STACK #139 May 2016

GAMES FEATURE

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Their service awards are insane! Two years you get a stein, five years gets you a sword, a shield at 10, a ring at 15, and an almighty helm at 20! 4 Blizzard HQ of the coolest things at

“We have a map called Hollywood. It almost looks like a cross between Beverly Hills and maybe Rodeo Drive. If you ever drive up to Hollywood itself, it doesn’t look anything like this, but what we want is like ‘Hey, pretend we’re someone that’s lived in Australia their whole life – what’s the idea they have in their head?’ That’s what we’re trying to deliver." It wasn’t only work on the environments that required major attention to detail. In bringing the title to console, it was important for the studio to retain the customisation abilities that PC players are so comfortable with. You can change the camera's visual sensitivity on the sticks, and even map different buttons to different abilities for each individual character – a big move in the right direction for a console port. Having high-calibre console players in attendance during the press trip was a huge advantage for the studio.

Statues are awesome and all over the place. Overwatch, World of Warcraft, Diablo … there’s something for everyone lying around.

players to change characters at will, removing the caged-in feeling of being stuck with one champion for periods of up to an hour, differentiates the title from its competitors “At the start we didn’t know if we were going to have hero blocking or not – we just wanted to have a bunch of cool heroes to begin with," says Keller. "We quickly realised that once you get a certain amount of heroes in there, the game becomes really dynamic." Moreover, Keller cites the lively nature of the game as a key component in its appeal. “It’s one of the things that makes the game magical when you play it. You make one switch on your team and it really forces the other team to revaluate what they’re doing, and see whether or not they need to switch at the same time. It becomes a really strategic decision." Pressed for time, and cutting in on his lunch break, we manage to sneak in one last question with the assistant game director – where does he see the game in ten years? “Good lord – that’s a long time! The analogy I use a lot of times is, if you get to the last page of a book you really, really love, it’s almost a sad experience to finish it, because you want to live in the world that another author has created for you. "I’d love for people to still be playing Overwatch as it is right now. If it’s that good of a game that people are still playing it ten years

“They’ve given feedback on extra customisations that they would want," notes Keller. “Hopefully we can add some more of their suggestions before this goes live”.

Blizzard is committed to making Overwatch a franchise, a world, the same way it has with its other games.

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With community being such a focal point of Blizzard’s organisation, Overwatch ’s competitive scene was always going to be important. “I think we’ve been really lucky, because we started developing a small competitive scene for the game, just for the beta, and there are already a lot of players in it," explains Keller. "It gives

Expect to see furry friends everywhere. Well, almost everywhere. The USA is an extremely pet friendly locale, and Blizzard HQ is no exception. There's fan art as far as the eye can see. Blizzard are highly appreciative of their community. You’ll see paintings, drawings, even emails and tweets printed out and proudly displayed.

us a lot of hope that it can turn into something bigger. If Overwatch can come in and find a place amongst the biggest games in the industry, I’d be ecstatic." The company recently released a video detailing the specifics of the competitive scene, and the game looks to be holding its ground against the giants of the industry. A five- tier system will be implemented for competitive play, with

from now, just as people are still playing World of Warcraft ten years down the track, that would be amazing. "Blizzard is committed to making Overwatch a franchise. a world, the same way it has with its other games.”

subdivisions in each, and a queue that allows teams of any size to compete together. Overwatch ’s ability for

• Overwatch is out May 24

MAY 2016

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