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It's true -- we already gave Gamescom 2013 a quick wrap up, but now that the sun has finally set on the show's public days, it's time to look back on the past week and sift through the madness. Upon closing the Koelnmesse's doors, Gamescom announced the show's final numbers: over the course of five days 340,000 visitors from from 88 countries marched across 140,000 square meters of exhibition space. That's a 23 percent leap in attendance over the previous year, and it's hardly a surprise: the event was host to over 400 world premier announcements and gave many attendees their first look at Microsoft and Sony's next generation consoles. Combined with the more humble announcements that came out of GDC Europe, it turned out to be a pretty fantastic week for gaming. Read on for a breakdown of our time in Cologne, a look at the Gamescom 2013 show floor and a group chat between Joystiq and Engadget editors on the show's biggest announcements.

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Call of Duty: Ghosts executive producer Mark Rubin has a lot on his plate. In just two months, he's heading up the launch of one of the (if not the) biggest titles on two next-gen game consoles, not to mention the four other platforms it's landing on. He's got his team at Infinity Ward to manage, as well as the teams at several other studios that are assisting in the development process. And on top of all that, the two big next-gen versions of Call of Duty: Ghosts are headed to hardware that "literally just started showing up" at his company's offices. Rubin explained as much to Engadget in an interview this past week at Gamescom 2013.

"Trying to design for something that you theoretically know about but don't physically have is an amazing challenge," he said. Beyond the stress and manpower required to produce so many versions of a single game, it's expensive. "It's required us to bring in a lot more resources than we had planned on in the beginning," Rubin added. And that's money that Infinity Ward's parent company, Activision, won't make up until the next year's Call of Duty game, when the "transition" period between console generations crests and enough gamers move to new game systems.

Head past the break for the full extent of what that means for Ghosts and the Call of Duty franchise moving forward, and why Rubin's "hopeful" for the rarely spoken about Wii U version.

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Following its availability at several Best Buy locations across the US, LG's 55-inch curved OLED TV is finally making its way to Europe. The company today announced that it'll arrive in Germany this week for 8,999 euros (roughly $12,000), with wider availability and pricing set to be announced in Q4. LG notes that it stands as the first to offer this type of kit in both the US and the EU, though, we're sure Samsung won't lag too far behind as usual. Full press release after the break.

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Electronic Arts is a mainstay in the game industry. From early days on the PC, pre-game consoles, to its current role as one of the world's largest game companies, the EA name's been synonymous with gaming. To stay in such a position, the publisher's had to adapt to changing trends in gaming, as games moved from home PCs to game consoles, and now to the internet. The next console generation is no exception, with EA promising two of its largest franchises -- Battlefield and FIFA -- for the launch of both Xbox One and PlayStation 4 this holiday. And that's to say nothing of EA's investment in a nascent game studio composed of the people responsible for the Call of Duty franchise, Respawn Entertainment -- a pretty major coup considering that those folks previously worked at EA's main competitor, Activision.

It's with all this in mind that we sat down to speak with EA Chief Operations Officer Peter Moore at Gamescom 2013, not long after Moore held press attention captive in an hour-long presentation. He said his company's current dedication to online functionality in its games is unmatched: "We don't ship a game at EA that is offline," he told us, an echo of his competition's claims about the next generation of game consoles. Head below the break for a lengthy discussion with Moore on all things gaming in 2013.

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Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida is a passionate man. He cares about games, he plays games, and it shows. When we ran into him at Sony's Gamescom 2013 press briefing, he was sitting next to and casually chatting with indie game dev Rami Ismail -- one of the dozens of indie devs bringing a game to the PlayStation 4. He kicked off PlayStation's Gamescom show with a confident and persuasive argument for his employer's new console: a casual walkthrough of the dashboard, followed up by a demonstration of watching a friend's livestreaming game which he seamlessly jumped into.

He then grabbed a screenshot of the game in-action and posted it to Twitter directly from the console he was using on-stage. It was muted and powerful in terms of delivery; in so many words, Yoshida and Sony "showed," while Microsoft merely "told" (Redmond's equivalent demonstration was shown to press but not allowed to be filmed). We sat down for a lengthy interview with Yoshida -- commonly known as "Shu" in the game world -- to talk about not just his presentation at Gamescom, but also his affinity for the world of indies and gaming in general. "It's personal to me and many of us working at PlayStation," he said of his work with indies. "For many years, we've been big fans of working with small teams. They take chances. They come up with something unique, and sometimes it's very personal."

