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EsportsA Dedicated Fan Is Making A Game About The Overwatch League
As sports video games have shown us, sports are just games with off-the-court metagame layers attached. Also pageantry and juicy, juicy drama. Overwatch League follows this formula, making it ripe for a game in the most thrilling sports-adjacent genre of all: dating simulator. Wait, I mean management. OWL 2K18 is a work-in-progress fan game by…
By Nathan Grayson Published September 17, 2018 -
Esports
Overwatch Team Whose ‘FU’ Jersey Was Banned Is Back With More FUs
Back in May, Philadelphia Fusion’s Overwatch Contenders team, Fusion University, ran into some wardrobe difficulties when their team jersey—emblazoned with a giant, devil-may-care “FU”—got banned from the season one finals. Now, though, they’re back with a new jersey that tells “FU” haters to F off Later today, Fusion University will be playing in the Contenders…
By Nathan Grayson Published September 7, 2018 -
Esports
Eight New Teams Are Coming To The Overwatch League
Blizzard has confirmed eight new Overwatch teams for the Overwatch League’s second season. The teams will represent Vancouver, Toronto, Paris, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, and three Chinese cities: Hangzhou, Chengdu and Guangzhou. An official start date for the second season has not been announced. These eight new teams will join OWL’s twelve preexisting teams, making a…
By Cecilia D'Anastasio Published September 7, 2018 -
CultureCosplay
That Was A LOT Of Overwatch Cosplayers
We’ll have a massive gallery of DragonCon cosplay in the coming days, but until that’s ready I wanted to share something in particular that went down during the show: an immense gathering of Overwatch cosplayers. I’m not saying it’s every Overwatch cosplayer in America, but….I mean, it’s a lot of Overwatch cosplayers. These pics were…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 6, 2018 -
Esports
Overwatch League Fans Are Mourning The First Off-Season Roster Shakeups
Even in a league full of streamers and burgeoning personalities, teams are only as good as their players. Now that Overwatch League’s first season is over, some players have got to go. OWL is now in off-season, and that means team owners and players are weighing their options and preparing for the upcoming signing window…
By Nathan Grayson Published September 4, 2018 -
D.Va Action Figure Is Pretty Much Perfect
Good Smile are back with another Overwatch Figma, this time of D.Va. There’s no mech, but it’s a Figma, you shouldn’t have been expecting one anyways. Instead, expect the usual: multiple faces, multiple hands, multiple accessories, loads of poseability. It’ll be out in June 2019—these guys like to plan ahead!—for around $55.
By Luke Plunkett Published August 30, 2018 -
Blizzard says that Overwatch’s new Busan map was not inspired by a fan map. In an email, a rep told Kotaku that the team had been working on the map long before an impressive fan mock-up appeared online in June, noting that production can take “nearly six months for some maps.” Check out yesterday’s story…
By Nathan Grayson Published August 30, 2018 -
D.Va’s Overwatch Short Sparks Theories About Her Love Life
Last week’s Overwatch short starred fan favorite character D.Va and revealed a little bit about her personality. It also gave Overwatch fans a new character to swoon over: her squadmate, D.Mon. Not much is known about D.Mon as a character, but that’s never stopped fans from getting attached to a character before, and this time…
By Gita Jackson Published August 30, 2018 -
CultureCosplayReplica Mass Effect Pistol Actually Folds
Optimistic Geometry creates replica cosplay weapons that actually “work”. Not in the sense that they fire lasers, but that they’re able to mechanically slide, recoil, light up and fold, just like D.Va and Commander Shepard’s do. Here’s his Mass Effect sidearm: And here’s a recoiling, light-up Overwatch pistol: You can see more of Optimistic’s work…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 30, 2018 -
Overwatch Streamers Are Pretending To Be In The D.Va Promotion
“D.Va’s Nano Challenge,” a new Overwatch promotion in which Blizzard teams up with popular streamers, has been by most counts a success. Last night, over 100,000 people simultaneously watched Overwatch streamer Seagull in hopes of earning in-game drops. Streamers who aren’t part of the promotion have decided they also want a slice of that sumptuous…
By Nathan Grayson Published August 29, 2018 -
An Overwatch Fan Made A Busan Map Two Months Before Blizzard Revealed Its Official One [UPDATE]
Aspiring video game map maker Shua Llorente had no idea what he was getting himself into when, in June, he released a video of his mockup of a Busan map for Overwatch. The video pulled in over 150,000 views thanks to just how much it felt like an actual Overwatch take on the real Korean…
By Nathan Grayson Published August 29, 2018 -
Esports
Players Finally Let Loose At Overwatch League’s All-Star Weekend
This past weekend, during one of the Overwatch League All-Star games, NYXL DPS Jong-ryeol “Saebyeolbe” Park—a master of split-second timing and precision—rolled right off a ledge into the infernal fires beneath King’s Row. When asked what happened, he quipped, “That’s my plan. It’s fan service.” The whole weekend felt like fan service, a victory lap…
By Nathan Grayson Published August 28, 2018 -
CultureShop Contest
‘Shop Contest: This Is Where The Magic Happens
We experienced a new Overwatch short this week where we saw some heroic D.Va action, and our ‘Shop Contest is in response to that. I want you to show me where the magic happens. In the short, D.Va explains that “this is where the magic happens.” Does she mean inside of her garage? Is her…
By Cameron Kunzelman Published August 26, 2018 -
Overwatch‘s New Busan Map Is A Chaotic Blast
It only took two years, but Overwatch’s lean, mean esports queen D.Va—easily one of the game’s most popular characters—is finally getting some time in the spotlight. Alongside her CG short about being the world’s coolest workaholic who also happens to have PTSD, there’s also a new map set in the South Korean city of Busan.…
By Nathan Grayson Published August 23, 2018 -
Nike, Make These Overwatch Sneakers
Korean sneaker/Overwatch fan upboyhas transformed a collection of Air Force 1s, turning them into Overwatch kicks with shoes based on heroes like D.Va, Widowmaker, Genji and Zarya. They were on display at the Overwatch Fan Festival in Korea on Wednesday, the same place D.Va’s new trailer was shown off Each shoe is obviously in the…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 23, 2018 -
CultureThe Internet Reacts To Overwatch’s Animated Short About D.Va
After two years of waiting, Overwatch hero D.Va finally has her own animated short. While some people wish it gave a little more insight into her backstory, everyone can agree that D.Va is a selfless, precious angel who has never done anything wrong. Hana “D.Va” Song is an incredibly popular character, to the point of…
By Gita Jackson Published August 22, 2018 -
Overwatch Players Discover New Form Of Psychological Warfare: Singing
In Overwatch, sniper hero Widowmaker requires cold-blooded poise to play at the highest levels. You have to focus if you want your shots to cut through the chaos of battle. During a recent all-Widowmaker tournament, players figured out a hard counter to skillful Widows: loud, bad singing. The tournament was hosted by Overwatch World Cup…
By Nathan Grayson Published August 21, 2018 -
Esports
Overwatch World Cup Match Grinds To A Halt When Game Crashes
The primary ingredients for a great Overwatch moment are a) a hotly contested match and b) a cheeky strategy the other team doesn’t see coming. During the fourth game of last night’s Overwatch World Cup match between South Korea and Finland, both these things happened. Then the game crashed. This year’s Overwatch World Cup—in which…
By Nathan Grayson Published August 17, 2018