Gamescom 2015 Day 5: Super PCs, Dreadnought, Video Games Live, and Retro Fun

In spite of being at Gamescom 2015 from the very beginning, the end still managed to hold a few surprises. From obscure, hard to find games, to surprisingly fun space-simulators and even a concert, here's what left us amazed on the last day of Gamescom 2015.

Project CARS looks better than ever, with Intel's help
Except for Need for Speed and Forza 6, we would have have been hard pressed to name any racing games worth checking out on the show floor. But then we chanced upon Intel's booth which had Project CARS running. It isn't the latest racing game, but the way Intel presented it ensured attention from a sizeable audience, what with a custom racing chair fitted with pedals and a steering wheel, and multiple monitors.

The visual fidelity of the game was second to none. In fact we don't think we've seen Project CARS look as good as it did. A quick glance at the specifications on PC Intel used to power it told us why. An i7-5960X processor, a whopping 32GB of RAM, three Nvidia Titan X video cards and a 480GB solid state drive would make anything look good. Well, except Solitaire.

Yager blew us away with Dreadnought
Yager, creators of last generation's classic Spec Ops: The Line, has had a trying few months. After the cancellation of Dead Island 2, it had to close Yager Productions. However the company is still working on a space-simulator known as Dreadnought.

Dreadnought's multiplayer deathmatch mode was playable on the show floor. We managed to get some quality time with it and found it to be remarkably accessible and entertaining. Dreadnought was good enough for us to wait in line for a second time to play it again. Stay tuned for our preview of what could be one of the biggest surprises of Gamescom 2015.

A concert for video games at an event about video games
Video Games Live is a concert that has a live orchestra playing music from popular video games. This is backed up with video footage from games as well as a sound and lights show of sorts. Gamescom 2015 played host to Video Games Live on the last three days of the event.

With tickets selling out well in advance, it further solidified the fact that Germans take their video game music as seriously as they take the video games. If you're a fan of video game music (particularly from franchises like Halo, Metal Gear Solid, Castlevania, The Elder Scrolls, Mario, Zelda and Final Fantasy) you should definitely check out the tour dates here.

A collector's paradise
Like most countries that have a culture of gaming, Germany has a huge retro video game market. Some of its presence was felt at Gamescom 2015 with stalls selling games that date back to the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).

More recent fare from consoles like the Nintendo GameCube and the original Xbox were available as well. Mint condition Sega Dreamcasts, Japanese premium editions of PlayStation 1 (PS1) smash hits like Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy VIII were available as well. With decades of gaming history condensed into a few boxes we couldn't help but feel nostalgic. Our standout pick? A mint condition copy of the PS1 cult classic Lunar for "just" 100 Euros.

The end of Gamescom 2015 marks the end of this daily feature as well. But it the news doesn't stop here. Throughout the week we'll have in-depth interviews, previews, and features on what was the biggest gaming event around.

Read our reports from Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, and Day 4 of Gamescom 2015. Also see our full Gamescom 2015 coverage.