Every year, everyone involved in computer games comes to the Cologne International Exhibition Center. Exhibition gamescom- the central event of the interactive entertainment industry in Europe. The largest video game manufacturers and software, such as Activision Blizzard, Bethesda Softworks, Capcom, Electronic Arts, Konami, Microsoft, Sony Computer Entertainment, Ubisoft consistently represent the latest products from the gaming world.

Figures and facts about gamescom

The gamescom 2015 international exhibition surpassed the previous session in all respects. The Cologne exhibition complex was visited by 345,000 representatives from 96 countries. More than 800 companies presented latest solutions For game consoles and personal computers, as well as premiere media materials and demo versions of video games. Exhibition area gamescom increased by 15%, amounting to 193,000 sq. m. in 2015.

Gamescom exhibition program in Cologne

Gamescom traditionally attracts both video game industry professionals and consumer gamers. For the first gamescom 2016 will begin on August 17. On this day, manufacturing companies will give press conferences and present new software to a narrow circle of specialists gaming industry. On other days, everyone will be able to try out console games in the entertainment area, take part in paintball competitions, laser tag and racing radio controlled models in an open area. A family area with carefully selected content has been prepared for visitors with children.

A detailed program for the international gaming industry exhibition gamescom 2016 is under development.

gamescom business program

Congress events will take place as part of the exposition. Jury of prestigious awards gamescom awards will determine the best in the following categories: console game, PC game, role play, shooter, racing, sports simulator, online project, software and hardware. At the next session gamescom congress Industry experts will discuss the economic, cultural and business components of the video game industry.

Gamescom events are not limited to the walls of the exhibition center. Cologne will host massive themed parties and parades. Cosplay is an integral part of every game show session, gamescom 2016 will not be an exception

gamescom 2016 audience

The exhibition will be of interest to video game developers and producers, consumers, publishers, journalists and sales representatives.

​

The 8th annual international exhibition has ended computer games Gamescom. And it's time to sum it up. Perhaps you have already read similar articles, you say, but I will try to present it for you as I saw and tried everything myself. So, let's go!

During the 3 days that I was able to spend there, as a representative of our PluggedIn website, I received a lot of impressions and opportunities. Play the latest Alpha and Beta games, see new trailers and gameplays of new games, communicate with representatives of large companies in the business zone (which is inaccessible to mere mortals) and of course, try out the latest hardware and VR.

On the first day when I visited the exhibition, I was struck by its scale (in comparison with our Igromir - earth and sky), neither the end nor the edge was visible, and of course the huge crowds of people who never stopped flocking to the entrances of the exhibition (to me It was possible to get inside every day, an hour before the launch of these hundreds of thousands of people).

Activision Blizzard

The first stand I saw that was the most familiar to me was Blizzard. The scale was not small (in my opinion, one of the largest stands, not surprising - after all, it’s Blizzard, and they don’t like it modestly).

What interesting things did they present to us at the exhibition?

First major patch 7.1Return to Karazhan To World Of Warcraft Legion , and of course the opportunity to play as your new Demon Hunter class, for those who may not have tried it yet or are a new player.

IN Overwatch was presentednew map of Eikhenwald and a new short film"The Last Bastion" .

IN Heroes of the Storm uspresented new inside game event in style StarCraft- “War Engines” and new heroes: Alarak from Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void and Zarya from Overwatch.

U Diablo This year is the 20th anniversary. Alas, in honor of this they did not announce to us Diablo IV or something no less interesting, but the developers subtly hinted that Blizzcon 2016 this year promises to be very cool.

Developers StarCraft II demonstratedmany upcoming innovations for the mode of joint missions, the main one of which wasintroduction of a new commander , the sinister protoss Alarak who debuted in the campaign Legacy of the Void.

Since we are next to Blizzard, this means that its top team, Activision, is also nearby.

First and most important- your brainchild- Call of Duty. This time they pleased their fans with the premiere of a new modeCall of Duty: Zombies in Spaceland (where only Activision hasn’t got zombies).

For Destiny - new large-scale update that will be released on September 20, 2016.

Skylanders Imaginators - new levels and new heroes, especially the good old one Crash Bandicoot, which players previously expected to see in his own new game for PS4, but alas, Activision decided that it belonged here. The game will be released in early October 2016.

