You can turn it in the right direction: When Gamescom is in Cologne, the sun shines - at least in my memory. I do not remember a trade fair year in which the sun did not dazzle me when I interviewed and photographed visitors in the yard. And this year too, sweat at the entrance and on the site is shared: 28 degrees are announced for the press day on Tuesday as well as for Wednesday and Thursday, the first two of four visitor days.

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It's usually tight at Gamescom, like here in 2017

It could be raining from Friday, which would make the main halls even tighter when professional gamers and creators appear and the public collectively roars company and game names in hopes of catching a giveaway flying from the stage , With probably more than 350,000 visitors, Gamescom is not only the world's largest, but also the most complete games fair.

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Gaming Developments: Trends in the Game Industry

That this year for the first time more than a thousand exhibitors are there, is for the fair a success. But more pleasant would be the event, would come once hundred thousand visitors less. Then you would have to wait for the blockbuster test matches maybe only half an hour, instead of two or three hours.

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A smart and energy-saving idea for waiting: a book brought along

After all, I know that there are also places on the Gamescom, where you may feel like a game fan, instead of like gossip. I recommend a visit to the Indie Arena Booth in Hall 10.1 (where this is, reveals this plan by "Gameswirtschaft"), in which independent developers exhibit their works. If you want to play here, you usually only have to wait a few minutes and often be allowed to chat with a developer.

To try it out, for example, "Through the Darkest of Times," a strategy game about the resistance against the Nazis. The demo version shown is the first in the Gamescom history, which may show swastikas and the Hitler salute with the blessing of the USK in the form of an age rating from 12 years.

In the video: Professional Gamen in China - gambling as a profession

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German wave

It is also mostly relaxed in Hall 10.2, where employers from the games industry present themselves alongside cosplayers in their disguises. Here you can drink in peace from his (plastic) water bottle, which may be brought as soft drinks and sandwiches. Do not forget the powerbank for the smartphone, especially as a multi-photographer and as a distraction while queuing. And finally an insider tip for parents who accompany children: In Hall 10.2 there is a retro gaming area, in which many old consoles are available, where you can sometimes start playing directly - and often against each other in pairs.

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Strange digital world: worse is always possible

Sky Ticket and I will not be friends anymore. I subscribe to the streaming service admittedly only for a short time, if I want to look cheap and legal HBO series. But then I'm always upset, especially about the poor usability of the Playstation 4 app. This summer, Sky was constantly baiting me with advertising mails and offers, I became weak again. The second season "Westworld" lured - and a revision of the terrible app. "MARKUS, the new Sky Ticket for your PlayStation 4 is here," promised me an email.

I'll make it short: The summer affair of Sky Ticket and I will probably not come to a good end, which was already apparent on day one, when the offer on a Sunday evening promptly refused to serve me. Maintenance work, of course. Then I noticed that the second " Westworld" season, mentioned in the spring in every advertising mail and ended only in late June in the US, has not been available on Sky Ticket for nearly four weeks. And the new app, which promises an "intuitive design" does not look good, nor can it be intuitively operated on the Playstation. But she has already crashed several times in the middle of videos.

Not everything was so bad earlier, the old Sky ticket for the Playstation 4. Had I not thought that I write that time.

App of the Week: "Shorty"
tested by Tobias Kirchner

Michal Mrocek

If you frequently need to access links, photos or text documents quickly on your smartphone, you should take a closer look at the shorty app. Thus, almost everything that is stored on the device, get its own reference. This then appears between the apps in the start menu of the smartphone.

Shorty offers a clear way to manage the selected content. With colors and a closer description that you can write yourself, you keep track of the different files.

Free by Michal Mrocek , with no in-app purchases: Android

Foreign Link: Three tips from other media

  • "That's why you should use RSS" (five minutes of reading)
    Do the three letters RSS tell you something? If so, you can skip this article by "Süddeutsche" author Simon Hurtz. If not, it could radically change your news consumption on the Net.
  • "Artificial intelligence finds people behave strangely" (ten minutes of reading)
    For Zeit Online, Dirk Peitz interviewed computer scientist Greg Brockman: his team and he trained an AI in the complex online game Dota 2 and competed against human opponents.
  • "John Green is a Fortnite Pacifist" (Video Series, 15 to 24 minutes per episode)
    I do not shoot first: According to this motto, the bestselling author John Green ("Fate is a lousy traitor") is now playing the action game "Fortnite" on YouTube. Let's play something different.

I wish you a playful week, you

Markus Böhm