I’m sure many of you are familiar with Defense of the Ancients, the ridiculously popular Warcraft III mod still going strong many years after its original release. Well IceFrog, the current developer behind the mod, has dropped word that he is now heading up his own team at none other than Valve.

His post on the official DotA forums went a little something like this – well, exactly like this:

I have some really awesome news I’d like to share with you guys. I am now leading a team at Valve! I finally have all the resources needed to do some very exciting stuff that you guys will love. I look forward to revealing more specific details when the time is right.

With regards to the 6.64 patch, the focus will be primarily on more balance improvements. It is moving along very smoothly and I expect to have it ready soon. Once those refinements are done, I’ll be working on some fun new content such as heroes or remakes for the 6.65 version. If there are specific things, big or small, you want me to consider for patches that follow, let me know.

Is it just me, or does it seem like all of the sudden we’re seeing a lot of DotA-related games and news coming out? Riot Games, the original developers of DotA, are now working on League of Legends, the beta of which I have already dumped an insane amount of time into, Heroes of Newerth is also in a closed beta and looking quite promising, and now this. I must say, I’m pretty down. I played a sickly amount of DotA back in the day, and League of Legends has yet again fueled my excitement for this genre.

I mean, a Valve developed DotA-style game? Count me in.