Between gaming freaks and Gamescom trade fair stands - Part 3

How quickly time flies. You've reached the third part of my personal summary. If you haven't already seen it, you can find my article from yesterday here:

We started again today at 9am with long strides to the Xbox stand. Perhaps I need to take this opportunity to explain once again just how big the exhibition centre is. The show almost started without us. Microsoft amazed me with an awesome product presentation in the specially set up trade fair cinema. I'm using this word on purpose, as it almost knocked my socks off. They blew us away with Dolby Atmos and amazed us with 4K moving images from various games. Spiked with a few LED tubes that visually enlarged the already huge screen.

After the show, cinema-goers were able to try out the new Xbox One X at several stations. There were various games to choose from. After only about two minutes of playing F1 2017, I realised that I wouldn't be embarking on a racing career. The game was set up too realistically for me, so that by the first corner I was only travelling with three wheels and provoked a pile-up. Sorry!

Halo Wars 2 wasn't really my cup of tea either. In Quantum Break, I turned the in-game camera so that I could see all of the protagonist's laugh lines. The storyline is really something for humour lovers. But it was Assassin's Creed Origins that really knocked my socks off. The graphic details are so amazing that I couldn't stop marvelling. I flew straight into the mountains with the eagle, as I know a thing or two about paragliding. A short time later, I was attacked by a hippopotamus and unfortunately lost a life when I ran too loudly across the enemy ship's deck.

Do you like VR? It's not without reason that I've already organised a VR day or two here at digitec. Our HTC Vive contact booked us a half-hour slot to try out the new Fallout 4 VR. Product manager Roy pulled off the VR goggles, drenched in sweat, but with a huge grin on his face. I don't know a bigger Fallout fan. It was my turn! The wasteland made my head spin at first. The touchpad on the left controller serves as a joystick to move around. If you press it without thinking that you won't be moving around the room, you'll fall down without any reflexes. The experience in VR is almost indescribable, I urge you to try it out when you get the chance!

The second visit to the EA sector made me reminisce about old times. Yes, I fell in love with Need For Speed again after what felt like 15 years. The story of the new edition is gripping right from the start and gets the blood racing in your veins. Too bad the demo was so short and stopped exactly when you least want it to. Just like Gamescom.

I return to Cologne exhausted but with many new impressions. Thank you for letting me be a part of it. I wish everyone who is allowed to visit the hallowed halls between now and Saturday short breaks and unexpected experiences. I'm probably busy planning the upcoming game releases. Somehow we have to keep some time free. It's not just new consoles, optimised VR experiences and the latest game titles that await us. No, we can expect timeless leaps into the future because we are susceptible to good storylines. Soon you'll be diving back into a game and watching time fly by.

Game on!