Mega-selling first-person shooter franchise "Call of Duty" will blow open the Gamescom video games trade fair Tuesday, headlining a wave of new releases as the industry weathers a rough patch.

Around 5,000 people, including game publishers, developers and fans, will attend the evening launch ceremony, before hundreds of thousands of gamers descend on the western German city of Cologne later in the week.

Canadian TV presenter Geoff Keighley will from 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) introduce titles including "Call of Duty: Black Ops 7", one of two dozen instalments in the long-running series, as part of a two-hour showreel of the industry's upcoming blockbuster productions.

After a business and press day on Wednesday, Gamescom's doors will be flung open until Sunday to bring around 1,500 exhibitors t

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