The biggest event on the European gaming calendar is finally here. Cologne welcomes gamescom.

SCEE President Andrew House is set for the stage and, after announcing the slimmer PS3 last year, the world will be watching for a glimpse at the future of PlayStation. You can follow the whole thing here, live, from 6pm local time.

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We can exclusively announce that EMI Music has joined VidZone and there is a new software update which means VidZone is faster and better than ever before.

VidZone welcomes EMI Music which has a catalogue of over 8,000 music videos from fantastic artists including Coldplay, Katy Perry, Kylie Minogue, Iron Maiden, David Guetta, David Bowie, Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk and many more. Check out your EMI cloud of all the acts everyone on this blog has requested since VidZone launched in June 2009 – yes, you can now access all these acts!

Before launching EMI, we wanted to ensure VidZone was better and faster so you could party harder. Here are some top features of VidZone 1.15 – thanks to all at SCEE for their help on this release:

• Speedy updates: The VidZone application will start-up exceptionally faster and content refreshes will be processed and downloaded quicker.

• Optimised search: Search is now better than ever before. You can find more of what you want, without ‘that scrolling letters search’, as virtual keyboard becomes default.

• Advanced settings: Our videos are multibitrate with hi, med and lo quality settings. You can now control your bandwidth use by fixing these settings (Aussie, Kiwi & Italiano fans – this is for you!)

• Overall experience: We have fixed a few minor bugs which will make a big difference to your music experience. Let us know if you can spot them!

VidZone 1.15 goes live TODAY so please download the update ahead of EMI content being published from Tuesday, August 17. In the meantime, let us know your thoughts here or visit our Twitter, Facebook or VidZone PS3 Zone.

Watch this space for more announcements soon! Your VidZone Team

PS – And yes, EMI and VidZone 1.15 updates are across all 18 countries including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France (with Monaco), Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain (with Gibraltar), Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.

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No time: gamescom. You coming? Here’s your recap.

PlayStation.Blog.Europe Weekly Content Recap

• Official PlayStation Community – Weekly Spotlight - See what the Official PlayStation forums have been up to this week.
• PlayStation Plus Mafia II Demo – 24 Hour Exclusive - PlayStation Plus subscribers get an extra early preview of the mobster action game.
• This Week On The SingStore (11 August 2010) - Your SingStar parties are well catered for.
• FirstPlay Episode 19 - The latest features and reviews from the FirstPlay team.
• Flower Competition Winners - Some beautiful artworks in celebration of Flower.
• The People Vs. Square Enix - Put your questions to the people behind Final Fantasy XIV and Third Birthday.
• Scott Pilgrim Coming To PlayStation Store Tomorrow - Get some retro goodness from PlayStation Store.
• ‘Heads-Up’ Game Store Update (11th August 2010) - Was it Mike or Ross this week? I can’t tell them apart any more.
• minis Round-Up: Meat Eating Dinosaurs And A Kung-Fu Fly - Yes, that is a Kung-Fu Fly.
• Digital Comics Store Update (11th August 2010) - Plenty of comics for me to read on the way to Germany.
• PlayStation Home: PlayStation Move Event, Plus More Empire Strikes Back! - PlayStation Home is flooded with bounty hunters.
• San Diego Comic-Con 2010 – Our Highlights - Pauline from the Digital Comics squad tells us Europeans about ComicCon.
• Gamescom And PAX Get Ready To Kick Ass With New Official Trailer For ‘Kung-Fu LIVE’ - A hilarious new Kung-Fu Live trailer.
• New UNCHARTED 2 DLC Coming Next Week - More skins for multiplayer and a new Dynamic Theme that I like to call ‘The Eternal Trudge’.
• Irrational Games’ Next Project Coming To PS3, First Video And Ken Levine Q&A - A massive reveal as Ken Levine’s BioShock vision takes to the skies.
• Exclusive Extras For PlayStation Plus Members - The original Tomb Raider is coming to PlayStation Store.
• The Friday Debate Tell me what to do!

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Barring the inevitable 4am scramble for my passport, I’m all set for gamescom. Appointments are booked, batteries are charged and Match of the Day is set to record (thanks, PlayTV).

I’m going to be live blogging the SCEE press conference from 6pm, local time, on Tuesday and we’re holding an exciting live chat on Thursday at 12 noon, local time, where you’ll get to put your questions to the brains behind PlayStation Move and stereoscopic 3D gaming on PS3.

Other than that, I’m keen to hear what you’d like us to capture at the show.

So this week’s Friday Debate is where you tell me what you want to see on the blog next week. I already know what games you’re interested in; I want to know what kind of content you’d enjoy.

What do you want to see on here during gamescom?Market Research

Basically, what makes a good blog during big events like gamescom? Do you want straight-forward news or accounts so vivid that you can smell the show floor (age gate required)?

Let us know in the comments and, if you’re going to Cologne, be sure to say hello at the PlayStation booth.

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Hi Guys, as promised we have some little mid month exclusive extras for all you Plus members.

I’m sure you will have already seen the Mafia 2 demo in the Plus section from Tuesday. Hopefully you are all enjoying it and are eagerly awaiting the full Blu-ray Disc game coming later this month.

Wednesday saw the launch of Pixel Junk Racers ‘2nd Lap’, exclusively for Plus members, 2 weeks before the actual release date. If you already have Pixel Junk Racer then this new version of the game with added extras is totally free to download. And if you haven’t experienced the mayhem yet, then you can download this new version of the game with a Plus member-only, exclusive, 20% discount – well worth a try.

And finally, after the weekend we will be dropping another little treat into the Plus section. On Monday Plus members will have exclusive early access to buy the PS One cult classic Tomb Raider; two weeks before it goes live to the rest of PlayStation Store. Enjoy exploring, fighting and puzzle solving with the original Lara Croft.

Wherever we can, we are trying to get early demos and exclusive content for Plus members and this is by no means the end of these little mid month treats that you have requested, so keep an eye out for more.

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