In the spirit of Autism Acceptance Month, your local aspie is coming to you to talk about (the lack of) autistic representation in video games.

Update: We have a closer look at Maximilien.

Blizzard released another teaser giving us a closer look at Maximilien. The Overwatch strike team is surveiling the streets of Havana looking for Doomfist’s accountant, Maximilien.

Overwatch Archive: Retribution took us to Rialto-Venice, Italy and Uprising took us to Tracer’s first mission in King’s Row, London. Is Havana next?

Toxicity in gaming is a huge problem. Fortunately, some developers, like Blizzard, are taking measures to reduce problematic behavior in gaming.

At the 2019 Game Developers Conference, Blizzard research developer Natasha Miller said toxicity in Overwatch is down 40 percent since last year. They attribute the decline in “problematic behavior” to the in-game measures Blizzard implemented in 2018.

Baptiste is Overwatch Hero 30

On February 19, Blizzard released a teaser video of Sombra hacking into Talon’s system, uncovering a classified document—Subject: Cuerva Strike Team - Log Recovered. The document detailed a mission to Haiti to apprehend or kill their former team member, Jean-Baptiste Augustin.

On February 19, Blizzard released a new assault map for Overwatch: Paris.

The Paris map is a beautiful, futuristic map full of small, winding streets and corners, like the modern city itself. The city looks to have been abandoned due to Omnic-Human tensions. There are wanted posters for various Omnics inside the police station.

Activision Blizzard had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad 2018 despite reporting record profits. Sadly, 2019 is not shaping up to be better. Almost every move Activision Blizzard made in 2018 was a misstep. To sum up the damage:

• BlizzCon 2018, reveals a beloved franchise, Diablo is going mobile with Diablo: Immortal, causing outrage and a petition signed by 45,000 to cancel the project

• August 2018, released latest World of Warcraft expansion, Battle for Azeroth, widely held as a step backwards from Legion.

Since its release in 2016, Blizzard Entertainment’s critically acclaimed Overwatch has only increased in popularity, even as its embattled parent company Activision shifts its focus to mobile gaming.

Blizzard is known for creating the immersive, addictive epic MMO World of Warcraft as well as the cult favorite RPG, Diablo and the digital card game Hearthstone. But in 2016 Blizzard took a risk in venturing into first-person shooter territory with the release of Overwatch, the FPS with some MOBA tendencies.

Just before Christmas, Ellie was signed to Overwatch minor leagues, Overwatch Contenders with Second Wind. After receiving threats of doxxing, Ellie stepped down from the league after only 11 days.

On December 21, a professional female gamer, Ellie, tried out for Overwatch Contenders and made the league. Three days later, Ellie tweeted “screenshots that had been passed to her showing a coordinated effort in a Discord room to doxx her.”

At Blizzcon 2018, Blizzard unveiled a new Overwatch hero that no one knew they were even working on. Ashe, who leads the Deadlock Gang, is typical of the Western cowgirl villain. Ashe looks to be a fun hero to play who will likely be able to counter Pharah, Widow and Genji. Cool.