Although it's listed as being in Beta, full cross-play support for Overwatch is now live on all platforms - PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. To enable the new feature players will need to create a Battle.net account (or use their existing accounts) and then link-up their consoles.

From there you'll have access to the feature and the expanded goodness of a bigger friends list and group of people to play with.



Even though a Battle.net account is required the whole process is fairly straightforward. You can simply scan a QR code on the console versions of Overwatch and do the whole link deal via the Battle.net mobile app or browser.

For full details head here. As an added bonus players will receive one Golden Loot Box on all platforms they play on. Though on that front there are currently no plans for cross-progression -- at least that we can see.

We've seen the networking room at Blizzard HQ in Irvine, Ca. where all the stress-testing magic comes together to ensure millions upon millions of fans can play their Blizz title of choice in the best connected environment possible. It's an unassuming part of the campus, but is perhaps one of the most important.

Today, Blizzard revealed that as part of its networking setup for Overwatch it would be introducing cross-play. This future-proofing move should not go unstated, as this is a keen first step for a number of reasons, but most of all it services OW fans across the platform board. And in addition to this, Blizz also revealed some welcome changes to Battle.net.

On the Overwatch front, all you need to do is link your console accounts to your Battle.net account to enable cross-play, which will be launching soon for PC, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch and Xbox. Here's a handy link showing just how to do the above in anticipation of ganking your lowly console pals being able to all play together, regardless of platform.

And as alluded to, the Battle.net change will be merging friends lists into a single list not geo-locked (barring China, which remains a separate region). Again, this might be reading too much into it all, but we think Blizzard might be prepping for a borderless world when it comes to gaming in the future from your platform of choice. These changes will also be positives for other non-Blizzard games that also use the platform.

“We realized some time ago that our players would be better served by a global Battle.net that did away with the concept of regions,” says Jeff Allison, Lead Product Manager for Battle.net. “But breaking down these barriers was a significant engineering task. Now that we’ve done it, we look forward to a future where all Battle.net players can communicate and game together no matter where they are.”

Battle.net’s global updates also include cross-platform functionality. This has given our game developers the ability to let you play with others between PC and console seamlessly. Overwatch players will be the first to experience these new cross-play capabilities; for more information, check out this blog.

Oh, and here's a new Battle.net logo, just because.

In somewhat of a shock announcement comes word that Blizzard veteran of 19 years, Jeff Kaplan, is leaving the studio. His contributions to the games from the iconic developer date back many years -- he was a member of both the World of Warcraft team and the cancelled Titan MMO project. Most recently he of course led the Overwatch team as Game Director where he also led development of the upcoming Overwatch 2.

In a statement Jeff wrote the following heartfelt message.

i am leaving Blizzard Entertainment after 19 amazing years.

it was truly the honor of a lifetime to have the opportunity to create worlds and heroes for such a passionate audience. i want to express my deep appreciation to everyone at blizzard who supported our games, our game teams and our players. but i want to say a special thanks to the wonderful game developers that shared in the journey of creation with me.

never accept the world as it appears to be. always dare to see it for what it could be. i hope you do the same.

gg,

jeffrey kaplan

Taking over as Game Director will be another Blizzard veteran and key member of the Overwatch team -- Aaron Keller. As part of the same announcement Aaron expressed his appreciation for Jeff, noting he was a "great leader, mentor, and friend, and he knows how much we’re going to miss him". Adding "I’ve been lucky to work alongside him and the rest of the Overwatch team for many years in building something that continues to inspire people all around the world."

In terms of Overwatch 2, Aaron says that development is continuing at a good pace and that development updates will be coming very soon. And in a humble farewell concludes with, "I have no pretenses about filling Jeff’s shoes, I’m excited to step into the game director role and continue to be part of a team that’s putting all of its heart, talent, and focus into the next iteration of Overwatch, and I’m honored to continue serving this incredible community."

And right there the shock of the announcement is brought to the fore, as Jeff Kaplan has been the public face of Overwatch from a behind the scenes perspective for many years now, where his passion for the universe shone through. No matter if it was a discussion about the Overwatch League, balance changes, or the philosophy behind the universe.

Which is the GeForce-specific bit of latency tech that reduces input lag between actions carried out and actions, well, carried out on screen. As a part of the new GeForce Game Ready Driver, NVIDIA Reflex is available now in the Overwatch Test Region -- where it will become a part of a future update.

In terms of what it can do, here's a chart showcasing the iput latency reduction (in milliseconds) across a range of GeForce GPUs playing in 1440p.

