Dena Greenberg

Bundle up for a journey to Ecopoint: Antarctica, the former Overwatch installation where climatologist Mei-Ling Zhou was once stationed. While researching severe weather anomalies in the region, the station was hit by an intense polar storm. Running out of options and low on supplies, the team decided to cryogenically freeze themselves until the storm passed. They believed that it would only be for a few months, but Mei awoke nearly a decade la

_However, now that the awards have been given out and games have been chosen, this week we're diving into the staff's selections for their top Game of the Year pick and favorite game of 2016. In this installment, Features Editor Ryan Meitzler makes the case for Blizzard's vibrant and fast-paced online shooter, Overwatch. You can also catch up on the previous features in our series on Darkest Dungeon , Firewatch , and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End for our Game of the Year title

That philosophy not only extends from the game's design and multiplayer, but also deep into the themes and characters of Overwatch itself. The game's shining optimism and diverse character designs run deep throughout the experience. More than anything, Overwatch brims with character and charm - Blizzard somehow took a talking gorilla, a sassy time-bender, a shotgun-toting reaper ( who has made for a hilarious parody Twitter account ), and so many other weird, wonderful characters and made them all feel a part of this shared universe and established wo

As we love free speech and artistic expression on the internet, this could be seen as a classic case of a big company flexing its mighty legal muscles, but to be fair to Blizzard, it isn't as clear cut as that. Many innocent searches for "overwatch" led to adult-oriented material instead of game information. That's not great for something rated "T for Teen". Some fans saw this as censorship and worried about the precedent it set, but the controversy died down before it escalated into anything bigger. In the end, only a specific subset of content featuring in-game models ripped from the original code was taken down due to copyright infringem

Competitive multiplayer shooters are not only competitive these days in the sense of proving their ability to offer engaging multiplayer experiences, but even more so for proving that they will have lasting communities built around them to last for at least a few months (or hopefully years). Against multiplayer mainstays like Counter-Strike , Dota 2 , League of Legends , the latest editions of Call of Duty or Battlefield , and more, the chances of a lasting community around a new multiplayer title grow slimmer each year: thankfully, Overwatch seems to have proven the opposite in so many ways with a bustling and vibrant community, whether it's been in-game or on the game's subred

More than I can remember in recent years, 2016 had me overwhelmed with great games to enjoy all throughout the year. Picking one game out of the dozens I played this year is no easy task, and even more than in the past year or two. 2016's class of games were an embarrassment of riches when it came to diverse genres, awesome gameplay, and truly unique, exciting new experien

Voting started on December 24th, and ended on January 21st. Each voter was asked to give ten preferences in order, with the first fps game Updates scoring four points, second and third scoring three, ranks from four to six scoring two points, and the rest only one. Two honorable mentions were also allowed, but scored no points.

Fixed a bug that occasionally produced incorrectly colored health bars when spectating Custom Games

And that's it. A new trailer was also released to celebrate Sombra's launch -- you can check it out be

SEASON 3 COMPETITIVE PLAY Competitive Play's second season will end on November 23 at 4PM PDT (November 24 at 0:00 UTC), and the third season will begin on November 30 at 4PM PDT (December 1 at 0:00 UTC). During the week-long off season, you'll still be able to queue for matches using the Competitive Play ruleset, but your skill rating will not be affected and no Competitive Points will be awarded. We've also made a few adjustments to the skill rating system for season 3. Players will be distributed more broadly across the skill tiers, which means that your season 3 rating will probably be lower than the previous sea

According to the developers, Tracer, Reaper, and Widowmaker were the initial three heroes worked on by the team, with Tracer being the first. Her design is all about speed, which is why her iconic look is inspired by both fighter pilots and track athletes. As the character was refined, the creative teams ended up liking Lena so much that she automatically became the game's "mascot" despite not being intended as one. Creative director Chris Metzen even likened her to a certain wall-crawler, saying that Tracer became a " Spider-Man type character" for them, saying "She's so rad, and it feels good to leverage her in the front of story ide