Tag: Overwatch

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Overwatch 2 characters have already topped PornHub searches

Overwatch 2 only just launched on October 11th, but it’s already won over the… hearts of PornHub users.

As noted by Kotaku, D.Va, a returning Overwatch character with a new look in the sequel, was one of the trending searches on the porn site’s home page. When I just checked PornHub (for journalistic purposes, naturally), fellow returning hero Widowmaker shows as trending.

While Overwatch characters have always been popular on PornHub, it’s nonetheless amusing that the sequel has already garnered so much attention. It should be noted that Overwatch 2 experienced connectivity issues at launch, which developer Blizzard attributed in part to a DDoS attack, so I guess fans had to find other ways to have some Overwatch-themed fun.

Who is your favourite Overwatch character? (To play as, of course.) Let us know in the comments.

Note: Blizzard parent company Activision Blizzard is facing ongoing legal action related to reported work culture issues. Specifically, the gaming giant was accused in a July 2021 lawsuit of fostering a toxic “frat boy” culture at its U.S. studios in which many employees, particularly women, dealt with harassment, gender discrimination, unequal pay and other forms of mistreatment. Bobby Kotick, the company’s CEO, has specifically come under fire for allegedly working to cover up these reports and has faced calls to resign, yet he still leads the company. Recently, Axios reported that Activision Blizzard has also been hit with two setbacks related to its legal battle with California over these workplace misconduct allegations. While the conversation has shifted to Microsoft’s pending acquisition of the company, it’s nonetheless important to recognize what has transpired at the Call of Duty maker.

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Overwatch 2 is now available on PC and console

Blizzard’s Overwatch 1 shuttered its services forever on October 5th at noon ET, but now Overwatch 2 lives. The new title’s servers turned on around 3pm ET on PC and console. While it’s a completely different game, it’s essentially an update as it still only offers player-versus-player gameplay. Player versus environment and story mode won’t hit the title until 2023.

Overwatch 2 is free-to-play and offers a new battle pass system and in-game store, allowing players to collect new characters, skins, emotes and more. The 80th level of the battle pass also comes with a customizable Mythic skin for Genji. Additionally, Overwatch 2 comes with three new characters, Sojourn (a Canadian hero, finally), Junker Queen and Kiriko – one for each class, support, tank and DPS.

The title also comes with new maps including one based on Toronto’s Queen St. with Kim’s Convenience and everything.

With the free battle pass, you can earn the new hero (if you didn’t already have the first Overwatch) and also get two new epic skins, two souvenirs, one weapon charm, and 15 additional rewards.

The premium tier of the battle pass offers Kiriko as an instant unlock; you can also get a 20 percent season experience boost (presumably to help you gain levels) a new Mythic skin, five legendary skins, an additional epic skin and 66 additional awards, which includes emotes, victory poses, player icons, sprays and more.

Additionally, the new Overwatch shop will have a ‘Just for You’ section with personalized offers based on what you prefer to play and equip in-game. You can also purchase new bundles weekly in the in-game store and complete weekly challenges to earn coins.

The update also revealed that the Halloween event this year has changed and will take place from October 25th to November 8th. 

Overwatch 2 will be adding a new tank character by the end of the year.

I played the console beta for the game, so if you want to learn more, here were my thoughts.

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Overwatch 2’s new heroes reportedly won’t be free

In Overwatch, characters have always been free; however, Overwatch 2 is seemingly looking to change that.

Overwatch 2, which launches on October 4th, will require players to get new heroes via the free track of the Battle Pass. This was learned through an update on the game’s ‘Watchpoint Pack,’ which is a purchasable content bundle that gets early adopters free skins, in-game currency and access to the season one premium battle pass.

The Watchpoint Pack states that premium battle pass users will get access to the unrevealed, teased hero ‘Kiriko.’ Following the notice of the unintentional leak, the Overwatch team removed mention of the character’s name. However, this has led people to suspect that new heroes will not be able to unlock unless you make some progression on the free track of the battle pass. Therefore, if you get the paid variant, you’ll get the hero immediately.

Overwatch 2 is a free game, so it makes sense that they’ve had to change the formula. The worry here, though, is that you’ll only be able to play characters via the progression model of a battle pass. Games like Apex Legends and Smite require players to simply use in-game currency to purchase new characters. Another fear is competitive gameplay. Sometimes, characters in Overwatch are pretty essential in some team comps, so it’ll be difficult for some players who’ve missed parts of a season to jump in and feel at home when they aren’t able to play certain characters.

It’s worth noting that there’s been no official word from Blizzard about this yet.

Source: The Verge

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Overwatch 2’s first console beta was enjoyable, but the queue times were crazy

With Overwatch 2’s second public beta coming to a close in a few days, here are my initial thoughts on the game. While I played a bit of the first beta on my roommate’s PC, the second beta made its way to console players, and with the founder’s pack, I could finally play the game on Sony’s PlayStation 5 and with my friends online.