Basically system latency is halved, very cool. NVIDIA notes that this implementation of the technology might be the best to date in terms of performance. NVIDIA Relfex is also available in some of the most played competitive shooters today -- Rainbow Six Siege, Call of Duty: Warzone, Valorant, Fortnite, Apex Legends, Destiny 2, and more.

For the latest GeForce Game Ready Driver -- head here.

Stone by Stone is an original short story focusing on Symmetra, compassion, harmony, and Omnics. We chat with the author behind the new original short story set in the Overwatch universe about the creative process, lore, and more.

A snippet.

AusGamers: Working with Blizzard and on properties like Warcraft and StarCraft, throwing Overwatch into that mix are there any similarities or through lines you’ve found with these very different universes?

Christie Golden: It may sound a bit ingenuous, but honestly, in both franchises I think you can see the love and care that Blizzard gives all its games. I’ve known this for years, of course, but it’s been great to work here and see that attention to the game’s spirit and details of what makes it beloved in action. Otherwise, the fun of it is that they’re so different in subject matter and approach.

AG: Giving voice and dialogue to Satya (Symmetra) and Zenyatta – what discovery did you need to do for these characters to learn about them and their personalities?

Christie: I spoke with the other members of my department who have worked with the Overwatch team to get a sense of the characters. We also have a few cinematics that deal with the Omnics, and a lovely comic about Symmetra. I played the game as well and listened to all the dialogue uttered by these two characters. Finally, as I always do when trying to get a sense of a character, I tried to “get inside their skin” and think like they do. They were a lot of fun to spend time with.

AG: Finding that humanity and those personal stories – as we find in Stone by Stone – is that the goal and how do you balance that with spectacle and the sort of sci-fi/fantasy people expect?

Christie: My professional career spans three decades. And in that time, a lot of themes have resonated with me that I keep picking at, trying to understand them. The joy is, of course, that I never will, it’s the curiosity that keeps me going. One is, what makes good people go down a dark path? Another is what makes some people get up again and again, while others are defeated? A third is the triumph of the human spirit. Each project has its own themes, of course, and I have always been attentive to how I can bring two very different people or cultures to a point of understanding. I also love the imagination that science fiction and fantasy lets me bring to the project. If you’ve read my work throughout the years, you can see these themes winding through all of them to one degree or another.

Our Full Interview with Overwatch Short Story Author Christie Golden

I mean it sort of doesn't make a lot of sense here in Australia (curious to know if any new lines for Junkrat and Roadhog reflect this), though if the weather keeps flipping on its head here... it might even be prophetic. At any rate, Blizzard has released its "Winter Wonderland" update for Overwatch, which features a number of additions to the game.

Here's the official snowball:

It’s time to cosy up with family, friends, and teammates! Winter Wonderland 2020 is now live on PC, Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch. Brand new rewards are available this year, so don’t forget to log in from 16 December to 6 January AEDT/NZDT for a holly jolly cosmetic collection!

NEW BRAWL: 4v4 Freezethaw Elimination

• In addition to Mei’s Snowball Offensive, Yeti Hunt, and Snowball Deathmatch, players will be able to experience the new brawl, 4v4 Freezethaw Elimination!
  
• This new game mode requires one team to completely freeze the other team in order to win.
  
• Players will become frozen when they would normally die.
  
• Teammates can thaw someone by interacting with the frozen player.

WEEKLY CHALLENGES

• Weekly Challenges are back for Winter Wonderland, allowing you to unlock limited-time rewards by winning nine games.
  
• Rewards include an array of player icons, sprays, and Epic skins!
  • Week 1: Elf Junkrat (Epic)
    
  • Week 2: Gingerbread Ana (Epic)
    
  • Week 3: Frosty Roadhog (Epic)

NEW COSMETICS

• Five Legendary Skins:
  • Conductor Reinhardt
    
  • Penguin Mei
    
  • Ice Empress Moira
    
  • Toybot Zenyatta
    
  • Lumberjack Torbjorn
    
  • Three Epic Skins
    
  • Player Icons, Sprays

The new content only runs through until january 6th, so make sure you get in now and ignore your family for the online one like so, so, so many of us prefer to do over the Holidays.

With the Overwatch Summer Games back for another year, Lucioball returns in an improved remixed form with updated mechanics and the addition of… multi-ball! Recently we had the chance to speak to Principal Game Designer, Michael Heiberg on the Overwatch team, to talk about the changes and the continued development on seasonal events as Overwatch enters its fifth year.

A snippet.

