overwatch

Overwatch will continue to push out new heroes, maps, and events, says Blizzard

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Overwatch's roadmap still has plenty in store.

Blizzard’s Overwatch has been nothing but successful, even though now that it’s been out for many years. Players may be wondering what’s in store next for the arena shooter. The success of the game has changed the eSports industry. Overwatch has grown over time to be one of the largest competitive titles in eSports history. … Read more

Storm Rising event revealed in Overwatch, skins, details, lore

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New Overwatch Rising Storm update releasing tomorrow. Get the details, skins, and Archive mission.

Blizzard will be rolling a new content update for Overwatch tomorrow. It has been unleashed via trailer and there will be a huge update called Storm Rising starting tomorrow Blizzard will be releasing some content where players can explore some of the background lore for the hero shooter tomorrow, 4/16. Players can expect to play … Read more

Blizzard requires account linking with Twitch for Overwatch Contenders

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Blizzard requires account linking with Twitch for Overwatch Contenders 2

Blizzard has announced a decision regarding their Twitch chat for the upcoming Overwatch Contenders broadcasts. This will take place during the Contenders Season 3 games. Blizzard will be trying a new moderation system from December 28 to January 12, which viewers are required to link their Blizzard account with their Twitch accounts to chat during the broadcast. … Read more

Overwatch’s Reaper and Tracer fight over Santa’s cookies in Cookiewatch

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Overwatch's Reaper and Tracer fight over Santa's cookies in Cookiewatch 3

Overwatch celebrates the coming holidays with a new short that features two heroes fighting over Santa’s coveted Christmas cookies. The animated short is called Cookiewatch and captures Blizzard’s sense of dark humor perfectly in the video. Overwatch fans usually have something to praise during the holidays from Blizzard: events in-game, special skins and themes, and even … Read more

Lucio-Oh’s Overwatch cereal spotted at Walmart

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Lucio-Oh's Overwatch cereal spotted at Walmart 4

Lucio-Oh’s have been granted access by supergiant retailer Walmart. If you’re an Overwatch fan, Lucio’s own cereal is now available at your local store. Lucio-Oh’s is a fictional cereal based on Lucio in the hero shooter Overwatch. This whole thing just started as a spray and basic voiceover but has now become a real thing. That you … Read more

Blizzard reveals Overwatch Nerf gun replica lineup; McCree’s Peacekeeper added

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Blizzard reveals Overwatch Nerf gun replica lineup; McCree's Peacekeeper added 5

Overwatch developer Blizzard Entertainment has teamed up with Hasbro to create a full line of Nerf gun replicas to some of the game’s most popular weapons.

During BlizzCon 2018, several new guns to the upcoming lineup were revealed to the public. Before, Nerf replicas of Reaper’s Hellfire Shotguns and D.Va’s Light Gun (Bunny Blaster) were announced. At BlizzCon, they expanded the product line to include replicas of Torbjörn’s Rivet Gun and Tracer’s Pulse Pistols. These will be part of the “Micro Shots” range of Nerf products.

Fans will also be able to get ahold of McCree’s Peacekeeper, which personally is the best gun of the bunch so far. Overwatch tweeted “Buckle up, this gunslinger’s loaded” while touting a product shot of the weapon, which just looks so freakin’ badass.

The Peacekeeper joins the Hellfire Shotguns in the Nerf Rivals product line- which are the elite blasters that use pellets rather than sticky darts and designed to shoot far with accuracy. McCree’s Peacemaker will launch projectiles up to 80 feet per second (FPS).

The reveal of McCree’s weapon comes paired with the Overwatch animated short Reunion, which features him taking on the Deadlock Gang on Route 66.

The Overwatch Nerf replicas will be available sometime in January 2019. They’re already available for pre-order through GameStop. You can view their product pages here.

Overwatch launches “World Cup Viewer” tool for World Cup Series

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Overwatch launches "World Cup Viewer" tool for World Cup Series 6

Overwatch, the world’s most popular arena shooter, has officially launched its world cup series kicking off next week with a Top 8 bracket. Blizzard Entertainment, the world-renowned developer and publisher of games like Starcraft, Warcraft, Diablo, and World of Warcraft, announced a new tool that allows fans to watch the Overwatch World Cup in a number of different ways.