First off, the Overwatch 2 beta only offers the PVP aspect of the game, which will also be the case when the game finally launches on October 4th. With that in mind, the beta is a great example of what to expect from the free-to-play title.

The beta includes two new characters for console players, Sojourn (a DPS hero) and Junker Queen (a tank hero). It also offers a new map type called Push that works like a tug of war, but instead of pulling a rope back and forth, you’re guiding a robot. With Sojourn and the Push map, ‘New Queen St,’ we finally encounter some Canadian representation in the game. In the original Overwatch, it was discovered through a comic that Pharah’s father is from Canada, but that was all we saw until Overwatch 2.

The new characters in Overwatch 2 are a great and welcome addition to the title. The last time Overwatch fans got to play a new character was Echo back in April of 2020.

I’m a Sojourn one-trick now, as Blizzard gave her a lot of movement and a very fun railgun. It’s also worth noting that Overwatch 2‘s gameplay is 5v5 instead of 6v6, as a tank has been removed from the lineup. Junker Queen, being the new tank in the beta, seems pretty cool (my friends love playing as her), but I wasn’t fond of the fact that she’s only in tank, so I didn’t play as her much.

While I overall enjoyed my time with the Overwatch 2 beta, two significant issues stand out. The first is the queue times (to be fair, the problem improved throughout the beta). However, until the last week of the console beta, queue times for DPS or tank have been ridiculous. Sometimes I’d be waiting for over 20 minutes for a game. Near the end of the beta, a patch dropped that improved queue times, thankfully.

The second issue is the game isn’t very different from its predecessor; it’s still just Overwatch. Overwatch 2 feels more like an update and not an entirely new game. Don’t get me wrong, Blizzard added a couple of new characters, reworked and updated others like Bastion and Doomfist, and added a game mode and new maps, but we’ve been waiting for years, and it’s still pretty much the same title. That said, I’m happy Blizzard is making Overwatch 2 free-to-play and adding a Battle Pass system.

When Overwatch 2 launches in October, the game will offer Mythic skins, new banners, charms, a new support hero (which will hopefully help with queue times), more balance changes, a Battle Pass and more. There may be another beta before the official launch, and even though there might not be a lot to offer, I’ll still definitely spend time playing it.

Image credit: Overwatch

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Overwatch 2 will add four new heroes by the end of the year

At Blizzard’s Overwatch Beta 2 event, the company showed off more of Junker Queen, a new map and what’s in store for the title.

Game director Aaron Keller announced that Overwatch 2 will include three new heroes, six new maps, the new PVP mode, 30 new skins and a mythic skin. We’ve learned about two of the three heroes, Junker Queen and Sojourn, but they’ll show more of the new support hero in the coming months.

After October 4th, the next season starts on December 6th with a new map, a new tank hero, and 30 more skins. And Overwatch plans on delivering either new modes, heroes or maps every nine weeks. The company plans on releasing new heroes every other season and a map in between.

There will be no more loot boxes, and instead will use the battle pass method and a store. The next new map is Rio De Janeiro, which is a Push map.

Additionally, there are banners and charms coming alongside Mythic skins. It seems like the first mythic skin will be for Genji and will add customizable pieces.

During the event, they showed off more of the Junker Queen, including her move set and storyline.

On another note, Overwatch 2 now offers Dolby Atmos and 3D surround sound for the console. Reportedly, they’ve added a ton of new voice lines for the game.

The player-versus-enemy (PVE) mode for Overwatch is still coming in 2021. The PvE aims to tell the story of the characters, finish previous storylines for characters and tell new stories. You’ll be able to check out Torbjorn’s home and more.

Overwatch 2 comes out on October 4th for free, and the next beta available for PC and console launches on June 28th.

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Twitch streamer xQc has moved back to Canada due to swatting and doxing

Retired pro Overwatch player Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel has moved back to Canada.

The Twitch streamer reportedly made the decision to return to Canada following several instances of swatting and doxing. Doxing is the act of revealing private personal information about a person. On the other hand, swatting occurs when someone informs the police of a dangerous individual — usually while they’re streaming — so that law enforcement comes to their home, usually with guns drawn. After a recent doxing incident, a man broke into Lengyel’s house with a crowbar. 

xQc previously moved to Los Angeles back in early 2021 due to these same issues. However, in late 2021, he moved away from Los Angeles and claimed it was because LA residents are “weird.”

Additionally, the report indicates that xQc now moves frequently to prevent doxing and swatting and often utilizes Airbnb.

xQc was recently in the news after his father called him on live on his stream to discuss his gambling debt, as the streamer lost $1.8 million due to the habit. It’s worth noting that xQc has started promoting gambling sponsors on his stream. Back in 2021, he decided to stop promoting sponsors, but on May 16th the streamer changed his tune.