“Our original Lúcioball arena layouts have always felt like a missed opportunity to me,” Michael Heiberg tells me. “For two reasons: the original arena layout had very few opportunities for Lúcio to use one of his signatures moves -- wall-riding. You could wall-ride along the map edges, but you often needed to go out of your way to take advantage of the walls. Secondly, the gameplay was the same for all three locations.”

“I wanted players to care about which map they were playing on,” Michael adds. “When I was coming up with ideas for the Sydney layout, my mind kept wandering to ‘roos, which is what eventually led to most of the floor being covered with jump zones.”

Our Full Overwatch Summer Games 2020 Interview

The big Hero Pool experiment for Overwatch is coming to an end, with Blizzard announcing - "We’ve found that the introduction of Experimental Card and increased hero balance updates has helped us work towards a healthy, changing meta in Competitive Play without needing to disable heroes".

As per above the whole Hero Pool deal was essentially a roster that would block out certain heroes for competitive play - a measure taken to diversify the overall meta and team diversity. The reception and overall implementation of Hero Pools was met with some backlash but the goal was something people have been looking at Overwatch for sometime. That is balancing and team composition for competitive play.

Currently there are no plans to bring Hero Pools back, and as for the Overwatch League - "Hero pools in OWL will now last two weeks before rotating, and after each two-week hero pool period, the next two weeks, including the tournament matches, will be played with no hero pool in effect." Which sounds a little confusing but the take-away is that competitive Overwatch won't be placing restrictions on team composition.

"Presented by State Farm", which we assume is an American company that has something to do with something. Anyway, as the Overwatch League's 2020 season gears up for kick-off this weekend - the new Stats Lab tool (currently in Beta) will offer anyone access to statistical data. And more data. And even more data.


Categories are as per below:

Overwatch League Stats Lab: Players

• Match Report
  
• Rate Ranks
  
• Career Totals
  
• Single-Match Records
  
• Single-Map Records
  
• Fleta Deadlifts

Overwatch League Stats Lab: Heroes

• Overwatch League Hero Usage
  
• Overwatch League Historic Hero Usage

Overwatch League Stats Lab: Matches

• Match Stats
  
• Streaks
  
• Quickest Completion Times
  
• Team Map Stats

Overwatch League Stats Lab: Teamfights

• Teamfight Win Rates
  
• Teamfight Win Rate Comparisons
  
• Teamfight Stat Rates
  
• Team First Death Rates
  
• Team First Elimination Rates
  
• Hero First Death Rates
  
• Hero First Elimination Rates
  
• Clutch Final Blows

All stats can be downloaded or viewed via separate interactive tools. For more - head here.

Which introduces Hero Pools to Competitive Play - and is set to go live in Season 21. The change which will see major changes arriving to the meta of Overwatch will be closely monitored by Blizzard, as it will directly control what heroes can or can not be chosen for a particular match. The official Patch Notes highlight how it will work.

Which will rotate weekly, as follows.

New Feature: Hero Pools

We will be introducing Hero Pools starting in Season 21 of Competitive Play. Much like Map Pools, rather than having all heroes available for play at all times, a weekly changing list of heroes will be available. The list will include the vast majority of the hero roster, with only a few being excluded during any given week. We think this feature will help keep Competitive Play interesting, as team compositions will change more frequently during a season.

It is important to note that Hero Pools is a new feature that may not last past this initial season. Throughout the season, we will be adjusting the types of Hero Pools available. In addition, it is possible we will also adjust the frequency with which they change.

Elsewhere Patch 1.45 features some minor changes to how stuns will work with each other, a slew of bug fixes, and several new features added to the Workshop - including three new maps (Workshop Chamber, Workshop Island, and Workshop Expanse) and new actions for players to create with. No major balance changes look to be coming, for the full Patch Notes - head here.

What’s a Hero Pool you might be asking? Based on it being summer and all we wouldn’t hold it against you to think that’s it’s a physical swimming pool where Tracer, Winston, Mei, and others go to cool off. Building off of the recent map pool, which limited players to certain maps, the proposed Hero Pool in Season 21 will disable heroes week-to-week for Competitive Play. A bold move and one that the Overwatch team admits may not persist, depending on how it performs.

That said the reasoning is solid – that being to allow the meta to change from week to week and create more diversity in team composition. According to the announcement the decision of what heroes will be there to select or not there will be handled by the design team and it will be closely monitored to see if the Hero Pool rotation needs to be adjusted via extending the time or reining it in right down to a particular match.