Electronic Arts

Walking further through the exhibition, past various game developers, I entered pavilion 6 and saw, probably, the largest stand at the entire exhibition (however, no matter how much I walked through all the other seven pavilions in the next days, I didn’t see anything bigger than that). Electronic Arts spared no expense at all on the number of their computers, lights and speaker volume.

As I got closer to the center, I thought that if I stayed there for another 5 minutes, their lasers would blind me, everything was so bright! But all this is essentially for the sake of three main games:Battlefield 1 , Titanfall 2 And FIFA 17 .

Like the stands themselves, the queues for them were no smaller (also one of the largest). To get to the same Battlefield 1 and to play it for 15 minutes you had to wait for 2-3 hours for sure, unless of course someone took your place in the queue from the press or VIPs. And as a gift you will be given a key to receive Dogtag in the game release. But there is enough satisfaction from the game process (in my opinion, everything turned out great). I also forgot to mention that before this you are taken into a dark room designed for 48 people (the number of players in the game test) and shown a trailer for the game and gameplay of the map in which the battle was to take place. EA's situation with other games is about the same. There was no point in expecting more, because it was known in advance that EA was one of the companies that refused the press conference. But thanks anyway for such rich access to new games.

Bethesda Softworks

“Bezedka” somehow didn’t really want to talk with us at Gamescom this year. They limited themselves to a fairly modest stand, but there were still plenty of fans.

They focused on showing a small trailer and gameplay fromDishonored 2 And Prey . Everything was of course indoors, where photos and videos were prohibited, they even had their own strict security (a serious, pumped-up man who had no desire to be seen).

The gameplay is quite entertaining, I'm certainly not a fan Dishonored and never even tried to play it, but after watching it, it became interesting. IN Prey too, alas, I didn’t have a chance to play, but when I looked at it, I immediately realized that it was worth playing when it was released (reminded me a little Doom).

You could play outside The Elder Scrolls:Legends and get codes for bonuses in the game.

Ubisoft

Ubisoft I didn’t limit myself to the scale either. This year they had enough content for us to watch and test, although they decided to be greedy in some areas, which did not upset the fans much.

Let's start with Watch Dogs 2 . First- large network mode(a la GTA V) is not worth the wait. Of course there will be a network, but approximately the same as it is done in Dark Souls . We will brazenly join the worlds of other players. It will be possible to play both together (cooperative special missions) and against each other, the “Invasion” mode, in which you will have to quietly hack the enemy. Also, if you decide to start a massacre in the streets, there will be a bounty on your head and a sufficient number of players will appear who will want to rein you in (reminiscent GTA V...). Released November 15, 2016.

Now the game that made a splash at the conference among players and collected huge three-hour queues for testing every day - For Honor . Ubisoft has finally decided to give us more detailsintroduce , what factions will be in the game. There will be three of them: European knights, Japanese samurai and brutal Vikings will converge on the fields of epic online battles. Each side has four characters and each is unique in its own way. And of course, a very rich digital pre-order with three wars, one from each faction, and a physical Deluxe version with a soundtrack, in-game bonuses and an exclusive lithograph. We are waiting for February 14, 2017.

We haven't forgotten about the game based on the famous cartoon South Park - South Park: Fractured But Whole. Ubisoft didn't disappoint us with a fun and upbeat 15-minutegameplay , which was a place to laugh until you drop. And separately, I’ll tell you a little about how interesting they were about the high popularity of VR. Ubisoft decided to troll other helmets with the product -Nosulus Rift ! Amazing Game Smells South Park , and of course the main emphasis is on the smell of the butt =).

Another big game that everyone was hoping to play, but it was precisely this game that Ubisoft was greedy and did not allow this to happen, which upset many, is T om Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands.

There's a two- to three-hour line there and you end up going into a black cube with a bunch of chairs, on each of which there's a pair of headphones, leaflets and a badge from Ghost Recon: Wildlands and 4 computers with a huge projector. It is clearly clear that you have been screwed here and will not be given the opportunity to try what you stood for so long. What do they show us: the game trailer, ample opportunitiesweapon customization and gameplay for 15-20 minutes, which they conduct themselves, and the whole audience sits silently and envy them - somehow it’s not fair...

