Earlier this month, the wiki-hosting company Fandom scooped up several games sites, including Giant Bomb and GameSpot, in an acquisition worth $50 million. And that exorbitant price of the sale, coupled with what the website calls “questionable staffing decisions” at the company, has led the Zelda Wiki to break free from “corporate consolidation” and claim its independence from Fandom.
Opened in 2005 and independent up until its transfer over to Gamepedia hosting in 2017, the Zelda Wiki is one of the biggest fan-run games wikis around. With thousands of entries from games across the entire franchise, you could spend days or weeks scrolling through the digital encyclopedia and probably still not finish it in its entirety. It’s my go-to resource when looking up information on a specific enemy or weapon in Nintendo’s popular franchise, and it hosts 11,199 articles. However, now you’re gonna have to visit a brand-new website if you have bookmarked and/or frequented the old Zelda Wiki.
Staff at the website announced on Twitter this week that, “after many months of preparation,” the website is now totally independent from Fandom or any other entity.
“For over a decade, from its creation in 2005 to its transfer to Gamepedia in 2017, the Zelda Wiki was a fully independent site,” the wiki’s EIC wrote. “Even after the transfer, and Gamepedia’s subsequent acquisition by Fandom, Inc., the site sought to continue its mission of curating an editorially independent, high-quality wiki operated by fans. However, we have come to believe that these ideals are incompatible with Fandom.”
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There was a reason for such a scathing statement. Citing Fandom’s “recent buyouts and questionable staffing decisions,” the Zelda Wiki staff said it wants to “keep the internet free from corporate consolidation” and “hegemonic control.” As such, the team moved the wiki to a new home, though the Fandom one is still up and running.
Responses to the news have been overwhelmingly positive online. Multiple folks have called this a big win for the Zelda Wiki, while others are looking forward to fewer ads and a better layout on the site. Even the Twitter account for the Fallout Wiki, one of the few publicly feuding with Fandom over intrusive videos and ads on the site, congratulated the Zelda Wiki team for breaking from the company. Generally, there’s some public wariness about Fandom’s growing influence over fan-led Wikis that have provided useful free resources to the community about big franchises. As such, there are now even resources shared for alternatives to Fandom Wikis, and some encouragement in the comments from this announcement to get more Wikis to do the same. While independent Wikis do exist, over the years Fandom has become the more dominant website when people Google for certain topics.
In Discord messages with Kotaku, community staff member ModdedInkling said the old Fandom wiki will “continue to be updated” by a few volunteers that have chosen to remain there. Just about everyone else, however, will move to the website’s new domain. ModdedInkling also explained what this independence means for the staff.
“Being ‘editorially independent’ means having full creative control over the wiki’s content under its own policies as opposed to Fandom’s policies,” ModdedInkling said. “This also includes the wiki’s overall appearance (user interface, templates, etc.), which has been one of the main subjects discussed by many independent wikis splitting away from Fandom. Another topic of interest involves avoiding mandated censorship. Certain wikis also have content that involves socio-politics and ethics that are often restricted by Fandom, but are deemed relevant by the community.”
ModdedInkling extrapolated on the nature of Fandom’s alleged censorship. He said that while nothing has been blocked on the Zelda Wikia (to his knowledge, anyway), there have been some alterations made to entries post-publication on other wikis.
“Basically, Fandom’s policies may invoke a level of censorship on certain sensitive topics, even if it is relevant towards a work of fiction, if it is deemed to go against their policy,” ModdedInkling said. “Sometimes it may involve altering one’s information as well even if it is less accurate. This can happen through a variety of topics, such as discussions involving the retroactive change of a character’s traits, even if it was historically inaccurate to change it.”
ModdedInkling brought up one instance where Fandom’s policies got in the way of making what they consider accurate information available. On Wookieepedia, the digital encyclopedia for Star Wars, there were allegedly complications around changing the name of someone who later came out as trans.
“There was debate involving the naming conventions of someone identifying later as trans,” ModdedInkling said. “The mandate was to retroactively change any of the names displayed for the person or character, even though that was not how they were referred to at the time. I don’t remember if it was a real-life person or a fictional character. It did not cause them to fork, but it was one concern that NIWA had in potential examples involving character pronouns like Vivian from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Sheik from Ocarina of Time, or Vilia from Breath of the Wild.”
Kotaku has reached out to Fandom for comment.
The Zelda Wiki is just the most recent digital encyclopedia to split from its parent company and the third to break away from Fandom specifically in recent memory. Earlier this year, the team behind the Terraria Wiki announced on Steam that it’ll host a new site separate from Fandom. Meanwhile, the Runescape Wiki went indie years ago in response to corporate mandates forcing autoplaying videos in posts. The Zelda Wiki can now be found in the Nintendo Independent Wiki Alliance database, which includes other independent, volunteer-run websites like Bulbapedia (the digital encyclopedia dedicated to all things Pokémon) and SmashWiki.
Today, the internet is filled with hands-on previews of next month’s Pokémon Scarlet And Violet. Not from us though, because Nintendo has us on their Naughty List. So instead, we read everyone else’s coverage, and have handily compiled everything we learned in the process. Take that, corporations.
With this all in mind, here are nine new things we learned about Pokémon Scarlet And Violet.
