Overwatch

Toronto Esports Team Pulls Out Of Overwatch Because It Couldn’t Use ‘Toronto’ Anymore

There’s taking your ball and going home, and then there’s whatever Toronto Esports just did. After a few days of unusual tweets from the organization’s president and founder, including an unanswered challenge issued to Overwatch League’s new Toronto team, Toronto Esports suddenly dropped out of Overwatch’s minor league, Contenders, over a naming dispute. In a…

Overwatch’s newest hero, Ashe, is live. The new patch also includes a handful of other changes, including buffs to Mercy, Symmetra, Reaper, and Roadhog, the latter of whom Kotaku’s resident Roadhog expert Cecilia D’Anastasio says is now “saved.”

BlizzCon 2018’s Cosplay Was Out Of Control

Other shows might be bigger, but every year Blizzcon brings out the absolute best in cosplay. It was held earlier this month at the Anaheim Convention Centre, and many of the top cosplayers not just from North America, but from the rest of the world made the trip to show off their love for Overwatch,…

Overwatch‘s Next Big Patch Will Require A Full Reinstall Of The Game [Update]

Overwatch has had a handful of sizable patches in the past, but the next major one—which presumably will include new hero Ashe—is going to necessitate a full reinstall of the game. Blizzard chalks the inconvenience up to under-the-hood changes that go deeper than just a fresh coat of paint. “The next major patch will have…

Overwatch Probably Won’t Get A Hero Wackier Than Wrecking Ball

There was a time, hard as it might be to remember, when Overwatch’s wackiest hero was a peanut-butter-loving science ape from the moon. Earlier this year, however, he was usurped by a mech-piloting, robo-voiced, Thunderdome-battling hamster who’s also from the moon. How do you top that? Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan isn’t sure he wants to.…

Welcome To Overwatch, Ashe

Kim-Seang “Nesskain” Hong, formerly a Blizzard fan artist, is now a Blizzard artist, and has worked on the last few character reveal trailers, including the latest one, Ashe. Here you’ll see loads of the illustrations he did for the trailer, which were storyboarded by Blizzard’s Mio del Rosario. You can see more of Nesskain’s stuff…

Jeff Kaplan’s Plans To Combat Overwatch Fatigue

This year’s BlizzCon was an odd one on a lot of levels, but I was personally stricken by the number of friends and acquaintances who told me they’d taken weeks or months off from playing Overwatch. Last year and the year before, it was an obsession. Lately, though, it’s felt a little stale. Despite that…

Blizzard Explains Why Overwatch Still Doesn’t Have A Black Woman Hero

Overwatch fans disappointed with Ashe should know that six new heroes are in the works, Blizzard has told Kotaku, and that fans hoping for more diversity in the popular game’s cast of characters will hopefully find what they’re looking for in upcoming updates. “I think if you look at the history of Overwatch, there’s been…

Overwatch‘s Ashe Is More Than Just Another Sniper

In many ways, Overwatch’s newest hero Ashe is a contradiction. She’s pinpoint-accurate at a distance, but she’s not exactly a sniper in the same sense as Widowmaker or Hanzo. Her HP pool drains faster than a water balloon hitting a ceiling fan, but she can get down in the thick of things and help capture…

There’s Official Cosplay Of The Newest Overwatch Hero, Ashe

Like they have the last few times there’s been a new character reveal, Blizzard got in touch with props and costume builders Henchmen Studios to create an almost 1:1 real-life replica of Ashe’s outfit and gear. Cosplayer Karolina Lefaywas brought in to actually wear the gear, and really, if we get any more of these…

Behold, BlizzCon’s giant Lego D.Va statue. Yes, she’s made of Lego bricks. No, you probably won’t be able to buy this one in the near future

Eight Nations Face-Off In This Weekend’s Overwatch World Cup

In Overwatch, as in soccer, there’s annual league play and international World Cups. This weekend belongs to the second. Before OWL’s second season gets underway, teams from around the world will represent their nations at BlizzCon in the Overwatch World Cup. It’s one of the game’s most entertaining events for all the same reasons people…

Overwatch‘s Next Hero Is Ashe, Leader of the Deadlock Gang

At BlizzCon today, Blizzard announced Overwatch’s latest hero, Ashe, a stern and strict gang leader who looks absolutely killer. Introduced in the animated short “Reunion,” Ashe stands off against Overwatch’s bounty hunter Jesse McCree in a fight worthy of Red Dead Redemption 2 (only with robots): She’s the leader of the Deadlock Gang, a group…

Symmetra’s Qualifying Matches Is A Delightful Overwatch Dating Sim

Overwatch dating simulator Symmetra’s Qualifying Matches is asking the important questions: “Will you date your teammates? Will you stay on the payload? Will you teleport everyone off the map and throw all your games?” Mostly, it’s focused on that first one. And the answer is resoundingly “yes.” Symmetra’s Qualifying Matches is a silly, riotously funny…

Overwatch Cosplay From Another Universe

This is Keltonfx, a cosplayer and makeup artist, with one of the most incredible pieces of Overwatch cosplay I’ve ever seen. This male Symmetra costume takes three of the character’s skins (Oasis, Dragon and Devi) and combines them with other elements of Hindu mythology and classical Indian dance to form this fantastically elaborate piece of…

Tiny Torbjorn Action Figure Is Just The Right Size

Normally when the folks at Good Smile Company create one of their big-headed Nendoroid figures, a little downscaling is involved. Not so with Torbjorn. Overwatch’s resident dwarven engineer was bite-sized to begin with. He’s conveniently cute. That’s right, I called Torbjorn cute. I was afraid the tenth figure in GSC’s Overwatch Nendoroid line would turn…

Here’s All The Overwatch LEGO Sets

That Bastion was just the start; there’s a whole line of LEGO Overwatch sets coming, featuring many of the core cast, some locations, some vehicles and of course, The Payload. While not officially announced by Blizzard yet, Target went and put pictures of the sets up a bit early, andThe Brothers Brick were able to…

Overwatch Is Getting A Spectator Mode

If you’ve ever found yourself tired of Overwatch esports spectators’ camera angle choices and thought you could do a better job, your big day is just around the corner. Blizzard’s shooter is getting an in-game spectator mode, though it’s gonna have to go through some testing first. Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan—who, in a stunning turn…

Dying Genji Obliterates Enemy Team With Their Own Ult 

Tired: Getting a team kill with your own ultimate in Overwatch. Wired: Dying a painful death as Genji, only to posthumously realize that you deflected the other team’s ult right back at them, resulting in a team kill so inevitable that their Bastion didn’t even try to get out of harm’s way. That’s exactly what…

Overwatch‘s Boops Have Gotten Out Of Control

Over the last few months, Overwatch has looked less like a team shooter and more like the inside of a microwave bag of popcorn. A popular and beloved crowd control mechanic called the “boop” has become so prevalent that it’s causing anguish from players who would rather compete at a first-person shooter than pop idly…