Overwatch 2 will include cross-progression across all formats. Starting today, you'll be able to merge console and PC accounts from the original game, carrying all your collected progression with you to the new version.

Overwatch 2 will essentially replace the original Overwatch when the game is launched on October 4, 2022. The game will feature cross-progrssion across all formats, and Activision Blizzard has announced that you will be able to merge multiple accounts to bring across your existing Overwatch progression into the sequel.

“With the launch of cross-progression, players can merge multiple Overwatch accounts to carry progression and in-game cosmetics into Overwatch 2 on a single profile,” said an official statement. “Starting August 16, every player with a linked console account will be prompted at login to identify, select, and confirm the accounts you want to merge. Once you approve, we will prepare your accounts to be merged during the release of Overwatch 2.”

Overwatch 2 requires all players to have a Battle.net account, even on consoles. Essentially, progress from your linked console accounts will be stored on your Battle.net account which allows Overwatch 2 to share cosmetics and unlocks across the various linked accounts.

However, be warned – there’s only one opportunity to merge your console accounts, so make sure you double-check the accounts you want to merge before you accept.

Here’s the full process of merging your accounts:

• Log into Overwatch on your console account
• Follow on-screen prompts to scan a QR code on your phone
• Enter the code displayed on your console to link/create a Battle.net account
• Confirm your account on your next game login to merge.

That should be it – your console account will subsequently be merged with your Battle.net account. But once you’ve merged a console account with Battle.net you’ll be unable to add any other accounts from the same platform. Make sure you’re merging the correct account!

You can merge accounts from Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and PC but only one per platform. Account merging is currently the only way for console players to carry over their progress into Overwatch 2, but PC players should see their progress automatically carry over into the upcoming sequel.

Once merged, all the items in the Hero Gallery of all your linked platforms will appear in the Battle.net account – letting you access any cosmetics that you’ve unlocked across the various platforms.

The merge also carries over in-game stats, with playtime and number of wins made up as a sum of all your totals, while stats such as highest accuracy and kill streaks will take the highest value from all merged accounts.

Want to read more about Overwatch 2? Check out Overwatch 2’s content roadmap to see what’s coming up, as well as why Overwatch is ditching its loot boxes.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Xbox has revealed the Game Pass lineup for August 2022, and it includes open-world adventures, indie darlings, and more.

First up, Coffee Talk is available today. The game is a talking simulator about listening to the stories of an alternative Seattle's citizens. The game is available on console, cloud, and PC today.

On August 30, Game Pass subscribers will have access to Ubisoft's Immortals Fenyx Rising, an open-world adventure that puts players in the shoes of Fenyx, a winged demigod on a quest to save the Greek gods. We awarded the game a 7 in our review, saying, "Its combat is satisfying, with plenty of choice in upgrades, while its central characters, comedic tone, and storytelling are a real highlight."

There's plenty more on the way to Game Pass this month, including Immortality and Midnight Fight Express. Here's the full list of Xbox Game Pass games for August 2022:

Available Today

• Coffee Talk (Cloud, Console, and PC)

Coming Soon

• Midnight Fight Express (Cloud, Console, and PC) – August 23
• Exapunks (PC) – August 25
• Opus: Echo of Starsong – Full Bloom Edition (Console and PC) – August 25
• Commandos 3 – HD Remaster (Cloud, Console, and PC) – August 30
• Immortality (Cloud, PC, Xbox Series X|S) – August 30
• Immortals Fenyx Rising (Cloud, Console, and PC) – August 30
• Tinykin (Console and PC) – August 30

Beyond these full titles, DLC and updates for Naraka: Bladepoint and Sea of Thieves are also coming this month. Xbox has also added touch control support for 16 more games, including TMNT Shredder’s Revenge.

We also learned about a handful of games leaving the service on August 31, including IGN's 2020 Game of the Year Hades, and other indie hits like Spritfarer and What Remains of Edith Finch. You can check out the full list of what's leaving Game Pass this month below:

Leaving Game Pass on August 31

• Elite Dangerous (Cloud and Console)
• Hades (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Myst (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• NBA 2K22 (Cloud and Console)
• Signs of the Sojourner (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Spiritfarer (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Twelve Minutes (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Two Point Hospital (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• What Remains of Edith Finch (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• World War Z (Cloud, Console, and PC)

For more, check out July 2022's Game Pass lineup, which included As Dusk Falls, a handful of Yakuza games, Far Cry 5, and more.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Xbox has revealed the Game Pass lineup for August 2022, and it includes open-world adventures, indie darlings, and more.

