Hammond is one of the better hamster names in history, miles ahead of Squeaks, Furball, or whatever else children name their pets.
Despite this, the Overwatch team insists on officially calling the game’s newest hero “Wrecking Ball”, a name that sounds more befitting of a GI Joe action figure or a good (fight me) but played-out Miley Cyrus song. Players are not pleased about this.
The name, many players contend, lacks flair compared to other Overwatch codenames.
“Put simply: Wrecking Ball is generic and uninspired, like a WIP name with no real charisma or individuality,” wrote a player named d3fin3d to kick off a thread that got nearly 24,000 upvotes on Reddit.
“It would be like naming Bastion ‘Tank,’ D.Va ‘Mech,’ or Zenyatta ‘Robot.’”
They also accurately pointed out that everybody has already taken to calling the hamster by his given name, Hammond. In another thread, hundreds of people said they will probably just call him Ham or Hammond when he leaves the PTR and joins the live game.
“Ham” and “Hamster” make for easier call-outs in the thick of battle than Wrecking Ball, too.
And let’s not forget that Winston, Overwatch‘s original talking outer space animal, is just called Winston.
There is, of course, inherent comedy to calling a diminutive fluff creature Wrecking Ball. But the death mech and its deep, dispassionate voice already do the heavy lifting in terms of pairing a cute thing with threatening overtones.
Plus, Wrecking Ball makes him sound like a monster truck. “SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY,” wrote a player named Alefnull.
But, others contend, that’s the point. According to Blizzard’s holy tome of hamster lore, Hammond used the name Wrecking Ball while competing in a mech battle called the Scrapyard, which was hosted by Junkrat and Roadhog’s people, the Junkers.
“Picture yourself at Monster Jam,” wrote a fan named IronLionMan. “Engines revving and roaring. The announcer introduces, ‘WRRRECKING BALL!!!’ That’s the vibe of the Junker arena and the vibe Blizzard are going for. Now imagine, WRRRECKING BALL!!! vs. Hammond. You see how lame Hammond sounds in comparison.”
If nothing else, you’ve gotta admit that Wrecking Ball is high-concept nomenclature. Nobody’s gonna misunderstand what he does.
As for the Overwatch development team, they’re sticking with Wrecking Ball. When Overwatch League player Brandon “Seagull” Larned pointed out that everybody’s calling him Hammond during an on-stream developer discussion, lead designer Geoff Goodman didn’t seem too troubled.
“I’m OK with that,” Goodman chuckled. “I’ve come to terms with it.”
Comments
18 responses to “Call Overwatch’s Hamster Hammond, You Cowards”
I call him Hammond…
Richard Gere calls him darling…
IMO, by far the best hamster name in all of pop culture is SPG (Special Patrol Group). Vivien’s hamster in the Young Ones, with his bad attitude, unusual appetite and strong Scottish accent was as epic as they get. Hammond is pretty good too, though.
My friend, you’re 100% right. There’s opinion and then there’s fact. SPG being the best hamster name in pop culture is *fact* 🙂
“I’ll see you later you little wimp!” which he calls out to Vivian as he rises to heaven, was an absolute crackup 😀
The whole idea of a sassy hamster as a character seems a bit twee.
If it wasn’t Overwatch, I’d agree. But the excessive work they do in building the mythology keeps the overall tone in check, so they get a pass from me.
And you call yourselves gamers. He shall hence forth be named after the greatest hamster in gaming history!
“GO FOR THE EYES BOO! GO FOR THE EYES!
Has anyone called him hamtaro yet?
It is clearly Richard Hammond from Top Gear.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/06/25/article-2008204-0CBB6A3200000578-343_634x419.jpg
I mean, you’re talking about someone who’s seen exactly what else the fandom could be doing with his creations.
He was probably just relieved that he hasn’t seen any porn of the character yet.
(Give it time, Goodman. Give it time.)
I prefer calling him “Annoying little shitball that’s ruining Overwatch”.
Another reason for calling him Wrecking Ball is it puts him next to Winston on the hero page – rather than between the Shimada brothers
Because no one would surrender to the “Dread Pilot Hammond”.
So basically Ponyo, but in Overwatch chat?
all i can think of is Richard ‘The Hamster’ Hammond from Top Gear. i assumed the name was a nod to that to be honest.
I plan to call him Hamtaro when he launches
I kinda wish they’d gone with “Harvey” as a nod to Weird Al’s hamster and it’s associated theme song.
I just call him Richard and hope the next hero is going to be Captain Slow.
All Hammond makes me think is that the hamster is british and crashes his vehicles. He also likes things from the USA.
I’ll call him Hamsterdam, and you’ll just have to deal with that.