13 Biggest WTF Moments From Gamescom 2019

It's been an odd year for game conferences; E3 was a messy shadow of itself, whilst publisher-controlled streaming shows have grown in popularity. However, the usually low-key (stream-wise) Gamescom managed to generate massive buzz as a major event, at short-notice and seemingly out of the blue, poising itself as the next big media extravaganza.

With back-to-back conferences playing all throughout this past Monday, the shows felt refreshingly lean in comparison to E3's self-congratulatory bloat, although they did miss the latter's spectacle.

We had Nintendo deliver a charming showcase of colourful indie titles coming to the Switch. Google then had an average showing of upcoming games for the Stadia platform. And thirdly, Microsoft fired off an ambitious Inside Xbox event, which lacked surprises but had plenty of solid footage and news to make up for it.

The star of the show, though, was the Geoff Keighley hosted/produced Opening Night streaming show which had a bevy of reveals, juicy gameplay trailers and wrapped up with a ridiculous twenty-minute presentation on Death Stranding.

Consequently, whether it was surprise announcements that sucker-punched or awkward hosts murdering their teleprompter, Gamescom 2019 brought us plenty of WTF moments...

It's crazy to think that Microsoft's two biggest franchises, Halo and Gears Of War, have never ever crossed over, especially considering the familiar tropes of future wars and space marines being unavoidable conventions in both.

Well, that looks to finally change as Rod Fergusson revealed on the Inside Xbox conference that Gears 5's multiplayer is receiving a Halo: Reach character pack for those who order the Ultimate Edition.

Seeing the ragtag team of Spartans from Reach shoot and chainsaw through hordes of Locust truly fits like a hand in glove, and makes for some enjoyable fan service that's been a long time coming.