Obsidian will reveal more details and gameplay at a dedicated Direct following the Xbox Games Showcase on June 8th. However, about 11 minutes of new footage courtesy of IGN showcased the player’s journey to the N-Ray Facility to hunt down some Dawn Assassins. On top of improved visuals and animations, it also features several new weapons and a new companion, the bloodthirsty Aza.

The Outer Worlds 2 sees you as an Earth Directorate agent investigating some mysterious rifts that are wreaking havoc in the galaxy. They arrive on Arcadia and must figure out a solution or go down a different path, whether in a strategic, gung-ho or totally dumb fashion. Stay tuned for more details in June.

In fact, with its launch now not terribly far away, Obsidian has announced that pre-orders for the game have now gone live. In addition to a $70 Standard Edition, players will also have the option to purchase a Digital Premium Edition for $89.99, which will also include a digital artbook and soundtrack, two premium in-game skin packs (one of which will be based on Obsidian’s own Pillars of Eternity), and up to five days of early access, starting February 13.

A Steelbook Premium Edition will also be available for $94.99 for those who wish to purchase it physically. In addition to everything included in the Digital Premium Edition, it will also include a map of the Living Lands and a steelbook. The game itself, however, will be included as a download code, rather than on a disc.

Additionally, Obsidian has also announced that on PC, in addition to Steam and the Windows Store, Avowed will also be available via Blizzard Entertainment’s launcher, Battle.net. The developer has also revealed details on the game’s accessibility features and its minimum system requirements on PC.

Avowed launches on February 18 for Xbox Series X/S and PC.

Recently, Activision confirmed that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will get its full reveal on June 8. Interestingly enough, the official Twitter page of Steam quote retweeted the Call of Duty tweet announcing the same, accompanied with a good old googly eyes emoji. Not exactly official, but at this point, it’s as good as confirmed.

This isn’t the first indication we’ve had that the shooter will launch for Steam as well. Recently, artwork of the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was spotted on Steam as well, though it got promptly removed. Read more on that through here.

Of course, one has to wonder whether this is because of Activision Blizzard’s impending acquisition by Microsoft, even though that deal is still underway and won’t be wrapped up before sometime next year. After all, shortly after acquiring Bethesda, Microsoft started bringing all of its games over to Steam, and recently, shuttered the Bethesda Launcher entirely.

Of course, given how widely used Battle.net is, it’s a little unlikelier that that will be similarly shut down, though it would sure be great to see Activision Blizzard games coming to Steam as well.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will be revealed in full soon (with gameplay following at Summer Game Fest on June 9), so it won’t be too long before this is official. The game is out on October 28.

https://twitter.com/Steam/status/1532397079976239106

Blizzard Entertainment has released a big new update for Battle.net, its launcher used for managing various games Activision-Blizzard. The Battle.net 2.0 version provides a nice overhaul to the design language and overall aesthetic, resulting in something a lot more cleaner. It’s currently available for North American players with other regions expected to get it in the coming weeks.

One of the biggest changes of Battle.net 2.0 is that games are now laid out across the top instead of on the left-hand side. You can also use the keyboard to navigate everything efficiently. The Friends list is now permanently affixed on the right side, meaning you don’t have to press an icon to see it separately each time.

Those in North America who haven’t received the update automatically can try out the beta right now. Simply head into Settings, select Beta and choose the “Switch to Beta” option. After the download, simply reboot and you’re in. Stay tuned for more details on when other regions will receive it in the coming weeks.

Bungie dropped the bombshell of the announcement that it would be parting ways with Activision and retaining complete ownership of the Destiny IP earlier today. While there is a lot to parse and even to cheer about, for Bungie fans here, the separation is bound to be more complicated than many would like to believe. Much as many might like to deny it, Bungie and Activision shared a symbiotic relationship.

For instance, Activision studios like Beenox and Vicarious Visions assisted Bungie with developing content and ports for Destiny. Meanwhile, Activision’s Battle.Net launcher and online infrastructure was used to host the PC version of Destiny 2. With Activision and Bungie no longer involved, what will come of those things?

We have an answer to at least one of those questions now. Posting on Twitter, Blizzard’s customer service confirmed that Destiny 2 will continue to be fully supported on Battle.Net. While this doesn’t answer the question about where a PC version of Destiny 3 might go, at the very least Destiny 2 fans can be assured that there won’t be any interruption to their enjoyment of the game on PC.

