Blizzard has announced the start date of the closed beta for its upcoming team shooter, Overwatch. The closed beta will kick off on October 27 in the Americas region, with a small number of testers to get regular access to the beta. More players will be gradually added to the testing phase. The closed beta test phases will be coming to the Europe region next, and the Asia region will be getting it at "a later date."

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　　Blizzard will also be conducting numerous Beta Test Weekends for a second, wider group of players. These will be for the purpose of testing the server hardware to make ensure "they can withstand the assault." The Beta Test Weekends will be available for various parts of the world, and the first one will kick off not long after BlizzCon ends.

　　The Overwatch beta will be accessible from the Battle.net desktop client for Windows users only. Selected users who are invited to participate in the closed beta phase or Beta Test Weekend will receive an email with further instructions. Participants will be chosen from Battle.net users who have opted in to the beta on their account.

　　Overwatch was first announced in November last year, debuting with a Pixar-esque introduction video. The game is Blizzard's first new franchise in 17 years. More recently, the studio release new 1080p gameplay footage featuring the characters Hanzo, McCree, Mercy, and Zenyatta. Overwatch does not currently have a release date, but is being developed for Mac and PC.

　　The Overwatch beta kicks off shortly before the start of Blizzcon, which takes place on November 6-7 this year. GameSpot will be covering announcements from the event as they roll out, so be sure to stay tuned to the site for more information.