Gamescom 2019 News & Updates as it happens

Gamescom 2019 is currently taking place in Cologne, Germany and the announcements and showcases are plentiful at this year’s event. Stef is there right now, sending me the low down in real time and this is what we know or have seen so far.

Google Stadia is making waves and people are getting ever so excited for the launch in November. They announced a number of new titles that will be available upon release and they include some BIG names. The list now includes Cyberpunk 2077, Watch Dogs Legion, Darksiders Genesis, Orcs Must Die 3 and many more. This is very promising news for gamers but the verdict is still out on that input lag and overall performance.

Sony started off with the announcement that they have acquired Insomniac, the company they partnered with for the recent and successful Marvel’s Spider-Man game. There was also the official trailer for Death Stranding by Kojima Productions, which has been in the works for sometime now. Have you watched the trailer? What do you think…?

The Playstation 5 has yet to be mentioned, although it may be too soon for that but nor has there been anything about The Last Of Us 2 which we’re predicting could be a PS5 launch exclusive.

Nintendo smashed sales with their Switch console and they have been showcasing a number of new games this year. They include the hotly tipped Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, Astral Chain, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (YASSSS) and that Witcher 3 port that everyone’s been raving about. If you’re there, you will be able to try some of these titles for yourself, including the first original Pokemon game for the Switch, Sword and Shield. Again, no mention of the Switch Lite as such, although we have seen videos showing the console at one of their booths.

Microsoft are in full force, with more booths than you can imagine and on the opening night, we saw a glorious trailer for the new Gears 5 and some lucky people even got a hands on experience with the game. If you can bare the ques, there is also an opportunity to try out Minecraft Dungeons and Project xCloud. I see a pattern forming. Again, no mention of their new console either, Project Scarlett. Perhaps they’re saving it for E3 2020?

Other note worthy mentions, Minecraft will be getting ray tracing support in a free update, which is just bonkers from nVidia. Seeing some of the footage online, it is a drastic improvement but the RTX range is still quite expensive. Stef had some hands-on experience witnessing what this new update is capable of, and said it was breathtaking that a game like Mincraft could look so good. There was a switch where you could turn the ray-tracing on and off, for demo purposes, and it was amazing to see the light reflect off nearby scenery, especially water and when you’re inside caverns and are using torches. Lastly, Dell/Alienware showcased their 55″ 4K 120Hz OLED monitor and it looks breathtaking. Shame it’s going to set you back nearly $4,000. Still, it features a number of needed inputs and even has a big VESA mount on the back. The cables can be channelled inside the screen to keep them nice and neat, and it even features a magnetic back so you can hide your inputs. It looked super sharp on the Dell/Alienware booth, and we cannot wait to test one fully once they’ve launched.

We will keep this post live and update it as and when new information gets released.