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Blizzard DOTA launch plans revealed

It'll be out "near" Heart of the Swarm.

Blizzard is aiming to release its StarCraft 2 DOTA mod at around the same time as Heart of the Swarm, the developer has revealed.

Speaking at a press conference at Gamescom earlier today, senior game designer Jonny Ebbert said that Blizzard DOTA will be out "near the launch" of the next chapter in the StarCraft 2 saga.

Heart of the Swarm is still without a firm date, though earlier this year a 2011 launch was deemed unlikely.

Ebbert declined to offer up any further details on the mod, "outside of the fact that it's awesome", stating that more will be revealed at BlizzCon later this year.

Blizzard's DOTA mod, built in the StarCraft II engine, was first revealed at BlizzCon last year.

Valve's competing effort, DOTA 2, debuted at Gamescom this week and is due to launch before the end of 2011.