Screenshot: Nintendo
It’s Rather Big
So we knew that Pokémon Scarlet And Violet was going to be big, but the general mood across all today’s coverage is, “Woah! It’s even bigger than we thought.” During the hour-long demo the good boys and girls got to play, reporters were restricted to a small section of the overall map, and it turned out even that was far too big for them to sensibly explore in the timeslot.
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During previews, players were given access to the legendary Koraidon, which apparently moves very fast, and even then the area still felt enormous. And to stress, was just a small chunk of the full game. Some guy at Polygon made a comparison to Breath of the Wild.
Legendaries Are Arriving Early, And Going Fast
In previous Pokémon games, we’ve come to expect the Legendary Pokémon to arrive after we’ve battled the seventh gym, or so. While Nintendo still isn’t confirming exactly how early Miraidon and Koraidon will be showing up in Scarlet and Violet, word on the street is that it could be as early as…the start. Two different people who played the game have whispered to me they think this is going to be the case.
This’ll be great news, because apparently they’re very zippy. Even better, their forme-changing ways are automated, so if you’re gliding through the sky (with no stamina meter to worry about) and fly into a cliffside, they’ll switch to climbing up the side themselves. Then plunge into water, and they’ll auto-boat. Which sounds very neat.
NPC Trainers Will Leave You The Hell Alone
A frustration of Pokémon games since there were Pokémon games, NPC trainers have always kicked off battles just because you wandered too close. No more, thank goodness. While exploring Paldea’s open world, such trainers will indicate if they’re up for a scrap, but now you’re the one to trigger them. Which seems only fair—it’s been their turn for the last 27 years.
Screenshot: Nintendo
You Don’t Need To Wait Your Turn In Raids
While raids are still technically turn-based, that’s only between you and the Pokémon. Of the four people battling (wither real or AI), you can all fire off attacks whenever you want, or even at the same time.
When it comes to Terastallizing your monster, you’ll need to get a few regular attacks in first, in order to maintain some sense of balance. And that cheering we heard about before, that boosts others’ attacks? You can do that any time, too, not just when your Pokémon is KOd, as previously implied.
Poké Balls Bounce Three Times
Sure, this is the normal way of things, but we were worried for a moment. In Arceus those prototype p-balls only did the one blip, and it was very wrong. Then in the big trailer a couple of weeks ago, there was footage of something that looked very similar, with only one shake! We were worried. We were ready to keep holding down B no matter what. But in videos we’ve spotted today, thank goodness, all three wibbly-wobs (scientific term) are back. Phew.
Day/Night Cycles Aren’t Tied To Real Life
In Scarlet And Violet, the time of day will run on an in-game clock, rather than being linked to real-life. The same goes for weather. Those ideas seem fun in theory, but in practice they’re a pain in the ass when you’re only able to play at a certain time of day, or live somewhere with dull weather.
Different Pokémon will appear at different times of day, as you might expect, but it’ll all be on Paldea’s own clock. And now storms can roll in whenever, and your little trainer will duck and try to cover their head as you look for shelter.
Screenshot: Nintendo
You Have To Battle Giant Vehicles
Of the game’s three paths (the gym one, the finding giant monsters one, and the battling Team Star one), Starfall Street’s Team Star territory takeovers are the most surprising. Seemingly taking inspiration from Far Cry, they involve battling all the Pokémon of the baddie trainers in a camp, and then facing off against the boss. Previously we saw Mela, one of the Team Star bosses, driving in on a ridiculous machine apparently called a Starmobile. It seems that we actually have to fight this thing in some form, not just the Pokémon on board, although previewers were made to keep schtum about it by Nintendo.
You Can Change Your Face When You Like, But Not Your Hair
Perhaps the most peculiar information to come out today’s previews is that you’re able to change the shape of your face whenever you want, even running around in fields, but if you want a new haircut you’ve got to go to a salon.
I’m so intrigued by what this says about the world of Pokémon, where humans can apparently entirely restructure their facial features and head-bones, but need someone else’s help with a new parting.
The Switch Might Struggle A Bit With The Game’s Ambition
The poor ol’ creaky Switch has been struggling with its own games for years, but according to VG247, they experienced performance issues as they played. Clearly that was true of Arceus too, but we coped. Still, come on Nintendo, we’re ready. We know you’re waiting for BotW2 for the “surprise” reveal, but just let us have a beefier Switch already.
I Played Pokemon Scarlet & Violet EARLY For 2 Hours (Hands On Preview)
For this article I cribbed information from Serebii, Polygon, the video above by PhillyBeatzU, PCMag, IGN, and VG247.
Just fighting to keep it alive.Screenshot: Square Enix
Everything’s gotta die eventually, and Square Enix heard the death knell loud and clear. Dig up an early grave because the company’s battle royale mobile game, Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier, will shut down on January 11, 2023.
Launched in November 2021, The First Soldier was Square Enix’s attempt to capitalize on the popular battle royale trend. Think Fortnite, but with swords and chocobos instead of just guns and cars. You created a character adorned with outfits worn by series faves like Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockhart, then skydived onto various Migar maps with 74 other players to be the last soldier standing. I had a blast with the game despite some performance issues and its exclusivity on Android and iOS platforms. Still, it crossed one million downloads not long after it released, so there was an audience.
Square Enix announced on the game’s official website, a month before its first anniversary, that service for The First Soldier will come to an end in January. The blog post specified that the company couldn’t “deliver the experience that we were hoping to and that you all deserve,” leading to the game’s unceremonious shuttering. I’m not entirely sure a revive materia will work here, y’all. Sadly, I think this one is done-done. Permadeath got to it.
