overwatch
Latest
Play the new ‘Overwatch’ battle healer hero Brigitte today
As is custom for Blizzard, last month the company dropped a couple hints on Overwatch's Twitter account before announcing a new hero and immediately adding her to the PTR. Today, the front-line battle healer Brigitte has been added to the game across all platforms.
Two major eSports players associations are in the works
There are two players associations being put together for professional competitors who play Overwatch and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Sports Business Journal reports. The latter will include players in the ESL Pro League and the FACEIT ECS league and is being helmed by eSports broadcaster Scott "SirScoots" Smith and attorney Michael Doi. Smith told Sports Business Journal that the Counter-Strike Professional Players Association (CSPPA) won't be seeking to become a US union since Counter-Strike players span the globe but it is looking to sign the over 225 players that participate professionally. "Every day I sign another guy," he said. "I would say 70 or so have signed an official membership document that they are for the players association, are behind the players association, they want to be in the players association."
Overwatch League team releases player over hateful speech
Overwatch League player Felix "xQc" Lengyel has been suspended twice for using both homophobic and racist slurs, and he's now bowing out entirely. Dallas Fuel and Lengyel have announced that they've "mutually agreed to part ways" in the wake of his conduct. It was in the "best interest" of both sides to release Lengyel before his contract expired, team owner Mike Rufail said. Lengyel's latest suspension won't let him play or practice with any team during Stage 2 of the League's inaugural season, and letting him go now lets the Fuel sign others during the transfer window while giving Lengyel a chance to sign with someone new.
'Overwatch' pro suspended for 'racially disparaging' emote
In January, Dallas Fuel pro Felix "xQc" Lengyel drew a suspension for violating the Overwatch League's Code of Conduct while streaming for using an anti-gay slur, and now he has been suspended again. The League announced that this four-game suspension is because Lengyel "repeatedly used an emote in a racially disparaging manner on the league's stream and on social media," and used "disparaging language" toward casters and other players on his stream and social media.
'StarCraft' 20th anniversary brings freebies and a short film
Blizzard is keeping up its habit of marking the anniversaries of major games. The original StarCraft is turning 20 on March 31st, and the studio is promising a slew of extras across its games to mark the occasion, including the classic real-time strategy title itself. You can log in to StarCraft: Remastered and StarCraft II after March 6th to get commemorative interface skins, plus portraits and decals if you sign into SCII by April 6th. And if you're not particularly big on those titles, there are plenty of other ways to obtain perks -- you might even prefer them to the ones you get with StarCraft proper.
Play the new 'Overwatch' support hero on test servers right now
There was a time when the Overwatch team spent months dripping out information about a new hero for fans to obsess over. But now it's content to simply drop a new one out of nowhere like a dropped mic and revel in the game's overjoyed community. Today is one of those days: Brigitte, a new melee support hero, has joined the fray -- and you can play her right now on the game's PTR servers.
Can legislation fix gaming's loot box problem?
Last year's gaming controversy has turned into this year's legislative battleground. Fans were outraged when Star Wars: Battlefront II launched with buyable loot boxes that unbalanced multiplayer combat, and other games like Need For Speed: Payback and Destiny 2 had their own pay-to-win controversies. Eventually, loot boxes unsettled enough constituents to rile their representatives. Legislators in Hawaii, Washington and Illinois have introduced bills to either study loot boxes or restrict access to young players, but how effective will they be? What else can lawmakers do?
College esports is set to explode, starting with the Fiesta Bowl
As executive director of the Fiesta Bowl, one of the largest postseason college football games of the year, Mike Nealy was more familiar with shoulder pads than mousepads. Six months ago, he didn't know people were making money playing video games professionally, he'd never heard of Twitch, and the last time he picked up a controller, it was attached to an Atari 2600. That all changed after a conversation with John Pierce, an esports consultant and former marketing head for the Phoenix Coyotes and US Olympic Committee. Pierce outlined the professional-gaming boom to Nealy and explained how it could tie into the collegiate football scene. He put Nealy in touch with Blizzard, the studio behind Overwatch.
Intel is making gaming easier for people without graphics cards
Intel is making life a little easier for PC gamers on a budget. A new driver update for its 6th-gen Core processors and above will configure a game to your rig's specs automatically. As PC World reports, this includes the "Kaby Lake G" processors on addition to Skylake. Finally, no more fiddling in the menus on your machine running integrated graphics to get a game to run above 20FPS. At least that's the idea. It's a lot like how NVIDIA's GeForce Experience works for discrete graphics cards. The first games to benefit from this include Battlefield 1, Dota 2, Grand Theft Auto V, League of Legends and Overwatch. Sure, you'll probably lose out on shadow detail and texture filtering, but at least you'll be able to play, period.
