I doubt from the nature that WizKids is going, that it will release the AI soldier fodders, probably only the 100+ heroes. And yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about... DOTA is shaping the world as we knew it. I myself would never consider cybergaming a sport. Today because of DOTA it IS known now as a E-Sport. As you said, even universities are now creating such stuff. The officials from some sports community recognized worldwide were actually at the DOTA Internationals, and they said that as long as a group of humans came together to compete and win prizes, if the prize were past a certain limit in value, then it would be considered an official 'sport' and that was when that term was coined and used widely now.
If anything, this would be something more akin to C3G because the focus is on heroes and almost non-existent squads.
@brandonwiker the hype is about the nail biting timing that is executed during professional matches. As a beginner or someone who has very little exposure to the game, it would definitely look silly and just a plain and simple hero 'arena' game. To the veterans of the game, they look for those golden moments that show: WOW! That was some crazy skills there!
Allow me to show you something, a video called I won't Sunstrike you. (PS: SKIP THIS ALL IF YOU REALLY DISLIKE OR ARE NOT INTERESTED IN KNOWING ABIT MORE ABOUT DOTA)
For non-players to understand, the video started off as multiple players clashed and several died. In the game if you die there is a countdown timer before you 'respawn' back into the fight. There is a shortcut to cancel this timer by paying some ingame gold. Now here is where the crazy skills thingy comes into play. A hero known as the Invoker has this skill called Sunstrike, which allows him to strike ANYWHERE on the battlefield. However the downside is that it takes an entire THREE seconds before the beam fires down from the sky, and the spot that it hits is VERY VERY SMALL. In other words, you almost never get the chance to hit an enemy hero with this unless it was setup with a stunt to make that target immobile etc.
The victim in the video is called Puck, who is a faerie dragon. This character can fire orbs and teleport to them, and the player also has an item that allows him to fly up in a cyclone for a few seconds, making him immune to all damage.
The actual video itself: After Invoker and Puck clashed, Puck won out and Invoker died. Invoker 'bought' back his life immediately because he wanted to Sunstrike the dying Puck. The dying Puck knew this and kept trying his best to 'feint' and move in strange directions. As long as he gets the Invoker to fire the Sunstrike once, the cooldown for the skill is so long it would be safe for Puck to return to his base and heal up to full health. Watch how they taunt each other via typing, and how Invoker managed to 'guess' the ultimate spot to kill Puck.
The video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCmyeAXcMZo