World of Warcraft players will soon be able to change their character's gender without paying the somewhat hefty fee, Blizzard has revealed. The change will arrive as part of the recently detailed Shadowlands expansion, which will arrive for everyone later this year. As of now, players who don't want to pay the fee can still change their character's gender presentation for free.
As of this afternoon, Blizzard made it official: There will be no BlizzCon 2020. This is an update to a previously-released statement that said they'd be considering the future. Now it's become a more solid understanding that BlizzCon 2020 will, indeed, be cancelled outright. This does not mean that future BlizzCon events will be held, only that here in 2020, there will be BlizzCon whatsoever.
Goodbye productivity, it was nice knowing you - Diablo II was tipped to be re-released in a remastered edition for later this year. A report this week suggests that the game Diablo 2: Resurrected will be developed by the support studio for Destiny 2. If this is true, Blizzard Entertainment will likely bring some big heat to the game in the next few weeks and months preceding the release of the game - one of the most massive online games to ever ruin your highschool years due to its higher-than-average ability to keep you addicted to the realm.
Despite the fact that many people are working from home, Blizzard has managed to serve up a new PTR patch release for its Overwatch game, one that focuses entirely on communication. The team explains that Overwatch's Communication Wheel has been updated; players now have the opportunity to customize the responses they have quick access to, say new phrases, and more.
Those currently in quarantine are largely turning to streaming movie services and video games to stay entertained. One persistently popular game with a number of players who will sign in this weekend is World of Warcraft, which just added a special perk for players who are staying indoors. As of Friday and lasting through late April, Blizzard is giving players a big experience buff.
In recent days, Overwatch League announced that it had rescheduled certain matches that had originally been set to take place in China, but that had to be canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak. The makeup matches were rescheduled to take place in South Korea, but now the league has been forced to cancel those matches, too, as the virus spreads into the nation.
Around two years since we last heard rumors about the show, it has been all but confirmed that an anime based on Diablo is heading to Netflix. This project has been in the pipeline for years, at least based on when the rumors first started surfacing. Joining the new details is a small teaser about an animated Overwatch series, as well, though it's unclear whether it, too, will end up on Netflix.
Blizzard may have been getting a lot of flak lately for its failure to reinvigorate the classic WarCraft III through its Reforged remaster but that is just one of the recent high-profile flops the game developer has made. More than a decade ago, it called quits on what could have been a major milestone for Blizzard's entry into the console space but, after years of delays, StarCraft: Ghost was eventually canceled. Now thanks to the magic of the Internet and some brave source, the public is getting a taste of what the game on the Xbox could have been.
Overwatch League, the professional esports league that was forced to cancel a number of matches in China over the novel coronavirus outbreak, has announced that it will hold makeup matches for those events in South Korea. The decision to hold these matches in Seoul was made 'in order to protect the health and safety of our fans, players, and staff,' according to the league.
It was only a week ago that GeForce Now launched to the masses, but at a time when momentum is crucial, the service is suffering a big blow. NVIDIA has revealed that Activision Blizzard will be pulling all of its games from the service. We're not sure why the company has decided to drop support for GeForce Now, but we do know that players aren't happy about it.
Remasters both excitement and dread for fans. There's the anticipation of updated content for modern sensibilities coupled with the dread that things will never be the same again. That was what WarCraft III fans may have felt with the announcement of the Reforged remaster and, unfortunately for both fans and Blizzard, the release delivered mostly the latter. Now the studio is addressing some of the concerns raised while not so openly giving disillusioned buyers a chance to get their money back.
There's no pleasing everyone and that's particularly true in the entertainment industry. It's true for movies and TV shows and definitely for games. Sometimes, however, a game bombs so spectacularly that there are not enough words for it. So, instead, it gets the lowest possible user rating on Metacritic, despite WarCraft III: Reforged pedigree of being "remastered" from one of the most popular Blizzard games of all time.