Overwatch's first-ever seasonal event adds the Rocket League-like Lucioball mode

You can basically play Rocket League in Overwatch right now; the multiplayer sensation of summer 2016 has taken liberal inspiration from the multiplayer sensation of summer 2015 for its latest limited-time Brawl. Lucioball takes place in a new speed-boost and jump-pad sprinkled soccer arena and even reworks the abilities for its eponymous character. And yes, you do have to play as Lucio.

You can even put him in a new Olympic-themed outfit before you take to the field. Er, sorry, a Summer Games-themed outfit: Lucioball is part of Overwatch's first ever seasonal event, Summer Games 2016, and it includes special loot boxes that will give out limited-time customization items. It's definitely not affiliated with the super-litigious Olympics so no need to call anybody's lawyer!

The Summer Games will go on from now through August 22, and all the loot boxes you collect in that time (either by leveling up or through microtransactions) are guaranteed to reward at least one of more than 100 new items. These include outfits themed after each character's home country, victory poses with a gold medal, athletic emotes, and of course a bunch of spray tags. Whatever you manage to collect by August 22 is yours forever, but that's it, at least until the next Summer Games roll around.

I'm not all that into the Olympics, personally, so I'm mostly just looking forward to trying out Lucioball. But even more than that, I'm now unreasonably excited for whatever Blizzard has planned for the Halloween update. We're talking Crypt Keeper Junkrat and Frankenstein's Roadhog at the absolute minimum, right?

Seen something newsworthy? Tell us!

Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.

Latest in Action
Yasuke looking over the water to a shrine during sunset in Assassin's Creed Shadows
Assassin's Creed Shadows has an entire island stuffed with adorable kittens you need to check out, and it's based on an actual Japanese cat paradise
Assassin's Creed Shadows review gameplay showing Yasuke overlooking the sea and lush green scenery
Assassin's Creed Shadows has already "surpassed the launches of AC Origins and Odyssey" with 2 million players and counting
God of War 3
God of War PSP's seamless loading was only possible because a Jak & Daxter game was also running in the background
MindsEye
GTA veteran's new open-world game will belong to everyone – almost like a wild mix of Roblox and Minecraft servers: "It won't just be ours"
Bill getting teary-eyed in The Last of Us
A potential The Last of Us season 1 plot hole has sparked a lot of debate among the fans
Assassin's Creed Shadows Naoe "justice must be served" or "killing them isn't justice" Yaya and Mistumune choice
Should you side with Mitsumune or Yaya in Assassin's Creed Shadows?
Latest in News
A screenshot from MindsEye showing a character leaning out of a car, shooting another car with a gun.
GTA veteran says the games industry needs to "get smarter" about what people actually want: "There are so many games, and I think we're starting to feel the effects"
Posing with a rifle in the Fallout 76 Ghoul update
Fallout 76's art director "had to fight really hard" so Bethesda would make the MMO's map bigger than Skyrim's
Minecraft movie image of Jack Black as steve
Don't expect Minecraft to go free-to-play anytime soon, as Mojang says "It doesn't really work with the way we built it"
Yasuke looking over the water to a shrine during sunset in Assassin's Creed Shadows
Assassin's Creed Shadows has an entire island stuffed with adorable kittens you need to check out, and it's based on an actual Japanese cat paradise
phase zero key art showing zombies in a hallway
Former Witcher 3 and Dying Light devs reveal their Resident Evil homage, complete with PS1-style fixed cameras
Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis System was only created because WB Games wanted something to combat Batman Arkham Asylum's second-hand sales, exec says