Blizzard first announced its intention to “decouple” Overwatch 2’s PvP and PvE modes and begin a series of multiplayer-focused betas back in March, and the first of these took place in April. That initial run gave participants a first look at Overwatch 2’s 5v5 gameplay, Push mode, four new maps, new hero Sojourn, and reworkings of Orisa, Doomfist, Bastion, and Sombra. Round two, announced earlier today on Twitter, will shake things up a little further, giving players access to new tank hero Junker Queen and a new map....

Oxenfree character Alex is available for anyone who has progressed beyond the Sketchside biome in the main game. All players need to do is enter the postcode MV32FR33 in OlliOlli World’s Portal Mode. This is in addition to Void Riders, the game’s first expansion where players find themselves skating through levels and performing tricks to an all-new remix of the song Beacon Beach. It’s out now, priced £7.99. Expect to see more OlliOlli World DLC at the end of the year, while we all await a firm release date for Oxenfree’s sequel, Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals....

Fortnite is due to end this Chapter in dramatic style via a one-off live event this Saturday, 4th December at 9pm UK time. But footage revealing a climactic part of the event has now surfaced, apparently via an ad on Tiktok. The advert appears to show a recap of the finale event - including several hugely spoilery snippets - before the words “Fortnite Chapter 3” appear on-screen. A TikTok user claims to have been shown the advert early - apparently as a mistake on TikTok’s part....

By creating a variety of Personas for your main character to use, you can effectively exploit elemental weaknesses of your opponents (such as a variety of tough bosses) as well as survive attacks of your own. Instead of noting every Persona and their possible Fusions - which would be a huge and overwhelming - instead we’ve provided some advice on how to get the best Personas as and when you need them....

In this week’s episode of VR Corner (above), you can watch me put Phasmophobia’s new and improved VR gameplay to the test as I try out a trio of terrifying hunts. Along with support for all major headsets and various bug fixes, update v0.6.00 also makes playing in VR a much less clumsy experience than it was before. One of the most noticable changes is that the walkie-talkie and ghost hunting journal now have dedicated slots on your belt, which is something that removes a lot of the issues players had in the past when it came to grabbing them from their shoulders....

The console’s cost will rise by £30 in the UK and €50 in Europe, to £480/€550, or £390/€450 for the console’s disc-less digital version. Elsewhere around the world, Japan, China, Australia, Mexico and Canada will also see price rises. But the US will not see a price rise at this time. PlayStation boss Jim Ryan confirmed the price hikes this morning, and blamed “high global inflation rates, as well as adverse currency trends, impacting consumers and creating pressues on many industries”....

The show will focus specifically on Gran Turismo 7, due for PS4 and PS5 on 4th March. Expect 30 minutes of new PS5 footage and gameplay details this week. The long-awaited Gran Turismo 7 will include 420 car models and 90 tracks, we found out last month, as Sony has started to crank its marketing machine into gear. We’ve also recently got a good look at classic circuit Deep Forest, which sounds a bit like a Mario Kart track, and the iconic Daytona International Speedway....

Oh, and he’s also the kind of artist that makes a certain kind of person say, “Well, I could’ve done that. Give me a ruler and a bunch of red and black and blue and yellow paint, and I could knock out Mondrians all day.” Look at those elements of the classic Mondrian - again, the grid-based L’Oreal Mondrian that most easily comes to mind. Black lines. Blocks of flat colour....

Liv comes from a computer science background, though has a Masters in journalism up next on the horizon. She’s based in Manchester, and tells me she likes attracting cats and understanding memes. Do keep a look out for Liv’s stories over the course of the summer as she works alongside myself and the rest of Eurogamer’s brilliant news team (and I’m delighted to say Liv’s first story is already live)....

For long-term fans of the series, simply saying “diamond dust” will probably be enough to remember this nod to beloved director and composer Junichi Masuda, seen as the father of the modern Pokémon franchise. As in the original Diamond and Pearl, playing the new Nintendo Switch remakes today will see sparkling “diamond dust” fall from the sky in Snowpoint City. This effect will only appear each year on 12th January, which is Masuda’s birthday....

