UPDATE: Blizzard has now officially confirmed the Overwatch Summer Games event! From August 2 to 22, over 100 new cosmetic items will be available to players through special seasonal Loot Boxes. Every box is guaranteed to contain at least one item from the Summer Games collection. All unlocked items will be available forever, but the chance to collect them ends August 22.
Overwatch will also have a brand new brawl – Lúcioball, a 3v3 match where players compete in the Estádio das Rãs, an arena equipped with jump pads and speed-boosting walls. Each game lasts four minutes, and the team with the most goals wins.
Lúcio plays differently in the brawl – his ultimate, Sound Barrier, now pulls the ball towards the player from anywhere on the field. His primary attack is now a melee attack, perfect for punching the ball at short range, and Lúcio’s classic sound burst works as an alternate attack for a long-range boost.
The event is live now for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
ORIGINAL STORY: Blizzard has let “justice rain from above,” if you will, and set off what is now known as the “2nd Major Banwave,” resulting in some hysterical screenshots from the angry cheaters.
Two types of bots were targeted – “triggerbots,” which shoot for players when their cross-hairs are over an enemy, and “aimbots,” which aid accuracy.
Banned players are threatening everything from contacting Anonymous to hack Blizzard’s servers on their behalf to calling for petitions, displaying an entitled attitude of “well I paid for the game, so I get to do what I want.”
I’ve just picked out a few of my personal favorites, but the entire imgur thread is worth reading through – it’s almost hysterical to see so many cheaters throwing fit. As pointed out in the Reddit thread, it’s comparable to customers who abuse food service workers simply since they paid for the meal. It’s nice to see Blizzard enforcing their “no mercy for cheaters” rule with such enthusiasm.
Meanwhile, as the Summer Olympics in Rio rapidly approaches, it seems that Overwatch characters will receive some new athletic-themed skins.
Twitch streamer LacedUpLauren posted her package from Blizzard on Twitter today, which included a gold medal shaped like the Overwatch logo, player cards for Lucio, Tracer, and Zarya, and a sticker sheet featuring the game’s entire roster. The package also included a print of a domed arena in Rio de Janeiro – possibly a new map. While the content is cool, it’s definitely not an official affiliation like the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games series – these are just being referred to as part of the Summer Games 2016.
No matter what this turns out to be, unbanned players always have the comfort of knowing that all future content will be free of charge.