Overwatch's Wrecking Ball, AKA Hammond, is live and Twitch Prime members get a headstart on his loot

Overwatch's new hero Wrecking Ball, AKA Hammond the hyperintelligent and totally adorable hamster, is now live on all platforms. Usually a new hero being added to Overwatch means you'll either spend weeks grinding out loot boxes, hoping for drops you can use to customize them amidst a sea of sprays and voice lines for heroes you never pick, or blowing all of your leftover credits on their items. But if you have Twitch Prime, you'll already have a big headstart on kitting out your furry little bundle of destruction: two Wrecking Ball loot boxes are included with your subscription.

These boxes contain the usual selection of four random items, but with a handy caveat: their contents will only be applicable to Hammond. They even have a special look and make a cute hamster chirping noise when you open them! You can claim them by heading to this page, logging in, then hitting the big green button at the bottom.

Here's what I got from my two Wrecking Ball boxes. I think I got pretty lucky with that Legendary skin, though sometimes Blizzard fudges the rarity chances for these promotional boxes.

The second box couldn't compare, but at least it had another skin and some mega-cute sprays.

Wrecking Ball (can't we just call him Hammond) spent just under a month exclusively playable on Overwatch's PC test servers, so hopefully there won't be too many bugs or balance problems right out of the gate. As usual, you won't be able to play as the new hero immediately in competitive mode, with Blizzard giving players some time to get accustomed to Hammond's play style (and how to counter him) before sending him into the big leagues.

Sometimes Overwatch skins are good for more than just looking cool, as the massive charity earnings for Pink Mercy proved. 

Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.