Latest news with #Overwatch2
Express Tribune
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Overwatch 2 launches new Loverwatch dating sim with more characters but only in select regions
Blizzard has launched a new version of its Loverwatch dating sim in Overwatch 2, allowing players to interact with additional characters, but the event is currently exclusive to Chinese servers. Loverwatch first appeared in 2023, letting players date characters such as Genji and Mercy in a browser-based mini-game, including a secret Cupid Hanzo ending. The spinoff mode received positive reception, with many players requesting its return in the main game. The newly announced Loverwatch update expands the playable roster, adding characters including Lifeweaver, Mauga, Juno, Junker Queen, Cassidy, and Genji, all featured in new artwork and a trailer. Characters appear in themed attire, giving them a different look outside of their standard in-game skins. However, the update is currently only accessible within China. Users on social media noted that to play the dating sim, players must register for the Chinese Overwatch 2 server, providing national ID and phone verification. Content on these accounts does not transfer to international servers, limiting access for players outside China. Overwatch 2 returned to China in February 2025 after a two-year absence due to a licensing issue, offering various in-game events and rewards upon its re-entry. It remains unclear whether this Loverwatch update is exclusive to the Chinese community or if Blizzard plans to release the mode globally in future updates. Players outside China have expressed hope that the expanded Loverwatch event may arrive on international servers for future seasonal events, potentially by Valentine's Day next year.
Express Tribune
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Overwatch 2 director says Blizzard is interested in a TV series
Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller has stated that Blizzard is interested in producing a TV series for the game and bringing back animated shorts. Keller shared these comments while speaking with Twitch streamer Jay3, where he discussed the future of Overwatch 2's story following the cancellation of its PvE content. Keller said the team would 'love to do that' when asked about a potential TV series for Overwatch 2. He also noted, 'Even more than just a TV series, one of the things we see or hear our players talk about is Overwatch has dropped the ball when it comes to story and lore.' Blizzard previously released animated shorts to introduce heroes and expand the game's universe before the launch of the first Overwatch. While Overwatch 2 has had some shorts, they have been less frequent, and Keller expressed a desire to increase their presence. 'For me, personally, for us to say that Overwatch 2 is firing on all cylinders, we need to have some of those [shorts] come back,' Keller said during the discussion. Reports cited by journalist Jason Schreier have indicated that an Overwatch TV series was previously in development along with series for Warcraft and Diablo, but plans were cancelled following legal disputes between Blizzard and Netflix.
Time of India
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
"It's all business and marketing": Fans respond as Ludwig reveals shocking video message from Luka Dončić
Image via: x/LudwigAhgren In a turn of events mixing sports and streaming culture, Twitch streamer Ludwig Ahgren started a firestorm of responses online after revealing a video message from NBA star Luka Dončić . The video is being considered by many as a sincere apology from Dončić for having to miss Ludwig's Basketball Jam event, but others view the message as a calculated move, which leads to fan theories and meme creation on the internet. A Tournament With a Twist Ludwig's Basketball Jam 2025, on July 12, is no typical sports event. The tournament unites six teams consisting of only content creators and internet personalities in a basketball face-off. The event will be streamed live and thrown open to fans, free, first-come first-served, a trademark Ludwig mix of accessibility and showmanship. In the excitement, Ludwig caught fans off-guard even more when he aired a recorded message from Dončić on a recent stream. Fan Split: Real or PR? Though many fans commended the act, labeling it 'wholesome' and 'unexpectedly sweet,' others weren't so sure. One Redditor encapsulated the doubtful camp with the comment, 'It's all business and marketing.' Others pointed out that the clip came off as a strategic PR play, particularly given Dončić's increasing prominence in the esports and streaming worlds. Fueling the crossover chatter, another fan brought attention to Luka's gaming skills, noting that he's one of the top 500 ranked Overwatch 2 players. For some, this was eyebrow raising, was this message a connection between his gamer self and his athlete celebrity? Ludwig's Genius Move? Whether it was genuine friendship or business coalition, Ludwig's choice to broadcast the missive accomplished its objective: it got attention. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like [지원]여성 갱년기 영양제 무료증정 이벤트로 신청자 몰려.. 소나무 더 알아보기 Undo Famous for blurring the lines between online entertainment and real-world events, Ludwig once again demonstrated why he's leading the way in streamer-hosted spectacles. By engaging a sports hero like Dončić, even in his absence, Ludwig's tourney has already gone viral before tip-off. If nothing else, the viral video is a reminder of our increasingly intertwined world of sports, gaming, and content creation. For real-time updates, scores, and highlights, follow our live coverage of the India vs England Test match here. Catch Manika Batra's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 3. Watch Here!
