Valve and the PC Master Race’s leader, Gabe Newell, might just be making an appearance in Dota 2, if 8000+ Steam users have their way that is. The design, which first on Dota 2’s Steam Workshop page just 2 days ago, has quickly gained in popularity around the internet.

While only time will tell if Shopkeeper Gabe Newell is eventually released for public consumption, there’s clearly demand for this uniquely PC creation.

To check out the design for yourself, head over to Steam Workshop

Madison Square Garden is a legendary location that has hosted some of the biggest events in music and sports since the current venues opening in 1968. This October, the world can add Dota 2 and the ESL to the list of popular events hosted at the legendary New York Location.

ESL, the world’s largest, independent eSports brand, is proud to announce their next groundbreaking Dota 2 tournament will be held in The Theater at Madison Square Garden October 9-10, serving as the crown jewel of interactive entertainment for ReedPOP’s inaugural New York Super Week. As the largest in-person eSports event ever held on the East Coast, thousands of video game enthusiasts will watch the top eSports teams in the world compete in the finals of a global Dota 2 tournament. In partnership with Twitch, the world’s leading online video platform and community for gamers, the event will be live broadcast on ESL’s Twitch channel. In addition, joinDOTA will once again join the team as ESL’s coverage partner, providing on-air talent for the show.

Combining the world’s most passionate fans with the innovators of the eSports industry, ESL, Twitch and ReedPOP will present the largest eSports event ever in New York City – and a cornerstone of New York Super Week, a 10 day long festival with over 60 nerdy, geeky, cool pop culture events across all five boroughs of NYC in the lead up to this year’s New York Comic Con!  This prestigious event will feature eight of the top Dota 2 teams in a battle for $100,000. Details about the roster and information about invitees and qualification will be released in the coming weeks.

“By staging this event at the iconic Madison Square Garden, we’re going to see history in the making,” said James Lampkin, Product Manager for ESL One. “ReedPOP, Twitch and ESL are coming together to create something special that New York City has never seen before.”

You can check out the full announcement at http://www.esl-one.com/dota2/new-york-2014/news/esl-one-to-make-history-during-new-york-super-week-this-october/

Get the full info on the event at http://www.esl-one.com/dota2/new-york-2014/

The return of a wraith king is a pretty big deal (one would think so at least) so you can expect a lot of interesting features added to the game for this special event.

According to their Wraith-Night mini site players will be able to participate in daily events of varying difficulty and gain a bonus when the invite new friends to the game.

In addition players will be able to purchase a new playable character.  The Legion Commander will be available today for purchase from the Dota 2 store.

The team in charge of Dota 2 development at Valve hasn’t exactly had the best record when it comes to seasonal events. The did cancel Frostivus last year and replace it with The Greeviling, and they decided not to do The Harrowing and forget to tell everyone else.  It’s reasonable that Dota 2 players are skeptical that they will actually be able to participate in a fun winter inspired event this December.

FINALLY, FROSTIVUSSince last year’s celebration was cancelled (the less said about that the better), rest assured that this year’s Frostivus will be twice as caring and serene.

There’s not a lot of info to go on at this point, but the fact that they have a web page for it (http://www.dota2.com/frostivus2013/) surely means they are at least somewhat dedicated to the idea of seasonal events.Here in the Gamecrastinate office we got our start playing Dota 1 at a lan center in Lake Worth, Florida during the early days of the mod. Even though we’re LoL players now Dota will always hold a special place in our heart. As will the idea of Christmas seasonal events!

Check out the quote from Shacknews on the changes…

The change that’s making waves, though, is an overhaul of crafting introducing recipe scrolls, which allow you to combine items to get something fancier. This, in addition to sockets on cosmetic items, means you’ll be able to make really customised items.

This is all very interesting of course, but as PCGamesN points out, it also means that unusual couriers are no longer as rare as they were after Valve patched out randomly generated coloured flame particle effects just a few weeks after introduction. One unique example was sold for $38,000 last week, and in a very short amount of time there will be copycats popping up everywhere. Ouch.

Reports across various forums are of many players who were holding these items in hopes of scoring a quick buck or maybe holding on for a while in hopes of highers profits down the road only to find out that the item is now essentially worthless. A steamgifts.com forum member reported his item previously considered a quick sell at $2000 was worthless as of this morning.

The updated, dubbed the Three Spirits Update adds an Earth Spirit and Ember Spirit while also updating the Storm Spirit as well,

In addition the update adds in an in-game coaching function allowing skilled players to teach beginners (or pros to make money teaching noobs), a showcase view when watching matches, and the belated return of the Diretide event.