Posted Thu Nov 5, 2015 at 06:50 AM PST by Justin Clark
The signs are everywhere.
Blizzard's first crack at an FPS, 'Overwatch', began its closed beta just last week. Everyone who's experienced said beta seems to be very much in love with it, which is making the wait for a public release even more painful. That pain has been double for console-owning folks, who haven't seen a good, accessible class-based FPS of this sort in too long, let alone one developed PC first. Let's not even start on Valve giving console 'Team Fortress 2' the red-headed stepchild treatment.
All might not be lost, however, for the console hopeful. A few hints have been discovered that the shooter may be making the jump sooner than later. The first is that sharp-eyed internet users noticed that the game's European site had a brief mention of 'Overwatch' as "Blizzard’s team-shooter for PC and consoles" in its source code. The blurb has since been removed, but the internet, of course, never forgets.
But, fine, one says. Could be a simple placeholder. Sure. Well, there's also the fact that a fan site called Overpwn has combed through the actual source code for the beta, and found two specific lines hidden in the games programming: "INITIAL_PSN_OR_XBL_AUTH" and "WAITING_FOR_PSN_OR_XBL_AUTH". Which, gosh, look an awful lot like login strings for the game to access Xbox Live and/or the Playstation Network.
This is all bolstered by the fact that Blizzcon just happens to be taking place this weekend and, rather oddly for a predominantly PC-focused event, Microsoft is working directly with Blizzard to present an exclusive livestream of the opening ceremony to the Xbox One. Not to say there's not a crossover audience, especially considering Blizzard brought that stellar 'Diablo III' port to consoles, but still. Not exactly Blizzard's bread and butter crowd. Unless, of course, they had something specific to say this weekend. Which looks, increasingly, like a possibility. We'll just have to wait and see, one supposes. Course, if you own a PC, you could always still try signing up for the closed beta at the official site.
Source: WCCF tech, Overpwn, Eurogamer, Major Nelson
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