Blizzard is opening Overwatch beta's doors to more players this weekend to extensively test out its team-based shooter before officially rolling it out.
The Beta Test Weekend is an invitation-only event and only players from certain regions will get a chance to participate.
"During this three-day event, we'll be opening up Overwatch beta (for a limited time) to a lot more players from our Americas and Europe gameplay regions," Blizzard says.
Blizzard is going to give players access to choose from the full lineup of 21 heroes and select game maps, including King's Row, Hanamura and Watchpoint: Gibraltar.
The developers hope that testers will provide valuable feedback, particularly technical feedback, including "how Overwatch runs on your system, your experience with the beta servers, critical bug reports and other game-impacting problems," according to Blizzard.
The studio aims to push its hardware to the limit, so performance issues and downtimes are to be expected during the beta.
To join the Beta Test Weekend, players will have to opt into the beta on their Beta Profile Settings by ticking the Overwatch box or sign up first. However, these methods won't guarantee an invitation, as Blizzard will only choose users based on a variety of factors, including hardware specifications – the better rig you got, the higher the chances you have of getting selected.
There are no beta keys for the Overwatch beta. Access will be given out via account flagging only.
The Beta Test Weekend will last from Nov. 20, Friday, at 9:00 a.m. PST to Nov. 23, Monday, at 9:00 p.m. PST.
Blizzard recommends an operating system of Windows Vista or later. To run the game on minimum specs at 30 fps, the studio recommends an Intel Core i3 or AMD Phenom X3 865; an Nvidia GeForce GTX 460, ATI Radeon HD 4850 or Intel HD Graphics 4400 and at least 4 GB worth of physical RAM. On the other hand, to run at 60 fps on medium settings, the studio recommends an Intel Core i5 or AMD Phenom II X3 2.8GHz, Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 or ATI Radeon HD 7950, 6 GB worth of physical RAM.
A standard copy of Overwatch comes with a $39.99 price tag, whereas the Overwatch: Origins Edition is priced at $59.99. Both copies are up for preorder and can be acquired via digital download. Also, the Overwatch: Collector's Edition is priced at $129.99, which can't be downloaded because of the goods included in the bundle.
