Gamescom 2013: all the live-streams & games here

Gamescom 2013 is bringing next-gen to Cologne. VG247's Dave Cook re-caps all of the live-streams and games at the show.

It's that time of year again, when the gaming press descends on Cologne to check out the biggest games the industry has to offer and ruin their colons with meat. Pat, Sam and I will be there all of next week to play the games, attend the showcases and speak with the developers.

To re-cap everything that we'll be seeing at the show, I've compiled this handy guide to make sure you don't miss a conference or title. (Note: we will be hosting Sony and EA's streams in separate pages on the big day, so be sure to check back Tuesday!)

First up...

The conferences:

EA: Tuesday, August 20 - 3pm UK / 4pm Europe / 7am Pacific

We know that EA is bringing at least Titanfall, Battlefield 4, Need for Speed: The Rivals, FIFA 14 and Command & Conquer to gamescom following the publisher's blog on the matter.

The publisher has made a bit of noise about The Sims 4, which it said will be revealed in full at gamescom, and our money is on an appearance during the EA conference itself.

We're also expecting to hear more about Dragon Age: Inquisition at the show following its big reveal in this month's issue of Game Informer, but we'll find out at the show.

Sony: Tuesday, August 20 - 6pm UK / 7pm Europe / 10am Pacific

Sony has already confirmed that its gamescom event will focus on PS4, and we're hoping to hear a solid release date for the console during the show. UPDATE: Looks like that will happen, yes.

There's also the little matter of this rumoured PS4 and PS Vita bundle that may or may not make an appearance. Steph and I recently called round some retailers to ask if it was a real bundle and they had no clue what we were talking about, so it seems unlikely.

It seems likely that games like Killzone: Shadow Fall, inFamous: Second Son, Driveclub, The Order: 1886 will be there in some form although we can't say for certain yet. We're still waiting for that LittleBigPlanet 3 announcement too.

Who and what?

Microsoft: Xbox One will be the company's big focus at gamescom and if rumours are to be believed Microsoft's presence will yield at least one new game announcement. Gamers seem to think it's either Crackdown 3 or Fable 4. Truth be told we have no idea yet.

Crackdown's agility orb logo was spotted during Microsoft's Xbox One reveal back in May and Phil Spencer has been harping on about it a lot lately. Could this be the elusive, mystery game?

Microsoft's stance on self-publishing was also pegged for discussion during gamescom before details on the reversal were leaked ahead of time. Microsoft's Marc Whitten confirmed that the company would issue more details on the policy in Cologne.

Were also hoping to hear more on the Xbox One release dates, which may or may not go down at some point during gamescom. With the console out before year's end and a TGS announcement unlikely, this is the best place for Microsoft to drop a date on us.

Game-wise we're hoping for Dead Rising 3, Kinect Sports: Rivals, Project Spark, Forza Motorsport 5, Ryse: Son of Rome, Killer Instinct and more, but we'll have to wait for the gamescom's doors to open to find out more.

Nintendo: The Japanese giant makes its return to gamescom this year with a suite of Wii U and 3DS titles on the public show floor. On Wii U Nintendo will bring, "Pikmin 3, The Wonderful 101, The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD, Sonic Lost World, Wii Party U, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Super Mario 3D World, Wii Karaoke U, Mario Kart 8.

On 3DS Nintendo will be giving fans a chance to play Pokémon X and Pokémon Y, Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. It's a strong showing from the company which is something of a bounce-back after last year's no-show.

Ubisoft: While the company isn't holding its usual conference at gamescom this year, it is promising to bring a new next-gen IP to the show. Current rumours suggest it's Child of Light by Ubisoft Montreal. There's also these Fighter Within domain registrations to consider.

Seeing as the publisher isn't holding its own pre-show event, you can expect this reveal to go down at Sony's conference. We're none the wiser on what it is, although we can also expect showings from Watch Dogs, Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag and The Crew.

Square Enix: Final Fantasy is a big focus for Square this year. The company recently spilled details of its gamescom 2013 showing, which will give the public plenty of hands-on and demo sessions to look forward to.

We know that Thief, Murdered: Soul Suspect, Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn, Final Fantasy X & X-2 HD Remaster, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy 13, Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX and Deus Ex: The Fall will be there. There's no word on Final Fantasy 15 however.

Activison: Blizzard has confirmed it will announce something to do with Diablo 3 at the show, which we're going to guess will be news on the first expansion or something about the PS4 build.

We're also expecting to hear more about Call of Duty: Ghosts multiplayer following its big August 14 reveal and of course we're hoping to get another glimpse of Destiny on the show floor.

Konami: Sorry Metal Gear Solid 5 fans, only Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 and PES 2014 are playable at this year's gamescom, but that's still something to get excited for.

Bethesda: The company has confirmed that The Elder Scrolls Online will be playable at gamescom and we wouldn't be overly-surprised if Wolfenstein: The New Order and The Evil Within were to rear their heads at some point too.

Deep Silver: The publisher will bring it's newly-announced MOBA Dead Island: Epidemic to Cologne, and Wasteland 2 developer inXile has confirmed it will bring the game to the show floor.

Other games we're hoping will be at the show, but haven't been confirmed at the time of writing:

• Batman: Arkham Origins
• Eve Online
• Dark Souls 2
• Dust 514
• Half-Life 3 (totes jokes yo)
• Hawken
• Hotline Miami 2
• Payday 2
• Mad Max
• Space Hulk
• Star Citizen
• War of the Vikings
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• World of Tanks Xbox 360
• WWE 14

No-shows:

• Capcom

What are you most looking forward to at this year's gamescom show? Let us know below.