Tag: overwatch

The Overwatch 2 anniversary event celebrates with skins and modes

The Overwatch 2 anniversary event is live now, with a new anniversary shop and every limited-time mode since the multiplayer game launched

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The Overwatch 2 anniversary event is live now, with a new shop containing old event skins for Overwatch 2 heroes and a rotation of every major limited-time mode since the multiplayer game launched in 2022. The anniversary event runs for 21 days and brings back two familiar modes each week, and you can complete anniversary challenges to earn up to 3,000 coins to spend in the in-game store.

First up is Winter Wonderland and Battle for Olympus. Winter Wonderland includes three game modes – Mei’s snowball fight, a Yeti-versus-Mei 5v1 mode, and the Flash Freeze mode, where eliminated heroes become encased in ice. Battle for Olympus is a slightly more straightforward deathmatch mode, where each hero has a selection of new powers based on a certain Greek deity.

Week two brings classic maps back to Overwatch 2’s assault mode and Catch-a-Mari, where each team fights over Pachimari toys. Starwatch: Galactic Rescue is also back after just a few months, with all of its balance issues and Star Wars references intact.

Finally is a set of modes we just bade farewell to: Summer Games and Mischief and Magic. Summer Games features a small handful of ball-themed modes, including Lucioball, and Mischief and Magic sees Genji hunt down Kiriko the Rogue as she hides among Blizzard World’s props.

The Overwatch 2 anniversary event runs through Oct. 9, 2023. The event shop will linger until Oct. 16, 2023, so you’ll have a bit more time to decide how you want to spend your coins. Blizzard also teased a new crossover planned for Overwatch 2 season 7, which will likely go live once the anniversary event wraps up.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

Overwatch 2 Season 6 patch notes: Hero nerfs and buffs

The Overwatch 2 Season 6 patch notes are here, with a range of buffs and nerfs to help continue balancing the multiplayer game

The Overwatch 2 Season 6 patch notes are here, with a range of buffs and nerfs – but mostly buffs – to help continue balancing the multiplayer game. Season 6 introduces Illari, a brand-new support hero, alongside the Flashpoint mode, and, if you’re willing to pay for them, a trio of PvE story missions. There’s even a new PvE limited-time mode that’s free for everyone.

Season 6 has a lot going on, but we’ve broken down the biggest changes for each hero and how the new PvE modes work below.

 

The best FPS games – the top 17 shooters of all time

We just chose the best 15 first-person shooters.

Once they were a vehicle for tech innovation, then everyone’s favorite storytelling medium. When we all got online, shooters were there to show us why that was exciting. Whenever the newspapers needed a moral panic, shooters were happy to provide one. 

Perhaps more than any other genre, a list of the best shooters tells a story about the medium and what we wanted from it at the time. It’s shapeshifted into something athletes can devote their lives to and fill arenas through their talents, but it’s also been there to ask us uncomfortable questions about what we see on the news. At this point, its library is so rich that it can even parody itself from years past, and to great effect. 

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That makes picking just 17 of them a hard task. So we didn’t – instead we built a vast learning AI, made it play every FPS released since the dawn of time, and provide us an empirical ranking of their quality. 

Okay, that was a lie. Look, we just chose the best 17 shooters, ok? Get off our backs. That does mean just one game from each series though – otherwise you’d be about to read a lot of Quake and Half-Life entries.

Overwatch fans share precious memories as the servers go offline forever

Blizzard’s popular hero shooter is gone, and everyone is looking back on its legacy.

Well, it finally happened — Overwatch has gone offline. Not even a last-second Mercy raise can save this one.

Ahead of Overwatch 2‘s launch later this week, Blizzard shut down all multiplayer services for the original game. For a brief moment, the world will be Overwatch-less. It’s weird to think about, considering how staggeringly popular the hero shooter was for many years, even if its luster has since faded somewhat. 

It’ll live on within Overwatch 2, of course — even if sweeping changes are incoming. There’ll be a battle pass with the new free-to-play model, and Blizzard is ditching loot boxes entirely. For better and worse, the sequel is an altogether different beast than Overwatch.

Everyone knew this was coming for quite some time, but it didn’t quite set in until now that nobody can play the original game anymore. As such, social media and Reddit are overflowing with posts from fans sharing cherished memories, awesome gameplay clips, and just looking back on how Overwatch impacted an entire generation.

Below, we’ve put together some of the best fan reactions for your viewing pleasure.

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Overwatch 2 boss is open to Fortnite-like crossovers

Blizzard’s Jon Spector thought the Naruto event in Fortnite was ‘awesome’

We’re only one week away from Overwatch 2‘s launch – a day many thought would never come. Plenty is changing in the sequel, and Blizzard is open to crossovers with other franchises.

During an interview with Game Informer, Overwatch VP Jon Spector spoke about how the development team is exploring the idea of cross-media events.

“We’ve seen some really fun examples out there of games working with other brands or other games,” Spector said. “I’m a big anime nerd myself. I think it’s super cool when I see Naruto appear in Fortnite. I don’t even play Fortnite, but that’s awesome. And as we look at the Overwatch 2 space, those are things that we’re interested in exploring. If and when we do that, one of our key values is to do it in a way that feels like a great fit for the Overwatch franchise.” 

