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Gamescom, the Cologne-based video games convention, gets under way this week – with plenty of the industry’s big names heading to Germany to (hopefully) show off and discuss everything from Star Wars Battlefront to Rise of the Tomb Raider.
The event sees a smaller number of press conferences than E3, but there should still be a tasty number of announcements from the likes of Microsoft and EA ahead of the traditional sales rush at the end of the year.
Here’s the things you should be keeping a look out for this week.
One of the first things worth noting is that Sony and PlayStation won’t be there. At all. There’s no press conference or even a booth at Gamescom this year, with the firm said to be focussing on a Paris Games Week, which takes place in November, instead. So if you were hoping for news of more PlayStation exclusives, lower those expectations.
Microsoft however will be there in a big way. They’ve got a press conference and have promised to unveil as much new content as they did at E3 in June. A bold and exciting claim – especially if it comes true – we’re hoping to maybe see more HoloLens after the impressive Minecraft demonstration at E3.
On top of that we could see our first real look at Crackdown, as well as Xbox exclusive Scalebound. Fingers crossed for some more Rise of the Tomb Raider details, and Halo 5 Guardians too. Look out too for more news on backwards compatibility for 360 games on the Xbox One; some new titles making the jump would be great.
See the worldwide reveal of the #Mafia3 announcement trailer on 8/5/15 here: http://t.co/sZ71Hl24i5 pic.twitter.com/1T4bdzBFIq
— Mafia Game (@mafiagame) July 28, 2015
Generated plenty of buzz when it was recently announced, and Gamescom is set to see the announcement of the first details of Mafia III. The open-world gangster series was last seen in 2010, and developer 2K Games has finally gotten around to a third instalment of the franchise. With the first game set in the 1930s, and the second in the 40s and 50s, fans will be keen to see what Mafia III has in store in terms of setting and story.
Alongside Microsoft and Blizzard, Electronic Arts (EA) is one of the few big names holding a press conference ahead of Gamescom. Of course, what everyone watching will be hoping for is more Star Wars Battlefront news and footage.
Beyond that, we will hopefully get some more info on Mass Effect Andromeda, and possibly even news on the other Star Wars game that they’re said to be working on with developer Visceral. There are rumours this could be a title based on either Boba Fett or Han Solo, so confirmation of any of this would be great.
It didn’t appear at E3 – in fact it hasn’t had a mention since Gamescom last year, so there’s a hope that some more news on the upcoming Quantum Break game will be forthcoming. It’s all part of a TV show/video game hybrid that is due to appear some time in 2016, but we’re very keen to see something new from it.
Of course, expect a few surprises beyond all this too.