“Although there is only a little less than three months until service ends, we will continue to make updates during this time, so we hope you will continue to enjoy Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier until the very end,” Square Enix said. “We would like to thank you all for supporting us over the past year.”
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Up to $470 Off
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 + Galaxy Z Fold 4
Flex, pose, post In the face of stern competition from rival Apple, Samsung has really upped its game for Amazon’s Early Access Sales event. Right now you can nab two of the hottest new smartphones on the market: The Z Flip 4 and the Z Fold 4, for up to almost 25% off the usual asking price. This is a hell of a deal, considering both phones have been available for less than two months. If you’ve been waiting on an upgrade, now’s the time.
The community is shooketh but not necessarily surprised by the announcement. Many in the tweet’s mentions saw the writing on the wall, particularly because The First Soldier was mobile only. One tweeter said the “game design worked well together,” but the performance issues were its “killing blow.” Another simply argued that the Avalanche gang—members like Biggs and Jessie alongside Barret and Cloud—should’ve been added to Fortnite instead. Most seem to agree, though, that it might see a resurgence if it re-releases on PC.
Kotaku has reached out to Square Enix for comment.
This news bums me out, and not just as a games preservation enthusiast. In my impressions a few days after it dropped, I called The First Soldier an “intriguing mix” of Final Fantasy design and battle royale emergent gameplay that suffered for being a mobile-only release. The small phone screen does the game absolutely no favors, making it difficult to sort through all the on-screen information. Couple the puny display with the occasional performance issues—dropped frames, input delay, etc.—and you have a frustrating albeit exhilarating free-to-play battle royale action game. Maybe things would’ve been different had it launched on consoles and PC. But this is the timeline we live in, and it always sucks when a game dies, no matter the reason.
Yeah, she’s shorter but you’ll still need Eren Jaeger’s 3D maneuver gear to give her a smooch. Image: Capcom
Lady Dimitrescu, otherwise known as Tall Vampire Lady or simply Big Lady if you’re experiencing a loss for words, might have to get a more diminutive nickname that doesn’t reference her towering height come the release of Resident Evil Village’s first major DLC because Capcom will be making her a little bit shorter.
Resident Evil Village’s big upcoming DLC collection, collectively dubbed “Winters’ Expansion”, was first announced back in June during Capcom’s not-E3 broadcast. In it, players will play as protagonist Ethan Winter’s now-teenage daughter, Rose, to tie up loose ends from Village’s story. It will let you play the game’s score attack-style “The Mercenaries” mode as Chris Redfield, Karl Heisenberg, and Lady Dimitrescu. However, players won’t get to live vicariously as Lady D when it comes to her canonical height in Mercenaries mode.
In an interview with Polygon, Kento Kinoshita, the director for the Winters’ expansion, revealed that Capcom had to nerf Lady D’s height in order to give players a smoother gameplay experience. Ready for Lady DummyThicc’s new height reveal? Here we go. Instead of Lady D towering over you at a whopping 9’6″, she’ll be a bit shy of nine feet tall. If you can’t handle her at her shortest, you didn’t deserve her at her tallest.
Capcom
Read More:I Figured Out How Tall The Sexy Resident Evil Lady Is Because Of Course I Did
During the development of RE Village’s Mercenaries mode, Kinoshita told Polygon that Lady Dimitrescu’s height presented a challenge for developers. Despite the difficulties in translating Lady D’s height into Mercenaries, Kinoshita said the overwhelming fan response to that element of Lady Dimitrescu’s “tall stature” was “too important not to” include in the game mode.
“For The Mercenaries, it’s necessary that the player can control their character easily, and to make that possible we did adjust her height to a little under nine feet tall,” Kinoshita told Polygon. “At that height, the player just barely avoids bumping into the ceiling.”
Kinoshita also revealed that Capcom was also able to preserve Lady D’s “calm, dignified side, [and] excitable, deranged side” in The Mercenaries, so do with that information what you will.
All the Winters’ Expansion updates will launch October 28 and be available both separately, and as a bundle with the original game known as Resident Evil Village Gold Edition.
After a very rough launch week, Overwatch 2 seems to be finally finding its legs. Big issues such as server stability, SMS authentication, and automatic skin purchases have been improved, fixed, or are in the process of getting adjusted. However, there are still tons of individual issues with Overwatch 2 characters that have gone unaddressed. Some of them are frustrating. Others are hilarious, and I hope that Blizzard never fixes them.
Understandably, Blizzard is focusing its resources on addressing the major errors that affect the broadest swath of players. And I’ll eat my shoes if their QA testers hadn’t already caught most, if not all of these major bugs before launch. But it still would have been nice if Blizzard at least acknowledged some of these gameplay issues on their pinned post of known bugs and issues. So instead of finding out from Blizzard, I found them on social media. Let’s go over them.
Damage-dealer Mei can create an ice wall, which she can use for cover or to platform her way to higher structures. Unfortunately, jumping on top of these structures in Overwatch 2 will cause her to rubber band. For those not in the know, rubberbanding refers to a lag that occurs between the game server and your local software. This can give the impression that a character is teleporting instantly from one location to another. Overwatch players have been uploading videos of Mei teleporting instantly on top of her ice wall after a brief delay. Players have also found that her wall behaves inconsistently. It allows her to fall out of bounds, and Mei players have reported being able to phase through it.
