BlizzCon 2014 began today at 11 am PST/2pm EST. If you aren't there live, you can still catch the tournaments at the official BlizzCon website, even if you don't have a virtual ticket.

Full virtual access to this year's edition of BlizzCon—including the panels, interviews, and closing ceremony—will cost you $40, and you can tune in at BlizzCon.com. Naturally, we'll be covering all the big news and announcements here as well, along with hands-on impressions of the games at the show. Here's what we have so far:

Overwatch first look: Blizzard takes on Team Fortress 2

Goblins vs Gnomes is Hearthstone's first expansion, available next month

Blizzard announces Overwatch, a new competitive FPS

Blizzard CEO on GamerGate: "They are tarnishing our reputations as gamers"

Heroes of the Storm closed beta begins in January

Blizzard reveals big changes coming to StarCraft 2: Legacy of the Void

Goblins vs. Gnomes: 37 cards from the new Hearthstone expansion

Blizzard detail Hearthstone spectator mode and Goblins vs Gnomes pricing

Warcraft movie is: Avatar and Lord Of The Rings at the same time

Blizzard on representing women in games: We build games for everybody

The bright and bloody future of Diablo 3

Overwatch hands-on: Why Blizzard's FPS isn't just TF2 2

MMOs should "embrace their MMOness," says Blizzard

StarCraft 2: Legacy of the Void BlizzCon 2014 interview

BioWare has announced that the lead writer of the next Mass Effect game—fingers still crossed for M4ss Effect—is Chris Schlerf, perhaps better known to the gaming world at large as the writer of Halo 4.

Schlerf joined BioWare in November 2013, and managed to keep his work on Mass Effect a secret until today's announcement. "Every day is a revelation and every day I get to play in a new corner of the universe," Schlerf said, reinforcing the idea that Mass Effect 4 will be entirely separate from the original trilogy. "To be able to look three steps ahead to, Where does this take us and how does it add to the way we look at the Mass Effect trilogy? You couldn t ask for a better playground."

"As a writer, I write for characters," he continued. "To me, it s always about what makes my characters tick and what stories I can tell through those characters that will actually engage people about their own lives. It provides a mirror to that player s experience [so that they are] not just sitting back in an armchair."

The announcement also revealed a number of other lead developers on the game, including Senior Development Director Chris Wynn, Producer Fabrice Condominas, Lead Designer Ian Frazier, Art Director Joel MacMillan, Creative Director Mac Walters, Producer Mike Gamble, and BioWare Montreal Studio Director Yanick Roy. BioWare's Montreal studio is leading the development of the project.

BioWare will reveal more about the game during a Mass Effect developer roundtable that will be broadcast live on Twitch at 10 am PST/1 pm EST.

N7 Day is upon us, and BioWare is marking the moment with a Mass Effect "developer roundtable" that will be broadcast live on Twitch.

BioWare has thus far been very tight-lipped about the next Mass Effect game, whatever it's ultimately called (and you better believe that my fingers are crossed for M4ss Effect). It won't include Shepard and it may or may not have anything to do with his story at all, although I'm not sure how you dodge that whole "end of life as we know it" business; it apparently will, however, see the return of the Mako.

The developer roundtable thus represents our first opportunity to get a look at what BioWare has really been up to, although there's no indication what will actually be discussed or revealed. It's even possible that with Dragon Age: Inquisition less than two weeks away, the studio will continue to keep things low-key in order to avoid distractions from its launch.

Watch live video from BioWare on www.twitch.tv

The truth will be revealed soon enough: The Mass Effect developer roundtable hits Twitch at 10 am PST/1 pm EST.

For a moment there, I thought I wouldn't be spending the Christmas holidays hiding away in space. No fear, though, because Elite: Dangerous's release date has just been revealed. The space sim's v1.0 launch has been set for 16 December.

Recently updated to Beta 3, Elite is currently available to play for 50/$75. The pre-order for the full game—that's the one you'll get on 16 December—is set at the much cheaper 35/$50.

That won't be the end of Elite: Dangerous development, though. In addition to patches, post-launch expansions are planned—including planetary landings.

Thanks, Eurogamer.

Total War: Attila is leaning big on Horsemen of the Apocalypse mythology—taking queues from the Book of Revelation and the seven seals. What this means, in practical terms, is that whenever I have to write about it, I inevitably end up listening to Johnny Cash's The Man Comes Around on repeat.

This aside, it's a new Total War—one with some similarities to Rome's Barbarian Invasion expansion. In this new in-engine trailer, you can get a feel for some of the themes Creative Assembly are honing in on.

For more, head on over to my first-look Attila impressions.

