The International 2018 for Dota 2 is currently underway and fans witnessed major developments. These weren’t just limited to the tournament and participants themselves. These also pertained to everything else that Valve is working on. Valve co-founder Gabe Newell played a big part in these proceedings. Recently, Newell took to the stage to announce the Artifact beta, Valve’s foray into the collectible card game (CCG) genre, which takes place in the Dota 2 universe. Today, Valve announced that Newell will play another major role — that of a mega kills announcer in Dota 2. The appropriately named “Gabe Newell Announcer Pack” is free for TI8 Battle Pass owners. Watch him poke fun at Half-Life 3 and former employees who were an “ass” in the video below.
Gabe Newell becomes your mega kills announcer for Dota 2
What makes Newell’s inclusion brilliant isn’t just the fact that he’s the head honcho billionaire of Valve, or that he’s one of the most influential figures in the games industry. Part of the humor is Newell’s deadpan delivery for various Dota 2 quips and lines. Many players are familiar with Newell’s style in various developer commentaries and interviews.
Perhaps the funniest thing, though, is when Newell himself cannot say the word “three” — which is a play on Half-Life 3, Valve’s old flagship franchise which everyone’s been clamoring to see in their lifetimes. Newell also pokes fun at former Dota 2 host James “2GD” Harding who was fired because he was “an ass.”
Newell also provides some quips such as: “If you were a millennial, I’d say wicked sick,” and “After nine kills in development, hopefully, it was worth the wait.” He also sarcastically mentions how “Dota Plus is worth it.” Apart from that, he offers some friendly thanks here and there, as well as citing how he’d like to “be a space crab.”
Check out all the voice lines for this mega kills announcer pack. As mentioned, it’s free for Dota 2 TI8 Battle Pass owners so that’s an easy grab.
