Overwatch

Put A Little Overwatch On Your Keyboard

Not only are Overwatch mechanical keyboard caps a fine way to show loyalty to your favorite character, they also help you remember which key does what thing. There’s a group buy going on over at Reddit’s MechMarket through April 2, featuring caps for almost every character. A group buy is where someone gets a whole…

This is one of the best infographics I have ever seen. It’s deeply broken, of course, since Sombra’s agonising ARG scorched the search results, but still.

Pro Overwatch Team Known For Wild Plays Finally Meet Their Match

Over the course of the big APEX Overwatch tournament, Meta Athena went from unassuming underdog to dark horse favorite with plays that seemed to spring forth from some mad scientist’s lab, freshly glistening with incubation tube goop. Their winning streak, however, has finally come to an end. In the most recent semifinal match of the…

Stunning Widowmaker Statue Kicks Off Blizzard’s Collectibles Line

After years of licensing third parties to create expensive statues and replicas based on its hit video game properties, Blizzard’s taking high-end collectibles in house.Blizzard Collectibles kicks off with an array of existing pieces, joined by one hell of a rendition of Overwatch’s spidery sniper. While I wait patiently for an overpriced Reinhardt statue, Widowmaker…

We Talk About The People We’ve Reported In Overwatch

On the latest episode of our semi-regular Overwatch show, Cecilia, Heather, and I discuss the game’s new hero, Orisa, debate whether or not Blizzard hurts their game by giving in to fans’ demands too much, and ponder whether new reporting tools will be enough to stop cheaters and toxic players. We also share stories about…

Overwatch Pro Sends His Team To The Finals With Huge Reinhardt Play

The second season of the big APEX pro Overwatch tournament has produced all sorts of surprises, but none have landed with as much oomph as Ryu “Kaiser” Sang Hoon’s Reinhardt. Kaiser’s team, an unheralded org called RunAway, completed their improbable march to APEX’s grand finals by hammering down APEX S1 standout LW Blue. With the…

Competitive Overwatch‘s Inconsistent Rules Are Screwing Over Players

In any competitive game or sport, the rules can change, and competitors have to adjust their strategies. But usually, rules change between seasons – not in the middle of one. Blizzard’s Overwatch changes a lot, even by video game standards. The patches hit every few weeks or so. Sometimes it’s a little balance tweak, sometimes…

Overwatch Characters As Fantasy Heroes

Overwatch Fantasia is a project by some Korean artists to take Blizzard’s roster of Heroes and make them look like they walked out of something like a Final Fantasy artbook. Because it’s the work of a whole team, there are multiple takes on many of the characters, some bright and bubbly, others looking more like…

Overwatch‘s Anti-Abuse System Is Getting An Overhaul

In competitive games, a handful of bad eggs can stink up the whole basket. Even Overwatch, a shooter designed with teamwork and a degree of positivity in mind, can’t dunk them directly into the trash fast enough. Blizzard’s solution? Better tools. During an interview last year, Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan told me that toxicity…

First Pro Player To Pick Overwatch‘s Newest Hero Immediately Gets Stomped

Overwatch’s quadrupedal African robot Orisa is so new that she’s not even allowed in the game’s official competitive mode yet. Despite that, a team decided to pick her in a pro match yesterday evening, hours after she came out. It did not go well for them. The team? Renegades. They were up against Complexity as…

Overwatch‘s Newest Hero, Orisa, Is Now Live

After an especially lengthy stay on the PTR, Overwatch’s newest hero, “anchor tank” Orisa, is finally live. She’s accompanied by major changes to precious heal boy Lucio, a new tiebreaker system for competitive matches, and balance changes that span multiple heroes and maps. First announced a few weeks ago, Orisa is meant to occupy a…

Blizzard Cracks Down On Overwatch Ties, Polarizes Fans

Draws are the bane of competitive Overwatch players’ existence. All that work, and instead of the sweet taste of victory or the bitter agony of defeat, you get the sour milk breath of anticlimax. Late last week, Blizzard took the first steps to fix that. Some players, though, think they might have gone too far.…

Why Opening Loot Boxes Feels Like Christmas, According To Game Devs

Opening Overwatch loot boxes or Halo 5 REQ packs adds a special drama to a gaming session. The crate shakes. A jingle chimes. Lights peek out from the cracks. It swells with potential. Game developers make subtle design decisions that stoke the hope that keeps players opening mystery boxes, crates and packs. And not just…

Former Overwatch Teammates Reunite As “Laser Kittenz”

A new Overwatch team is set to make its debut on the international stage. Laser Kittenz is made up of the former Bench Boys roster and two other players, and the team will be looking to establish itself in the upcoming Overwatch League. In a report from ESPN Esports, the team says it is currently…

Here Is A Good Video Game Kid

Here is a note Allie’s daughter brought home from her after school care, after she used the gravest insult of all: calling another kid a “Hanzo Main”. The present might be toast, but the future is looking OK.

Little-Known Overwatch Team Is Tearing Up The Apex Tournament With Bizarre Strategies

Before the latest season of the big APEX Overwatch tournament series started, few knew the name Meta Athena. Now people are watching their matches with balled fists and clenched jaws, wondering what sort of diabolical trick they’ll come up with next. Meta Athena is a pro Overwatch team made up mostly of high-school aged Korean…

Blizzard Demands $8.5 Million In Legal Battle Against Cheat Maker

Blizzard’s been waging a legal war against cheat maker Bossland, maker of prominent cheat programs for games like Overwatch, World of Warcraft, and Heroes of the Storm, for years. Bossland’s latest tactic? They’ve just stopped responding entirely. Blizzard most recently went after Bossland last summer, when they filed suit over the group’s now-unavailable Overwatch program,…

Overwatch‘s Director Both Loves And Hates The Mash-Up Videos People Make Of Him

In recent times, a YouTuber named Dinoflask has dedicated their life to mashing-up videos of Overwatch’s Jeff Kaplan, turning them into everything from enraged rants to stories of Kaplan drunkenly pretending to be Junkrat’s ult at a party. It’s masterful work. Even Kaplan himself thinks so… begrudgingly. As part of a recent Reddit AMA, somebody…

Overwatch’s newest hero, the “anchor tank” Orisa, will see a wide release on March 21st. Early on, she seems like a powerful tank with a long range who functions best when mired to her team.

Overwatch Cosplay Rains From Above

This is Charmandawith one hell of a Pharah outfit. It’s the Overwatch character’s Raindancer skin, and it’s awesome. Here it is in motion. And some more shots: