Lawrence Tabak's Blog - Posts Tagged "dota2"

The terrific documentary Free to Play about the $1 million first-place 2012 International Dota2 tournament was released March 19, 2014. You can watch it on YouTube.

In many ways Seth Gordon, the main character of IN REAL LIFE, could have been featured in this film about aspiring pro-gamers.

Watch it and if you find these backstories intriguing, mark IN REAL LIFE as a "want to read!"

The International Dota2 tournament to be held July 18-21, 2014 in Seattle now has a purse of $10.3 million. This is larger than the men's tournament at Wimbledon, or the Preakness, Belmont Stakes and Kentucky Derby combined.

Here's the current (July 3) breakdown of the prize pool -- keep in mind that the teams have at least 5 players. Note the cruel drop from #8 to #9 -- not sure why this is so. Anyone out there know? Anyone?

1. $4,740,174 (46%)
2.$1,391,138 (13.5%)
3.$978,949 (9.5%)
4.$772,854 (7.5%)
5.$618,284 (6.0%)
6.$618,284 (6.0%)
7.$489,474 (4.75%)
8.$489,474 (4.75%)
9.$46,371 (0.45%)
10.$46,371 (0.45%)
11.$36,067 (0.35%)
12.$36,067 (0.35%)
13.$20,609 (0.2%)
14.$20,609 (0.2%)
15.$0 (0%)
16.$0 (0%)

Was excited to watch my homeboy Saahil "Universe" Arora and his Evil Genius teammates roar through their quarterfinal match against Far East champs DK. The worst they can do now is finish 4th with some $750,000 in cash -- but they are red hot and top contenders for the $5 million top prize. Competition continues tomorrow, July 19.

For a comprehensive review of the pro-gaming world that is the backdrop for my YA novel, IN REAL LIFE, check out this feature from last Sunday's NY Times. This story was front page, above the fold, with a huge picture from The International Dota2 tournament last month in Seattle.



tinyurl.com/m97jlo4

The Wisconsin State Journal ran a nice column on the book and the gaming backstory:

http://host.madison.com/news/local/columnists/doug-moe/doug-moe-in-video-gaming-art-and-life-intersect/article_d0126ea0-513d-58a1-bbb3-790192304288.html