We’ve seen the trailer. We’ve watched the live stream the game being played by pro-gamers in Cologne, Germany. But good and bad news for the Valve developed game, Defense Of The Ancients 2 (DOTA 2).

The good news: Beta signups are active!

The bad news: DOTA 2 was to be released in 2011, but Eurogamer, speaking with Valve head honcho Gabe Newell, has quoted him saying “I don’t think it’ll be shipped until next year...”, which is sad news for those who were expecting the game to be released soon. But coming from the company that created the phenomenon of “Valve Time“, it was to be expected.  Newell states that the game is far from finished and that the tournament was a test of some sort:

“…for us now, this tournament is a really good step. A bunch of the features we’re building in the design of Dota 2 related to being able to put on a tournament like this. There’s a bunch of stat stuff. There’s a bunch of website development, support for simultaneous, four-language broadcasting.”

Which is why, after a set period of time, Valve is going to be instituting a beta test program. Firstly, Valve plans to launch an invitation beta after the Gamescom tournament ends. After that, a public beta will launch for the general public to get thier hands on the game and help Valve out with testing the game for bugs, glitches, and exploits.

The invitation beta, a chance to play the game early while helping Valve tighten up the gameplay, is already open to signups, and I’ve already signed up, so now’s your chance!

For more details on this news, read the article by Eurogamer [HERE].