Blizzard Entertainment is one of those gaming companies that have quite a following as they have World of Warcraft and Starcraft.  Now they have another game without the "craft," but is quite crafty with Overwatch, a new multiplayer first-person that takes place in a very flushed-out future.  This is everything that is known about Blizzard Entertainment's Overwatch Release Date, Rumors, News, and Short Films with Origins and Collectors Editions. 

According to The Verge, Blizzard is releasing a series of animated shorts, starting with one known as "Recall", which is an eight-minute long clip into a backstory of a cybernetic gorilla named Winston.  The short is pretty interesting and feels like some kind of quality that one would expect from an animated short from Pixar, Blue Sky, or Dreamworks. 

Overwatch has a very complicated backstory, and the eight-minute short might raise more questions than answers, which is clearly what it is supposed to do.  From what it sounds like, the game takes place in a world where there was some kind of crisis related to the rise of an artificial intelligence known as Omnic.  An International task force known as the Overwatch was called in to end this crisis, but soon these heroes were not needed for a major war anymore.  As a result, the group soon disbanded after some terrible things happened to them like the destruction of their headquarters, resulting in the death of the leaders.  

The game features squad-based combat with two opposing teams of 6 players each.  I had a chance to try it out at PAX Prime last summer, and I found that the gameplay was typical MMO shooter, but it is the diversity of the characters that really makes this world of Overwatch interesting.  I won't bother giving a list of all the characters, but they are quite unique and all 21 can be seen in deal here. 

The player can be one of four roles.  The first is offense-oriented characters with high speed and attack but low defense.  Second, defense-oriented characters meant to form choke points for enemies.  Third, support characters that provide buffs and debuffs for their allies and enemies respectively, like healing or speed alterations.  The last are tank characters that have a large amount of armor and hit points to withstand enemy attacks.  Players can switch between these types of characters within the game following their death, and this can be used strategically. 

Overwatch is planned for a release on May 24, 2016 on Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.  It is available for pre-purchase on the Overwatch site, with the basic edition with pre-purchase bonuses like a Noire Skin for Widowmaker and early access to the Overwatch Open Beta, 21 heroes, and some Iconic environments like King's Row in London, the Temple of Anubis, and more for $39.99.

The Overwatch Origins Edition comes with the same but includes some in-game goodies as well as 5 Origin Skins including Overgrown Bastion, Security Chief Pharah, Strike-Commander Morrison, Blackwatch Reyes, and Slipstream Tracer.   This is priced at $59.99. 

There is also an Overwatch Collector's Edition which doesn't have a price, but it contains everything in the Origins Edition along with a 76 Statue of Overwatch's former Strike Commander at 12.8" in height, A Visual Storybook, and the Official Soundtrack.