Since Mei is a less popular character, fans feel slighted by Blizzard’s unwillingness or inability to fix her ability before launch. The bug felt especially disappointing because her old freeze ability had been removed, which was an important aspect of her play style.
Bastion mains on the other hand, are having the time of their lives. Within the span of his ultimate ability, he allows you to spam artillery at his opponents when you right click very fast. The buff will likely be nerfed in the near future. For now, Bastion mains will still be able to rain terror on their opponents.
There’s also been other unresolved issues outside of gameplay. Ashe players report that she T-poses when sitting or wearing a specific skin, though it’s possible that sitting in general is bugged right now. And Cassidy’s victory pose looks a lot more suggestive when he’s twirling the air instead of his pistol. It’s less that any one of the issues is catastrophic than it is that, alongside the other wide issues and a more sparse game overall (like in the post-match results, or the number of maps that are gone now), it’s left some players calling Overwatch 2 more of an “early access” or unfinished experiencethan anticipated. Even minor details, like the UI, are being picked apart for not being perfectly flush right now. Other issues, like players getting booted from games or having their game crash entirely after earning achievements, have persisted since last week.
Sit tight: Blizzard will likely get to character-specific bugs once it’s done with putting out server-wide fires or bugs that affect every player in the game. For now, we can still laugh at Overwatch 2 players getting absolutely obliterated by Bastion’s infinite missiles.
Update 7:40 p.m. EST:Blizzard has announced that both Bastion and Torbjorn will be taken out of the game temporarily as the developer addresses “a few bugs” in their ability kits. Presumably, this is in response to the reported issues with Bastion’s infinite ult, though in the case of Torbjorn, it seems to do with his Overloaded ability, which reportedly could be used twice in succession. Bastion won’t be available at all during this time, while Torbjorn can only be played in quick play (meaning, no ranked.)
Thanks to a bunch of funny people, the most difficult aspect of Overwatch 2 right now is probably just getting into the damn game. But if you’re new to this franchise, what awaits is a whole suite of heroes with unique abilities that mesh together into a hectic first-person shooter in which teamwork is absolutely essential. Overwatch? More like Overwhelming. (Sorry.)
You might be apprehensive about diving in, asking whether or not you can really wrap your head around all these heroes, or if you can keep up on the field with veterans who go all the way back to the first game’s launch in 2016. But I can assure you that Overwatch is a very understandable game and you’ll be scoring victories before you know it.
These tips assume you know nothing about Overwatch and will give you some fundamentals going in. These will help point you in the right direction and will set you up to understand the sometimes-hectic nature of this game.
Each hero is a rabbit hole of tactics unto themselves, so let’s iron out the basics of who to choose and demystify this incredibly popular shooter.
Over a dozen heroes, but just three classes
Screenshot: Blizzard / Kotaku
First-timers get tossed into the First Time User Experience, which will limit the number of heroes you can play for the tutorial section and some of your first few PvP matches.
Don’t freak out too much when you have to choose among 15 different heroes you know nothing about. As the game will explain, all of these heroes slot into three classes, drawn from RPG lingo: Tanks, Damage, and Support. When looking at the hero selection screen before a match, you’ll note that the heroes are broken up into three columns representing these classes. You’ll also see an icon indicating which class a hero is: A shield is for Tanks; bullets are for Damage; and a plus/heal sign is for Support.
Tanks are there to soak up damage from enemies and keep their attention away from the more vulnerable Damage and Support characters. Your priority on the field should be distracting opposing forces and blocking incoming fire with your physical size and special abilities. You’re the anchor for your team.
Damage is all about, well, hitting them hard! Compared to the other two classes, you’ll fare better in a head-to-head showdown with another Damage hero. But if your team is working as it’s supposed to, you’ll be more of an opportunist, picking off the fools too busy dealing with the Tanks.
Support heroes heal and buff allies and sometimes debuff foes. Your primary goal is typically to keep your teammates’ health topped up, as well as provide buffs to things like movement speed or damage output. Try not to get the attention of your opponent’s Damage heroes or get caught in the crossfire. As a Support, wise use of your abilities on the field can prevent a skirmish from sliding too far toward your enemy’s favor.
Read More: Be Prepared For These 7 Big Overwatch 2 Gameplay Changes
If you’re starting out, I recommend cycling out of each class with a hero you’re drawn to each match. On the field, make choices based on the role of your class, not so much the unique abilities of your chosen hero just yet. Over time, you’ll learn how to use those specific abilities to better play your role.
Break those bad habits learned from other shooters
Many other shooters bake sprinting and aim-down-sights into your very reflexes. Unlearn that for Overwatch. Only Soldier: 76 can sprint like a Call of Duty character. Other heroes have additional movement options, but they’ll often be tied to a cooldown, so you want to be sure to save that for when you really need to pick up the pace or get the hell out of the way.
Outside of a handful of characters with scoped weapons, there really isn’t an aim-down-sights option, either. Right mouse or left trigger is usually reserved for a secondary fire or power of some kind.
Basically, if other shooters have trained you to sprint like a maniac or constantly aim your weapon, you’re most certainly going to have to unlearn that. Even heroes with more genre-familiar attributes like Soldier: 76 or Sojourn will require you to adapt in this way.
