Upcoming Release (1.3.0), Progress Report VII & Media Frenzy news

The following is the seventh edition of our biweekly progress reports, posted Wednesdays on the Overwatch website. Don't forget! You can now view the latest Overwatch-related news on our portal page.

Anticipation

Don't you just love it? The next seven days are going to be fun.

With the recent release of 1.2.5 and our Resources section, community mappers now have all the tools they need to produce some quality levels for Overwatch. We already have a handful of neat-looking maps being developed (you can track their progress right here) and there are sure to be more once our upcoming level design contest is announced!

So what's new? Overwatch's next major release is nearly ready! With two brand new levels (each with its own unique gameplay), a completely textured Citadel (epic), new music, new enemies, and a long list of added features and improvements, 1.3.0 is sure to be our heaviest update yet, one that deserves a content-packed media frenzy, and just a bit tons of hype!

Here's some of what you can expect to see leading up to the release of 1.3.0:

• October 13, 2010 - Progress Report VII
• October 15, 2010 - Short teaser trailer
• October 16-17, 2010 - Game time with the Devs (1.2.5)
• October 18-20, 2010 - Daily "Spotlight" blogs, showcasing new features to be released in 1.3.0
• October 21, 2010 - Pre-release media (trailer, screenshots, music); Contest announcement
• October 22, 2010 - 1.3.0 RELEASE!
• October 23, 2010 - Live Podcast 17 interview and after-show gaming event (we'll be playing 1.3.0)

Overwatch's development is still a long way from being over, but we feel that the release of 1.3.0 marks the perfect time to start spreading the word. We'll be emailing as many gaming news sites as we can, sending them release details, information about the mod and some promotional media (screenshots, trailer, ..). We'll also be needing your help to contact foreign gaming sites that post news in your language, or even just to help us convince your friends to give Overwatch a try. We'll be posting all the details of how you can help early next week.

In Progress

Overall, the list we posted two weeks ago is still accurate, so we'll skip posting it this week. Expect a brand new list in Progress Report VIII, which will be posted on October 27th.

What's Next?

Unless any big issues come up over the next few weeks, we'll be releasing 1.4.0 fairly quickly. This update will include some big changes to the GM's interface (the Overwatch player) and some of our other core systems, which should help greatly improve the GM's gameplay.

These features and improvements will also make it a lot easier for mappers to build custom levels for Overwatch, and since our level design contest begins on the same day as 1.3.0's release, we want mappers to be able to use the new entities as soon as possible.

We're also all looking forward to the Montreal International Game Summit which is only a few weeks away. Our schedules will be packed, but it sure will be great to be out of the development cave for a few days (it's like a bat cave, but better)!

Don't worry, we'll be sure to record plenty of video footage and take tons of pictures.

We hope you've enjoyed reading this edition of our Progress Reports. Do you think Overwatch's development is headed in the right direction? Let us know!