Fortnite is pretty infamous at this point for crossing over with every brand in the known universe. From Dragon Ball Z to Indiana Jones – virtually every franchise you can think of has appeared in Epic’s battle royale. So it’s no surprise that Blizzard might look to replicate that success.

“So we’ve been more focused on those collaborations as the stuff we might be interested in doing. And less on the ads-in-our-game type stuff,” Spector continues.

Whether this comes to fruition is anybody’s guess. If we keep the anime theme going, I’m hoping for a collaboration with Fullmetal Alchemist just so Edward Elric can blitz Roadhog.

Overwatch 2 enters early access Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022, for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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Overwatch is free to play this holiday

Blizzard freebies.

Anyone that’s somehow not given Overwatch  a try in the past five years will be happy to know it’s free to play right now.

From now until Jan. 2, 2022, anyone can download Overwatch  completely free of charge. 

There are no restrictions either. All progression items, including ranks and cosmetics attained in the free version, will carry over to the retail version should you decide to buy it once the trial period is over.

On PC, simply download the game off of Battle.Net and go to town! Xbox and PlayStation will need an Xbox Live Gold account and PlayStation Plus account respectively to play online, though.

This promotion is part of Overwatch’s annual Winter Wonderland celebration, including several cosmetic items you can check out in the video below.

Significant updates for Overwatch  are rare these days, with  the rename of its cowboy character  being the last time the first game made headlines. Overwatch 2  isn’t coming until 2023  at the earliest, partly due to the  ongoing toxic workplace allegations and lawsuits against Activision Blizzard. The company will likely be dealing with such for a long time, especially as  employee walkouts and potential strikes continue.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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The esports world mourns the tragic loss of Kim ‘Alarm’ Kyeong-Bo

The Philadelphia Fusion’s flex support tragically passed away at 20 years old.

Kim “Alarm” Kyeong-Bo of the Philadelphia Fusion has passed away at only 20 years old. 

The well-known flex support for Philadelphia Fusion was one of Overwatch’s biggest stars in the competitive scene — Taking home the Overwatch League’s Rookie of the Year award in 2020. 

“We are devastated and heartbroken to hear about Kim “Alarm” Kyeong-Bo’s passing,” the Philadelphia Fusion said on Twitter. “Alarm was the heart and soul of our organization, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends as we mourn this tragic loss.”

There are no additional details yet and Philadelphia Fusion and Alarm’s family are asking for privacy on the matter.

Alarm made quite an impression on Overwatch  esports, as everyone tangentially related to the scene is in shock, dismay, and mourning. Many are taking to social media to share their stories or interactions with Alarm, including his teammates. Take a look at what everyone is saying for yourself below.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

Not all ‘Overwatch’ fans are happy about the Cole Cassidy name change

Overwatch fans are all over the place with this decision.

Well, Overwatch’s  cowboy hero is officially named Cole Cassidy now, and fans are all over the place about it.

The hero, formerly known as Jesse McCree, was named after an employee no longer at the company after  some serious allegations were labeled against them. So Blizzard announced back in September that the character would get a name change, and at the time,  not every fan was on board. Regardless of that initial blowback, however, the studio decided to change the character’s name anyways, and thus, Cole Cassidy was born.

Blizzard unveiled Cole Cassidy as the hero’s new name on Friday, and it seems like they put a lot of thought into it, too.

Some fans are cool with it, while others see it as little more than a band-aid fix to the  real problems happening at the studio. While others still posted plenty of quality memes about the whole situation. It’s something, I tell you. Check it out for yourself below.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF. 

Cole Cassidy is the new ‘Overwatch’ hero formerly known as McCree

Finally, we know what this cowboy’s new name is.

We’ve known that Blizzard would give Overwatch’s  cowboy hero a new name for a while, but now we know what it is: Cole Cassidy.

After the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing  filed a lawsuit against Blizzard in August for sexual harassment and discrimination of its employees, the developer pledged to make things right piece by piece. One (small) means to do this was to rename a particular Overwatch  hero, formerly known as Jesse McCree, as the character was named after a developer at the studio  were let go amid serious allegations. Now, that hero’s name is Cole Cassidy.

Check out the announcement from Blizzard for yourself below. 

“The first thing a renegade loses is their name, and this one gave up his long ago,” Blizzard said in some flavor text on Twitter. “Running from his past meant running from himself, and each passing year only widened the divide between who he had been and what he had become. But in every cowboy’s life, there comes a time when he has to stop and make a stand. To make this new Overwatch better – to make things right – he had to be honest with his team and himself. The cowboy he was rode into the sunset, and Cole Cassidy face the world at dawn.”

The cowboy hero’s new name of Cole Cassidy will take effect on Oct. 26 in a new update for Overwatch.

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‘Overwatch’ beginner’s guide: All you need to know to get started

Let’s see what the MOBA of first-person shooters is all about.

Exhilarating. This is what the team-based first-person hero shooter Overwatch is in a single word. A unique competitive experience that is without an equivalent in the current gaming landscape.

That moment when the game is in overtime and you and your team mount a last-ditch effort at pushing the payload past the final checkpoint and succeed. Or when you clutch out a team fight that turns the tide in your favor. This is when Overwatch is at its best.

But before we go into the nitty-gritty of the game, let’s take a step back and go over what Overwatch is at its core.

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