AND last game, to which the French paid attention - The Crew. The second major addition was announced calledCalling All Units . There is a choice between a street racer or a law enforcement officer, new unique cars and cop motorcycles, improved police AI, new tasks and levels for racers. Also on sale Ultimate Edition, which will include both additions and Season Pass with different possibilities for customizing cars.

Wargaming.net & WG Labs

What interesting things did Wargaming and their subsidiary WG Labs present to us at this year's Gamescom? Well, first things first.

Let's start with tanks, of course. This time the Belarusians pleased us new branch tanks (you'll be surprised at whom) - the Swedes! It would seem that the Swedes do not and did not have tanks in the Second World War. But Wargaming developers will find any tanks from any country! They collected all the tanks starting from the early models of 1918, right up to those tanks that remained only drawings (secret E M I L tank building project in Sweden) - Kranvagn.

The first tank to be introduced in the game is premium medium tank Level 6 “Strv m/42-57 Alt A.2”

The Paris map will also become available in random battles.

And of course, for the 100th anniversary of tanks, a game event -"Return of the Legend" . It's time to fight the first tank in the history of the world!

These are all the significant changes in the upcoming update 9.16.

Also in honor of the centenary of tanks inApp Store And Google Play the application was launched Tank 100 - World of Tanks in association with The Tank Museum. If you have even the simplest VR headset for your phone, be sure to download it. Big story tanks in virtual reality.

Now let's plunge into the world of the fleet - World of Warships. NewGerman battleships starting from level 3 and ending with level 10.

But the Belarusians did not stop there and laid the foundation for a whole tree of the Royal Navy of Great Britain, in the form of cruisers.

Let's turn to a subsidiary of Wargaming.net - WG Labs. This division is a very good idea in the form of help from Wargaming to small third-party developers to realize their ideas that have a chance of a good future in the world of games.

Now they are busy with two good projects, one of which has already started the other day -"Master of Orion" and the second project, which is promised to be released this year -"Hybrid Wars" . All of them will be available on all three operating systems - Windows, MacOS and Linux.

Let's talk a little more about the second project. Hybrid Wars classified as an action genre. What is currently known about the game. It will be like single player, containing more than 150 tasks and 15+ hours of gameplay, as well as exciting multiplayer. 8 large-scale combat locations with enormous destructibility, 4 types of vehicles, 50+ types of enemies, 20 types of weapons, 8 boss enemies and 40+ achievements. What adds interest to the game is that it has its own small story (of course, it may not be a whole Lore, like huge games), this is a separate plus. I repeat, exit expected this year.

Gaijin Entertainment

Our Russian guys were extremely modest in terms of the size of the stand, but the size of the queue was still enough to test what was behind the closed clinkers.

Well, this year we were finally given the opportunity to try out the naval battles expansion.Knights of the Sea . Part of the stand was turned into the deck of a ship, and under the shadow of the iron mast there was a special area in the form of a ship's deckhouse with a real 40-mm ship's anti-aircraft gun, where the private fleet display took place War Thunder . On a map specially prepared for the exhibition they walked naval battles in 3x3 format. All participants had a choice of ships from different nations. A little later, closed beta testing will become available, where the number of available ships will expand, as will the maps themselves, battles on which will take place in a 10 vs 10 format.

And the second game, a post-apocalyptic MMO action game -Crossout . Great opportunities were given in the game test- collect whatever machines suit your imagination, which were supposed to smash the enemy to smithereens. Tournaments were also held with valuable prizes by Roccat and Gaijin. In my opinion, the game is gradually gaining momentum, so I advisesign up for a test. You won't regret it!

Virtual reality

Oculus Rift. HTC Vive. PlayStation VR

The last point in my article will be a small talk about VR. Thanks to Gamescom, I finally got to try out all three of the most popular helmets at the moment. At the exhibition, at 50% of the stands, everyone had either their own Oculus Rift, or HTC Vive. It immediately shows that most developers are already extremely interested in VR and want to implement it in their particular game.

I managed to try all three helmets in three games, after which, for myself, I put them in order of the future successful development. I'll start from third place.

Oculus Rift. Why third place? Now, it seems to me, it’s not really clear whether Oculus is definitely an open platform or not? If not, then this will terribly ruin her life, because the Oculus Store is not so rich and it turns out that only those games and developers that Oculus representatives choose will work with this helmet. If anyone can answer for sure- yes or no, correct me.

