Category: Gamespot

As the first stage of Overwatch League drew to a close, it represented a major milestone for Blizzard’s big gamble on esports. The London Spitfire faced some setbacks during the final day of Stage 1, but after coming back from an earlier defeat against their rivals the New York Excelsior, they were able to secure victory and earn $100,000 in prize money. During a chat with Overwatch League commissioner Nate Nanzer at the finals, he spoke about how event organizers plan to refine their approach to the competition, while also reflecting on how things have transpired so far.

“I think we’re off to a good start,” said the commissioner. “There’s tons of things we want to continue to iterate on and improve, but right now we’re just really focused on figuring out how to continue to evolve and improve the show throughout the year, and have all of that culminate in the awesome finals event. That’s the focus right now, and it’s really awesome that people are happy with it. Nothing is broken, so right now we’re just focusing on making it better.”

With Stage 2 set to begin on February 21, there’s already some notable changes coming up that could potentially alter the dynamic for the 12 teams. In addition to ongoing gameplay balances and tweaks for the base game, which included some notable changes to one of the most useful healer characters in Mercy, the league will also see an influx of new talent coming in to shake up the current roster.

The Stage 1 finals, while engaging and dramatic, ended up being a perfect storm of scheduling and scoring issues that resulted in many players feeling the heat after extended periods of play–and the organizers agreed. Taking place over the course of 12 hours–making the show itself somewhat exhausting to sit through–it forced the London Spitfire into playing several consecutive matches during the semi-finals and finals. While the London Spitfire were able to secure the win for the finals after a total of 14 games during the day–a testament to their team coordination and composure–this still made for a rather exhausting experience for all involved.

Immediately after the end of Stage 1, League commissioner Nate Nanzer took to Twitter after the finals to state their plans for addressing how the Stage 2 finals will work. He stated, “Let me save you some time from tweeting @ me about the schedule: we are looking into playing Stage Finals games on Sunday starting Stage 2. That and other schedule news soon.”

On February 14, the revised schedule was finalized on the Overwatch League blog. The finals for Stage 2 will now take place on Sunday March 25, with anyone purchasing a ticket for Saturday March 24 being given a free ticket for the finals match the next day.

For the teams that had a hard time during the month, Stage 2 represents a clean slate for many players, allowing them to change the narrative surrounding their group. The Shanghai Dragons, featuring some of China’s top esports talent, have struggled throughout their games in Stage 1. While they had some successful matches, they ultimately placed last. However, things could be be looking up for the Dragons. Three new players are set to join the Shanghai Dragons in Stage 2, which includes Lee Eui-Seok from Element Mystic, MVP Space flex Cheon “Ado” Ki-hyun, and Kim “Geguri” Se-yeon–who will be the first female player for Overwatch League.

As one of the top Zarya players in the world, Geguri could prove to be an effective player to round out a team that’s in need of stronger defensive and support play. Many fans of competitive Overwatch have been clamoring for Geguri to have a spot in the League, and her placement on the roster could just be the shot in the arm that a team like the Dragons need to make it out of the bottom tier.

One thing that’s common for an online game is for the developers to roll out gradual updates and tweaks for the game. Recently, both Junkrat and Mercy, two of the most used characters in the League, received some tweaks that toned down some key abilities that the developers felt could be easily exploited by players. Mercy became the go-to healer for teams thanks to her ability to resurrect dead players, along with her speed and healing range. However, the upcoming nerf will make the time to revive players last a bit longer, lower the speed boost from her Guardian Angel buff by 50%, and remove the bonus buff from her Resurrect skill. In addition to Mercy, Junkrat–a popular character for quick offensive strikes thanks to his Ultimate ability–will also see a nerf for one of his support abilities.

During a post-game press conference after losing to the London Spitfire, Jacob “JAKE” Lyon of the Houston Outlaws spoke about the changes to Junkrat, who is his signature character.

“I think it’s interesting, actually,” said the Houston Outlaw’s top assault player. “The character is way weaker against dive, because the 120 AoE was really especially powerful against characters like Genji and Tracer–dodging Genji’s reflect and still doing 120 and obviously one-shotting Tracer with damage boost is still a very powerful ability–but I think you’ll still see the character a ton if people are running Reinhardt because he’s still the faster shield-breaker in the game. Junkrat’s RipTire is still the best ultimate in the game, so I think we’ll still see Junkrat as viable, but it will be more situational. And it’ll be more map dependent.”

While Stage 2 will still largely keep the same flow and dynamic of its previous phases, the organizers are already looking to the future of the league given its immediate success. Overwatch League has kept a steady audience over the last month, and with the finals earning solid viewership, the organizers are confident that their audience will only grow from here. During a recent Activision-Blizzard investor call, the company already confirmed that the League was a solid success, and that the buy-in cost for new sponsors for Season 2 will increase–which is expected to add new teams and additional players. For now, Stage 2 is already looking to show more growth for the league, and what players can expect for Blizzard’s rapid increase in esports.

For more content on our coverage of Overwatch League, check out our additional interviews with Nate Nanzer and Game Director Jeff Kaplan about the making of the League, and how Overwatch can be the game to push esports into the mainstream.