Find your main and practice, practice, practice
Now that we’ve divided up the many heroes of Overwatch into three broad categories, it’s a good idea to just pick one from each class and stick to them until you fully understand their strengths and weaknesses. With time, you should try everyone available to you so you can understand how to deal with those characters, but to start out, focus is good.
The goal here is to figure out who your mains are going to be, as well as which role you prefer. You may not always be able to choose your main hero in each match, but the lessons you learn with your early choices are going to become reference points for mastering the skills and abilities of other heroes.
If a hero confuses you at first, don’t be afraid to drop them for one you might be able to understand a bit more directly. Also, Overwatch is a game full of style and character, so while you’re new and haven’t yet digested the meta, go ahead and pick a character who speaks to you based on style and personality. Video games are about having fun after all.
If you’re coming from a more traditional shooter like Call of Duty, I recommend spending time with Soldier: 76. If you’re more comfortable with more modern, speedier shooters like Apex Legends, Sojourn’s fast slide (which can launch into a super-fun jump!) will likely be more familiar to you. Sojourn unlocks for free if you play during season one.
If you’re looking to jump into Support, Mercy isn’t a bad choice to start with, as you’ll be less tempted to engage in firefights. Her main “weapon” heals and buffs, and it can bend around corners, which is a reminder to keep your head down. Her automatic pistol is capable if you’re quick, but her abilities are very narrowly focused on filling that Support role.
D.Va isn’t a bad choice for a starting Tank, either. I find her to play a bit more closely to a standard shooter character than the other Tanks, and when her mech bites the dust, you can stay on the field while it recharges. D.Va is not one of the starting heroes, however. So you’ll need to play a minimum of two unranked matches to unlock her. (If you do playD.Va though, be sure to audibly say “stand by for titanfall” every time you recall the mech. And don’t you ever apologize for it.)
Figure out which role you enjoy filling the most, and within that role, which hero fits your playstyle the best.
Battle some bots, study your victories and defeats
If you’re a first-timer, you’ll have to go through the tutorial which, while helpful for the very basics, is likely to mirror so many other shooter tutorials that you might gloss over the details.
Battling AI, though, that’s where the (fun) learning really begins. While there is a practice range to romp around in, I recommend spending your first handful of matches battling AI alongside other players in the PvE mode found in training areas. Resist jumping into PvP matchmaking until the AI battles begin to feel boring. There are three AI difficulties to choose from, but start with casual. Trust me.
AI matches are an optimal opportunity to learn the basics of Overwatch 2’s different modes without the pressure of an actual PvP game. You can learn the maps, how different heroes function on the field, and other basics. Remember, you’re just fighting AI here, so it’s no big deal if you have to take a moment to hit F1 on PC to remind yourself what your hero’s abilities do. (The hero information overlay is not bound to a gamepad button by default.)
That said, the bots are no slouches. If your team isn’t working together, they will take advantage of that and quite possibly send you to a defeat. This can happen even on the easiest of the three AI difficulties.
You might feel a little humiliated if you lose to bots, but it’s actually a fantastic opportunity to study why you lost. Since you’re fighting AI, a loss is more likely due to poor teamwork than the opposing team’s innate talent.
Take a look at the makeup of your team and of the opposing side. How many Tanks are there? How many Damage dealers? Support? Was Support keeping everyone nice and healthy during the match? Was Damage failing to take out enough foes? Were the Tanks not acting as Tanks? As you start answering those questions, you’ll both learn the game better and understand what you need to do differently next time.
Ping stuff!
Screenshot: Blizzard / Kotaku
I typically kill all voice chat in a game, so it was delightful to see Overwatch 2 has a detailed ping system to communicate critical information to your team. It’s better to get used to using it sooner than later.
A generic “ping” is accessible with the middle mouse button on PC and the left d-pad on a controller. This will highlight to your teammates whatever you’re looking at, be it a landmark or a foe, with a prominent HUD indicator they can see through walls. Use that for calling out advancing enemies or sneaky Damage heroes looking for an opportunity to take out one of your comrades.
The first ping command you should dedicate to muscle memory beyond the standard one is calling for help. On PC you hold down the middle mouse and then pull downward to activate the “Need Help” ping. On gamepads you hold down the left d-pad, selecting the desired ping with the right thumbstick. If Support is doing their job, they’ll hopefully come by shortly.
Dedicate this to muscle memory. Call for help as you flee, when you’re near death, when things are getting chaotic, or if you’re just low on health and there aren’t any health packs nearby.
Learn to read the scoreboard
Screenshot: Blizzard / Kotaku
Whether you’re pulling up the scoreboard to check in the heat of a match or reviewing the details of a game that’s just ended, the information there isn’t just for bragging rights: It’s a reflection of how well or poorly your team is doing. The scoreboard can tell you why you’re winning or losing.
Before you even look at the numbers, the first column will tell you the makeup of the teams, how many Tank, Damage, or Support heroes are on the field. Sometimes the answer to why one side is getting annihilated is found right there. As you develop a sense of each hero, you’ll get a better understanding of how balanced a team is.
Moving rightward, we have some familiar stats: E, A, and D stand for Eliminations, Assists, and Deaths, respectively. Deaths should be low across the board, while Eliminations should probably be highest for your Damage heroes. Assists should likely be high for Support or Tanks. If you’re losing, these might very much tell you why. Are the Damage heroes racking up Eliminations? Are Deaths too high across the board?