I tested this helmet in the game Project Cars. I really enjoyed sitting in a racing seat that moves and transfers shock sensitivity, behind a steering wheel with pedals, and trying to beat a very smart AI on a hard difficulty. While I was waiting in line, no one managed to win, and neither did I. You usually arrive third or fourth, or even last. But the graphics, at first glance, no longer look like FullHD, but rather pixel 1024x768 (I don’t know, maybe you need to customize it purely for yourself).

Playstation VR. This helmet is on the second, although it was made only for the PS4 console, but it has a great future, because Sony will clearly take care of it for a long time. Perhaps there will be PC compatibility at some point (via PS Now?). I was able to try it on Eve Valkyrie. Again, the graphics certainly need to be improved. Maybe this will be done with the release of PS4 Neo. But the conveyed effect of reality is 100%, as if you are in real space. I really liked it!

HTC Vive. I can definitely put it in first place, at least because it is associated with Steam. In fact, most of the games that are on Steam can be played through Vive. This is a huge plus! I tried this helmet on an unnamed small game where you have fun at a fair - popping balloons, shooting with a water pistol, and so on (don't think there weren't other games, there were minimal queues here). The graphics are similar to Oculus. In this regard, in my opinion, they are not inferior to each other.

Bottom line

This is where I would like to end the article. Of course, you can write about the huge number of games and hardware that were there, but then it will no longer be an article, but a huge encyclopedia about the Gamescom 2016 exhibition. Over 5 days, the exhibition was visited by more than 345,000 visitors, 877 companies from 54 countries.

Every gamer's calendar has special holidays that coincide with major video game trade shows. At this time, the amount of gaming news increases significantly: developers and publishers lift the veil of secrecy over their projects, studios announce new ones, and video game fans who attended such events share their impressions of what they saw on social networks with great pleasure.

The Los Angeles Electronic Entertainment Expo can be considered the most important gaming exhibition of the year. Game publishers usually reserve their biggest announcements for this event, so millions of video game fans are eagerly awaiting it. However, the event doors are closed with a VIP key costing

about a thousand dollars, so ordinary gamers either have to fork out a lot, or watch this celebration of life from the sidelines. That is why Gamescom, which is held annually in Cologne at the end of summer, is considered the main exhibition for players.

Gamescom is the successor to the Games Convention, an exhibition held in Leipzig from 2002 to 2008. In the early 2000s, it attracted an unimaginable for that time 80 thousand visitors, and by the end of its existence, the GC audience almost tripled. But in 2009, all events under the Games Convention brand were canceled, and the exhibition changed its name to Gamescom.

Since its inception, Gamescom has confidently held the title of the most attended gaming event. During five days of work in 2009, more than 245 thousand people passed through the halls of the huge exhibition complex in Cologne. Last year the number of guests exceeded 360 thousand! For comparison, the last Tokyo Game Show brought together “only” a quarter of a million gamers, and the Russian Igromir brought together 160 thousand people.

Gamescom is aimed primarily at gamers, namely the end consumer. Therefore, it is not surprising that game publishers are trying to show off your product at the Cologne Trade Fair. Unlike E3, which is famous for its high-profile announcements, Gamescom traditionally focuses on a strong show program and demonstration of projects that are actually ready for release.

This year, for the first time, the gaming divisions of Sony and Microsoft are not holding conferences with public demonstrations of projects. The Japanese corporation is apparently preparing for the important presentation of the PlayStation Neo in New York in September, and will not limit itself to showing its VR projects and the racing simulator Gran Turismo Sport. And Microsoft is for closed doors will show the press his main projects - Gears of War 4, Forza Horizon 3, Halo Wars 2, ReCore and Sea of ​​Thieves. However, this does not mean at all that the stands of both companies will be empty. Many surprises await regular visitors to the exhibition.

Blizzard Entertainment, on the contrary, is organizing its own conference with a live broadcast on the Internet. The company's exhibition space will be dedicated to the actively promoted multiplayer shooter Overwatch, the upcoming addition to the eternal World of Warcraft with the subtitle Legion, as well as a new expansion for the computer card game Hearthstone. There are rumors about a possible announcement of an HD re-release of the classic StarCraft strategy.

