Traditionally, the major players concentrate on promoting their big-hitting titles at Gamescom, Cologne's annual showcase for the most exciting games in development, but at this year's event a wave of innovative independent games and new services drew as much attention as blockbuster franchises.

Sony and Microsoft both spent much of their time focusing on intriguing indie titles. Xbox players will see the likes of Goat Sim, an anarchic open-world destruction game; The Escapists, a prison-set crafting and strategy title from classic British developers Team 17; and Smite, a Moba (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) where players control the gods of myth, with gameplay designed for controllers rather than mouse and keyboard. PS4 gamers have a slightly more esoteric selection on the way, including The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (an occult mystery akin to the recent Murdered: Soul Suspect) and The Tomorrow Children, a charming yet unsettling game where characters styled like Russian dolls mine fallen giants in a dystopian autocratic world.

Sony also announced the November launch of PlayStation TV, a "microconsole" that can stream PS4 content to other TVs and directly access the PlayStation Now service. PS Now streams PS3 and earlier games over the internet without downloads, with the first European test of the platform to launch in the UK in 2015.

Elsewhere, Activision debuted a literally game-changing new iteration of its Skylanders franchise, introducing a full mobile version. Trap Team launches on 10 October, with a starter set including a custom controller for playing on the go, and the game will be compatible with all existing Skylanders toys – great news for kids, bad news for parents' wallets.