What Gamescom Showed Us About Sony & Microsoft?

The biggest game convention of the year is E3 and this takes place around early June in Los Angeles. However, there is another convention that takes place in Cologne, Germany around the end of August and it’s the largest gaming event in Europe, which is known as Gamescom.

There is more of a buzz about the event this year with both Sony & Microsoft launching brand new consoles this year. This will also be the last major event for both companies to sell consumers on why their console is the best.

Sony continued their stellar conference from E3 into Gamescom by showing off the dashboard for the PS4. They also announced a release date for the console, which will be November 15.

They also confirmed the rumors of an incoming Gran Turismo film, while also promising 33 PlayStation 4 games by the end of the year. That was not the only film announced at the convention, Ubisoft announced that it is partnering with Sony and New Regency to develop a feature film based on the highly anticipated open-world action adventure game Watch Dogs.

This seems somewhat premature, as the game has yet to hit the shelves. Ubisoft must really believe in their new IP, for them to already have a deal in place to make a movie based off the game.

Microsoft teased off the operating environment for the Xbox One, but was not quite ready to show it off to the public — instead they opted to preview their new console behind closed doors. This is a surprise seeing as how this is the last big event to show off the interface.

They did announce that every single European pre-order of the Xbox One will come with a free copy of Fifa 14. This should help them sell the console in Europe, with Fifa being one of the most popular games in Europe.

The odd thing is that unlike Sony, Microsoft chose not to announce a release date for their new console. They will probably have their own press event within the next month or so and announce a date and hopefully show off the UI to more people.

The event was great, but not spectacular as both companies did not make a case to consumers to show what makes their console better than the competition. They still have time in the coming months to change people’s perception.