Geoff Keighley did his annual thing in Cologne last night, and Opening Night Live ran long the way it always does. If you didn't sit through the full two-plus hours, GameSpot has the full rundown of every announcement and trailer, and it's worth a scroll even for the cynical among us.

The quiet story hanging over the whole show: CD Projekt skipped it entirely. We covered their Gamescom absence last week, and the empty chair was noticeable in a show that leaned hard on games built for hardware that doesn't exist yet. That's Gamescom now. The August show used to be where publishers dumped their holiday lineup, these days it's a runway for the next generation, and I'm not sure the trade has been worth it.

Release dates carried the night more than surprises. Real dates, things you can actually circle on a calendar. After a summer of delay announcements, I'll take it. The Walking Dead's September return brought a new story trailer, which we already knew was coming, but seeing it land in the middle of Keighley's gauntlet gave it a bigger stage than a Tuesday YouTube drop ever would.

What I keep noticing, and I say this with four decades of watching these spectacles, is how much of Opening Night Live is trailers for trailers. Announcements of announcements, date reveals for gameplay deep dives happening later in the week. I remember when E3 demos just showed up on a stage and you played them at a kiosk twenty feet away. Simpler, sweatier, better. Keighley's version is slicker and more useful, sure, but half the runtime is promise and the other half is product.

The indie and mid-budget stuff is where my attention held longest, and GameSpot's roundup is the easiest way to filter for it without sitting through the AAA parades. When a show this size gives airtime to smaller teams, that's the good stuff, and there was enough of it last night to justify the runtime.

If you only have an hour, skim the GameSpot roundup and pick your poison. There's something for everyone this year, whether you like your games out next month or next console generation.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a calendar to update. Again.