Overwatch defined my first steps into adulthood. I was in my first year of university when it came out, and remember watching my flatmates jump into the beta as they hyped it up as the next big thing. I’d never played a Blizzard game before, and at the time it was an untouchable bastion of goodwill defined by countless classics. Not so much these days . This was its first new IP in decades, and it had all the ingredients to be a masterpiece.

Blizzard recently held its BlizzConline event, during which the company revealed a slew of new information on its upcoming games , including Overwatch 2 . While no release date or time frame was announced, the almost forty-minute video unveiled many new details about the highly anticipated hero shooter. Some exciting announcements included two new map reveals, a look at the new enemy designs, and new passive role attribu

I booted up Overwatch for the first time in a few months last night and it wasn’t awful. I mean, it was frustrating, but I had at least one team who genuinely cared about the objective and we won two matches in a row. For what it’s worth, I only really play Competitive or seasonal co-op events - Quick Play and Arcade aren’t for

We also need to talk about loot boxes, https://overwatch2base.com/echoes-of-battle-my-journey-in-overwatch-2-s-stadium since Overwatch was responsible for increasing their popularity outside the mobile space. Ultimate Team was already a thing, but Blizzard showcased how easily cosmetic items could be monetised through random packages of goodies earned by either levelling up or buying them outright. I had friends who would set aside entire evenings during seasonal events to grind for boxes, hoping that Blizzard would be kind enough to let a legendary skin fall into their laps. None of them were playing for fun, instead waiting for that brief hit of serotonin that comes with a rare drop. Or they could spend money, and as the profits have long shown, so many of us went and did just that.

Last week, a YouTuber called Graslu00 uploaded footage from a canceled GoldenEye 007 remaster on the Xbox 360. The game was developed in 2007, but according to the Xbox boss Phil Spencer, became locked in a complicated legal limbo over the rights to James Bond. Between Microsoft, Nintendo, and EON (the owners of the James Bond license), it was simply too difficult to come to an agreement on business terms, and the game was eventually shelved. Graslu00, whose video shows the game in its entirety, was cagey on where the new footage came from, saying only "patience is k

But it doesn’t matter. Sure, it looks as if we’re about to take the point and win the match, but then our McCree gets killed mid-Deadeye and rage quits. As soon as he leaves, xTRiCkSHOTZZ69x phones it in and it’s 6v4. We’ve gone from Manchester United to nine-year-olds who kick a ball around a waterlogged pitch on Sunday mornings. I hate

In a landscape filled with gruff military dudes and futuristic warfare emerged a bright, colourful, diverse, and experimental game that pushed the genre forward and tried new things in fresh, exciting ways. Each match was fast and rewarding, while its sprawling cast of heroes all connected with players and meant something to them. It was evolutionary, but this innovation would bring with it some irksome industry trends and a complacency that would see Blizzard transform into a company that is now widely despised. How things change.

Don't get me wrong. Overwatch is not a dead game. It still averages thousands of players every day so I'm sure its sequel will draw in fans. But I still think that Overwatch 2 will prove to be a miscalculation for Blizzard. This downtime has definitely had a negative effect on its popularity. I used to at least jump back into it every time there was an event, but the Lunar New Year event just started up and I barely even noticed. Nor do I really care. And plenty of my former Overwatch teammates feel the same way and have migrated to other games. There's nothing to make us return other than the allure of a new skin. And why would anyone bother to get a skin for a game they rarely touch anym

Basically, I don’t think a fixed, single-player campaign is going to work for Overwatch 2, if that’s what Blizzard is currently planning. On the flip side, a robust hero shooter with an emphasis on cooperative play could do phenomenally well. I’m thinking of Mass Effect 3’s multiplayer, where you get to choose a type of enemy, a map, and a difficulty. After that you consciously work with your teammates to take on waves of baddies while completing a variety of objectives. It’s so simple, and yet so effective, because the moment-to-moment satisfaction is completely tied to using your abilities. I still think playing as an Asari Vanguard in Mass Effect 3 was the most fun I’ve ever had in a multiplayer game - it’s a shame BioWare isn’t bringing it back for Mass Effect: Legendary Edit

One of the key architects in forming Overwatch was the under-secretary-general Gabrielle Adawe. After the Omnic Crisis, Adawe went on to establish the city of Numbani and worked toward sustaining peace between humans and Omnics. While Adawe was one of the key figures in forming Overwatch, Gabriel Reyes, a former member of the United States’ super soldier program, was given command of the u