This week Cologne, Germany played host to Gamescom, one of the largest video games trade shows in the world. With next-gen systems in the pipeline, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Microsoft and Sony had a major presence at the show. Since the console makers already revealed their hardware at E3 in June, Gamescom was all about the, ahem, games.

Microsoft officially unveiled Xbox One’s launch lineup. As of August 19, there are 50 announced titles coming to Xbox One, 23 of which are hitting the marketplace day-and-date with the console’s holiday season release. Click those provided links to scan the lists, or simply jump after the break to do so. In addition to revealing the One’s games, Microsoft also spent time hyping its ID@Xbox initiative, or Independent Developers @ Xbox. Simply put, Microsoft is committed to helping indie devs achieve their goals of making games for Xbox One and it is striving to make the process as quick and streamlined as possible by making powerful tools and services available.

While Microsoft wasn’t ready to nail down the Xbox One’s release date, Sony upstaged them (again) by announcing that the PlayStation 4 will drop on November 15, 2013 in North America and on November 29 in Europe and Latin America. In terms of games, Sony isn’t saying which ones will launch alongside the console but it promises that 33 games will release before the end of the year, 18 of which are digital-download titles only. A grand total of 180 games are currently in development for the PS4. Jump after the break to see the launch window lineup. Sony also expressed its commitment to fostering indie devs by titles like FEZ (Polytron Corporation), Rogue Legacy (Cellar Door Games), and Supermagical (Tama Games). Also, Twitch is coming to PS4 to serve as another way for gamers to live stream their gameplay in addition to Ustream; and movies are in the works based on Digital Polyphony’s Gran Turismo franchise and Ubisoft’s upcoming Watch Dogs (see in-game pic above). Elsewhere, the PS Vita is getting a $50 price drop to $199 and the portable’s memory cards are falling in price as well. Over 25 new games are coming to Vita over the next 12 months.

Now since Gamescon is based on Europe, Microsoft and Sony made some exciting announcements for that far-away land. For example, MSFT says all pre-ordered consoles will ship with a free copy of FIFA 2014 because we all know how much Europeans enjoy their “football.” And on Sony’s end, “Magma Red” and “Wave Blue” color variants of the DualShock 4 controller will ship first in Europe and Latin America before eventually making their way to the States later this year.

The last piece of the next-gen puzzle is the Xbox One’s release date. As we await word from Microsoft, kick back and browse the launch lineups for the One and PS4 after the break! Continue reading Gamescom 2013: Xbox One & PS4 launch titles revealed →