The tool is simply called the Overwatch World Cup Viewer. A new developer update video that was released a few days ago has game Director Jeff Kaplan talking about what the Cup Viewer does and how it can help enhance overall entertainment for eSports Overwatch fans.

Viewers can take control of the in-game camera and watch the gameplay from a variety of different angels like first-person and third-person. Players essential become their own broadcaster instead of having someone else do it for them. This will allow a free cam that can be used to watch the game- pretty much a spectator mode for viewing the game.

Players can even slow down the shots with slow-mo and even access an overall map which displays HP, location, and Ultimate status.

The Overwatch World Cup Viewer will have a beta release during the Overwatch World Cup semi-finals and grand finals at BlizzCon 2018. Kaplan says that the tool will be available for PC players only, but eventually may be used on consoles depending on the usage and future of Overwatch- with the game becoming a competitive force in the eSports world and used in home copies of the game as a basic setting.

Overwatch will begin the official world cup next week with a Top 8 bracket. The game is available on PC, Xbox One, and PS4. You can get more details about the Overwatch World Cup Viewer here and try it out for yourself soon enough.

And you can learn more about the tool here in this dev update video from Overwatch and get some commentary about the tool and how it was created and developed:

Overwatch Halloween Terror 2018: New skins, Junkenstein, cosmetics

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Overwatch Halloween Terror 2018: New skins, Junkenstein, cosmetics 7

Boo!

The hero shooter Overwatch is now back in full swing once again for its annual All Hallow’s Eve event through their Halloween Terror event. How many names does one event need? Their spooky, costume party Halloween celebration officially started today, October 9th, and will run through the rest of the month until Halloween day, on the 31st.

The event itself will include new skins, cosmetics, and Halloween-themed levels with full moons, spooky lighting, and cheap, but cute, Halloween effects.

The Junkenstein’s Revenge game mode is also back in action. For those who missed it last time, it’s a special game mode that includes four-player co-op where they play like a typical horde. Players choose from Solider: 76, McCree, Hanzo, and Ana to fight the evil Junkenstein and his evil creations. It’s definitely worth checking out if you haven’t played this limited-time game mode before. Junkenstein’s Revenge is just for casual play- there’s nothing competitive about it.

Overwatch costumes will be offered throughout the Halloween Terror event. Previous skins will be once again available for purchase through loot crates, but new skins will also be available for purchase for heroes like Wrecking Ball, Reaper, and Sombra. Many of these costumes have been already leaked by the community.

If you haven’t been keeping up to date with Overwatch, you may as well give the world’s most popular arena shooter a go- it just may scare you back into action!

Overwatch “Spider Windowmaker” skin leaked

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Overwatch "Spider Windowmaker" skin leaked 8

Overwatch’s Windowmaker has a new Halloween skin. And it’s something that you’d feel like should’ve been implemented a long, long time ago.

It looks very similar to her default skin, but it has some spider webbing leggings and some darker, ominous colors over her outfit and rifle. Her skin is a delicious, yet deadly combination of purple, black, and various shades of silver entangled into a web of chaos. The skin really does fit her name.

Overwatch "Spider Windowmaker" skin leaked 9

The skin was leaked on a video posted to the Xbox Facebook page before any official word from Blizzard’s account was posted. The skin has been dubbed the Spider Widowmaker. No word on whether the skin will be Legendary or just Epic so far, but the buzzing community has debated that it’ll likely be available in the Hero Gallery as a mere Epic.

Overwatch’s Halloween Terror event begins on October 9th until the end of the month. Leaks have been revealed for a few Heros, such as Doomfist, Moira, and the now-unveiled Windowmaker.

Overwatch "Spider Windowmaker" skin leaked 10

Blizzard removes loot crates in Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm for Belgium players

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Blizzard removes loot crates in Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm for Belgium players 11

Blizzard has just announced that paying for loot crates in two of their major titles has been removed for Belgium players due to a report from the Belgian Gaming Commission. It states that option falls under the “gambling” category according to local law, and thus, can’t be a feature in videogames. Blizzard has fought against this decision and expressed disagreement, but they’ve gone ahead and removed loot crates in Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm in order to comply.

