Overwatch

Frustration Can Improve Video Games, Designer Found 

In video games, frustration is often viewed as a dirty word. If you’re feeling frustrated—like you’ve hit a wall and can’t find a way over, under, or around—the designers must have made a mistake. That’s not always the case, though. Sometimes, game makers try to make you feel irritated, or even livid. Last week, Duelyst…

Overwatch Hero Gets Hit With A Dose Of Reality

Today on Highlight Reel we have Overwatch expectations vs. reality, viking alley-oops, malfunctioning metal death birds and much more! Watch the video then talk about your favorite highlight in the comments below. Be sure to check out, like, and share the original videos via the links below. Subscribe to Kotaku on YouTube for more! Dark…

Overwatch Players Are Making Custom Sex Role-Play Rooms Now

Predictably, several 18+ sex role-play rooms have made their way into Overwatch’s new “custom games” lobby. “MERCY ABUSE RP 18+,” “ROADRAT GAY BATH-HOUSE RP,” “HIGHSCHOOL ROLEPLAY 18+ HOT,” and at least five “DADDY” rooms, typically in reference to the tank Reinhardt, have crept into the “custom games” lobby after the feature’s launch last week. In…

Blizzard Talks About How They Came Up With Overwatch‘s New Hero, Orisa

Overwatch’s newest hero, Orisa, isn’t what you’d call, er, typical. She’s a quadrupedal robo-tank with horns, and she kinda came out of nowhere. In creating her, Blizzard faced some unique challenges. During a recent GDC session, Overwatch lead writer Michael Chu discussed Orisa’s conception. “Orisa was a character that emerged from game design,” he said.…

The Internet Reacts To Orisa, Overwatch‘s Latest Hero

Overwatch’s latest hero is Orisa, a bad ass robot tank. We’ve spent some time playing with her and like her a bunch. The Internet is also excited for this cute centaur-mom. How’s the fanart you ask? Extremely on point. Orisa is a robot created by Efi Oladele, an eleven year old inventor from Numbani. A…

Overwatch‘s Newest Character Orisa Is A Dynamic, Deadly Tank

Overwatch’s new hero Orisa, released yesterday on the PTR, is an “anchoring tank,” in the words of Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan. Her moveset affixes her to her allies, buffing and protecting them in turns. She boasts a killer gun that fires from extreme distances, but one-on-one, she’s not much of a challenge to take…

Overwatch‘s Unique Art Style Began With Torbjorn

It’s well-documented that Tracer was Overwatch’s first playable hero, but before the game was ever playable, another character helped hammer out Overwatch’s identity. Surprisingly, it was Torbjorn. During a GDC panel earlier today, Overwatch art director Bill Petras and assistant art director Arnold Tsang explained, among other things, how Blizzard molded the game in Torbjorn’s…

Tracer Cosplay Is Almost Perfect

Blizzard, if you ever need a live-action Tracer for an Overwatch commercial, here’s your girl. This is Hoteshi, a cosplayer from Russia, and almost everything about this Tracer is 100%, from the hair to the thick jacket to the armour to (a lot of people get this wrong!) a proper Union Jack on her shoulder.…

Overwatch’s New Hero Is Orisa

Overwatch’s new and 24th hero is the robot tank Orisa, who fights with a “fusion driver,” or a projectile machine gun. In a developer update video, Overwatch game developer Jeff Kaplan says her weapon has more range than nearly any other tank hero. She’s currently on the PTR. The robot was created by the 11-year-old…

Overwatch Team Will Roll Back Bastion’s Unpopular Buff

Earlier this week, Overwatch’s Bastion buff went live and, as usual, the sky fell. Players were so devastated about the changes, and so vocal, that the game’s director Jeff Kaplan just said he’d roll them back, a little consolingly. But two days post-patch, did players really have enough time to develop workable strategies to counter…

Overwatch Wins Game Of The Year At The 2017 GDC Awards

The Game Developer’s Choice Awards were last night, and you’ll be shocked to learn Overwatch won “Game of the Year.” But there were other awards too, because there are other games. There are games besides Overwatch you guys. The GDC Awards are voted on by folks in the industry, so the nominees and winners always…

And Now, Some Overwatch Haiku

Here is a collection of very good Overwatch haiku. This started when reader Evan, who only plays Overwatch as Lucio, sent these in: Audio medic! Guys we really need a tank. I see. Three Genjis. Lonely Lucio Capturing the point himself Junkrat blows him up Attackers scatter Like leaves in an autumn wind Feel that…

Chinese Mei Cosplay Has Plenty Of Chill

It’s a cruel fate for our eyeballs that Mei, who is the worst, often has some of the best Overwatch cosplay. In this case, it’s home-grown (for Mei), with Chinese cosplayer Husky Surely doing a damn fine job here. Is there too much photoshop going on in the background? You bet. Does it detract from…

To Maintain High Ranks, Overwatch Players Will Need To Play Way More Often Now

Yesterday’s Overwatch patch will force players with high competitive skill ratings to play at least seven games a week or see their ranking decline. It’s a smart move to combat foul play, and in the comings weeks, top Overwatch players should see fewer “smurf” accounts and more fair skill rankings. In response to the patch,…

Overwatch Spices Up A Boring Office Job

VR game Job Simulator is fun enough as it is, though I guess adding some Overwatch to it can’t hurt. This cute little vid by Zi Ye (currently working on the Rick & Morty VR game) shows that the only job worth simulating is moving the payload.

Overwatch Pros Sniped Off A Ledge After Ambush Goes Wrong

The Immortals Overwatch team has an impressive damage-dealing duo in GrimReality and Agilities, but every now and then, it’s nice to see a couple of greats get cut down. The internet enjoyed schadenfreude at Immortals’ expense during yesterday’s Overwatch “Monthly Melee” semi-finals, where our two anti-heroes got way too cocky about sneaking out onto a…

NSFW Overwatch Cosplay Was The Star Of The Show

Katsucon, the first big cosplay show of 2017, was held last week, and amongst all the other cool stuff on display was a collection of Overwatch cosplayers wearing, well, not very much at all. They were part of a group effort known as Underwatch, which was the brainchild of cosplay superstar Stella Chuu. Inspired by…

Overwatch Pro Makes Exquisite Last-Second Recovery With Winston’s Jump Pack

South Korean Overwatch pro Miro is probably the best Winston player in the world. His deft tank work helped South Korea win the first Overwatch World Cup and he took home personal tournament MVP honors as well. If you want a highlight reel of his best moments, well here you go Miro’s Lunatic-Hai squad was…

Overwatch Wins Game Of The Year At The DICE Awards, Surprising No One

Overwatch took home peer-based voting panel DICE’s “Game of the Year” award in a move that was never going to go any other way. Also the Game Awards’ Game of the Year, Overwatch made a clean sweep of 2016 awards cycle. In DICE’s 20th year, only three games won multiple categories: Overwatch, Inside and Uncharted…

Blizzard’s own Overwatch league is coming in Q3 2017, with Nate Nanzer telling Korean media some of the first details on the competition.