First up, Coffee Talk is available today. The game is a talking simulator about listening to the stories of an alternative Seattle's citizens. The game is available on console, cloud, and PC today.

On August 30, Game Pass subscribers will have access to Ubisoft's Immortals Fenyx Rising, an open-world adventure that puts players in the shoes of Fenyx, a winged demigod on a quest to save the Greek gods. We awarded the game a 7 in our review, saying, "Its combat is satisfying, with plenty of choice in upgrades, while its central characters, comedic tone, and storytelling are a real highlight."

There's plenty more on the way to Game Pass this month, including Immortality and Midnight Fight Express. Here's the full list of Xbox Game Pass games for August 2022:

Available Today

• Coffee Talk (Cloud, Console, and PC)

Coming Soon

• Midnight Fight Express (Cloud, Console, and PC) – August 23
• Exapunks (PC) – August 25
• Opus: Echo of Starsong – Full Bloom Edition (Console and PC) – August 25
• Commandos 3 – HD Remaster (Cloud, Console, and PC) – August 30
• Immortality (Cloud, PC, Xbox Series X|S) – August 30
• Immortals Fenyx Rising (Cloud, Console, and PC) – August 30
• Tinykin (Console and PC) – August 30

Beyond these full titles, DLC and updates for Naraka: Bladepoint and Sea of Thieves are also coming this month. Xbox has also added touch control support for 16 more games, including TMNT Shredder’s Revenge.

We also learned about a handful of games leaving the service on August 31, including IGN's 2020 Game of the Year Hades, and other indie hits like Spritfarer and What Remains of Edith Finch. You can check out the full list of what's leaving Game Pass this month below:

Leaving Game Pass on August 31

• Elite Dangerous (Cloud and Console)
• Hades (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Myst (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• NBA 2K22 (Cloud and Console)
• Signs of the Sojourner (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Spiritfarer (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Twelve Minutes (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Two Point Hospital (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• What Remains of Edith Finch (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• World War Z (Cloud, Console, and PC)

For more, check out July 2022's Game Pass lineup, which included As Dusk Falls, a handful of Yakuza games, Far Cry 5, and more.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Buckle up, as you'll be able to watch Top Gun: Maverick from your own home beginning as soon as next week. The movie is coming to digital starting on August 23, with the physical 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray releases coming on November 1. (The AU dates are August 24 and November 2, respectively.)

As reported by Collider, the home release of the film will include nearly two hours of bonus content. These special features will include a look at the cast's intense flight training programs, Tom Cruise piloting his own vintage World War II P-51 Mustang, Cruise's Q&A at the Cannes Film Festival, and more.

You'll recall that Cruise refused to allow Top Gun: Maverick to debut on streaming, saying this film was made specifically for audiences to watch on the big screen. And, the decision to release exclusively in theaters paid off, as Top Gun: Maverick has been an absolute smash at the box office since its release back on Memorial Day Weekend, earning well over $1 billion at the global box office.

In North America, the film has grossed more than the likes of Avengers and Titanic, en route to becoming Cruise's most successful movie ever. Even this past weekend, Top Gun still managed to secure 2nd place at the box office during a quieter release period.

We called the long-awaited sequel a "flight to remember" in our Top Gun: Maverick review, saying it's an, "out-of-bounds blast of afterburner fumes and thrillseeker highs that's sure to please audiences looking for a classic summer blockbuster."

For more, you can check out Miles Teller saying he's in talks with Cruise about a potential Top Gun 3. Or, read about how Maverick's practical effects were achieved.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Buckle up, as you'll be able to watch Top Gun: Maverick from your own home beginning as soon as next week. The movie is coming to digital starting on August 23, with the physical 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray releases coming on November 1.

As reported by Collider, the home release of the film will include nearly two hours of bonus content. These special features will include a look at the cast's intense flight training programs, Tom Cruise piloting his own vintage World War II P-51 Mustang, Cruise's Q&A at the Cannes Film Festival, and more.

You'll recall that Cruise refused to allow Top Gun: Maverick to debut on streaming, saying this film was made specifically for audiences to watch on the big screen. And, the decision to release exclusively in theaters paid off, as Top Gun: Maverick has been an absolute smash at the box office since its release back on Memorial Day Weekend, earning well over $1 billion at the global box office.

In North America, the film has grossed more than the likes of Avengers and Titanic, en route to becoming Cruise's most successful movie ever. Even this past weekend, Top Gun still managed to secure 2nd place at the box office during a quieter release period.

