Ubisoft Motion Pictures, the film wing at the Ubisoft estate, has announced a new movie based on upcoming game Watch Dogs. The film, called a thriller in the announcement, is being developed in collaboration with Sony Pictures and New Regency Productions.

If this all sounds familiar, it's because Ubisoft has a similar deal with New Regency in place for the upcoming Assassin's Creed film starring Michael Fassbender. No casting choices for the upcoming Watch Dogs film have been announced.

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FIFA 14 will include legendary players from the sport's history in its ever-popular Ultimate Team mode, EA announced at its Gamescom press conference. The legendary players will be exclusive to Xbox 360 and Xbox One, and will first be available in random Ultimate Team gold packs when the Xbox One launches this November. We have the full list of players available after the break.

FIFA 14 will launch in North America on September 24 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, then in Europe on September 27. What's more, European players that pre-order the Xbox One system will receive a copy of FIFA 14 as well.

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The mobile version of FIFA 14 will be free to play, EA announced during its Gamescom press event today.

Series Executive Producer David Rutter also noted during the press conference that the demo for console versions of FIFA 14 will arrive on September 10 in North America and September 11 in Europe. The game arrives on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC on September 24 in North America. The game will be a launch title for PS4 and Xbox One, and will include several "upgrade" options for players that purchase current-gen versions and want to carry Ultimate Team and career data to next-gen systems. European fans that pre-order Xbox Ones will receive a copy of FIFA 14 with their purchase.

There is a deliberate pace and procedure at the heart of any Telltale Games experience. The Wolf Among Us, the studio's next episodic adventure after last year's critically acclaimed The Walking Dead, doesn't stray from the adventure game formula, or the tendency to put players in gripping emotional conundrums flanked by brief segments of gameplay.

Fables follows a series of fairytale creatures, heroes and villains, hiding amongst the "mundies" (mundane normal folk) of modern day NYC in a neighborhood dubbed Fabletown. Based on what I saw in my demo, morality, demanding choices and QTEs form the majority of The Wolf Among Us' gameplay. But greater than The Walking Dead, there is more disbelief one must suspend when diving into The Wolf Among Us – especially if you've never read the Fables series of comics before.

There isn't much that can prepare you for seeing a cussing three foot tall toad in a sweater, after all.

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Tune in for EA's live press conference from Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, at 10AM ET (7AM PT, 4PM CEST) today, August 20. Our liveblog from the event will be right here, so keep this tab open and it'll be like you're sitting next to us, schnitzel in hand ... feeding it to us. EA promises to bring Battlefield 4, Need For Speed Rivals, Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare, FIFA 14, EA Sports UFC, Command and Conquer, and it plans to unveil The Sims 4.

EA announced The Sims 4 on May 6, but we've yet to see any footage from within the game. It's due out in 2014 for PC and Mac. We still need concrete launch dates for The Sims 4, Garden Warfare, next-gen versions of NFS Rivals, EA Sports UFC and Command and Conquer, though a lot of this would be cleared up with release dates for the PS4 and Xbox One.

No, there's no Dragon Age: Inquisition on the docket. There aren't dragons in Germany, silly.

Many people really latched onto Ryse: Son of Rome's execution system when Crytek showed off the game at E3 earlier this year – but probably not in the way the developer wanted them to. Ryse's executions, which grant the player various in-game perks – and see protagonist Marius stabbing, gouging, slicing, bashing and otherwise maiming barbarians – are performed via short quick time events. Even though the majority of Ryse's combat has an ebb and flow similar to the Batman Arkham games – flurries of attacks sprinkled with timely parries – many prospective players, myself included, worried about the QTE-infused combat getting stale.

Crytek has responded to those concerns, and the build of Ryse being shown at Gamescom has a significantly altered execution system. Gone are the garish button prompts. Instead, enemies are subtly highlighted with the color of the appropriate button: Yellow for the shield (Y) and blue for the sword (X). By watching Marius' animations and keeping an eye out for each color, I easily slipped into the rhythm of various executions, something I can't say about the E3 build I played in June.

The E3 reaction didn't directly inspire the changes to the execution system, design director Patrick Esteves tells me, but it definitely played a part. "We were already down a course. We already knew where executions were going. And, of course, in game development, we have to figure out what's the best way to do something."

"People don't like the idea of a QTE-based combat system. Thank God we're not a QTE-based combat system," says Esteves, alluding to the fact that there is more to Ryse's combat than people may have perceived from the E3 demo. Just as I did in June, players will eventually discover that the combat is more about a dance-like back-and-forth between Marius and foes than it is about executions. "That was the first thing," says Esteves, "and the second thing is, is the communication language good enough for the game?" Crytek decided it wasn't.

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"Gladiator" is the cooperative multiplayer mode in Ryse: Son of Rome, Crytek's ancient Roman action game due out for Xbox One at launch. Gladiator puts players inside the Colosseum, where they participate in battles against an onslaught of enemies, while the crowd cheers on.

At Microsoft's Gamescom showcase, it was revealed that all European Xbox One pre-orders will receive a free copy of FIFA 14. Even pre-orders that have already been placed will be upgraded with a free copy of the game.

Xbox 360 wannabe owners can also score their own FIFA 14 bundle, priced £199 and available when the game is released on September 27. As the handy image above shows, the Xbox One pre-order in Europe is £429.

At Microsoft's Gamescom showcase today, Phil Harisson revealed Fighter Within, a new Kinect fighting game from Ubisoft. In a very brief trailer, we saw a few characters beating on one another, and that's about it. The game is slated to arrive this holiday.