Time of India
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Overwatch 2 Stadium patch notes: New update buffs DVa and Junkrat, nerfs Kiriko
Game developer Blizzard just released a fresh Stadium patch for Overwatch 2 on July 9, 2025. This update focuses on balancing several heroes in the fast-paced Stadium mode. While some got stronger, others were toned down to improve overall gameplay. From DVa's stronger slam to Kiriko's reduced clone power, here's everything that changed. DVa and Junkrat among the biggest winners DVa got a buff to her Tokki Slam, which now deals more damage. This should make her a stronger pick during close fights. Junkrat received multiple improvements. His cash income from damage and healing went up by over 11 percent. His Hop Boom now deals more damage, and Rainin' Lead fires more frequently. Items like Lithium Alloy and Fawkes' Funny Fuel also got a power boost, improving his overall damage and healing abilities. Nerfs for Kiriko, Juno and Ana Kiriko took a clear hit. Her Clone Conjuration now heals and damages much less than before, although its duration has been increased. Juno's Hyper Healer got weaker as the Overhealth dropped from 100 to 75. Ana also saw changes. Her 'Our Turn' power now reduces cooldown for less time, while 'My Turn' and' Your Full Potentia'l give stronger buffs. Her Venomous damage was raised too. NEW STADIUM PATCH NOTES! 🚨🦊 Kiriko - Clones will have reduced damage and increased duration 🐀 Junkrat - will cause more mayhem and earn more cash👩🚀 Juno - Hyper Healer has decreased overhealth✨ And so much more!📝 Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) July 8, 2025 NEW STADIUM PATCH NOTES! 🚨🦊 Kiriko - Clones will have reduced damage and increased duration 🐀 Junkrat - will cause more mayhem and earn more cash👩🚀 Juno - Hyper Healer has decreased overhealth✨ And so much more!📝 Zenyatta gets tweaks, Mei and others see changes Zenyatta's Dual Harmony healing reduction was slightly lowered, and his orb effects now last longer. His ultimate meter cap also got a boost. Mei's Twice As Nice now resets her snowball cooldown, letting her launch attacks more often. This patch is aimed at making Stadium mode more balanced and fun. With stronger builds for Junkrat and DVa, and fairer tweaks to support heroes like Kiriko and Zenyatta, the July 9 patch brings a more competitive edge to the mode. Keep testing different heroes and see how the changes affect your playstyle.
CNET
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CNET
Marvel Rivals Season 3: Our First Look at Phoenix Had Me Screaming 'WHAT?!'
As Marvel Rivals gets ready to kick off season 3 next week, we're getting our first glimpse at some of the upcoming changes. And, with respect to my poor beleaguered Blade bros, the biggest news for me is that Jean Grey, original member of the X-Men and sometimes terror of the cosmos, is joining the roster as Phoenix. There's plenty more coming, including Blade in Season 3.5 next month, but Phoenix is the headliner for me, and here's our first look at what she can do. Phoenix's abilities in Marvel Rivals Phoenix joins as yet another duelist -- an already oversaturated role, but one that feels appropriate for her. She brings a mix of area-of-effect damage that can help chew through groups of enemies as well as mobility that lets her flit around the battlefield to find flank angles. Phoenix's primary fire appears to instantly apply damage to enemies with no travel time (aka hitscan) and apply some kind of flame stacks to opponents, represented by up to three flame icons above their characters. In the trailer, heroes appeared to detonate when hit at full stacks, releasing a burst of additional damage around them. Her alternate fire sends a rapid-fire burst of flame that creates a series of small explosions, similar to Hela's alternate fire. In the trailer, we see it used on a group of enemies with maximum flame stacks to detonate everyone and effectively burst down the entire opposing team at once. I can't tell you exactly what's happening here, but whatever it is, it looks fun. Marvel/Screenshot by Adam Benjamin Her first ability is a quick dash. In the trailer, Phoenix uses it to jump backward, dodging an enemy Venom looking to crash down on her. Her second ability appears to be a limited-duration flight, allowing Phoenix to freely fly around the battlefield for a few seconds. The flight is on a resource meter that recharges while Phoenix isn't flying. Phoenix's ultimate is what made me scream. I've watched the trailer several times and my best description of how it appears to work is, "You crash to the ground, kill everyone in your way and explode." And I mean everyone -- in the trailer, we see Hela in her ultimate, wherein she flies up into the sky and her health jumps up to 1,000 HP, get