Get your energy drinks and snacks ready, those of you traveling to Seattle pack your bags. Days are passing by and the biggest LAN event in the Dota world is getting closer! Valve has updated The International's webpage and here are the highlights:
DOTA 2 Spectator Client
For those of you that do not own a copy of the Dota 2 Client, fear not! Valve has added to its Steam Store a free Dota 2 Spectator Client. You will be able to watch any Live or Recent matches, plus all of the upcoming games from the International.
Source: Valve
This Spectator client is available for anyone with all the Spectator Tools, including Player Perspective, Commentators and Directed View! Get it here now!
Tournament Details
Preliminaries will be covered by the broadcasters through their respective streams. These will determine where teams are placed into the Winner and Loser brackets.
The teams are split up into two groups of eight and each team plays the other teams in their group twice. The top four teams in each group advance to the Winner Bracket while the bottom four are placed in the Loser Bracket. If tiebreaker games are necessary, they will be played after all other Prelim games are completed.
The main show will begin with the Double Elimination bracket on August 31st, streaming live from Benayora Hall. Watch it at dota2.com or through the game with commentary and spectator features.
Teams Bio and casting staff presented
If you are rusty on history, Valve has come up with a small Bio, photos, team members, sponsors and what not for all the participating teams.
The tournament will feature play by play commentary, post game analysis, and plenty of interviews to keep you busy.
If Synderen was your favorite caster, you better make your mind on which caster to follow now. For that purpose, check here for the broadcasting staff, and be sure to follow their twitter for any update!
Prize Pool Confirmed
Months of speculations have come to an end. The Prize Pool has been confirmed to be equal to last year's event. USD 1 600 000 to be distributed as follows:
Source: Valve
If you have no access to Dota 2 yet, The DOTA 2 Spectator Client will become your Dota 2 main client after Valve brings up the server infrastructure. Do you think the official launch of Dota 2 is close?
Be sure to check The International 2011 Documentary Trailer!
We hope to see you at Seattle!
Links
The International - Main Site
The International - Tournament Info
Dota 2 blog