Electronic Art will bring the expected shooters Titanfall 2 and Battlefield 1 to the exhibition. Much attention will be given football simulator FIFA 17 and two more sports games– NHL 17 and Madden NFL 17. EA also hinted at the announcement of a new project in the universe “ Star Wars" Here's another space saga, Mass Effect: Andromeda, to the disappointment of fans, will not happen. According to rumors, the game will be shown in detail on November 7, on the so-called N7 Day, an annual holiday for all fans of the game. There the developers, again according to rumors, will demonstrate for the first time gameplay Andromeda, and will also announce the exact release date of the long-awaited game.

Ubisoft has prepared hot demos of its blockbusters for all visitors to the exhibition - Watch Dogs 2, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands, South Park: The Fractured But Whole. The publisher also promises to please fans of Assassin Creed's with new footage from the upcoming film adaptation with Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard.

Bungie Studios is ready to show off a new update for its online space action game Destiny called Rise of Iron. Demo expected Resident Evil 7, new Bandai Namco projects. Bethesda, CD Projekt, Konami, Nintendo, Take-Two Interactive and many other companies will have their own stands. In addition to the presentation of games, Gamescom will host a cosplay competition, an award ceremony, and e-sports tournaments. In particular, Game Show and World Cyber ​​Arena (WCA) will hold competitions in Dota 2, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft and League of Legends among student teams from Europe and China with a total prize pool of € 42 thousand.

Photo: generationmagazin.files.wordpress.com/

Unfortunately, recent events with attacks on people in Germany and other European countries will affect the usual course of the gaming exhibition. Due to the threat of terrorist attacks and to avoid panic on the streets of Cologne, cosplayers are prohibited from using models or imitation firearms and bladed weapons this year. Without these accessories, dress-up enthusiasts will have to work harder on their look, otherwise, without the legendary BFG gun or chainsaw, it will be difficult to distinguish a Space Marine from DOOM from Master Chief from Halo.

The main European gaming exhibition promises to be very interesting and eventful. As a rule, the program turns out to be much broader than the stated presentations and screenings. All the hottest news and impressions from the demonstration of games from the scene will appear on the pages of the “Championship”. Don't miss it!

Are there new projects coming?

Last year, Blizzard held a lot of events at their booth, telling the community about almost all of their projects. The main announcement at Gamescom 2015 was World of Warcraft: Legion, a new major update to the MMO of the same name, in which a new continent will appear, as well as a new game class. In addition, details about Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone and other projects were shown.

What can you expect from Metelitsa this year? We won't see updates for World of Warcraft for at least another year. Overwatch has just opened its doors to everyone, and Hearthstone receives regular updates almost every four months. Heroes of the Storm just recently introduced Chromie, and Medivh will be coming to the game in a few weeks. Rating system HotS will be released very soon, so you won’t have to wait for new products in this discipline. New heroes appear every quarter, so Gamescom will only be able to announce the release schedule of heroes for the next six months.

Among the active projects that we haven’t heard anything about for some time are StarCraft and Diablo. The space saga recently received its due latest update, however, more than six months have passed since then. Missions for Nova were added to the game, but they did not change anything globally. Despite the fact that StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void is the last ideological addition for the game, fans do not lose hope for the continuation of the series, but in a different format. The shooter Overwatch receives good ratings, which indicates a successful test of a new genre.

The situation with the advent of a new add-on for Diablo looks most realistic. The game series turns 20 in 2016! The first part of the hack and slash game was released in 1996, and the latest update is called Diablo III: Reaper of Souls was released in 2014. Two years have passed, and many fans are waiting for some kind of answer from the developers regarding their favorite game series. It is likely that at Gamescom 2016 we will see the first trailer for Diablo IV, as well as details of the continuation of the plot.

What else can Blizzard show at the festival? If we take into account canceled and frozen projects, then Starcraft: Ghost, a third-person shooter in the universe of the same name, will be an excellent continuation of the closed strategy. Titan, designed to displace WoW from the global market, was frozen and closed, so you shouldn't expect anything big. The success of Hearthstone and Overwatch, which are much smaller in scale than the world of Azeroth, brought great success to the company, so large projects are most likely World level of Warcraft you won't have to wait.

But don't forget that Blizzard loves to surprise. This time the developers clearly have something up their sleeves. Follow the events of the gaming industry from August 17 to 21!

Let us remind you that from June 14 to 16 another gaming exhibition E3 will be held, at which many new products will also be presented, but Blizzard is not listed as a participant.