We called the long-awaited sequel a "flight to remember" in our Top Gun: Maverick review, saying it's an, "out-of-bounds blast of afterburner fumes and thrillseeker highs that's sure to please audiences looking for a classic summer blockbuster."

For more, you can check out Miles Teller saying he's in talks with Cruise about a potential Top Gun 3. Or, read about how Maverick's practical effects were achieved.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Youth creator Curt Pires has partnered with Comixology to release his latest comic book project, a futuristic political thriller dubbed New America.

Co-created with James Bond artist Luca Casalanguida, New America is set in a near-future landscape where a group of secessionists have broken away from the US and created the titular nation. They hope to build a true utopia, but a new outbreak of violence casts doubt on whether the ways of New America are any better than the old.

IGN can exclusively debut a preview of this digital comic book series, which is exclusive to the Comixology Originals program. Check it out in the slideshow gallery below:

The creative team on New America also includes

Here's Comixology's official summary of the series:

The old ways failed us. Our leaders failed us. The system failed us. So, a decision was made to start anew. To invest in the future, the foundation of something more, a New America.

With New America Pires continues to push boundaries with his evocative and of the moment storytelling. Ten years after the formation of the secessionist state within the United States of America, known as New America, former military man Wyatt is reunited with his brother, now President of New America, Corey Walker.

New America follows the trials and tribulations both personal and political of the people leading and living in the newly emergent territory as they strive for a utopia, while questioning if the new way is the better way as protests and violence continue.

“Inspired by classic Vertigo titles like Scalped and DMZ as well as films like Sicario this is a book that's raw and rough around the edges but also anchored in character drama and emotional conflict," Pires tells IGN. "The goal here was to tell this story—and explore these issues—without talking down to our audience or coming at them in a way that suggests a moral superiority or that we have all the answers. I believe we succeeded, and hope people will take the time to give our book a shot."

New America will span three issues in total, with the first chapter debuting on Tuesday, August 23. The series will be free to read for subscribers of Comixology Unlimited and Kindle Unlimited, and will also be available for individual purchase.

In addition, Comixology announced that Pires and Antonio Fuso's collaboration Lost Falls will be released as a trade paperback from Dark Horse Comics in 2023. There's no word yet on when New America might see print release.

For more on Pires' acclaimed body of work, check out our exclusive interview between Pires and The Black Ghost writer Alex Segura as the two creators reflect on the inspirations behind their respective stories. And be sure to brush up on all the big announcements at San Diego Comic-Con.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Interview with the Vampire's showrunner has revealed that AMC plans to adapt every novel in Anne Rice's popular Vampire Chronicles series – and the network even wants to create MCU-like crossover series.

“AMC has bought all of the books and AMC wants to make all of the books,” said Jones during AMC’s presentation at the Television Critics Awards.

According to Jones, the first season of Interview with the Vampire will cover just half of the novel’s story, and later seasons will then adapt other books in the series.

“What we do in this version of Interview With the Vampire is look at an entire series of books," said Sam Reid, who plays the infamous Lestat de Lioncourt. “When that film came out, Rice was still writing them, so they didn't have perspective of the entire work. And now we do have that perspective. And so, when we're looking at character arcs, we're looking at a much broader scale. So, it is a different feeling than a 90-minute film.”

Reid is referring, of course, to the original 2000 film starring Tom Cruise as the vampire Lestat. Although there have been various attempts to bring the other novels to the big screen, including Queen of the Damned, it looks as though AMC is going all in, and there might even be additional projects down the road.

“We have other projects that are in development,” AMC president of entertainment Dan McDermott told Variety. “They're sort of unofficial right. now, but we really plan to have five or six series in that universe over the next five or six years. And there will be an opportunity to pull characters from different shows and do what we refer to as our 'all-star' original series, taking supporting characters and maybe a lead character from one or two shows and doing original series that will be based in the Anne Rice universe.”

It's certainly an ambitious idea, and AMC views it much like the Marvel Cinematic Universe… albeit with a bit more bite.

“The best model would be an Avengers-style series, where you take characters from different shows and bring them together and you tell an original story using all of them and their backstory and the mythology,” he added. “The objective is to honor everything about the source material and the characters' backstories and mythologies as well. But I think that's a really exciting proposition.”

Whether or not that pans out remains to be seen. But if Interview with the Vampire proves to be a hit, we could see much more of the Vampire Chronicles heading to our screens eventually.

