This week, as every August, Gamescom will again turn Cologne into a big playground. The computer and video game trade fair opens on Wednesday to the press and to the public from Thursday. The trade fair is expecting about 500,000 visitors. One of the biggest trends is once again games and equipment that transport users into virtual worlds.

While Sony is also following the virtual reality trend (VR) in Cologne with its Playstation and bringing along its new Playstation VR headset, Microsoft is holding back somewhat for its Xbox One. Xbox marketing manager Aaron Greenberg said that first and foremost, fans of the Xbox console wanted to play on a big screen. Since Tuesday, fans have been able to completely immerse themselves in the block-building “Minecraft” game. The company said that with its new operating system Windows 10, the game could be played on a personal computer using the Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets. The company behind the popular game sold it to Microsoft in 2014 for around 1.9 billion dollars.

The day before the fair opened, Microsoft introduced its most important new innovations to a specialist audience. “Gamescom is the only trade fair where our fans can get their hands on our top titles before they hit the market,” said Greenberg.

Although the trade fair was sold out weeks ago, the organisers (Koelnmesse) said there were still a few hundred tickets available for each of the public days, as some tickets had not been used. Tickets are available in the online-shop at the normal price for as long as stocks last.

During Gamescom there is normally a wide programme of events all over the city. This year there are increased security measures because of recent terrorist attacks. Visitors should wherever possible leave bags and rucksacks at home. Traditionally many people dress up during the trade fair. This year imitation weapons are banned.

(Orig. text: dpa; translated by Kate Carey)