tay bạn gái và chuyển đến sống tại c hộ của Zeng.

Tuy nhiên họ đã gặp phải rất nhiều áp lực và định kiến. "Đôi khi tôi phải nói dối người khác rằng Pan là con nuôi của tôi. Cuối cùng chúng tôi phải chuyển đến sống tại quê tôi ở Luodai, một thị trấn xa xôi ở miền đông Thành Đô, nơi không một ai biết đến chúng tôi".

Đám cưới của họ được 200 bạn bè tới chúc phúc. Ảnh: China Daily. Hai người cuối cùng cùng thực hiện quyết tâm của mình đó là tổ chức đám cưới tại một quán bar dành cho người đồng tính, điều chưa từng xảy ra tại thành phố.

Hơn 200 bạn bè đồng tính đã tới tham dự lễ thành hôn của hai người, nhưng cũng rất nhiều vị khách khác đã bất ngờ khi nhìn các bức ảnh trong đó cô dâu trong bộ váy cưới màu trắng là một người đàn ông.

"Chúng tôi không còn phải giấu giếm nữa. Đám cưới của chúng tôi là giây phút hạnh phúc và quý giá nhất trong đời", Zeng tâm sự. "Chúng tôi không quan tâm người khác nghĩ gì, miễn là chúng tôi được ở bên nhau".

Điều duy nhất khiến họ nuối tiếc là không thể lấy được giấy đg ký kết hôn theo luật pháp Trung Quốc. "Hàng nghìn người đồng tính cưới nhau tại Pháp, Phần Lan, Anh. Tại sao chúng tôi lại không thể?".

Giáo sư Zhang cùng nhiều học giả tại các trường đại học đã kêu gọi chính phủ thừa nhận hôn nhân đồng tính tại Trung Quốc. Trên thế giới, hôn nhân đồng tính đã được chấp thuận tại một số nước như Thụy Điển, Hà Lan, Canada và Nam Phi.

Mặc dù không một người họ hàng nào tới dự lễ cưới, nhưng thái độ của cha và một số bạn bè của Zeng và Pan đã chuyển từ phản đối sang chấp nhận. Bạn gái cũ của Pan thậm chí còn tự nguyện làm phù dâu tại lễ cưới.

"Hành trình còn dài và gian khổ. Nhưng chúng tôi sẽ không bao giờ từ bỏ nỗ lực để được công nhận là vợ và chồng hợp pháp", Zeng tuyên bố.