The rules of the Great League in Pokémon Go apply here - meaning you have to come up with the most effective team possible at 1500 CP and under - however, each Pokémon must be a flying-type. If you’re looking for other Go Battle League recommendations, see our Ultra League page. On this page: The downside, of course, is that we’re picking from a very narrow pool of Pokémon, and because you’ll want to pick Pokémon that are good against other flying-types, the pool condenses further....

Though the game has already introduced Alolan forms in the past, last year Pokémon Go made the unusual step of skipping Gen 7 to focus on Gen 8 first - so it’s good to see the Alola region finally getting the spotlight. When it is released, based on previous seasons, you can also expect to find different Pokémon spawning in the wild depending on which hemisphere you live in, as well as new creatures in Eggs and Raids....

The game’s pandemic era 80m interaction range will now become the game’s “base” interaction level globally, the developer said. (Pre-pandemic, it was 40m.) Niantic announced the news last night to jubilation among fans and numerous high-profile figures in the game’s community who had united in an unprecedented call for Niantic to rethink its plans to ditch the doubled distance in certain countries, after changes went live in the US and New Zealand....

You can earn Watts by completing certain activities, like a Rotom Rally, in the Wild Area and you can also spend them there. Watts can be spent on a variety of items, including Wishing Pieces, and services, such as the Digging Duo. It’s a good idea to collect a large amount of Watts, because many of the items will help you complete the Galar Pokédex. On this page: The first is by investigating the Pokémon Dens scattered across the Wild Area....

A statement from GOG to Eurogamer notes: “by buying the title on GOG you receive two versions of the game, the new and the original one, for the same price as the original was sold before. “The now delisted original version is included with the purchase of Blade Runner Enhanced Edition not as an add-on, but it shows up in your GOG library as a separate game – and both versions will continue to be fully supported....

A 3.5GB update was made available for the game earlier today, Eurogamer spotted. Now, developer Futurlab has confirmed this patch is designed to alleviate the game’s Xbox crash issues. Last week, Futurlab offered an unusual tip to avoid multiplayer crashes - to stop looking at the sun. Apparently, issues with the game’s lens flare visuals were at fault. (It’s also just good advice in general.) PowerWash Simulator has become something of a Eurogamer favourite since its recent arrival on Xbox Game Pass....

The minigame can be accessed through PUBG’s main menu, where it appears as a little arcade cabinet. POBG is based on a pixel art version of PUBG maps (inspired by the work of artist Alexey “Gas13” Garkushin). Having played it for a couple of levels, I have to say, it’s a surprisingly high-quality April fool. Players must shoot their way through “rooms” full of chickens, who parachute from the sky and immediately start firing semi-automatics in your general direction....

Bully 2 would have featured a vastly-expanded playable world three times the size of the original game, where every building could have been entered (legally or via forced entry). Interactions with NPCs would have been influenced by a game-wide morality system, similar to that found in Red Dead Redemption. A new climbing system was also planned, with the ability to scale trees. Around “six to eight hours” of the game were playable, one former employee said, before the project was canned around 2010....

That’s a “sold-in” figure - not “sold-through” to customers. But it’s an impressive milestone for Capcom’s 2017 horror title, which is credited with rejuvenating the long-running series. Resident Evil 7 marked a return to the series’ horror roots, with a shift from the third-person perspective seen in the previous games to a first-person perspective. The changes went down well, and Resident Evil 7 set tills ringing upon release. Capcom said the games recent success was driven by digital sales and “synergies” with follow-up Resident Evil: Village, which launched in May....

As u/raistwalls1 exemplifies on the Overwatch subreddit (thanks, TheGamer), retailers still have copies of Overwatch for both PS4 and Xbox One on sale - on this occasion, it’s priced at $34 - even though the game essentially no longer exists. If you try to run a physical copy of Overwatch now, it’ll install the game but on launch it will transfer to Overwatch 2 which, crucially, is free to play....