The biggest battle in the video game world isn't happening between superhuman avatars on screen, but between Microsoft and Sony.
On Tuesday, both companies held press briefings at the annual Gamescom trade fair in Cologne, Germany, focusing on games and new features for their respective consoles.
Focusing on exclusive games, Microsoft announced highly-anticipated sequels to popular games and updates to its Xbox One consoles. In total, it said that there would be "hundreds" of new games from independent developers, according to Gamespot's liveblog.
Some of the new games announced -- and demonstrated -- included "Fable Legends," "Quantum Break," "Forza Horizon 2," and "Evolve."
"Fable Legends," the multiplayer role-playing game that was announced at last year's Gamescom, will finally be available as a beta version on Oct. 16, reports Gamespot. "Forza Horizon 2" will launch in September for Xbox One and Xbox 360, while "Halo 5: Guardians" will be available on Xbox One by the end of the year.
The sequel to the popular game "Tomb Raider" will be an Xbox exclusive, launching in late 2015.
New features were also announced for the console, including a new "Friends" section that allows gamers to stay up-to-date with their friends; a "Snap Center" that will allow gamers to switch back and forth between games, Messages, friends and achievements; an Xbox One Digital TV Tuner; Stream TV and Boot-to-TV. The console is also preparing to launch in 29 more countries over the next few weeks.
In addition, Microsoft announced two new bundles, according to Gamespot. One edition will include a white Xbox One, bundled with "Sunset Overdrive" -- previously reserved for Microsoft employees, reported The Verge. The second will include a specially designed "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare" console with one terabyte of onboard storage and will include the game. The white Xbox One will be priced at $399 and the other will be priced at $499.
Like Microsoft, Sony also announced new features for its PlayStation 4 gaming console, such as SharePlay, the ability to search for PlayStation Network users by their real name, and uploading saved videos directly to YouTube, reports Gamespot. Described as a "virtual couch," SharePlay will allow users to invite a friend to join their games -- "just as if you were together in the same room," Scott McCarthy, Playstation's Director of Product Planning and Software Innovation, wrote in a blog post.
