Overwatch 2‘s next hero has officially been announced: The support-class hero Lifeweaver will debut in season 4 of the free-to-play shooter in mid-April. Lifeweaver will be the 37th hero on Overwatch 2’s roster, and the ninth support hero following Kiriko’s release when the game launched in the fall of 2023.
Blizzard has yet to release specific details on Lifeweaver’s abilities or backstory, but players can catch a glimpse of the hero’s playstyle in a short gameplay trailer released today.
In addition to being able to heal allies — presumably with the pink lotus flowers the hero seems to be designed around — Lifeweaver will have several utility abilities that have never been seen before and will surely change the way a match is played. As seen in the trailer, Lifeweaver can conjure a pressure-sensitive petal platform that can lift allies and enemies like an elevator. This will be a massive counter to area-of-effect ultimates like Orisa’s Terra Surge and Reaper’s Death Blossom.
Lifeweaver also has the ability to save allies from certain doom. Using his Life Grip, Lifeweaver can put a bubble around an ally, and pull them to him. While the obvious use for this ability is pulling a teammate out of a firefight or saving them from falling off the map, players are already brewing up plans to snatch a secretly ulting ally from around the corner into the middle of a crowd of enemies. There’s obvious meme potential here too; who hasn’t wanted to snatch that Solider 76 who is overextending and make him stay with the team?
Get a closer look at Lifeweaver's 'Life Grip' Ability 🍃
This puts a bubble around an ally and pulls them to your location! We hope you use this for good in #Overwatch2 Season 4 😉 pic.twitter.com/6yyE950Iym
— Overwatch Cavalry (@OWCavalry) April 4, 2023
And for his ultimate ability, Lifeweaver can plat a massive “Tree of Life” in the middle of the battlefield that provides healing to surrounding enemies and provides cover as well. It seems like enemies would be able to destroy the tree to counter the ultimate as well.
Like all new heroes released since Overwatch 2 launched, Lifeweaver will be available to purchase outright, obtainable through a series of in-game challenges, or through battle pass completion. Season 4 of Overwatch 2 is set to begin on April 11.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.