Moving over to the next three columns we have DMG for overall damage output, H for healing output, and MIT for total damage mitigated. Generally speaking, Damage heroes should have the highest DMG, Support’s H numbers should be high, and Tanks ought to have high MIT.
Reading this scoreboard and acting based on what it tells you is key to contributing to your team’s success.
Don’t die, be patient
This goes without saying, but you really should prioritize your life. Yes, you’ll respawn in a matter of seconds, but so many of Overwatch’s game modes are like one giant multiplayer arm wrestling match. And if you’re dead, that’s a few precious seconds where you don’t have an arm in the fight.
But if you do die and respawn, and essential members of your team are still on a respawn counter, hold on a moment before heading back out into battle. This is especially true if you’re playing Support. You want to stay alive for when your comrades respawn and rejoin you. If that means letting the enemy team hold the objective point a little bit longer or push the payload up a bit further, you’re going to be better off responding with your collective strength rather than individually.
Overwatch 2 is far more team-driven than your average first-person shooter. And being a great team player requires more than just learning your hero well enough. Timing and staying alive ensures that you have a team functioning as best as it can, regardless of who’s on the roster.
As a live-service, free-to-play game, Overwatch 2 is likely to see changes to the finer details over time. That said, there is a core, team-based FPS beating at its heart that relies on playing the right role at the right time. It can be a lot to understand all at once, but by drilling the basics, you’ll have a solid foundation to build on to carry you and your team to victory.
Screenshot: Universal Pictures / Nintendo / Illumination
True to his word, Chris Pratt will not be “offending Italians” in his leading role in the Super Mario Bros. movie. In fact, his voiced performance in the official trailer was so lackluster that I can’t help but wonder: What if Mario had been more Italian? It turns out, I didn’t have to wonder for very long. There’s an official Italian dub, and Mario certainly sounds very Italian while he’s speaking…actual Italian. Take a look:
Super Mario Bros. Il Film | Teaser Trailer Ufficiale (Universal Pictures) HD
Damn, now that’s an Italian Mario. He’s rolling some letters like he actually knows what to do with them. And I really like the actor’s more playful take on Mario’s personality compared to Pratt’s performance, which just sounds like some dude. I can believe that Italian Mario is actually excited to be here, which is the most important metric for any Super Mario Bros. voice actor who has been asked to play such an iconic role.
You know who else has got a killer Mario? French moviegoers. Look at this!
SUPER MARIO BROS Le Film Bande Annonce VF (2023)
This is such a wonderful take on Mario—a guy who isn’t just excited, but breathlessly so. These small touches are really crucial in helping us imagine the Mushroom Kingdom as a dynamic, living place (as opposed to carefully designed challenge levels).
Brazil also has a great dub, but it mostly makes me sad that Americans got Pratt instead of an actual voice actor who wants to put emotions into their performance.
Brazil Mario sounds more like Mario | The Super Mario Bros. Movie
At this point, just give me one of the dubs with English subtitles. I’m not expecting a movie star to have played the original title from 1985 on the NES. I’d just like the actor to sound like he’s not phoning in the biggest role in such an important video game movie.
The Super Mario Bros. movie will be released on April 7, 2023.
If you weren’t able to log in and play Blizzard’s highly anticipated hero shooter sorta-sequel, Overwatch 2, you weren’t the only one. After months of developer updates the free-to-play game’s launch day was met with not just one, but two DDoS attacks, forcing players to suffer through ungodly-long queues only to be met with the high probability of subsequent login errors redirecting their asses to the back of the line. Truly, the real Overwatch 2 was the queues we waited in along the way.
I was prepared to write up my own impressions of Overwatch 2, but last night, I too suffered from the log-in errors and was only able to squeeze in five matches before getting kicked back into the queue. In an attempt to make mountains into Mountain Dew, I’ve chronicled my experience playing and (mostly) not playing Overwatch 2. Prepare yourself for these tales from the Overwatch 2 queue.
Read More: How DDoS Attacks Work, And Why They’re So Hard To Stop
Hour: 1 Queue status: 40,000 players ahead of me Emotional vibe check: Perturbed
The irony was not lost on me that, despite the Overwatch team professing that OW2 isn’t just a glorified update to OW1, I was literally sitting at my Xbox watching the loading screen of OW1 receive an update called “Overwatch 2.” As annoying as all that was, I also couldn’t help but feel nostalgic about my bizarro journey with this game. It felt like it was only six years ago (because it was) when I first awaited Overwatch’s Xbox launch while seated in my freshman-year college dorm. I’d played the beta, hyped it up to friends, and was all but ready to place it alongside The Witcher 3 and Rocket League, the games that would sustain me between journo classes.
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Horror Video Games to Play Leading Up to Halloween
Spooky and scary Something video games have over their film counterparts when it comes to horror is the player’s agency. Sure, watching the slasher claim their next victim can get a jumpscare out of you, but you know what’s scarier? Knowing you had the power to stop it. Watching someone slowly open a door and enter a dark room is unnerving, but having to do it yourself will send shivers down your spine and paralyze you with fear.
So it felt more than ironic that six years later, I would be sitting in the living room of my second apartment awaiting Overwatch 2’s launch so that I could cover it for work. I’m still coming to terms with going to school for journalism while playing Overwatch in my downtime to becoming a games journo with a whole-ass bachelor’s degree who’s covering Overwatch’s sorta sequel. Shit’s weird.