Overwatch League signs its first female player
It's official: Overwatch League has its first female player. The Shanghai Dragons have signed Kim "Geguri" Se-yeon as part of a four-player addition. The South Korean teen rose to prominence thanks to her reputation for playing Zarya (one of Overwatch's "tank" characters) so well that she was pressed into a livestreamed skill display to prove that she wasn't cheating. She was also the first female player to compete in her home country's Apex league, one of the game's foremost competitive events until Overwatch League showed up.
Play 'Overwatch' for free (again) this weekend
Blizzard has a habit of seasonally opening up its hero shooter Overwatch for everyone to try every couple months, typically just after it announces a new hero, event or map. Fittingly, the publisher announced that new PC, PS4 and Xbox One players can try out the game for free next weekend to get a taste of the just-launched Lunar New Year seasonal event.
'Overwatch's' new Capture The Flag map and competitive mode is live
For the second year, Blizzard has launched a seasonal event to celebrate the Lunar New Year. As promised in a Developer Update video earlier this week, players get a new Thailand-inspired map and competitive mode for Capture The Flag, as well as new skins. There are a couple more changes, too -- including, at long last, the ability to change your hero's outfit at the start of the match.
‘Overwatch’ update adds Thailand-inspired Capture the Flag map
It's the Year of the Dog in Overwatch, and Blizzard game director Jeff Kaplan has revealed a little more about what we can expect from the game's seasonal event. The biggest headline is a new, Thailand-based map, which Kaplan says is "absolutely gorgeous". One side boasts an ancient feel, with a temple, the other is more "bright and beautiful" and modern. More importantly, though, this is the first map Blizzard has ever made specifically for Capture the Flag, which is also returning with the event.
Shanghai may sign Overwatch League's first female player
Shanghai Dragons is reportedly fixing a problem with Overwatch League: the lack of female players for a game with an impressively diverse cast of characters. According to ESPN, the team has signed South Korean player Kim "Geguri" Se-yeon, who's so good at playing Zarya (pictured above), she was once accused of using cheats. After Geguri livestreamed a game to prove her critics wrong, she played in the Overwatch Apex tournament in her home country last year. Now, she might be bringing her skills to an even bigger platform.
Here’s what it would take to make Overwatch’s ‘Blizzard World’ IRL
Last week, the Overwatch team released a new map: Blizzard World. The multiplayer arena is a colorful amusement park filled with attractions and rides themed after Blizzard's stable of games. It's a delightful backdrop for the team-based shooter, filled with in-jokes and puns that make it look like a rapturous place for a gamer to visit. But what would it take to bring Blizzard World to life?
'Overwatch' update downgrades Mercy, adds 4K on Xbox One X
After weeks of testing, Blizzard has moved several Overwatch changes from their test servers to the wider gaming population. This new patch brings 4K team shooter action to players on Xbox One X, but the big changes affect two popular characters: Mercy and Junkrat. Both have seen their capabilities downgraded, with the healer Mercy seeing the biggest adjustment in what is just the latest change targeting her Ultimate ability, Resurrect.
Blizzard is patrolling YouTube for toxic Overwatch players
Toxic players are a big problem for the Overwatch team. As game director Jeff Kaplan explained in a developer update last September, they're actually delaying maps and feature updates by forcing the developers to create measures to stem the tide of crappy player behavior. Those tactics seem to be working. In a new video, Kaplan reported that competitive play has less abuse and players are reporting more often. But the Overwatch team has gone further with at least one new proactive strategy: Find toxic behavior uploaded to 'social media sites like YouTube' and punish the accounts responsible.
‘Overwatch’ adds Disneyland-style map ‘Blizzard World’
Back at Blizzcon 2017, Blizzard's big announcement for its hero shooter Overwatch was a new character Moira -- at long last, another healer for the lineup. But equally exciting was the reveal of a new upcoming map: Blizzard World, a Disneyland-esque theme park jam-packed with references to the studio's stable of games. Today, that map goes live -- along with a slew of new skins and other extras.
'Overwatch' pro player suspended for homophobic slur
The Overwatch League's honeymoon is over. Dallas Fuel player Felix "xQc" Lengyel has been suspended by both the League and Fuel after hurling a homophobic insult at the Houston Outlaws' openly gay player Austin "Muma" Wilmot. After Wilmot used one of Lengyel's signature lines to roast the Fuel following a victory, Lengyel responded on a personal stream suggesting that Wilmot "suck a fat..." you get the idea. The slur violated the League's Code of Conduct, which asks for professional conduct both inside and outside of games.
Overwatch League's debut stream ruled Twitch last night
On Wednesday, Overwatch League (OWL) had its first-ever matches, drawing a huge crowd online. Six teams came to play the debut matches in Blizzard's Los Angeles eSports arena, but they were also streamed on Twitch to record numbers, peaking at over 360,000 viewers, according to Eurogamer.