To obtain the crates, players will have to play well by performing well in a game or leveling up, or even buying them with in-game currency. Content hasn’t been affected by this removal:

In April 2018, the Belgian Gaming Commission published a report that was endorsed by the Belgian Ministry of Justice in which they concluded that paid loot boxes in Overwatch are considered gambling under local law. While we at Blizzard were surprised by this conclusion and do not share the same opinion, we have decided to comply with their interpretation of Belgian law. As a result, we have no choice but to implement measures that will prevent Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm players located in Belgium from purchasing in-game loot boxes and loot chests with real money and gems.

This decision originated from the Battlefront II loot creates which allowed players to use cash on the game with the chance of getting gameplay boosts that gave unfair advantages to those not willing to spend on the game. Some players who don’t want to shell out their cash are forced to play on an uneven playing field.

EA has removed the paid option hours before its launch due to this blowback, but European courts began on investigating the issue across all games. blizzard has removed the option from Chinese players due to their gambling laws also.

Other countries haven’t really made a decision yet and are still deciding. The UK ruled that loot crates aren’t legally gambling and has kept them within their games.

Source: PlayStation Life.

Wrecking Ball joins the Overwatch Crew

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Wrecking Ball joins the Overwatch Crew 12

Wrecking Ball will join the cast of Overwatch on July 24, 2018, based on a Tweet from the official Twitter account. Every year, Overwatch gets three new heroes to join the craze on almost a scheduled basis. Wrecking Ball, aka Hammond, is the newest of the bunch.

He’s just been placed on the Public Test Realm for players to mess around with. Originally, he was announced back in late June. His origin story video shows off that he’s pretty much a vermin in a mech similar to how Rumble is in League of Legends.

Wrecking Ball is a hamster if you want to be specific. He’s one of many genetical experiments that have taken place on Horizon Lunar Colony. He tied his escape pod to Winston’s shuttle as it launched for the earth and landed on the Australian outback. He then fought in mech battles in Junkertown and now he’s one of the bets.

He’s considered to be a tank and has abilities suitable for his role.

His primary weapon is his Quad Cannons which provide offensive firepower and he can also tuck into a ball for faster speeds. Players can also use a grappling claw in ball mode to slam into enemies or quickly get better positioning.

He also gets an adaptive shield which grants him a shield HP gain depending on nearby enemies. Piledriver allows him to slam his mech into the ground like a semi-ground pound from Mario. Minefield is his ultimate and deploys proximity mines all around him which is perfect for zoning enemies in the nearby area.

You can check out more info about Hammond here. He’ll be live for official play on July 24. Welcome to the gang, Hammond!

Doomfist, Mei, and Sombra get buffed in newest Overwatch patch

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Overwatch patch buffs Doomfist, Mei, and Sombra.

Doomfist, Mei, and Sombra have all been buffed in the recent patch for Overwatch.

The game’s official patch notes posted on the Overwatch forums states that the 3 characters had their changes in testing on the PTR for the past 2 weeks. The changes in this patch have just slid past any filters and no adjustments had to be made.

Doomfist only had a single buff- his ammo recovery rate dropped from 0.80 seconds to a mere 0.65 seconds. Mei’s freeze duration has been increased by 50% to deal with the fast-moving heroes. And the cost of ammo for her icicle attack has also been reduced by 5, which means she gets 2 extra shots before reloading again.

Sombra is the one that takes the gold. She had a lot of buffs in her stats. Her EMP won’t be blocked by obstacles in the map like rocks, lamp posts, and signs.

She’ll have a harder time gaining her Ultimate though- players using her HP packs won’t give her gain. Her standard hack cast time has also been reduced from 0.80 to 0.65 seconds and also adds a few disables. Genji’s Cyber Agility, Pharah’s Hover Jets, Hanzo’s Wall Climb, Mercy’s Angelic Descent are all able to be disabled by Sombra.

And her machine pistol has also been improved in accuracy by lowering the spread to 2.7 from 3.0. Additionally, her translocator has a 5-second duration increase and she can view enemy HP bars through walls if they’re below 100% HP.

Sombra players have plenty to look forward to in this new patch.

Blizzard World also got some HP placements adjusted and bug fixes were patched as well.

Overwatch League is still in full swing and may be added near part 3 of the Season’s offerings.

It’s a good time to be an Overwatch underdog.

Image via Overwatch Wiki.

