The mayhem of GamesCom 2009 is only just behind us and the organisers have already gone ahead and announced the venues and date for next year's event.

Once again the convention will be based out of the massive Koelnmesse convention centre in Cologne, Germany and steps are already being taken to ensure that GamesCom 2010 will be bigger and better than ever.

The convention is still a long way off though and is again planned for an August opening. GamesCom 2010 will run from August 18th - 22nd.

"Compared with the previous year we are noticing that the industry is approaching their plans for participation in gamescom 2010 much earlier and with more decisiveness after the successful initial event," said GamesCom organiser Oliver P. Kuhrt.

For those of you not familiar with the event, it's definitely one of the biggest events on the gaming calendar for both public and press visitors, providing publishers and developers a chance to showcase their titles to fans in detail. It's also a great place to pick up free t-shirts that don't quite fit.

GamesCom 2009 was attended by more than 17,000 trade visitors and 450 exhibitors from more than 30 countries. 245,000 members of the public showed up to take a look at games such as Diablo 3 and Mass Effect 2 and many developers announced new products to the 4100 journalists in attendance - including us. The biggest unveiling last year was Blizzard's Cataclysm expansion for World of Warcraft.

Planning on going? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.