Suffice it to say that last night Overwatch 2 quickly became a meme as I and countless others waited to finally be let in to play the game. In reality, this wouldn’t come to pass for some time, thanks to the variously 20,000 to 40,000 players ahead of me and OW2’s servers being under attack.
Hour: 2 Queue status: 20,000 players ahead of me Emotional vibe check: Hungry
It would be dishonest of me not to admit that, by this juncture of my OW2 purgatory, I gave into temptation. I lost focus and bought my second—yes, you heard me, second—McDonald’s adult happy meal toy. Now hear me out, I still stand by those plastic toys who’re destined to occupy U.S. landfills for being ugly as sin, but I can’t deny my desire to possess my own biblically accurate Grimace and proceed to note his presence to any future house guests. At least that’s how the scenario has been playing out in my head. So far, I’ve only got the Hamburglar and Cactus Plant Flea Market’s Cactus Buddy (boo!) so I can only hope that a theoretical third trip to the well will grant me the purple bastard. As you may have guessed, there is no OW2 update for this hour because I was too busy maxing chicken nuggies.
Read More:Be Prepared For These 7 Big Overwatch 2 Gameplay Changes
Hour: 3 Queue status: 40,000 players ahead of me (again) Emotional vibe check: Bored
By this point, I’d given up all hope of ever playing OW2 and resigned to booting up my Steam Deck to do anything but play a video game. I was technically off the clock anyway so why not? Why shouldn’t I live deliciously and use my glorified portable PC to catch up on my stories? I got caught up on episodes of What We Do in the Shadows and even started watching the latest episode of the medieval white people drama that is HBO’s House of the Dragon. Them Targaryens are messy. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who took this purgatory as an opportunity to metaphorically touch grass either. Another would-be OW2 player hit the town and ended up winning a fourth place at his local pub’s trivia night. Cheers.
Read More: Overwatch 2 Beta Visuals Aren’t Helping Perception That It’s Barely An Update
Hour: 4 Queue status: 20 people ahead of me Emotional vibe check: WE MOVE
The promised time was finally upon me. Much like the Creation of Adam, Junkrat’s grubby fingers touched my own through the Xbox controller and I was greeted with a gratuitous slow-motion shot of Genji’s new epic skin, attempting to entice me into giving this game more money than I already had by buying loot boxes in Summer Games past. But my willpower held strong because all I was concerned about was how my sweet babies, D.VA, Mercy, and Moira, were looking in OW2. Lo and behold, all my skins and emotes were still there, albeit updated with OW2’s new character models. It literally pays to be grandfathered into OW2. The only thing yet to see was if I could still hang in-game.
Read More:Overwatch 2 Is Sounding More And More Like A Free-To-Play Nightmare
As you can see, this old boy still has the moves. And by moves, I mean maining healer and tanks because OW1’s queue times were abysmal if you were trying to play a damage character. Of the five games I played last night, including OW2’s new push map, I only lost one. As far I’ve played so far OW2 basically plays the same as OW1 just with the added bonus of character models looking more detailed and its maps being at different times of day.
The major gripe I have with OW2 so far is that firefights no longer feel like wars of attrition in which applying team-based strategies in narrow chokepoints feels rewarded. Instead, OW2’s larger maps and 5v5 gameplay feel more akin to team deathmatches in Call of Duty in which individual pop-off plays are the focus.
One upside to OW2, in comparison to its closed beta, is that the outcome for matches no longer feel like foregone conclusions if you or the enemy team have an early advantage. This is due to OW2’s new passive healing and damage attributes where, if you are working your ass off, your health and movement speed gradually increase. I found this update to the game to be a welcome change in making characters across the board feel more durable in lieu of reintegrating OW1’s dreaded barrier meta. No one liked every character and their mother having a barrier you needed to whittle down, or getting stunned left and right by annoying heroes. (Looking at you, Brigitte.)
However, my hubris over actually getting into the game would very soon catch up, leading me to ruin. Sharing my PotG clip to the interwebs to let the people know I’m “that guy” came to bite me in the ass because by the time I returned to the game OW2’s servers had decided to log me off and banish me back to the login queue shadow realm with the rest of you plebs. Sad.
Hour: 5 Queue status: 400 people ahead of me Emotional vibe check: Sleepy
Ultimately, just like with its predecessor, what saved my jimmies from being rustled by Overwatch’s many shortcomings—long droughts of content, perpetual log-in errors, or the promise of a canonical story that constantly received retcons—were the memes that poured in from the community. Y’all were in full force last night and made me remember why I love playing this cursed game in the first place.
Read More: The Internet’s Biggest Overwatch 2 Questions, Answered
Playing Overwatch meant being able to hang out with my friends across the country during late-night sessions. It didn’t matter whether we got aggressively rolled during multiple games or pulled off a monumental game-winning strategy; At the end of the day, OW served as ambiance akin to keeping my favorite film playing on mute while I caught up with house guests. Weekly challenges were less for the procurement of skins and emotes, and more to have an excuse to call up a friend and schedule a playdate—something that I hope to continue with OW2’s weekly challenges, because I ain’t gonna be paying for no Watchpoint pass. That’d just ruin the fun of getting items by playing with my friends.