Overwatch update nerfs Mercy and Junkrat

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Overwatch nerfs both Mercy and Junkrat in newest update.

Overwatch has gone through some major changes in the last patch- specifically for two of the most ass-kicking characters in the game.

Mercy has been top-tier for the past couple of months already in almost every single match. Overwatch League was no exception. She has a super high pick rate and also has the kit to seriously help dominate the enemy team.

Having the ability to revive 2 downed teammates instantly and being able to support the remaining 3 members for twenty seconds is just OP. Because of this, Blizzard has gone ahead and laid down the nerf hammer once again.

In the newest patch, her ultimate Valkyrie has been dropped down to just 15 seconds and also the speed boost has been reduced to just 50% that it provides to Guardian Angel.

Valkyrie will also no longer give her an extra Resurrect charge and it won’t negate the casting time. With these nerfs, players should see a lower Mercy pick rate since Blizzard has gone in and pretty much nerfed her like crazy. She won’t be as helpful and OP as before- that’s for sure. Even skilled players won’t be nearly as effective as before.

The updates were available on the PTR server for a while now. Reactions from players have been mixed. It does what it does- it nerfs her. But some players complained that it goes too far because of the significant casting time of Resurrect and leaves her vulnerable for quite some time.

Even with this player feedback, Blizzard still slammed the hammer.

Junkrat also got a minor nerf in which the Concussion Mine will have damage falloff. They now detonate with weaker damage and need to be extremely close to the target to deal the full 120 hit points. It’s not that bad, but it just makes the AoE of the mines deal less damage.

If you’re a Mercy hater or a Junkrat hater, this update should be bliss.

Image via playoverwatch.com

Overwatch League rolls out with over 10 million viewers in its premiere

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Overwatch League has over 10 million viewers in its first showdown.

Overwatch League has hit over 10 million views in its first week based on a press release from Blizzard. That’s huge.

In case you didn’t know, the popular first-person MOBA shooter has gone pro and is now officially hosting an e-sport tournament featuring the top 12 teams from around the globe. Europe, United States, and Asia are all included and are duking it out in one fan-fueled ladder. It’s the first season of Overwatch League and the numbers are impressive.

The tournament shows every Wednesday through Saturday with three matches each consisting of four maps each. You can only watch it on Twitch as Blizzard made an exclusive deal with them.

On the first day, Overwatch League had an average audience per minute of about 408K viewers. It corrected down to about 280K on average for the whole week. This is the combination of all viewers across Twitch, MLG, ZhanQi TV, Netease CC, and Panda TV. The duel between the Dallas Fuel and Seoul Dynasty was huge. And the Blizzard Arena in LA county in California was also sold out of tickets.

E-sports is becoming more and more popular with new games going pro. If you missed the first matchup you can watch it on demand from their official site. You can also follow the bracket online.

The second matchup is already live. It pits the San Francisco Shock against the Philadelphia Fusion. You can also keep up to date with their official app as well.

Overwatch’s new Blizzard World map is coming soon to an amusement park near you!

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Blizzard World is coming soon to Overwatch.

A new map rolls in Overwatch that’s made just for competitive play.

It’s a map where all players can jump in to. It’s called Blizzard World, which will be available on January 23. It was first announced at BlizzCon 2017 as a special map for all players. It pays homage to the other games that Blizzard is famous for- namely Hearthstone and World and Warcraft.

The map itself features several areas each paying a tribute to the other titles. It’s like wandering through a whole museum dedicated to Blizzard games. That sounds pretty awesome.

There’s a small advertisement of an amusement park ticket showing off an old-timey admittance ticket for the map.

Overwatch League just launched and was a decent success. Blizzard broadcasts it ever Wednesday on Twitch exclusively due to the deal they made.

You can also keep up with their new app for Overwatch League:

As of now, players seem to be in Blizzard paradise with the League, new map, and new skins/sprays. Good job, Blizzard.

Twitch gets exclusive rights to Overwatch League for the next two years

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You'll only be able to watch Overwatch League on Twitch...but who cares?

Twitch has locked in the third-party rights to stream Overwatch League exclusively for two years. The news rolled out that Blizzard and Twitch (owned by Amazon) have already decided to bring 20 esports categories to the leading streaming platform for gamers throughout 2018. Of course, this will allow Twitch to throw out some goodies for Twitch … Read more