Diablo 3 and StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm playable at Gamescom 2011

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A post on Battle.net Poland, spotted by CVG , has outlined Blizzard's line-up for their Gamescom showing in Cologne next month. StarCraft 2's first expansion, Heart of the Swarm, will be available for attendees to play on the show floor for the first time in Europe, and fans will get their hands on Diablo 3 as well.

"We have prepared for you, not just exhibition matches, live raids, competitions and other attractions, but also three great games, in which every visitor will be able to play," reads the machine translated Blizzard statement.

"Gamescom present at this year's Diablo III, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, and for the first time in a playable version in Europe, Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm." For advanced impressions of Heart of the Swarm, check out our preview , the most recent screenshots and the first trailer for the expansion. Blizzard are planning to kick off a Diablo 3 beta later this year.

Live WoW raids and professional StarCraft 2 matches are also planned for the show. Gamescom opens to the public on Thursday August 18 and runs through to Sunday 21. If you can't make it out to Germany, don't worry. We'll be there covering the new announcements. For more info, head over to the official Gamescom site.

Tom Senior

Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.