Destiny 2 will still receive full support on BattleNet and we do not anticipate any disruption to our services or your gameplay experience. https://t.co/FFOE1iae3R

— Blizzard CS – The Americas (@BlizzardCS) January 10, 2019

BlizzCon 2018 kicks off later today and as promised, Blizzard Entertainment has released the Overwatch World Cup Viewer. It can be accessed in the Battle.net launcher via the “Region” drop-down menu. Download it and you’ll have a wider range of spectating options when matches for the Overwatch World Cup go live.

Though it’s currently in beta, Blizzard is working on a permanent version for the future. Speaking about the viewer’s power, the developer said in a blog post, “We’ve taken professional esports observer tools from the big stage and put them in your hands at home so you can curate your viewing experience. Watch live games alongside hundreds of thousands of other players around the world from all of the first or third-person, birds’, or worms’-eye views that are most important to you.”

For shortcuts, go to the Spectate menu of the viewer. Head to the Controls tab in the Settings and you’ll find all the available shortcuts (alternatively, they can be viewed in the official blog post). Some of the options included are the ability to spectate a single player for the entire match, an overhead map with hero icons to see team fights playing out, and much more. Many of the tools are also used by the Overwatch World Cup observer team, so there’s plenty of customization to be had.

After several qualifying stages, the Overwatch World Cup 2018 will conclude at BlizzCon. The quarterfinals will take place on November 2nd, with the semi-finals and finals scheduled for November 3rd.

A whole bevy of social features are coming to Blizzard Entertainment’s Battle.net service. The beta for these features is currently available and they include the ability to finally, finally appear offline.

There’s also something called Blizzard Groups where players can create and join into several different groups, thus offering them a way to keep track of multiple users while also catching up on offline messages. Admins of groups will also have quite a bit of power as they can manage group members and invite people.

As for the “Appear Offline” function, it will show you as offline in your Friends list. You can still send messages to offline friends which they’ll see when they come back online. The function will differ depending on the game, like World of Warcraft where guildmates can see you online.

You can learn more about the new social features here which includes the ability to customize your profile. What are your thoughts on these new options? Let us know in the comments.

Blizzard Entertainment’s Battle.net went through a name shift of sorts last year in September when the company talked about doing away with it. The app was to be called the Blizzard App going forward but that didn’t stop many of us from referring to it as Battle.net.

Now it seems that Blizzard will be using both names. It recently announced that the Blizzard App and Battle.net will be referred to as “Blizzard Battle.net”. In a recent blog post, the company noted that the Battle.net name should stay after giving the change “further consideration” and hearing fan feedback. It also said that with its studio name being referred to as Silicon & Synapse and Chaos Studios in the past, “names are important too”.

Blizzard Battle.net will be visible in the service’s logo and wherever it’s printed in the future. Services will remain the same for all your favourite Blizzard games going forward so you don’t have to worry about that. Let’s see how long this latest name change sticks in the meantime.

Instead of heading to Steam, Bungie’s Destiny 2 will be heading to Blizzard’s Battle.net service on PC. This will make it the first non-Blizzard game to use the service and require the launcher to play.

This announcement was made during the Destiny 2 reveal with Blizzard’s Mike Morhaime making an appearance by video. Right now, it’s still unsure whether the game will make use of dedicated servers like Blizzard’s Overwatch, Diablo 3 and various other titles. One thing’s for sure though – if you wanted it on Steam, it doesn’t appear to be happening.

From an Activision standpoint, this decision makes plenty of sense. Blizzard has a clear foothold in the PC market and using its own PC-centric service for Destiny 2 will allow for easier control.

Destiny 2 will be releasing on September 8th for PC, PS4 and Xbox One. An open beta will arrive later this Summer so stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks.

Blizzard Entertainment’s Battle.net service, used for activating and accessing the developer’s PC games, will be phased out in the coming months. It will be called Blizzard in the coming months though the service’s core aspects will still remain.

In a new post on its website, the developer said, “We’re going to be transitioning away from using the Battle.net name for our gaming service and the functionality connected to it. Battle.net technology will continue to serve as the central nervous system for Blizzard games—nothing is changing in that regard. We’ll just be referring to our various products and services using the Blizzard name instead.

“When we created Battle.net, the idea of including a tailored online-gaming service together with your game was more of a novel concept, so we put a lot of focus on explaining what the service was and how it worked, including giving it a distinct name. Over time, though, we’ve seen that there’s been occasional confusion and inefficiencies related to having two separate identities under which everything falls—Blizzard and Battle.net.

“Given that built-in multiplayer support is a well-understood concept and more of a normal expectation these days, there isn’t as much of a need to maintain a separate identity for what is essentially our networking technology.”

What are your thoughts on this name change of sorts? Let us know in the comments.