The studio behind Half-Life, Portal and Team Fortress is working on the next Defense of the Ancients game.

It's official: Valve's new game is Dota 2, which takes its name from the popular "Defense of the Ancients" Warcraft III mod. Gameinformer.com broke all the details, and it looks like the game will be coming to PC and Mac in 2011.

Dota 2 will be instantly familiar to any Dota player because Valve hired IceFrog, the developer behind DotA-Allstars, to act as the creative force behind the upcoming game. However, Valve's Source engine will instantly make Dota 2 stand out from its predecessors while retaining that cartoony feel.

Valve plans to reward players for participating in the Dota 2 community, whether it be through in-game skins or unique titles. All sorts of ideas are being discussed right now, but it will certainly be beneficial to participate in the game's forums, write strategy guides and so on.

According to Gameinformer.com, the coaching system and interactive guides will help players hone their skills in Dota 2. Players who write guides will be able to display useful information from the game, and veterans can log in as coaches to help newbies. Coaches who receive recognition from the community can earn in-game items, so it pays to help out new players.

So, ZAM readers, what are your thoughts on Dota 2?