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Fan-Made Overwatch Mode Makes Players Rely On Each Other To See
Overwatch is a game where visual language is paramount to keep the fast-moving action readable. Characters, for example, are designed so that their unique silhouettes are eye-popping even from far away. It also helps to be able to see anything literally at all—something you really come to appreciate when 90 percent of the screen is…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 4, 2019 -
CultureTwitch
Overwatch Pro Blocks Racist Message With His Own Face During Stream
During a recent stream, New York Excelsior Overwatch player and impossibly pleasant married person Jong-ryeol “Saebyeolbe” Park came up against a particularly unpleasant foe. Another player decided to use Overwatch’s in-game notification system to spam Saebyeolbe with a racist message he couldn’t immediately block. The racist assbag in question continuously sent Saebyeolbe friend requests using…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 29, 2019 -
Esports
Popular Overwatch League Player Quits After Just One Month To Resume Streaming Career
Overwatch League has plenty of astoundingly skilled players, but very few stars whose popularity transcends the game’s still relatively niche esports scene. Now it’s time to mark another burgeoning name off the list, because Atlanta Reign’s Daniel “Dafran” Francesca has quit after just one month of play during his debut season. Dafran, a controversy-prone player…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 28, 2019 -
Esports
Overwatch League’s Stage One Finals Gave Us The Wildest Game Of The Season So Far
Every now and then, in competitive games, there are matches where it feels like nobody lost. Yes, San Francisco Shock fell agonizingly short of dethroning the season two heirs apparent the Vancouver Titans. And yeah, they failed to snag $200,000 in bonus cash, having to settle for a second-place prize of half that. But both…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 25, 2019 -
CultureCosplayOverwatch Competition Is Pushing Cosplay To Its Limits
There’s currently an international cosplay battle going on between Overwatch fans, and the results are out of this world. It’s a genuine competition, put on by Blizzard, and there are six teams–each of them featuring some of the world’s finest cosplayers and prop builders–from across Europe competing. The victors will be announced on March 26…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 24, 2019 -
Blizzard Says Overwatch Toxicity Is Down 40 Percent
Not so long ago, Overwatch was a poster child for toxicity run rampant in competitive multiplayer games. People regularly trolled and spewed vitriol while a barebones report system did little to stem the tide. Oh, what a difference a couple years (and a smartly implemented endorsement system) makes. Overwatch, like pretty much all competitive games,…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 22, 2019 -
Esports
Overwatch League Teams Share Plans And Concerns About Moving To Their Home Cities In 2020
After two seasons of living and playing in and around Burbank, California, Overwatch League teams will finally be moving to their respective cities next year. Players and coaches have told Kotaku that they’ve been grappling with planning for these moves for a while, particularly with respect to players’ already grueling practice schedules. Overwatch League commissioner…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 15, 2019 -
Overwatch’s newest hero, combat medic Baptiste, is coming to live servers on March 19. He’ll presumably be accompanied by a slew of balance changes Blizzard has been testing, meaning that we could be looking at a big shake up to the game’s meta. Or not! We’ll find out next week.
By Nathan Grayson Published March 13, 2019 -
CultureCosplayShowcaseWhen An Overwatch Voice Actor Cosplays As Her Character
Actor Carolina Ravassa has been doing video game work for years now, appearing in everything from Grand Theft Auto V to Max Payne 3 to Just Cause 4. But her most famous role is that of Sombra in Overwatch, one she’s now playing in real life as well as the recording studio. At Katsucon earlier…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 12, 2019 -
Esports
Some Of Overwatch League’s Best 2018 Teams Are Getting Trounced In 2019
When the first season of Overwatch League came to a close, there was a compelling argument to be made that Los Angeles Valiant could have made the finals and even won the whole dang season if things had just gone a little more their way in key matches. This season, they’ve yet to win a…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 4, 2019 -
EsportsHow A Joke About An Overwatch League Pro Driving A Bus Spiraled Out Of Control
Esports professionals get to play video games for a living, but a job’s a job. Many players pour countless grueling hours into practice and preparation, not to mention actual matches and events. That’s why fans did a collective double take when, during season one of Overwatch League, rumors began to circulate that a Florida Mayhem…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 1, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsBaptiste Is Fun To Play, But He Probably Won’t Shake Up Overwatch Just Yet
Shortly after Overwatch’s newest hero, Baptiste, was announced, I started seeing Blizzard devs position the Haitian combat medic as a counter to GOATS, the game’s unpopular defense-oriented meta. “Alright,” I said to myself. “This seems promising.” But then I played him, and now I have mixed feelings. Overwatch’s current meta is heavily reliant on heroes…
By Nathan Grayson Published February 27, 2019 -
Players Who Hate Overwatch‘s Brigitte Are Harassing Her Voice Actress
For the past few months, the Overwatch community has been belaboring the same point: Many think the HP-heavy “GOATS” meta is tedious and sloggy. They’ve directed much of their resentment toward Brigitte, a hero considered to be a pillar of GOATS. Now some people are even going after her voice actor, who has nothing to…
By Nathan Grayson Published February 27, 2019 -
CultureCosplayOverwatch Cosplay Is Also A Music Video
Look, I love cosplay photos, but this recent thing of making cosplay music videos instead is something I can very much get behind. Here’s ohmysophii as Overwatch’s McCree, and a one-minute video (shot by eugenephotovideo) is the perfect amount of time: long enough to let us actually see her cosplay in action, but not too long.
By Luke Plunkett Published February 26, 2019 -
Overwatch’s newest hero, combat medic Baptiste, is now on the PC public test server. He’s officially classified as a support, with a biotic launcher that fires powerful three-round bursts, a grenade alt fire that heals allies, a regenerative healing field, and an immortality field that stops allies from dying altogether. That, powerful as it sounds,…
By Nathan Grayson Published February 26, 2019 -
Overwatch‘s New Hero Is Baptiste, A Haitian Combat Medic
After much teasing over the past week, Blizzard has revealed Overwatch’s newest hero. His name is Baptiste, and he’s a combat medic fighting for a better world. “For some, that means a bandage,” he says in his origin story video. “For others, a bullet.” Jean-Baptiste Augustin grew up as one of 30 million orphaned children…
By Nathan Grayson Published February 25, 2019 -
EsportsThe Overwatch League’s Shanghai Dragons finally got their first victory tonight after a winless first season: an impressive 3-1 against the Boston Uprising. The win must taste all the sweeter for Shanghai’s new tank Young-jin “Gamsu” Noh, who got surprise-traded from Boston to Shanghai this month.
By Maddy Myers Published February 22, 2019 -
Esports
Overwatch League Team Slogan ‘Texas Hard’ Deflated by Boner Jokes
At the end of January, Overwatch League team the Houston Outlaws revealed their season two roster and, with it, a new slogan: “#TexasHard.” They hoped fans would wield this hashtag with sincerity and heart, evidently having forgotten that they were on the internet, where that has literally never happened. Today, they changed it. The top…
By Nathan Grayson Published February 22, 2019