As you may have heard, an Overwatch 2 alpha is starting this week, and a closed beta will follow next month. I don’t get to write as much as I once did, but I took some time this morning to ensure you, dear reader, would have the information you need: details on Overwatch 2, a release window for the beta, a link to sign up for access. Journalists are meant to avoid making themselves the story, but just because I did my job, Samoa Joe came at me.
Over on Kinda Funny Games Daily today, Greg Miller allowed professional wrestler Samoa Joe to co-host the program. Being a notable piece of news, Miller covered the story, choosing to read through GameSpot’s coverage of Blizzard’s announcement. Joe, taking exception to the closed nature of the test and his lack of access, decided I was to be the target of his ire.
“This is a rotten news story. I don’t even know why you put these news stories out,” he said. “Hey, guess what, a bunch of people are going to play a game you want to play, and you can’t play it! But, at some point, you can sign up to play it, and maybe we’ll think about you playing it.”
Despite Miller’s insistence that Joe not shoot the messenger, Joe was convinced I have access to this test and only wrote the story in order to flex on people, going on to call me a “scumbag.”
“I know what you’re playing at,” Joe continued. “Listen, Chris, I get it, you have special access to certain things and you feel kind of special about it. So you mock up this news story, telling the world they can’t play something that you can. But you don’t really tell them that you can play it, but they know there are certain individuals–chosen ones–that can. And I bet, Chris, I bet you count yourself among those people. You know, I’ve seen a lot of scumbags in my time, but it’s the quiet ones like you, Chris, the quiet ones like you that I despise the most.”
In response to this attack, GameSpot managing editor Tamoor Hussain said in a statement, “As a fan of Samoa Joe, it’s been a disappointment to see him attack one of GameSpot’s writers in such a savage fashion. And what’s more, he chose to do this on Kinda Funny Games Daily alongside Greg Miller, who has a long history of working in the press and I would have expected to defend Chris more against this vicious act of shooting the messenger. I guess I am not surprised, as Greg has developed a habit of punching down of late, but it’s sad to see an award-winning Trending Gamer throw other members of the community and industry under the bus like this. They always say never meet your heroes. I guess they’re right.”
Clearly, there’s only one way to settle this. Joe may no longer be with WWE, but Wrestlemania is weeks away, so I’m calling on Vince McMahon to give Joe and I the time to resolve this situation in the middle of the squared circle. Put the two of us in a cage–no, Hell in a Cell–where we’ll battle it out (in a 1v1 Overwatch match because I am soft and easily broken, like peanut brittle in the shape of a human.)
I may not have a championship title to put on the line, but what can you do with a belt anyway? I’ll do you one better, Joe–the loser has to buy the winner a copy of Overwatch 2. I’ll be playing it at the same time as you, because believe it or not, we don’t make the news or decide whether a game is getting a closed test, despite the many emails I receive asking me to unban Destiny 2 players or get rid of specialists in Battlefield 2042.
So let’s get a deal struck with WWE, Joe, and find out who the real scumbag is.
