Valve announces Free Spectator Client

posted by TobiWanKenobi, 305 days ago

With just over a week to go before The International starts, Valve have started to update more of the tournament page, releasing not only the prize pool, but also how you the viewer will be able to watch every action packed match.

One of the first things to mention is the announcement of the prize pool, which will be the same as last years competition with the first place prize being 1 million dollars, and a total prize pool of $1,600,000 US.

Also with the update we have some details confirmed about how the tournament will run. While the groups have not been confirmed yet, we will get to see the path the teams will have to take:

Prelims - 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 for a total of 112 games, 14 per team.

The top four teams in each group advance to the Winner Bracket. 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 Winner Bracket
All rounds of the Winner Bracket are played as Best of 3 games. The loser in each round is sent down to the Loser Bracket.

The Loser Bracket
Rounds 1 through 4 of the Loser Bracket are played as Best of 1 game. Teams that lose a round here are eliminated from the tournament. The last two rounds of the Loser Bracket are played as Best of 3 games.

The Championship Finals
The last remaining teams from the Winner and Loser Brackets will then face off in a full Best of 5 match to determine the champion of The International.

The last, but not least, announcement is how you will be able to view The International games, with Valve announcing a spectator version of the DOTA 2 client becoming available for all as well as having an embed video livestream on the DOTA2 home page.

Alot of the broadcasters for the tournament have already been leaked, but now your full list is available in the broadcasters tab with the inclusion of the host

James '2GD' Harding and casters/panel members from 3 different languages.

Sources: DOTA2 Blog, The International Homepage

Deity wrote at 17.08.2012, 21:26 CEST:

DENIED

edited by Deity at 17.08.2012, 21:29 CEST

HeicPy wrote at 17.08.2012, 21:26 CEST:

NICE

m1hka wrote at 17.08.2012, 21:26 CEST:

Great news.
btw awesome photo of v1lat :D

Vankuga wrote at 17.08.2012, 21:26 CEST:

Fuck yeah 2GD!

attent1v wrote at 17.08.2012, 21:26 CEST:

#
2

wrote at 17.08.2012, 21:27 CEST:

Great move by Valve, letting people have the in-game spectator experience without needing a beta key for Dota 2 will really help viewership (not to mention sales :D)

Vadrigar wrote at 17.08.2012, 21:28 CEST:

2GD!!!! Holy fuck Valve is the best!

Pumabr wrote at 17.08.2012, 21:28 CEST:

tobo wan kenobi

Sigg wrote at 17.08.2012, 21:29 CEST:

2GD is just too good! Going to be the best event ever!!!

#10

LonglongSword wrote at 17.08.2012, 21:29 CEST:

Good news, now people without a beta key, like me, will still be able to watch TI2 in dota 2, not just streams

#11

cuuri wrote at 17.08.2012, 21:30 CEST:

So hype over this I'm already missing sleep.

#12

Deity wrote at 17.08.2012, 21:30 CEST:

Female caster? What sorcery is this

#13

Uesugi_Kenshin wrote at 17.08.2012, 21:30 CEST:

The cutie on the very right is who?

#14

wrote at 17.08.2012, 21:32 CEST:

Wait wtf the lower bracket matches are best of fucking ONE????

That's absurd. Not even bo3 is enough, all TI2 playoff matches should be bo5 with the grand finals being bo7. When you consider the amount of money being tossed around bo3 matches are too flukey, if the matches were bo5 it would always be the best team winning.

#15

Bojo wrote at 17.08.2012, 21:33 CEST:

The Championship Finals
The last remaining teams from the Winner and Loser Brackets will then face off in a full Best of 5 match to determine the champion of The International.

Does this mean that there will be no WB advantage :?

#16

FilippoA wrote at 17.08.2012, 21:35 CEST:

Holy Molly NS!!!!

#17

Reson wrote at 17.08.2012, 21:35 CEST:

Spectator Client. Wow Valve has been busy.

The group stage is for real this year. 14 games for each team. Can not wait for the International. Dota fantasy league just got a lot more interesting too with this group format.

#18

zopad_ wrote at 17.08.2012, 21:37 CEST:

Bojo schrieb:
The Championship Finals
The last remaining teams from the Winner and Loser Brackets will then face off in a full Best of 5 match to determine the champion of The International.
Does this mean that there will be no WB advantage :?

There is no need for it, if you come from WB you already have an advantage against your LB opponent, since they had to play more matches.

#19

Keyboardwarrior wrote at 17.08.2012, 21:38 CEST:

2gd best gd

#20

cyclone24 wrote at 17.08.2012, 21:38 CEST:

Just to make sure I got it right: no winner bracket advantage in the final?

#21

skycake wrote at 17.08.2012, 21:40 CEST:

dotaplayer schrieb:
Wait wtf the lower bracket matches are best of fucking ONE????
That's absurd. Not even bo3 is enough, all TI2 playoff matches should be bo5 with the grand finals being bo7. When you consider the amount of money being tossed around bo3 matches are too flukey, if the matches were bo5 it would always be the best team winning.

If they were all bo3, what's the advantage of being in the winner's bracket?

#22

masterbaiter wrote at 17.08.2012, 21:44 CEST:

2gd and tobi could cast fking paint drying and i would watch it, but now its dota and it will be EPIC!!!

#23

JuzForFun wrote at 17.08.2012, 21:45 CEST:

Best of one is enough for the losers bracket since they already played 14 group stage matches and bo 7 grand final??? This is not Starcraft.
Finally 2GD FUCK YEA VALVE AWESOME!!!!!

#24

RealTalkerrr wrote at 17.08.2012, 21:46 CEST:

Wait, so 8 teams will not be able to go in the playoffs? I thought group stages is just a decider for who will be in the winners and losers brackets? And who is that female caster?

#25

Reson wrote at 17.08.2012, 21:49 CEST:

Each team play each team in their group twice to grt out of the group stage. If you're in the lower bracket you aren't one of the better performing teams at the tournament. The LB is simply a second chance to get back into the tournament. Playing best if 5 for all the rounds will not determine the best team but the team which is least fatigued.

The advantage given to those that qualify to the winner's bracket is the allowance to lose more games before you are completely out of the tournament. That is a significant advantage.