This will affect Overwatch League competition too with Hero Pools set to arrive in the 2020 season. According to the announcement, "Starting March 7, the Overwatch League will make one tank, one support, and two damage heroes unavailable for selection during matches each weekend". In addition to this Blizzard plan to shorten the time-frame between when a patch goes live to when it might appear in an Overwatch League match.

This leads into the next major change coming, related to balance philosophy, and that is the introduction of an Experimental Card across all platforms – including console and Nintendo Switch. Available on the Play screen this will allow the designers to test new changes and balance ideas separate to the PTR system. The team plans to use this as a basis to test potential new system changes that may or may not end up in the live game. The Experimental Card will join the current roster of modes in Overwatch with progress towards Loot Boxes still counted.

Patch 1.45 is also set to beef up anti-cheat efforts and is expected to go live next month. For more, here's the latest Developer Update video where Overwatch Game Director Jeff Kaplan discusses the changes.

With Overwatch set to make its Nintendo Switch debut later this month, the game's director Jeff Kaplan responded to IGN after being asked that question we've all been wondering about. That is, "Which Overwatch character will join Super Smash Bros. Ultimate?"

Of course, the decision is totally up to Nintendo - but the cross-universe potential means it's simply too good of an idea not to happen. Which is probably why Kaplan's response was more of a pitch.

"To the Smash Brothers team, whatever character you want, we love them all. They’re all our babies, you can have any single one of them. We have 31 to choose from."

Though once pushed to pick one, he did put forward everyone's favourite speedster Tracer. Which he then referred to as the game's mascot, as Tracer appears on most Overwatch promotional material and even esports logos.

If the decision were left to us, and there's no universe where that's even a possibility, we'd pick Hanzo. If only to weed out all the Hanzo mains, and put and end to the madness once and for all.

Jokes aside, D.Va.

In a decisive victory over the Vancouver Titans, the Shock swept through the Grand Finals match 4-0. This year the Overwatch League Grand Finals took place in front of a sell-out crowd at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia - with millions more tuning in around the world.

The Shock, led by winner of the league’s 2019 MVP award Jay “Sinatraa” Won predicted a victory and delivered in spades. Though in the world of esports, and sports, this is to be expected. Still, it was quite the victory.

You can watch the highlights from the Grand Final below.



San Francisco Shock's victory marks the end of the Overwatch League’s 2019 season, with the action now put on hold until it picks up again in 2020.

With the Overwatch Bastion’s Brick Challenge live from now until October 1. The event is pretty straight forward too, simply win games and then be rewarded with a new player icon, new sprays, and a new Legendary skin. LEGO Brick Bastion. Hit the jump for details and shots of Brick Bastion.

Plus, watch participating Twitch streams to get even more Bastion love.

PLAY TO EARN

Your wins in Quick Play, Competitive Play, or Arcade will earn you a new player icon, new sprays, and a new Legendary skin: Brick Bastion!

• Win three games: two new player icons
  
• Win six games: two new sprays
  
• Win nine games: new Legendary skin – Brick Bastion

WATCH TO EARN

Watch participating Twitch streamers to unlock even more Bastion cosmetics through 1 October AEST/NZST!

• Watch two hours: one new spray
  
• Watch four hours: two new player icons
  
• Watch six hours: two new player icons and two new sprays

And now, here's Brick Bastion.

After speculation, rumour, and a branded carry case - it's finally official. Blizzard is bringing Overwatch to the Nintendo Switch with Overwatch Legendary Edition. Which, in addition to featuring all modes, maps, heroes, and so forth - will also arrive with Switch-specific controls. As in motion controls.

That we can already see disabling in the options. Ahem. As per the announcement trailer below we do get to see gameplay footage of Overwatch running on Nintendo Switch hardware. And, yeah, it looks great. With the vibrant art style and animation proving to be a great fit for the handheld hybrid.



“Overwatch brings players together to co-operate and compete in a bright and optimistic vision of the future, and we’re looking forward to welcoming Nintendo Switch gamers into the fun,” said J. Allen Brack, president of Blizzard Entertainment. “The Legendary Edition includes more than three years’ worth of content updates and gameplay enhancements, and we’re excited to team up with Nintendo to provide players with new ways to enjoy the full Overwatch experience—including on the go.”

Overwatch Legendary Edition for Nintendo Switch will be available for $69.95 AUD on October 16.

Namely an officially licensed Overwatch branded Nintendo Switch carry case, approved for sale by both Nintendo and Blizzard. A retail release that quickly had it's image removed after appearing online. As listed on Amazon. So the question then becomes, why release an Overwatch carry-case if Overwatch ain't on the switch?