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Cobalt, the platforming action game published by Minecraft machine Mojang, is coming to Xbox One and Xbox 360, Microsoft announced at its Gamescom press conference today. Cobalt is a single- or multiplayer game that involves robots, rockets and slowing down time – all the finer things in life.

Cobalt launched as a PC alpha in December 2011, from developer Oxeye Game Studio.

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Microsoft has announced a self-publishing program for independent developers to get their games on Xbox One. Applications to join "Independent Developers @ Xbox" (or "ID@Xbox") are available widely starting today (xbox.com/id), though Microsoft tells Joystiq it is prioritizing developers with a proven track record during the initial stages of the program, which begins this fall.

"We wanted to recognize that this program is just starting out," said Chris Charla, who heads up the ID@Xbox program and its support team. "We're really looking for qualified developers, especially in the early stages." Though there is no generic checklist for what is a "prioritized" application, Charla says Microsoft is looking for established indies that can provide good feedback to help the program improve in the future.

Once accepted into the program, ID@Xbox participants will receive two Xbox One development kits at no cost, along with full access to Achievements, the Xbox Live toolset, cloud services, Kinect and SmartGlass for use in their games. "We have a pretty quick turnaround to letting people into the program, and signing their hardware agreements and that sort of thing," Charla said. However, "if we get 1000 entries on Tuesday, it's going to take a couple days longer than if we get 200." Charla would not disclose the general details of the resulting contracts, only saying that "every contract is probably a little different."

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Agent William Carter peeks around a backyard wall, surrounded by the buoyant remains of a scattered birthday party. Straight-faced in an evacuated 1960s suburbia, he is the man who shouts against the alien invasion on America's porch. "Draw their fire!" he tells his two colleagues in arms. "Put a mine there!" And finally, with a bold pose and a deep cache of air in his lungs, he screams the scream that won the war: "DEPLOYING BLOB!"

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is a game about shooting aliens, coordinating offense under duress and, in some cases, deploying blobs in a tactical fashion. As a dapper CIA agent and pragmatic not-on-MY-watch type, William Carter rejects the lexicon of XCOM, a secret organization that now finds its Cold War paranoia rerouted to deflect "The Outsiders," slender grey men from outer space. Carter's blob is actually a "silacoid," a mercurial pet formed from magnetically bound lumps of inky material. The scientists back at HQ delight in describing its fascinating properties and how they repurposed it from our would-be conquerers, but to Carter it's just a roving tool meant to distract enemies in battle. (The alternative sound bite on this order is "Blob out!" which sounds like an instruction to lie in bed and inhale a gallon of Ben and Jerry's.)

Carter's role in the action itself is to anchor your strategies, and that's what makes The Bureau a more arresting third-person shooter. There's the usual knee-high detritus that serves as cover in firefights, the pop-and-shoot gunplay, the evasive roll – and you've gotta have a melee attack, so Carter gets a huge electric bracelet that looks like it stuck after he punched through a desktop computer.

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Spartans will find some additional items in their wardrobe today, as 343 Industries has issued the "Champions Bundle" DLC pack in Halo 4.

For 800 MS Points ($10) you'll get: the "Bullseye" pack, which includes two new multiplayer maps, a new "Ricochet" game mode and some sports-themed armor; the "Infinity Armor Pack," a collection of new armor items modeled after past Halo games; and the "Steel Gun Pack," which coats your weapons in some shiny new metals.

343 Industries is also offering these three DLC packs piecemeal, though purchasing the full bundle guarantees 18 additional exclusive in-game items and one cheaper price tag.

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GameStop isn't the only establishment offering Xbox One upgrades. Amazon has announced it too will allow users to upgrade from their Xbox 360 game to the same version on Xbox One, for a $10 fee.

Each eligible Xbox 360 game traded in to Amazon prior to December 31 will be valued at $25 and, as part of this promotion, Amazon will tack on another $25. That leaves you to make up the $10 in-between.

Amazon will support eight games over GameStop's five: Battlefield 4, Need for Speed: Rivals, Madden NFL 25, Call of Duty: Ghosts, FIFA 14, Watch Dogs, NBA 2K13 and Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag. Just make sure you read the full terms and conditions before you start boxing up your games. okay?

After the dust settled on last week's multiplayer reveal for Call of Duty: Ghosts, Infinity Ward executive producer Mark Rubin spoke with Joystiq about the franchise's new current- and next-gen engine, in-game female soldiers and the corporate culture at a very different-looking Infinity Ward studio. Rubin also detailed the process and philosophy behind linking in-game progression to Call of Duty profiles, so that players won't be forced to restart their online careers if transitioning between current and next-gen consoles.

For more on Call of Duty: Ghosts (with exclusive in-game footage), make sure to watch Joystiq's hands-on video preview and the interview with CEO of Activision Publishing, Eric Hirshberg.

Call of Duty: Ghosts is coming to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 later this year, along with Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U and PC versions on November 5.

When you pick up your World of Tanks swag bag at Gamescom, which starts this Wednesday, you have these diligent people to thank. These bags don't fill themselves, folks!

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Batman: Arkham Origins won't use Games for Windows Live to track achievements, as Arkham Asylum and Arkham City both did, IGN Australia reports. Arkham Origins' achievements and multiplayer content will be handled directly through Steam. Arkham Asylum and Arkham City used GFWL to track achievements, though they didn't have multiplayer.

Microsoft is closing the GFWL marketplace on August 22, but it says the service will remain active for customers to access previously purchased content.

Capcom's coming Ultra Street Fighter 4 is also ditching GFWL for full Steam integration. The game's predecessors, Street Fighter 4 and Super Street Fighter 4, used GFWL for multiplayer, on top of Steam.