#BlizzCon 2014: Look out Team Fortess! Blizzard Announce Overwatch.

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World of Warcraft makers Blizzard have announced a new near-future set class based first person shooter at this weekends BlizzCon event. Called Overwatch the game will feature twelve classes (although Jeff Kaplan, Overwatch’s lead designer and VP did allude that more will follow) each with a different style of appearance and function. Many similarities can be made between the announced title and a certain other popular team game *cough* TF2 *cough*, however that one being 7-years old (!) Overwatch sets to update the ‘play your role’ shooter that Valve created. Overwatch shares “spiritual continuity” with the companies long in development and cancelled MMO, Titan. Reports suggest that the game as we see it is a reworking, albeit a hefty one, of the intended PvP mode.

The two team modes announced so far are Payload: an objective game in which one team needs to escort a bomb to a delivery point, and Point Capture: a traditional hold the objective mission having players aiming to secure control zones until time runs out. Accompanying the stunning Pixar-esq cinematic (above), a ton of gameplay footage has been released and even some lucky people at the show got to get hands on:

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Overwatch will be coming “100%” to PC. No details were shared on the games business model (free-to-play, purchase or subscription), nor have any plans for a console version been decided …or importantly if the game will feature hats. I’m keen to check out the game when it’s available as it looks like Blizzard have done a good job at creating characters. From the twelve announced I think I’ve already found a few I’ll enjoy playing.

Overwatch starts beta testing next year. Those interested can sign-up here.