By C’loni Bailey (Asst Manager Bookmans Mesa)

This summer saw the release of many new games that took the gamer population by storm, including Overwatch and Pokémon Go. Taking the competition by storm, sweeping through schools, parking lots and locking people into their screens, games from Blizzard Entertainment and the world-loved Pokemon Go have people buzzing about. Here are some of the latest updates:

Overwatch

Released in May, the Blizzard Entertainment team-based shooter game was an immediate best seller, drawing in a ton of new players and devastating their competition (sorry Battleborn!). Shortly after launch, Blizzard introduced Competitive Play mode to Overwatch, allowing skilled players to fight in ranked matches throughout a competitive season (approximately 2 1/2 months long) and test their skills against their peers.

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In most recent news, Overwatch has revealed their newest character: Ana. Ana Amari is a support sniper with the ability to heal her allies by shooting them with Biotic Darts and throwing Biotic Grenades. She can also put enemies to sleep with Sleep Darts and boost her allies’ speed and damage with a Nano Boost.

Story wise, Ana was a member of the first Overwatch organization and is Pharah’s mother. Their relationship is somewhat strained with Ana disapproving of Pharah’s choice to join Overwatch. It was her wish that her daughter live a life of peace yet Pharah wanted to follow in her mother’s footsteps and join the global peacekeeping force. It will be interesting to see how their relationship plays out through  the in-game dialogue.

The release date for Ana has not yet been announced but players suspect it will be over the next couple of months.

World of Warcraft: Legion

In other Blizzard news, the latest expansion for World of Warcraft, Legion, is set to drop on August 30th. Players can currently pre-order the expansion and enjoy the immediate benefits of boosting one of their characters to level 100. Any character that is level 60+ that is boosted will also enjoy the added benefit of having their Profession Skills boosted to level 300, as well.

The Legion pre-expansion patch will most likely drop in the next couple of weeks, where changes to the game will be made in preparation for the release of Legion. The patch will include a graphics update, changes to classes, talents and glyphs, professions and a user interface. Players will have to wait until the actual game drops in order to try out the new Demon Hunter class and content, but the beta is currently ongoing. Check your e-mail: if you’re a lucky gamer, you might just get an invitation!

Pokémon Go

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Even if you’re not a gamer, there is no doubt that you have heard all about Pokémon Go recently. Launching less than two weeks ago, Pokémon Go has already out stripped Twitter, Tinder, and several other popular apps in number of downloads and active users.

Nintendo has announced some new features they plan to add to the incredibly popular game. Some of these potential features include: a better Pokémon tracking system (the current system can be a bit confusing and imprecise), trading and battling with friends, special events, and Legendary Pokémon. There is still no release date or details for these new features, but rest assured you’ll hear all about them when they come out, even if you don’t want to, gamer or not.