The prize pool for the Dota 2 The International eSports tournament has gone up from $2 million in May to cross the $2.6 million mark, and it seems that the pool is just bound to keep getting bigger.

"Honestly, at this point in time, I'm not surprised that we have hit the $2.6 million mark," said Matthew Bailey, Dota 2 analyst, to GameSpot. "The speed in which we have reached these goals just goes to show how passionate and dedicated the Dota 2 community is."

According to GameSpot, those who buy the in-game Interactive Compendium at $10 will be able to add $2.5 to the prize money. It has also been announced that it if the pool reaches $3.2 million, owners of the Compendium will be able to select the next Dota 2 Hero for the final game.

Aside from this, the report also states that they will be able to unlock a new item, which is still kept as a surprise.

The Compendium has been improved upon, with the addition of International fantasy challenge, predictions, player cards, rewards, and more, so that the value of the Compendium is worth the experience of the gamers.

The International will be running for five days, from August 7 to 11. There's only a final slot missing, which will be filled in by a qualifier in Seattle and will be joining the fifteen other teams that have already been invited at Seattle's Benaroya Hall.

Play virtual reality games--through your mobile devices

When virtual reality started to get some buzz with Oculus Rift being one of the earliest companies to look into the technology and develop prototypes, people thought that the device would be something that would be slated for next-gen consoles.

Given the capability of the PS4 and the Xbox One, and other possibilities that can be explored with the power of these upcoming consoles, playing a game via virtual reality seemed to not be as far off.

But according to Oculus Rift, its focus is not the game consoles, but rather the mobile devices.

"It's the innovation, and how fast cellphones are now improving," said Oculus Rift CEO Brendan Iribe in an interview reported by Polygon.

"Where we'll be with the next Galaxy or the next iPhone compared to where consoles are. Those things are almost doubling every year, compared to a console that's just stuck it out for eight years. It just makes us very excited."

While this is a surprising turn of events, Oculus Rift does point out that it is not the only company that's gearing for VR technology.

One thing that may be questionable about this move is that, even though mobile games are rapidly evolving and that there are vast improvements in the way these games are made, the actual time for playing with these games may not have enough room for VR to move in.

As the name implies, mobile gaming is still majorly done on the move, when you're waiting in line or passing the time away at home. Unlike consoles, where there is an intense, almost hardcore mindset of "playing a game," mobile gamers are a mix of both hardcore gamers and casual gamers--but the latter are still very predominant.

And another big issue here is that, Oculus Rift is currently a very big headset, one that takes up half of your face when you wear it. It's obviously going to be a device that you'd use if you're playing mobile games at home, and nowhere else.

Unless Oculus Rift could take out some of these hindrances, it might not be such a bad idea to still keep the consoles as a priority, if not the only one.

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified interactive trailer

2K Games and 2K Marin Studio has released a live action trailer wherein the main character Agent Ennis Cole, portrayed by Dominic Monaghan--which you may remember from The Lord of the Rings as the hobbit Merry--who is tasked with writing a report.

As per the video, Cole is writing a report on an alien incident, and the decision of how he will react to the revealed incident that his wife and child died because of what happened. This decision is then hinged on the audience, with two choices presented to them: #GrabTheBottle or #GrabTheGun.

The choice will then be put on Twitter and the more popular choice will have a video posted as a result. Joystiq reports that fans have until July 24 to cast their votes and see what will happen to Cole for the next trailer.

The Bureau will be heading to the PS3, Xbox 360, and the PC on August 20.

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