Open Beta Date, May 3rd, Leaked via an ad on IGN
Open Beta Date, May 3rd, Leaked via an ad on IGN
http://us.battle.net/overwatch/en/blog/20055970/Want a chance to check out Overwatch™ ahead of its May 24 launch? Form a team of friends and try out the team shooter of tomorrow in the Overwatch Open Beta, coming in early May to PC, PS4™, and Xbox One!
As a newly added bonus, if you pre-purchase or preorder Overwatch for any platform at www.buyoverwatch.com, you'll also get early access to the Open Beta for you and a friend from May 3–4. After that, everyone will have a chance to play free during an all-access Open Beta period from May 5–9.
Grabbed the Origins edition off cdkeys for $32 a few months back, probably won't get the Noire skin or the two early days of beta but I saved almost $30 and I won't ever play Widowmaker because screw snipers.
Never gonna get in the beta. Womp womp. More invites went out today.
All this makes me wanna do is learn more about Reaper. Reyes has that classic "Vegeta Anti-hero" air about him even while Overwatch was still a thing together.
Always a big fan of their cinematics, good stuff.
Idk why they don't put more effort into making a series out of their shorts, they're always amazing.
Shoot, if the Warcraft movie does well, perhaps there is a chance for an Overwatch movie. Would be siiiiiiiiiic
http://us.battle.net/forums/en/overw...3015583?page=1So I wanted to start off by saying, I think the development team has done a pretty great job with the cast of female hero's in Overwatch. They are diverse, interesting, and compelling. From Mei to Zarya to Widowmaker the female cast reflects a large spectrum of personalities and player fantasies.
With that being said, lets talk about Tracer. From a marketing standpoint, she's the star of the show. She's a great hero. When we look at the way she's portrayed in promotional media, lore, and art in game we know a few things about her..
She's Fast.
She's Silly.
She's Kind.
She's a good Friend.
Her body seems to be comprised of about 95% spunk.
Almost all of her art reflects this. She's got cool skins and fun poses.
She's got amazing victory animations.
All of this art reinforces the great character you've built around tracer.
Then out of seemingly nowhere we have this pose.
WHAT? What about this pose has anything to do with the character you're building in tracer? It's not fun, its not silly, it has nothing to do with being a fast elite killer. It just reduces tracer to another bland female sex symbol.
We aren't looking at a widowmaker pose here, this isn't a character who is in part defined by flaunting her sexuality. This pose says to the player base, oh we've got all these cool diverse characters, but at any moment we are willing to reduce them to sex symbols to help boost our investment game.
Getting art into a triple A game isn't a small task, it has to go through an implementer, a team lead, an art director, and a creative director. This is a team effort. And I believe the team is responsible for upholding the great example overwatch can set to the rest of the industry for creating strong female characters.
I have a young daughter that everyday when I wake up wants to watch the recall trailer again. She knows who tracer is, and as she grows up, she can grow up alongside these characters.
What I'm asking is that as you continue to add to the overwatch cast and investment elements, you double down on your commitment to create strong female characters. You've been doing a good job so far, but shipping with a tracer pose like this undermines so much of the good you've already done.
Fipps
Response from Blizzard’s Jeff Kaplan, Overwatch’s Game Director
We'll replace the pose. We want *everyone* to feel strong and heroic in our community. The last thing we want to do is make someone feel uncomfortable, under-appreciated or misrepresented.
Apologies and we'll continue to try to do better.
The "outcry" appears to be the vocal few.
When I first saw that pose after they added loot boxes to the beta I kinda rolled my eyes and thought it was a little silly but not enough that I thought it would need to get taken out of the game.
Update from Blizzardhttp://us.battle.net/forums/en/overw...83?page=11#211Well, that escalated quickly…
While I stand by my previous comment, I realize I should have been more clear. As the game director, I have final creative say over what does or does not go into the game. With this particular decision, it was an easy one to make—not just for me, but for the art team as well. We actually already have an alternate pose that we love and we feel speaks more to the character of Tracer. We weren’t entirely happy with the original pose, it was always one that we wrestled with creatively. That the pose had been called into question from an appropriateness standpoint by players in our community did help influence our decision—getting that kind of feedback is part of the reason we’re holding a closed beta test—but it wasn’t the only factor. We made the decision to go with a different pose in part because we shared some of the same concerns, but also because we wanted to create something better.
We wouldn’t do anything to sacrifice our creative vision for Overwatch, and we’re not going to remove something solely because someone may take issue with it. Our goal isn’t to water down or homogenize the world, or the diverse cast of heroes we’ve built within it. We have poured so much of our heart and souls into this game that it would be a travesty for us to do so.
We understand that not everyone will agree with our decision, and that’s okay. That’s what these kinds of public tests are for. This wasn’t pandering or caving, though. This was the right call from our perspective, and we think the game will be just as fun the next time you play it.
If it isn’t, feel free to continue sharing your concerns, thoughts, and feedback about this and other issues you may have with the game, please just keep the discussion respectful.
Thanks,
jeffrey
I remember when games just hit the shelves and players got what they got. All you could do then was bitch that Japan had an unedited version and lol USA censoring. Ah, memories.
Thought the pose was fitting for her sass, but really who gives a shit. It's an emote
From what I understand, from my limited understanding of the game, all of her poses are mocking the other characters. So there is a good reason she has that one.
Don't want to water down or homogenize their game.We wouldn’t do anything to sacrifice our creative vision for Overwatch, and we’re not going to remove something solely because someone may take issue with it. Our goal isn’t to water down or homogenize the world, or the diverse cast of heroes we’ve built within it. We have poured so much of our heart and souls into this game that it would be a travesty for us to do so.
Waters down and homogenizes their game immediately when one person complains.
Wat.
So let me get this right. Someone points out something they think is stupid and gives criticism. The artist/creators agrees and changes it based on that criticism. Other people get upset, argue about censorship, SJWs and "artistic integrity." Wew.
I just don't know why it matters at all.