PAX East: Blizzard Introduces Two New Overwatch Characters
PAX East got underway in Boston Friday with some major news for Blizzard upcoming multi-player shooter Overwatch. The company revealed two new playable characters, Zarya and McCree.
Zarya is a Russian soldier with shocking pink hair who is billed as one of the world’s strongest women. According to Kotaku, Zarya is a direct reaction calls for more diversity in video games and maybe a reaction to early criticism of the first-revealed female characters in Overwatch, who tended toward one svelte body type. This is Blizzard’s explanation of the character.
We’ve been hearing a lot of discussion among players about the need for diversity in video games. That means a lot of things. They want to see gender diversity, they want to see racial diversity, they want to see diversity along the lines of what country people are from. There is also talk about diversity in different body types in that not everybody wants to have the exact same body type always represented. And we just want you to know that we’re listening and we’re trying hard and we hope Zarya is a step in the right direction.
Zarya has a particle cannon, particle barrier, projected barrier and graviton surge as her abilities.
Not quite so out to change the world, but still pretty cool looking, McCree is a killer cowboy. His abilities include a peacekeeper cannon, combat roll, flashbang and an ultimate attack called deadeye.
Overwatch is coming to PC and should begin beta testing in the fall.