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Well, that didn’t take long. It seems that despite Blizzard making their policy on cheaters clear as being very harsh, forums for multiplayer game cheats are already beginning to list Overwatch maphacks for sale at $15 per month subscription.
The hacks take player data on positions as the game runs and then overlays rectangles over both enemy and ally positions so you can get more of an idea what’s around the corner. It works a bit like Widowmaker’s ultimate, or Hanzo’s Sonic Arrow, but that hasn’t stopped some people from messing around with creating these hacks anyway.
As mentioned above, Blizzard have made it perfectly clear that they will not tolerate anyone cheating in their new game. Given that the game has become so popular, Blizzard have said that anyone caught and proven to be cheating during matches will be permabanned immediately, no second chances. This stance is likely to deter people from cheating before they even think about doing it.
Already there’s been accusations being thrown around about people cheating, including some high-level players in pro teams being accused of such underhanded stunts. So far though as there’s been no concrete evidence of this, Blizzard have yet to ban any of the high-level players from the game.
Out of all the ‘rules of the Internet’ it’s probably safe to say that Rule 34 is the one most people have heard of – “If it exists, there is porn of it.” Overwatch despite having only just released is no exception, having spawned from a failed MMO project called Titan and since then it’s been majorly hyped by Blizzard and gained a lot of traction during the free Open Beta it had a few weeks back. Now it seems that Blizzard has decided that some of that porn isn’t a-okay, because quite a few people are getting takedown notices.
Of course, during the aforementioned beta, the searches for said porn jumped over 800% according to a release from Pornhub with Tracer being the most popularly searched for character. The problem is, as I said when I actually covered this jump earlier on, most of this porn is being made through Valve’s Source Filmmaker kit. This means that a lot of it is nothing more than assets ripped straight from the game, having genitalia added and then… well, you know. In many cases it’s Blizzard’s right to protest when really its their full game assets that they made, as opposed to rigs and models made by someone else as is the case for a number of other video game characters in Source.
One porn creator has already taken to Reddit to talk about the takedowns and see if they can’t get a community effort together to make Blizzard stop. I’m not sure it’ll go down well really, but you have to give them credit for trying.
Based on screencaps of the notices posted to the topic, it seems that its not Blizzard themselves filing the takedowns but a digital platform security company called Irdeto. Most likely they’ve been hired by Blizzard to clean up the mess, as the leap in Overwatch porn searches was fairly well covered by a lot of media outlets online that deal with gaming primarily – Blizzard probably doesn’t want that sort of reputation especially not with young fans around and really… you can’t blame them for that no matter how sex positive you are. Like it or not, some people would rather not see or hear about it and that’s perfectly fine.
Okay, as much as I am a fan of Mega Man games, when it comes to Keiji Inafune’s spiritual successor, Mighty No. 9 – a game that I was super-hyped about when it was first announced, and was devastated its Kickstarter was at a time I was financially unstable – in more recent months, I have simply stopped caring.
When you look at the track record, it’s hard not to see why. The project has been delayed three separate times for varying periods of length, which have led to its launch being delayed by almost two years in total. For its promise that it would arrive on all “current and next-gen consoles and PC”, it has really missed the boat to be relevant on consoles such as PS3 or Wii any more; and with Nintendo’s NX expected next year, it’s also rather late even for the Wii U. The fact it finally even HAS a launch date (June 21st) is the only saving grace.
So, after the long wait, you’d think Deep Silver – the development team working on the game alongside Inafune’s company, Comcept – would at least have a clue how to market Mighty No. 9 properly, right?
Well, no. The latest trailer for the game, while visually impressive and packed with action, is embarrassing fans and non-fans alike for its cheesy voice-over. Not only does it refer to the game using the sort of lines that should have probably stayed in the 80s – “Do you like awesome things that are awesome?” as an example – but it even borders on offensive to both Mega Man fans and Anime addicts – anyone who thinks “and make the bad guys cry like an anime fan on prom night” is a good line should be summarily fired. Unless you’re highly lactose-intolerant, take a look at the video below and make sure you keep the sound on:
Let’s be honest here. Mighty No. 9 is the kind of game that is most likely to appeal to people with a love of old-school platforming action games – I should know, I am one, and I still plan to get this game despite everything. Considering Keiji Inafune is well-known for such titles, Deep Silver should have been well-aware of this and marketed the game accordingly. Instead, they seem to be aiming for a ’90s Teenager vibe – excuse me while I look at a calendar. Keiji Inafune himself is already facing fan scepticism for his antics with the Kickstarter for another Comcept title, Red Ash, so this marketing disaster is unlikely to restore confidence in him or his company.
Like many children, Shane Hickey’s young daughter loves to draw, and again like many children based her sketches and doodles on what she saw around her. In this case it was Blizzard’s upcoming game Overwatch and she decided to design her own character, which Shane decided to tweet to Blizzard to show them his daughter’s fanart:
The character, named “Birst”, is described as a combination damage-dealer-healer equipped wither boomerang and a laser-suit-dress hybrid garment. She could be considered somewhat a combination between existing characters Lucio and Mercy, but it seemed that the Overwatch team loved the idea.
One of the concept artists decided to take the original fanart sketches and… well, here’s the result:
Reportedly Shane’s daughter considered it “the highlight of her life thus far”. Currently Shane’s account has the fanart as his avatar and banner as well.
It might just be a small gesture, but it’s always lovely to see bigger companies doing things like this, especially for younger fans. Who knows? Maybe in a future update Birst will become playable or the basis for a new character.