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Pokemon Go’s second Community Day is quickly approaching, and like the inaugural event held last month, it’ll give players a brief chance to capture a rare Pokemon with an exclusive move. Developer Niantic had previously revealed that the Pokemon in question this time will be Dratini, and now the studio has shared details about what its exclusive move will be and how players can learn it.

The rare Dragon Pokemon will spawn much more frequently for the duration of the Community Day. If players manage to evolve its evolution, Dragonair, into a Dragonite during the event, it’ll learn the ultra-powerful Dragon-type move Draco Meteor. This applies to all Dragonair you own, even ones that were obtained prior to the Community Day. However, Dragonite will only learn Draco Meteor if it is evolved during the event hours, giving you a very brief window of time to get one with the exclusive attack.

The Community Day takes place worldwide on February 24 and runs for three hours, although the starting times will differ depending on your region. The event kicks off in the US at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET, while Europe’s Community Day begins at 10 AM GMT. In addition to the increased Dratini spawns, players will earn triple the normal amount of Stardust for any Pokemon they catch during the event, and Lure Modules will last for three hours.

Community Days are a new series of events that Niantic plans to hold once a month for Pokemon Go. Each event will feature a Pokemon that knows a move it cannot typically learn in the game. During the first Pokemon Go Community Day in January, players could find and catch a Pikachu that could use Surf, just like the one you get in the classic Pokemon Yellow version.

Before the next Community Day event begins, Pokemon Go players still have a chance to take part in the game’s Lunar New Year event. From now until February 17, you’ll earn triple Stardust for catching certain dog-like Pokemon such as Poochyena, Growlithe, Snubble, Eevee, or Electrike. Players can also encounter the latest Legendary Pokemon, Rayquaza, in Raid Battles until March 16.

This story has been updated.

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If you’re in the market for an Xbox One, there are a couple of good deals coming soon. Microsoft is discounting the Xbox One S, and it’s also bringing back the deal that threw in a copy of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds with the purchase of an Xbox One X.

In the United States, starting on February 18, you can grab any Xbox One S bundle for $50 off. This includes the new 1 TB PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds bundle that was recently released, bringing the cost down to $250 (originally $300). This deal runs through March 3. If you’re in Canada, meanwhile, you can buy a 1 TB Xbox One S bundle for $60 CAD off from now until February 23.

If you would rather get the more powerful Xbox One X, you can get a free copy of PUBG with the console beginning on February 18 in the United States, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Latin America. The deal starts on February 20 in Australia, India, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

This isn’t the only Xbox One X deal going on at other retailers right now. At Walmart, you can grab the console and Destiny 2, Star Wars: Battlefront II, and Grand Theft Auto V for $500. In other news, be sure to check out this week’s Xbox One Deals With Gold and the new Games With Gold available now.

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Although it’s coming a bit later than expected, the new update for Fortnite has arrived on all platforms. The version 2.5.0 patch makes some big changes and additions for both Battle Royale and Save the World modes, including the addition of a new weapon to obtain and new areas to explore in the popular PvP mode on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Battle Royale is now home to the Impulse Grenade, a new type of explosive that, after a short delay, sends all nearby players flying a long distance. It’s a Blue rarity item, and it can only be found in Treasure Chests and Supply Drops. You can get a glimpse at what it can do in the brief video clip below; it may lead to some hilarious match endings in the final circle.

Among the places you’ll now find Treasure Chests in during Battle Royale matches are new “thematic Shrines hidden across the map.” One of these is pictured in the gallery below, and they appear to have a Chinese architectural look to them. Meanwhile, Save the World has introduced new heroes and Dragon weapons themed around the Lunar New Year (also pictured below).

Other notable changes to Battle Royale include some technical changes for PS4 and Xbox One players. The standard versions of those consoles now feature dynamic resolution and high quality temporal upsampling; the former seeks to ensure a smooth framerate by decreasing the resolution when necessary. Those on an Xbox One X can now play at “full” 4K, while PS4 players should no longer experience excessively slow Fortnite patch downloads.

In terms of balance, a variety of adjustments have been made, including the temporary removal of the SMG weapon, which was done to create some breathing room for other weapons that have been added to the game. Additionally, several items are now less likely to drop, including the crossbow, minigun, and Chug Jug. There have also been some notable audio improvements, such as the crossbow making a noise when it’s ready to fire again. There are also now “above” and “below” versions of footstep sounds when running on wood, stone, or metal.

Save the World–which remains in paid early access but will eventually be for free everyone–also receives some significant additions in this update. In addition to the aforementioned Dragon weapons and Lunar New Year heroes, the Heartbreaker Crossbow is now available. Most importantly, the Spring It On event has begun, introducing new quests and rewards, with more to be added in the coming weeks.

All of this is available now. For a complete rundown on what’s new, check out the full patch notes here, or look at the silly new cosmetics now available. And if you’re new to Fortnite: Battle Royale or are just looking for some tips, have a look at our Fortnite building guide or our discussion about what makes the mode so popular.

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