Want to read more about Interview with the Vampire? Check out the first trailer for the upcoming series, and find out who’s been cast in the leading role.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Sony may be developing its own PC games launcher akin to Steam and the Epic Games Store for use with its range of PlayStation PC re-releases.

As reported by VGC, the files for the PC version of Spider-Man Remastered include references to a "PlayStation PC launcher". While game files often mention content that has been scrapped, like a potential multiplayer mode in Spider-Man, it at least shows that having an independent PC launcher is an idea being floated at Sony.

Further files also reference "PSNAccountLinked" and "PSNLinkingEntitlements" despite Sony not offering any connectivity between users' PlayStation Network accounts and their PlayStation Studios PC games so far.

Nothing is confirmed, of course, but Sony has invested significantly into PC publishing recently by establishing a new PlayStation PC label and purchasing PC porting specialist Nixxes. Sony also recently said that, alongside investing in first party software, its other main strategy for growing its business is releasing its software on multiple platforms - and it expects to make $300 million from PC games this financial year alone.

Only a handful of PlayStation Studios games are available on PC so far, headlined by 2018's God of War but also with Spider-Man Remastered, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Days Gone. Spider-Man Miles Morales is expected to be released on the platform later this year as well, however, alongside arguably PlayStation's biggest franchise in the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves collection.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake's famous Honeybee Inn dance sequence took longer to prepare than any other scene in the game, according to co-director Motomu Toriyama.

In a Square Enix blog post, Toriyama explained that the sensitive nature of the original Final Fantasy 7 scene from 1997 - which saw protagonist Cloud crossdress in order to infiltrate a seedy playboy's mansion - alongside the intricacy of the dance sequence itself, led to an incredibly lengthy preparation time.

"We had decided to change the original FFVII's Honeybee Inn episode from a gender free perspective right from the start of development," Toriyama said. "We remade the whole scene as a song and dance show, in order to make it the big stage for Cloud's crossdressing event and to give it a 'maximum showbusiness' vibe as part of the Remake story."

Deciding to recreate the scene in its entirety forced the development team to start researching from scratch, and once they had eventually collected enough reference material they still had to edit it together, add music and lyrics, and then start on choreography. "I think that just that preparatory phase here took up the longest period in the whole development," Toriyama said.

The scene also went through various edits, as Square Enix previously revealed that it once included a pole dancing scene that was removed over rating concerns.

The sequence was well-received, keeping intact the spirit of the original game, but modernising it to remove the more insensitive elements of Final Fantasy 7's verison. Ultimately, that preparatory work led to a scene that felt like a celebration, rather than a joke at Cloud's expense.

Fans eagerly awaiting more Final Fantasy 7 Remake (outside of the brief DLC episode featured in the PlayStation 5's Integrade edition) will finally get its sequel, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, in winter 2023. Square Enix also recently confirmed that the remakes will be a trilogy of games, and part three has already entered development.

In our 8/10 review, IGN said: "Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s dull filler and convoluted additions can cause it to stumble, but it still breathes exciting new life into a classic while standing as a great RPG all its own."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

The Pokémon Company International has pledged a minimum of $25 million over five years to charities committed to improving the lives of underprivileged children.

The funds will be delivered to charities on a local, national, and international scale "that support children, help create equitable communities, or a combination of both". The Pokémon Company International, which controls the Pokémon brand outside of Asia, will share the funds throughout North and South America, Europe, and Oceania.

A plethora of Pokémon toys, trading cards, and video games will also be delivered to groups that distribute such items to children, and who wouldn't have access to them otherwise.

"The Pokémon Company International is grateful for the opportunity to give back to the communities in which it operates and where Pokémon has been so warmly received since it was first introduced," said company president Kenji Okubo.

"Pokémon is a brand that immediately sparks joy and has captured the imaginations of kids around the world for 25 years. With its universal themes of adventure, friendship, and perseverance, it has also been welcomed into the lives of an incredibly diverse fanbase in countries around the world," he continued.

"We are dedicated to leveraging that unique ability and the support we’ve received from our broad community of trainers to be a positive force in the lives of children and create a more equitable, inclusive world in which all can flourish."

Pokémon is a brand present on all fronts, with the more known video games - like the upcoming Scarlet and Violet - and trading cards just part of its overall reach. The company is also working on a reality TV show, has released a classy collaboration with Converse sneakers, created its own museum exhibits, and even produced official music with pop stars including Katy Perry.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.