The answer to that - and the one that makes the most sense - is that Blizzard is planning on bringing the game to the platform. Maybe. Possibly. Even though in the past the studio has stated that the Switch hardware might not be up to the task.

That said, Overwatch is one of the most well optimised titles currently on PC - where you don't need a monster of a card to easily get frame-rates in excess of 100 fps.

Anyway, back to the carry-case. Before it's mysterious appearance and then disappearance, the Internet's own Wario64 grabbed the following product images.

Overwatch-themed Nintendo Switch case (PowerA) listed on Amazon https://t.co/5pceXbSUrZ

"Officially Licensed by Nintendo and blizzard entertainment" pic.twitter.com/yfK0YzmLuN

— Wario64 (@Wario64) August 26, 2019

So then, Overwatch for the Nintendo Switch. It sounds pretty good. Worthy of its own officially licensed carry-case. And hey, Diablo 3 on the Nintendo Switch turned out brilliantly.

The eccentric astrophysicist who can manipulate gravity is now live in Overwatch across all platforms as part of the latest game update. A new patch that also introduces Role Queue, the new overhaul to how players will matchmake and queue for both Competitive and Quick Play. Which essentially involves choosing a role - tank, support, or damage.

And then that limits what character you can play based on the class selected. Also, it means team composition will always include two heroes from each role. Competitive Play will see a shake-up to the whole ranking system as a result of the change, which will now cover the three roles separately. It's a pretty major update to the game, one that Blizzard will no doubt be monitoring very closely. For full details, head here.

In regards to Sigma, in addition to excellent character cinematic we got for his big reveal, we've now got a new trailer showcasing his in-game abilities.



Both Role Queue and Sigma are now live on Overwatch across PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Which is saying a lot. 30 characters is nothing to sneeze at (unless you're Super Smash Bros. Ultimate). Blizzard just revealed their newest Overwatch playable character in the tantalisingly-named "eccentric astrophysicist", Sigma and no, this is not the next season of the Bachelor Australia (I deplore knowing that reference and joke, but such is the life of a footy fanatic who watches Foxtel.

Part Doc Ock, Doctor Doom, Isaac Clarke and Professor Farnsworth, Overwatch's latest combatant brings with him a backstory that reflects the recent change in the game's meta, albeit mentally.

Peek inside the mind of an eccentric astrophysicist who hopes to unlock the secrets of the universe, unaware he’s been turning into a living weapon: Introducing Sigma.

Watch his origin video embedded below.

Each year the cosplay on display at BlizzCon showcases just how much talent and dedication goes into bringing classic characters to life. And with franchises like Warcraft, Overwatch, StarCraft, and Diablo - it's no wonder the cosplay community around Blizzard is as vibrant as it is. After a sizable community vote, four teams from NSW, VIC, NZ, and SA have been tasked with bringing specific Overwatch heroes and skins to life.

With Team NSW (Yasemin Arslan, Danielle Debs, and Jarrah Brouwer) tasked with recreating Socialite Ashe and B.O.B.


Team VIC (Stephanie Vander Heyden, Damien Vander Heyden, and Ashleigh Priest) given Shieldmaiden Brigitte.


Team SA (Clare Beaton, Oarin Tremont, and Tim Nicholas) as Greifhardt Reinhardt


And finally, Team NZ (Sanit Klamchanuan, Victoria Gridley, and Johanna Friederike) recreating Lu Bu Reaper.


With the winning team, as voted by the community and a panel of judges being awarded with tickets, airfares, and accommodation to attend BlizzCon this November. Where as part of the celebration they'll be able to showcase their creation in front of tens of thousands of Blizzard fans.

Head the the official site for more info - with the winners set to be announced on October 11. Now, is it just us or does it seem like Team SA got tasked with creating a insanely hard skin.

Being able to go through a replay of an entire Overwatch match is something fans have been wanting to see for quite sometime, and it looks like the wait is finally over. Or, almost over as the new Overwatch Replays feature is currently live on the PC Public Test Realm (PTR) ahead of planned full release across PC and console.

As expected, the team at Blizzard is making sure it's doing things right as players will be able to view replays from any character perspective, vantage point, or even take a birds-eye view of how a particular skirmish played out - with an overlay you can toggle on and off. Which in our case would be to find out exactly how we failed to hold a Capture Point.


Accessing Replays will be straightforward with players being able to view any one of their most recent 10 matches. As with Highlights, Replays will be only be available for the duration of a patch and will reset when a new major update is applied.

For more details on Overwatch Replays, head here.