Steal a glance at The Marvellous Miss Take, a streamlined, entirely mouse-driven stealth game. Your job is to think positionally; avoiding guards that will change patrol routes on the fly.

There's no combat or take-downs, so distraction is key. Rather than crouching and hiding, you're meant to manipulate the guards to quickly slip past their patrols.

It's an interesting take on the genre, and attractive and stylistic in its execution. Hopefully it's got enough tricks to sustain the system over the course of a campaign.

The Marvellous Miss Take is due out on 20 November.

We've featured The Flock before, because its central premise is pretty cool. It's an asymmetrical multiplayer game for three to five people. All players start as the Flock, until one reaches the Light. Then they become the Carrier—slower than the other players, but able to shine a light that will burn the Flock unless they're stood completely still. With luck, the resulting experience will be plenty tense and creepy.

You can get some idea of how the game will play through this new alpha trailer—showing what the developers call a "complete graphical overhaul". 

For more, head on over to The Flock's website.

Welcome to this week's Green Man Games Deals bulletin where we outline all the great offers and rewards appearing on the Playfire service and Green Man Gaming. Don't forget if you sign up to Playfire, you actually earn rewards and incentives for playing games - how good is that?

This week, VIP, Footie and Sci-Fi specials, read on for all the details!

Registered GMG users VIP deals!

This week is all about the VIP club and special gaming rewards for the very cr me de la cr me. Don t worry though, it you re feeling a touch plebeian, GMG s VIP club is open to all and this week even more titles have been added to the VIP section.

There s currently great deals on the recently released Lords of the Fallen, Europa Universalis IV: Art of War, and deals on the forthcoming Gold Editions of both Far Cry 4 and Assassin s Creed Unity!

Football Manager 2015 25% off!

The advent of Football Manager is always a special event in the gaming calendar when strong men start honing their best XI, keeping a wary eye on the transfer market and polishing up their tactical specials, mainly while their wives and girlfriends resign themselves to another long winter of discontent.

Well Football Manager 2015 is finally here and if you use the code FM2015-DIAMON-D351QA you can get it for the low price of 22.50 which is cheaper than Steam and lower than Amazon. Just hit this link to get your managerial season started with a whopping 25% discount!

Sci-Fi Deals

Looking for a weekend long dose of sci-fi goodness? Well your luck is in as starting at 4pm today and running all weekend (ending Monday), there s a massive 75% off the following sci-fi titles.

Armada: Gold Dark Matter Endless Space Disharmony Endless Space Gold Edition Endless Space Emperor Edition Gemini Wars Horizon SOL Exodus Collectors Edition Starpoint Gemini

Deals of the Day over the weekend

And every day a new deal also arrives, changing at 4pm, so get these titles while they re hot! Check em out at the Deal of the Day page.

Friday-Saturday: Stardrive

Saturday Sunday: Cities in Motion 1 and 2

Sunday Monday: Dungeonland

New Playfire Rewards

Well it s all been about Green Man Gaming so far, but there s also a rather splendid offer for Playfire users too. For members of the gaming network who link their account to their Steam ID, Playfire are offering a huge 25% voucher that can be applied to EVERY title available on GMG!

For full details, just hit this link and don t forget the full list of all current Playfire Rewards (with new rewards of GMG Credit against Wasteland 2 now added) are available here.

Look, Ubisoft, please, I'm begging you. Stop this madness.

Look, Ubisoft, I get it. You're excited about your upcoming games, but would you look at this shit. That is too many trailers. You've gone too far.

Watching video depictions of ostentatiously dressed freerunners bounding around revolutionary France now pains me. It makes me want to punch things. Maybe video game trailers make you violent?

Ubisoft, please.

Ubisoft. Stop it. I'm begging you.

Everyone who could possibly know what Assassin's Creed: Unity is, now knows what Assassin's Creed: Unity is.

Knock it off with the Far Cry trailers, too.

Ubisoft.

Please.

Stop.

Here's the launch trailer for Assassin's Creed: Unity.

Assassin's Creed: Unity is out 14 November in the UK, 11 November in the US.

1994's Little Big Adventure is a game about a kind of oblong-faced dude journeying out into a world full of danger, wonder and anthropomorphic elephants and asking, "uhh... how's it going?" It is very French, and as such, the perfect choice for GOG's "Vive la France" promo. From now until tomorrow, 8 November, at 7:59am GMT, it's available for free. (Update: you can grab it for free from the front page.)

The promo has launched to celebrate GOG now being available to browse in French. In addition to the free game, there's also a weekend sale. It includes heavy discounts on David Cage's Fahrenheit, the Syberia series, and Little Big Adventure's even better sequel.

The sale ends on Tuesday, 11 November.