erased when Phoenix ults through her. In addition to also killing Rocket and Psylocke in one shot, the ultimate also clears deployables like Rocket's rez beacon and Peni's nest while whittling Peni herself and Groot down to a sliver of health in the explosion. Lore accurate Phoenix? Marvel/Screenshot by Adam Benjamin A mobile hitscan hero who with a stacking mechanic and a meteoric ultimate? Yeah, sign me up. Between this and Overwatch 2's Freja, this longtime support/strategist main may have officially turned into a damage/duelist main. When does season 3 start? Marvel Rivals season 3.0 is scheduled to start on Friday, July 11 UTC. Typically, this involves servers going down for a few hours around midnight PT before being turned back on for the new season in the very early morning. Marvel/Screenshot by Adam Benjamin What about Blade? Haven't we waited enough? Rivals continues to make Blade fans wait, since that hero won't be added to the roster until season 3.5. But at least that's only a month away under the new season structure. Rivals season 3 balance changes In the Dev Visions vol. 7 video, Rivals devs gave us a quick breakdown of the upcoming balance changes, though we're still waiting on full details from official patch notes. Here's the quick breakdown, with any confirmed details in parentheses. Buffs: Venom Thing (gains a new ability to jump to enemies, possibly knocking down fliers) Namor (primary fire) Scarlet Witch (ultimate) Invisible Woman (healing efficiency) Mantis (healing and ultimate utility) Nerfs: Emma Frost Iron Man (poke potential) Punisher (turret) Mister Fantastic (survivability) Loki (ultimate charge) Ultron Phoenix adds some literal firepower to Wolverine's attacks with the new team-up. Marvel/Screenshot by Adam Benjamin Team-up changes Rivals is adding two new team-ups, tacking heroes onto two existing ones and removing two others (Storming Ignition and ESU Alumnus) from the game. It's also nerfing another. Here's the quick rundown: New -- Primal Flame: Phoenix anchors to add damage over time and lifesteal to Wolverine's attacks after his leap. New -- Ever-Burning Bond: Human Torch anchors to let Spider-Man shoot a burning web with a flaming tracer. (The flaming tracer stacks with Spidey's regular tracers, devs said.) Updated -- Symbiote Shenanigans: Adds Hela, giving her Soul Drainer Hel Sphere slowing tendrils. Updated -- Stark Protocol: Adds Squirrel Girl, giving her an explosive, homing gauntlet. Updated -- Guardian Revival: Devs said they'd be nerfing some element of the Guardians' team-up. Other things coming in season 3 The battle pass is getting some adjustments to account for shorter seasons. Battle passes still offer 10 skins, but you'll earn tokens at a faster rate to make it easier to progress through the entire battle pass in the shorter time period. Daily missions are also going away, with weekly missions shifting to permanent quests instead of being time-limited. Seasonal missions that offer large batches of tokens are also being added. Rivals devs also announced a new competitive mode coming in season 3.5 but said we'd have to wait for any details about it. The game is also adding accessories (which appear to be animated stickers that float above the KO notifications), new chroma options and visual effects for ultimate abilities. Perhaps the nicest quality of life change is the ability to mix & match MVP animations with any skins, instead of having certain MVP animations locked to specific skins. Rivals needs a win Season 3 is a major turning point for the hero shooter, marking the start of its new two-month seasons where we'll be getting new heroes every month -- one at the start of the season and one at midseason. The new cadence is an aggressive pace for expanding the game's roster, and threatens to keep the metagame churning even faster, assuming those new heroes are relevant at launch. That's important because Rivals has been bleeding active players since launch. Based on SteamDB data, the start of each new half-season brings in fewer players than the previous. (For example, fewer players joined for season 2.5 than for 2.0.) Most games lose players over time, but for a live-service game, that kind of consistent drop is bad news because it means fewer players coming back each season to spend money on battle passes and cosmetics. And while Rivals was a hit at launch, the game has struggled with player retention, whether it's due to in-game toxicity, role-based infighting, frustrating metagames or just generally losing the luster of being a brand-new game. How do you fix that? Not easily, that's for certain. But adding an iconic member of the original X-Men and giving her fun gameplay in the form of mobility and unique mechanics can sure help. I'll tell you this much: It's working on me.
