Gamescom 2014: all the stories from day one

Once again, gaming's secret society of wizards have collected around Cologne, Germany, and summoned forth a festival of games. Gamescom is back and, over the next few days, fresh news, trailers and previews will ooze from its hallowed halls. Already the incantations have summoned corporate executives to deliver press conferences, providing surprise announcements and extended footage. Here's what went down on Gamescom's first day.

NEWS

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare's multiplayer is revealed , reminds us of Titanfall.
Wargaming.net arrive in the only way they can: a ridiculous World of Tanks trailer .
Assassin's Creed: Unity shows off its crowds in a new trailer.
More CoD. This time, it's seven minutes of campaign footage .
How big is The Witcher 3's world? Really, really big .
Sad news: Rise of the Tomb Raider will release "exclusively on Xbox One".
SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT.
Activision has revived Sierra. They're working on a "reimagined" King's Quest .
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter gets a strange new trailer.
See the beauty and violence of Far Cry 4's Kyrat.
Mike Bithell's Volume made a sneaky appearance at the Sony press conference.
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor brings the Black Hand in a new trailer.
See a new Evolve map , courtesy of the Microsoft conference and some terrible commentary.
After a hectic day, the charming Below calms us all down .

OPINION

Rise of the Tomb Raider's exclusivity is a relic (and a pretty dumb one at that).

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.