Below is a quote from xQc (via Dextero) regarding why he’s promoting sponsors again:

“Everybody threw us all under the bus when the chips were down, and everybody turned on us. Everyone was a bunch of b*tches. But when some other streamers [decided to do sponsored gambling streams again], everybody flipped and said, ‘oh dude, if I had that much money, I would do it too! I respect this guy!’”

And with that, the streamer is back at it. “I started malding seeing people pick this and choose that, and you know what, at the end of the day, I was like, I love gambling, so I’m just going to gamble.”

Via: CGMagazine, Dextero

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Activision Blizzard stockholders approve Microsoft acquisition

Activision Blizzard, developer and publisher of Call of Duty and Overwatch, reveals that its stockholders approve of Microsoft’s acquisition bid. The proposal, which would see Activision Blizzard under the Xbox Game Studios banner, saw more than 98 percent of the shares voting in favour of the proposal.

Earlier this year, Microsoft announced its plans to acquire Activision Blizzard for $95.00 per share. The $68.7 billion USD (roughly $85.96 billion CAD) deal would see tentpole franchises like Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, and more owned by Microsoft. The acquisition also folds in a laundry list of studios including Blizzard Entertainment, Beenox, High Moon Studios, Infinity Ward, King, Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games, Toys for Bob, Treyarch and more.

Microsoft expects the deal to close by the end of its fiscal year ending June 30th, 2023. However, one step to securing the deal was gaining approval from Activision Blizzard stockholders. During the Activision Blizzard Special Meeting of Stockholders, the votes were cast in favour of the acquisition.

“Today’s overwhelmingly supportive vote by our stockholders confirms our shared belief that, combined with Microsoft, we will be even better positioned to create great value for our players, even greater opportunities for our employees, and to continue our focus on becoming an inspiring example of a welcoming, respectful, and inclusive workplace,” said Bobby Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard.

A report detailing the results from the Special Meeting will come in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Form 8-K by early next week.

Previous reports claim Microsoft plans to make future Activision titles multiplatform. This includes Call of Duty in some capacity, as Xbox head Phil Spencer confirms. However, some games and content will be exclusive to Xbox consoles and platforms.

Activision Blizzard continues to be investigated over sexual harassment claims. Kotick is also being investigated after reports allege turned a blind eye to the supposed “frat-boy culture” within the company. While Kotick’s future within the company has not been officially confirmed, he is expected to step down.

The next step in the Activision Blizzard acquisition is to receive the approval of the Federal Trade Commission and antitrust enforcers. However, Wall Street is currently betting the deal may fail. If the merger passes, Microsoft will become the third-largest video game company.

Image credit: Microsoft

Source: Activision Blizzard

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Here’s how to get guaranteed access to Overwatch 2’s PVP beta

A few months ago, Blizzard opened registration for a closed Overwatch 2 beta for PC players. This way of getting into the beta left many without invitations disappointed.

However, there’s still a guaranteed method of accessing the anticipated Overwatch 2 beta.

You can still get access to the Overwatch 2 beta via Twitch drops.

If you participate in the Twitch Drops campaign on April 27th from 10am PT/1pm ET to 6pm PT/9pm ET and watch a select group of streamers broadcasting the Overwatch PVP Beta under the Overwatch category on Twitch, you’re eligible for Twitch drops after watching any participating channel for four hours. Your watch time will accrue regardless of what stream you are watching.

However, you need to make sure your Twitch account is linked to your Blizzard Battle.net account.

Below is a list of Twitch channels that are participating in the drops:

This beta will be available from April 26th to May 17th. Blizzard says there will be more betas in the future, including on console. You also need a copy of the original Overwatch game to get access to this closed beta.

Overwatch 2 offers 5v5, a new Canadian hero and four new maps, including one set in Toronto. There’s also a new competition mode and hero reworks for some of the characters.

Image credit: Blizzard

Source: Overwatch

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Canadian streamer ‘xQc’ accidentally opens Overwatch 2 on stream

Canadian streamer xQc from Quebec has broken a very important NDA after allegedly launching Overwatch 2 on his Twitch stream.

While I can’t confirm the authenticity of this video, it looks likely that this is Overwatch 2, especially given the closed alpha is currently available for Overwatch League players and Blizzard employees — and apparently well-known streamers. It’s worth noting that the login page doesn’t say Overwatch 2 and only reads “Overwatch.” However, this doesn’t mean that it’s not the correct game.

The video is brief and amusing to watch, but the streamer could find themselves in a lot of trouble. Overwatch League player, Félix “xQc” Lengyel, was previously fined suspended and asked to part ways with their team due to racist comments.

Overwatch 2 was initially announced back in 2019, but the game has yet to release. While we’ve received news about new characters, maps and game modes, no actual release date has been confirmed. However, the game’s director, Aaron Keller, recently released more information about the title and revealed that a new closed beta will launch in late April.

Additionally, a developer livestream scheduled for March 18th will likely reveal more information about Overwatch 2. 

Source: Reddit