FIRST BLOOD! DOTA 2 Trailer is Finally Here!

What does a hero truly need? The first official DOTA 2 Gamescom trailer is finally here. DOTA 2 is a stand-alone sequel to the popular Warcraft III: Frozen Throne custom map created by "IceFrog", Defense of the Ancients. DOTA 2 is developed by Valve Corporation and will be distributed through Steam. Watch the first official trailer below.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cSFPIwMEq4]

DOTA 2 will be making its public debut at GamesCom that will be held in Cologne, Germany on August 17. Team ASUS Mineski.Infinity will represent the Philippines to compete for the $1 Million prize at the International DOTA 2 Championships.

DOTA 2 will be released this year and will be available for PC and Mac OS X.

DOTA 2 Leaked Screenshots:

Batman: Arkham City Mr. Freeze Trailer

Let's hype up Batman Arkham City a bit more shall we? A new trailer for Batman Arkham City was released today showing the role of Mr. Freeze.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18LSLIbFV80]

Yet another villain the Batman has to face. This is truly going to be epic. Batman: Arkham City will be out on October 18, 2011 on Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. Can't wait? yea, same here.

Retail Battlefield 3 copies won't work without Origin

Now I'm sure you have all heard about EA's Origin, EA's Steam clone. I'm guessing for most of us that's pretty much a Bull idea because that's another proprietary service that you have to make an account for and manage etc. But if you're thinking of picking up a retail copy of Battlefield 3 and that you'll be able to bypass all that Origin stuff well then you are wrong. Physical copies of Battlefield 3 on PC will require Origin as a mandatory feature.

It has not yet been confirmed if you'll need Origin when downloading Battlefield 3 from another client such as Direct2Drive, but it's looking highly likely. This is in addition to requiring Battlelog in order to properly enjoy the game's online features. Welcome to the era of single games requiring multiple downloadable services.

Via [Destructoid]

New Counter-Strike is a reality, coming to consoles and PC in early 2012

There was a rumor that started roaming around the net yesterday about a new Counter-Strike but Valve decided to confirm the rumors. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is coming to PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive features new maps, characters, weapons and provides updated versions of classic Counter-Strike content(maps like de_dust). CS: GO will also include new game modes, matchmaking, leaderboards, and more.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO) will expand upon the team-based action gameplay that it pioneered when it was launched 12 years ago.

CS: GO features new maps, characters, and weapons and delivers updated versions of the classic CS content (de_dust, etc.). In addition, CS: GO will introduce new gameplay modes, matchmaking, leader boards, and more.

"Counter-Strike took the gaming industry by surprise when the unlikely MOD became the most played online PC action game in the world almost immediately after its release in August 1999," said Doug Lombardi at Valve. "For the past 12 years, it has continued to be one of the most-played games in the world, headline competitive gaming tournaments and selling over 25 million units worldwide across the franchise. CS: GO promises to expand on CS' award-winning gameplay and deliver it to gamers on the PC as well as the next gen consoles and the Mac."

CS: GO is being developed by Valve in cooperation with Seattle-based Hidden Path Entertainment. The title is targeted for release in early 2012 and will be playable at this year's PAX Prime and Eurogamer Expo.

Everybody knows Counter-Strike, but this is quite a shocker. People knew Valve has been cooking something and has an announcement to make, a lot was hoping for Half-Life 3, sadly not today. An updated Counter-Strike game that's also heading for consoles....not what I expected at all, but Counter-Strike is not even close to dead so I'm sure you CS fans are all excited with this announcement. It's coming next year so we'll see how it turns out when they reveal more info.

Age of Conan's new free to play system is paying off

Funcom's Age of Conan is actually doing better now thanks to the free to play setup they just launched a month ago. Yea I know, Age of Conan might not seem good for some, I even thought this MMO was dead. But this is actual proof that free to play can be as profitable as monthly fees.

How good are they doing now? well in just a short span of time, they have quadrupled their server activity and doubled in revenue. It could go down in the coming months since this free to play plan is new, but 300,000 new players have joined to try out Age of Conan. Regardless, this is a win for them, their doing so much better now even when it first came out.

This free to play plan seems to be the IT thing now in MMO's. Giving the players the chance to play the game for free with some restrictions, and adding an in-game store to earn money. It's a win-win strategy for both players wanting to dodge the monthly fee and a company that needs to earn. We got Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online, APB Reloaded, now Age of Conan. It's effective, and getting famous fast.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksXQx8UX9Ng]

I've actually tried APB Reloaded, yea it's free but not my kind of game, plus it's such a demanding game in the graphics department. Since Age of Conan is free, might as well try it for myself too. No harm in trying, right? we'll see.

Congrats to Funcom for finding a way to keep Age of Conan alive..... for now. If you wanna try out Age of Conan: Unchained, head over their official site to get started.

[Source: Gaminformer]