Over the last few months, Overwatch has looked less like a team shooter and more like the inside of a microwave bag of popcorn. A popular and beloved crowd control mechanic called the “boop” has become so prevalent that it’s causing anguish from players who would rather compete at a first-person shooter than pop idly across the map.

Halloween is on the horizon, which means that Overwatch’s Halloween event is now here. The new skins revealed in it have fans ready and raring for the holiday.

Time takes its toll on us all, but especially on fictional heroes who exist in constantly updating video games. Theirs is the greatest plight of all, as exemplified by Overwatch’s master of the skies, Pharah.

Pharah is just fine — some might even say perfect, if they are me — but she’s about to be hit with a rocket barrage of changes. Many fans aren’t entirely sure if the reasoning behind them adds up.

There's Overwatch plushies, Pop! vinyls, even Overwatch parody porn. So naturally, official Overwatch LEGO had to be on the cards.

In July, Overwatch got a group-finder, and now meeting teammates for the game’s competitive mode often feels less like teaming up with a bunch of random gamers on the internet and more like trying to sit at the popular kids’ high school lunch table.

No video game is complete without some sort of glowing orb, and Omnic monk Zenyatta is Overwatch’s prime source of lighted spheres. Japanese toymaker Good Smile Company understands this. That’s why their new Zenyatta figure has all of the orbs.

Blizzard is selling a $US200 ($274) replica of Genji’s sword, and anyone willing to practice with the blade while everyone else plays Overwatch will at least find it full of techy features.

Once upon a time, there was nothing quite so maligned in the world of Overwatch as a Symmetra main. People still hate Hanzo, and Widowmaker mains will always bear the brunt of every loss. But at least their value is understood.

Three months since her rework, however, Symmetra has settled into a place befitting of the demon scientist.

Overwatch’s feisty dwarf engineer Torbjorn has long been considered a “troll pick”. In my experience, it’s common for teammates’ blood pressure to skyrocket whenever players pick him. We already knew Torbjorn was getting a much-needed overhaul, and today, Overwatch’s game director Jeff Kaplan finally announced what Torbjorn 2.0 will look like.

As sports video games have shown us, sports are just games with off-the-court metagame layers attached. Also pageantry and juicy, juicy drama. Overwatch League follows this formula, making it ripe for a game in the most thrilling sports-adjacent genre of all: Dating simulator. Wait, I mean management.

One of the coolest things from PAX West this year was shyaku_cosplay's Roadhog cosplay, so it's a treat to be able to showcase some close-ups of the costume.

We’ll have a massive gallery of DragonCon cosplay in the coming days, but until that’s ready I wanted to share something in particular that went down during the show: an immense gathering of Overwatch cosplayers.

Back in May, Philadelphia Fusion’s Overwatch Contenders team, Fusion University, ran into some wardrobe difficulties when their team jersey — emblazoned with a giant, devil-may-care “FU” — got banned from the season one finals.

Now, though, they’re back with a new jersey that tells “FU” haters to F off.

Blizzard has confirmed eight new Overwatch teams for the Overwatch League’s second season. The teams will represent Vancouver, Toronto, Paris, Washington, DC, Atlanta, and three Chinese cities: Hangzhou, Chengdu and Guangzhou. An official start date for the second season has not been announced.

Even in a league full of streamers and burgeoning personalities, teams are only as good as their players. Now that Overwatch League’s first season is over, some players have got to go.

Optimistic Geometry creates replica cosplay weapons that actually “work”. Not in the sense that they fire lasers, but that they’re able to mechanically slide, recoil, light up and fold, just like D.Va and Commander Shepard’s do.

Good news: you don't have to stray far to get your weekend dose of esports. In fact, if you're in Victoria, the Melbourne Esports Open is happening right now. For everyone else, well, that's what Twitch is for.

Good Smile are back with another Overwatch Figma, this time of D.Va. There’s no mech, but it’s a Figma, you shouldn’t have been expecting one anyway.

Last week’s Overwatch short starred fan favourite character D.Va and revealed a little bit about her personality. It also gave Overwatch fans a new character to swoon over: Her squadmate, D.Mon.