Overwatch

Overwatch‘s Placement Matches Are Just Telling Us What We Know

It’s placement time in Overwatch and, as you’re reading this, players are haunting the servers like cursed ghosts forever bound to relive their past lives. After ten seasons of this, players have noticed an unnerving and demoralizing truth: a lot of the time, players’ competitive rankings turn out to be basically whatever they were last…

Korean Overwatch Hackers Arrested, Hit With $10,000 Fine

South Korea’s new law that takes aim at those who hack online games in order to cheat at them, which went into effect last June, has hackers in hot water. Earlier this year, 13 Overwatch offenders were arrested, and now two have received their sentences. According to a post from Blizzard Korea—which worked with the…

Brigitte Arrives In Overwatch‘s Competitive Mode, Makes Tanks Miserable

Yesterday, Overwatch’s 10th competitive season kicked off, bringing the game’s newest hero, flail-swinging stun machine Brigitte, into the mix. Today, Reinhardt mains are threatening to quit. If you’re a big ol’ block of meat hoping to hunker down on the frontline, consider yourself on an involuntary hunker strike. Brigitte is highly adept at wading through…

Geguri Holds No Grudges

In 2016, Jae-mo “Xepher” Koo was part of the Korean Overwatch team that wrongfully accused Kim “Geguri” Se-yeon of cheating. Just two years later, Xepher is a flex tank player for the Overwatch League’s Seoul Dynasty, while Geguri is the league’s first woman According to the manager for the Korean team, Dizziness, the accusing players…

Seoul-Philly Was Some Sloppy, Weird Overwatch

Last night’s showdown between slumping juggernaut Seoul Dynasty and season-long punchers-above-their-weight Philadelphia Fusion might have been the first match of its kind in this first Overwatch League season. On their best nights, both of these teams can be extraordinarily good. Seoul slowly but surely dissects its opponents, while Philly’s aggression is fueled by wild moments…

Overwatch‘s Retribution Mode Uses AI Tricks To Make You Feel Cool

Overwatch’s Retribution PVE mode can make you feel so on-fire that you ought to be signed by an OWL team. Talon soldiers fall like bowling pins to your blade, shotgun, revolver, or alarmingly pointy hand. I almost hate to break it to you that Retribution’s AI is tricking you. Speaking with Variety, Retribution lead designer…

Who would win in a fight between Overwatch and Team Fortress 2? It’s kind of a tired question at this point, but The Winglet used it as the foundation for a charming and funny SFM video that pokes fun at both games. The scene that depicts an encounter with Mei as a horror movie is…

Belgium Says Loot Boxes In Games Like Overwatch Are Illegal

Loot boxes in FIFA 18, Overwatch, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive are now illegal in Belgium, with the country’s legislators declaring today that if the games’ publishers don’t remove the offending microtransactions, people behind the games could face fines and even time behind bars. As reported by Eurogamer, Belgium minister of justice Koen Greens said in…

Overwatch‘s Symmetra Mains Agree: The Problem Is Other Players

Despite striving for order and balance in all things, Symmetra has always been the odd woman out on Overwatch’s hero roster. On the verge of yet another rework, Symmetra mains—often the butt of verbal abuse—say that despite everything, they don’t want her to change all that much. Symmetra is a character who just can’t seem…

How Some Of The Best Cosplay On Earth Is Made

While the traditional idea of building cosplay invokes the image of one or two people toiling away on an outfit, Henchmen Studios work on an almost industrial scale, drawing on the talents of massive teams to produce work so good that they’re often hired by Blizzard to help debut Overwatch characters. Take the company’s latest…

Overwatch Contenders’ Playoffs Are A Proving Ground For New Talent

Many eyes are on the Overwatch League right now, but while stage 3 carries on, the secondary Overwatch division is heating up. As the Overwatch Contenders playoffs come to a close, you should be watching. Contenders is a developmental subset, like a minor league for the Overwatch League. Players in each region compete in their…

Overwatch‘s New Map Is A Beautiful But Imbalanced Deathtrap

Among Overwatch fans, King’s Row is generally regarded as the game’s best map. It doesn’t do any one thing perfectly, but each of its points emphasizes different heroes’ strengths and strategies. The game’s new map, Rialto, seems to want to be a balmier King’s Row, but I don’t feel like it’s quite there yet. Rialto,…

We’re streaming Overwatch’s new map, Rialto, on Twitch The map, which is a payload-pushing revamp of the map from Retribution’s PVE mode, just went up on the PTR today. We’re going in blind, so you can see if we think it’s any good in real time

New Reaper Action Figure Looks Great

Ignoring my repeated demands for a Figma Mercy, Good Smile have instead decided that the next kickass Overwatch figure is going to be Reaper. He’s out in Feb 2019. And while he doesn’t actually come with any extra gear, he does come with some pieces that simulate effects like Death Blossom and Shadow Step. Reaper…

The Dumbest Things We Got Past Overwatch‘s Custom Jersey Censor

Just like in every other sports league, you can now make your own custom Overwatch League jerseys, and certain words are banned from them. They’re mostly obvious, including “butt,” “fuck,” “God,” “Satan,” “Jeffkaplan,” “bitch,” “dick,” “trans,” “XQC,” “trihard,” “sex,” “WarCraft,” “StarCraft,” “Diablo,” “kill,” “Nazi,” “Democrat,” Republican,” “ass,” “fanny,” “doggystyle,” “Pen15,” and “80085.” But there are…

Overwatch Players Figure Out How To Play As Villains From New PVE Mode

Ever since I first got brutalized by an assassin in Overwatch’s new Retribution PVE mode, I’ve wanted to leap on my foes and claw holes in their chests. Recently, a handful of Overwatch players figured out how to do exactly that. Problem: they did it in the game’s competitive mode, giving them a huge upper…

Overwatch League Fans Upset Korean Casters Won’t Say One Player’s Name

Given Overwatch’s popularity in Korea, it’s not surprising that Overwatch League has a separate broadcast with Korean commentary in addition to the regular English one. What is surprising is how much English-speaking viewers suddenly care about it in the wake of the Korean commentary team electing not to mention the name of formerly suspended Dallas…

Overwatch Fans Are Drawing McCree As A Waiter Thanks To The New Event

Thanks to some new voice lines, the Overwatch fandom is geeking out over the idea of the surly cowboy McCree dressed as a waiter. I am here for it. Overwatch’s Retribution event expands a part of lore players have been wanting to explore. The event takes place during a mission where Blackwatch, the Overwatch team’s…

You can now win Overwatch’s Retribution mission even if your teammates won’t get in the dang dropship. Blizzard released a small update today that, among other tweaks, causes the dropship to “leave incapacitated players behind to complete the mission.” Sorry, bloodthirsty Rambo wannabes. You deserve this.

Overwatch Devs Accidentally Buff Hanzo’s Most Hated Ability

Yesterday, Hanzo mains the world over discovered a pleasant surprise while using their one ability that actually does damage: scatter arrow now has a shorter cooldown, meaning it can be used more often. Blizzard admits this buff was accidental, but for the time being, may not revert it. Scatter arrow fires an arrow that fragments…