The best part of waiting to play OW2 wasn’t finally getting in, it was seeing the memes everyone made while we waited. It was heartwarming to see our Overwatch community was still alive and kicking in the only way we could be, by sharing memes from our folders for when Overwatch 2 is good and for when it inevitably fails. Hopefully, by the time I feel the urge to get back into the fight and maybe play some of those new characters, Blizzard will have sorted its servers.
Today, Activision Blizzard announced three programs coming to Overwatch 2’s competitive and casual scene. These aim to foster a healthy environment, with a focus on its new and returning LGBTQ+ player base.
In a blog post titled “Calling All Heroes,” the Overwatch team and its competitive E-Sports program, Overwatch League (OWL), announced it would co-develop an in-game Defense Matrix, Challenger’s Cup, and Caster Camp. Blizzard said the goal of these programs is to “focus on equity, visibility, and community support for underrepresented genders.”
To ensure that its mission statement is upheld, the Overwatch team announced that it will be rolling out a gameplay system called Defense Matrix. Named after D.VA’s projectile blocking ability, Blizzard said the program will act as a system to “protect gameplay integrity and promote positive behavior in Overwatch 2.” How it’ll do so might be slightly invasive given it will involve the use of your phone under its new program, SMS Protect.
“Defense Matrix fortifies Overwatch’s security and game experience through aspects like SMS Protect, audio transcriptions, and the all-new first-time user experience, to name a few,” Blizzard said in the blog post.
If you were wanting to opt out of SMS Protect, it’s looking like you won’t be able to play Overwatch 2 at all. Because come October 4, players across all platforms will be required to have their phone numbers attached to their Battle Net accounts in order to play Overwatch 2.
Read More: Overwatch 2 Pre-reviews Say It’s Worth A Sequel, But The Grind Is A Major Bummer
Coupled with the announcement of Defense Matrix, Blizzard also revealed two new LGBTQ+ programs called Challenger’s Cup and Caster Camp. Alongside its partnership with Radiant, a production company that highlights “underrepresented genders,” Overwatch is developing a Challenger’s Cup, a competitive tournament that will run alongside Path to Pro, its developmental competitive Overwatch program under Overwatch Contenders.
“This tournament is not a replacement for the Path to Pro; rather, we hope it will serve as an entry point for underrepresented genders to jump into the broader Overwatch esports ecosystem, and we encourage all who are eligible to participate in both Challengers Cup and Path to Pro,” Blizzard said in the blog post.
The applications for the first qualifier rounds for Challenge Cup begin on October 21.
Additionally, Caster Camp will feature broadcasters like OWL’sSoe Gschwind and Matt “Mr. X” Morello. The plan is for them to share the skills they’ve learned as professional Overwatch commentators to folks within the LGBTQ+ community hoping to build upon their skillsets and make connections within the industry. Its registration will run from September 30 through October 28.
Read More: The Internet’s Biggest Overwatch 2 Questions, Answered
Although Overwatch 2’s imminent launch on October 4 as a free-to-play game is riddled with all the things that make for F2P nightmares, it is commendable that the game maker is going beyond the platitude of saying it’s pro-LGBTQ by pointing at its gay characters and leaving it at that, especially considering the high probability of its LGBTQ+ player base getting swept up in a wave of bigotry come the sequel hero shooter’s release.
Seeing as how two of its flagship characters, Tracer and Soldier 76 serve as the game’s confirmed LGBTQ+ representation, it’s nice that Blizzard at least recognizes that its player base might be in dire need of obfuscation in case any returning bigots of the game return with its sequel. Though the jury is still out on whether SMS Protect is on the up and up or not.
Today, September 26, is the awkwardly titled “The Last Of Us Day.” As part of this annual international day of celebration, developer Naughty Dog has released 10 new animated gifs featuring characters from the game, like Joel and Ellie.
In the universe of The Last Of Us, September 26 is the day when the in-game virus reached a critical mass. What a fun anniversary to celebrate!The Last Of Us Day started back in 2013, and was originally titled Outbreak Day, which is definitely a better, less clunky name. However, this yearly celebration of all things Last of Us had to change its name in 2020 due to the real-world, ongoing, and deadly covid-19 pandemic. And today, in honor of the celebration, Naughty Dog has released 10 new animated gifs featuring characters from the series, inspired by popular online memes. It’s time to get yourself in the TheLast Of Us Day day spirit.
Did you ever want to see Joel recreate the famous Robert Redford smiling gif? Well, here you go!
Perhaps you’ve long wanted a Last of Us-themed gif based on the internet classic “Dramatic Hamster?” Good news, your oddly specific dream has been fulfilled.
According to Naughty Dog, with every game release its animators pick some of their favorite memes and recreate them using characters and assets from their own games. Earlier this month, the team released some gifs in honor of The Last Of Us: Part 1’s launch. But the team had even more gifs to share and that’s what’s been released today on Giphy. Such joy.
“The opportunity to laugh, pay homage to some of our favorite TV shows and movies, and collaborate with artists of different disciplines to make these GIFs has truly been a delight,” explained Naughty Dog. “Thank you to everyone who contributed your talent and sense of humor to create these! Our feeds will never be the same again.”
You can find more of Naughty Dog’s meme recreations here on its official Giphy page. For those who like this kind of thing, there’s a treasure trove of content to be found. For others, like me, who find all this stuff terrible and off-putting, well, why are you even reading this…
Also, as part of today’s celebrations, Naughty Dog and HBO released a new trailer for the upcoming live-action show based on the first game. It’s set to release sometime next year.