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Blizzard's Overwatch upholds racial diversity
By MATTHEW ARCILLA
Ever since it was announced at BlizzCon last year, Overwatch has attracted attention not just for its promise of team-based competitive action but its colorful cast of characters.
The first new IP for Blizzard Entertainment in nearly two decades, Overwatch is set in a world where heroes and villains do battle in the streets. Their colorful roster includes an Indian quantum engineer, bespectacled gorilla, a British teleporting aviatress, a transcendental robot monk, and an Egyptian heavy trooper, among others.
At PAX East this year, Blizzard announced two new heroes to add to the previously announced twelve: a deadeye gunslinger named McCree and a Russian bodybuilder named Zarya.
McCree is the ultimate realization of the gunslinger archetype in Overwatch's fanciful futuristic setting. In addition to dressing the part in a cowboy hat and spurred boots, McCree has the ability to reload while dodging and lock in to fire upon multiple targets.
Zarya on the other hand, is a champion weight lifter turned do-good defender. Zarya carries a powerful but short range particle cannon with two firing modes, and the ability to create a gravity surge that pulls her foes into a single spot.
While positive reactions were had for both characters, Zarya's was the most noteworthy, with comments praising her visual design. Neoseeker's Lydia Sung writes, "Taking into account how rarely we get to see a female character whose design accurate reflects her personality and gameplay style, consider me more than interested in Overwatch."
"[Zarya] doesn't represent what many would describe as the "typical" female video game character -- you know, the typical big chest, narrow waist look with long flowing hair," writes The Mary Sue's Victoria McNally. "For a game like Overwatch, which is set in this fantasy universe, I like to see unique character designs. If we can have an ape that talks, why not have a former female bodybuilder?"
“We’ve been hearing a lot of discussion amongst players about the need for more diversity among video games – gender diversity, racial diversity, diversity along lines of what country people are from,” said Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan. “But there’s also talk of diversity in different body types and not everyone wants to have the exact same body type represented. We're listening and we're trying hard. We hope Zarya is a step in the right direction and proof that we are paying attention.”
Kaplan's comments echo a previously announced commitment to diversity and representation by Blizzard and Overwatch team. At last year's BlizzCon, Chris Metzen, Blizzard's senior VP of story and franchise development said that Overwatch is indicative of a change in how Blizzard thinks about and designs its heroes.
"We've heard [from] our female employees and ... even my daughter tools me out about it," Metzen said. "We were looking at old Warcraft stuff on YouTube, a cinematic ... and my daughter is like, 'Why are they all in swimsuits?' And I'm like 'Ugh, I don't know, honey.'
"I think we're clearly in an age where gaming is for everybody," he continued. "We build games for everybody. We want everyone to come and play. Increasingly, people want to feel represented, from all walks of life, boys and girls, everybody. We feel indebted to do our best to honor that."
"We want that to be a part of who we are, what our brand looks like and appears to our community. Mike [Morhaime] talked in a roundabout way to that in his speech this morning. So it's something we're very cognizant of. We want girls to feel kick-butt, equally represented."
You can learn more about Overwatch at their official website. Blizzard also announced at PAX East that the game would be entering closed beta sometime in the fall, which for us non-Americans is basically around the last quarter of the year. — TJD, GMA News
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