Given our love for Oculus Rift's virtual reality tech, we couldn't help but ask Shu once more how he felt about the system and what his love for it might mean for the PlayStation 4. Head below for the full interview, full of wide smiles and thoughtful commentary from one of gaming's most passionate individuals.

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Unfortunately, it's time to hit the books once more. Don't get completely bummed out by the start of classes because this special issue of our weekly e-magazine has all of the top picks for back to school gear. That's right, from laptops to portable audio, we've narrowed down the best tech selections in over a dozen categories to ease the transition back to academia. Of course, they'll also make stellar pickups for those who have already joined the work force too. We sprinkled in a few Distro regulars as well: Eyes-On, Visualized and Time Machines are all here. There's plenty to consider this time around, so grab a copy for your e-reading gadget of choice via any of the app stores that follow.

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One thing's for sure: we'll certainly miss keynote dances and chants of, "Developers! Developers! Developers!" when Steve Ballmer steps down from his job as the head of Microsoft some time within the next 12 months -- no matter who the John Thompson-chaired succession committee picks to fill his shoes. There aren't a ton of details regarding the decision at the moment -- though a press release issued by the company (which you can find in all of PR speak glory below) is certainly positioning the move as voluntary on Ballmer's part, stating that the exec, "has decided to retire."

No direct replacement has been lined up, and as such, he'll remain on-board as CEO until the committee finds the right person. Along with Thompson, Bill Gates, Chuck Noski and Steve Luczo will also take part in the search. Gates had some nice things to say about his successor and old pal, "We're fortunate to have Steve in his role until the new CEO assumes these duties." For his part, Ballmer continues to sound bullish when it comes to the company's future, "there is never a perfect time for this type of transition, but now is the right time. We have embarked on a new strategy with a new organization and we have an amazing Senior Leadership Team. My original thoughts on timing would have had my retirement happen in the middle of our company's transformation to a devices and services company. We need a CEO who will be here longer term for this new direction."

Update: Well, ask and ye shall receive. Just like that, Microsoft has revealed Ballmer's "internal email" to the staff. We've included that below, just under the aforementioned press release. The opening of the letter is comprised of the same quote Microsoft issued in this morning's release, as well as, interestingly, a link to press release itself. Ballmer goes on to praise current senior leadership and adds that the company has managed to balloon from "$7.5 million to nearly $78 billion," since the 30 staff member days when he first joined up. The note doesn't shed much more additional light on any future plans, though the executive does add that he will "[continue] as one of Microsoft's largest owners." The exit, he explains is "emotional" and "difficult." No doubt there will be much dancing and shouting in the months to come.

Update 2: The Seattle Times scored interviews with Ballmer and Thompson, revealing a couple of tidbits. First, Thompson notes that the CEO will, indeed, have some input on choosing his successor. In fully reflective mode, Ballmer (not shockingly, perhaps) admits that Vista was his biggest disappointment during his tenure. He also added that he plans to stay in Seattle post-retirement, so that tropical island paradise will have to wait. Also, as plenty have noted before us, the Wall Street reaction to news has been been initially fairly positive, so read into that what you will.

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Successive generations of console gaming have been, historically, defined by improvements in graphics. But Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg envisions a different future for the coming next-gen of gaming and it's all about connectivity. As he told our own Ben Gilbert at Gamescom 2013 this week, "The same way that Xbox Live and PlayStation Network led to the big trend in this generation being multiplayer games, I think that some sort of connectivity and social amplification of games is probably something you'll see a lot of creative activity around [in the next-gen]." Hirshberg offered up Destiny, Bungie's upcoming hybrid FPS / persistent world game as a prime example of this trend, and referred to the title as being "born modern" -- a video game and social network rolled into one.

Hirshberg's aware that not all gamers are ready to jump ship from the current console generation. Which is why his company decided to invest in a new engine for Call of Duty: Ghosts to maximize the beauty of its visuals and audio, but still make it a multiplatform, cross-generational title. Activision's even partnering up with retailers to offer gamers incentives (in the form of a minimal upgrade fee) to make the next-gen leap should they initially purchase the PS3 or Xbox 360 version.

As for where forward-facing virtual reality hardware like the Oculus Rift fits in, Hirshberg wasn't as optimistic. He's used the VR headset before, but primarily views it as a non-additive layer for gaming that's better enjoyed in "small doses" due to its intensity.

For our full interview with Hirshberg and all his thoughts on the next-gen of gaming, click on past the break.

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We knew DirecTV had a few things in mind for its various mobile apps, with the focus being on discovery features and an overall better experience. Now, following a refresh to the iPad app earlier this month, the iPhone version is getting updated to version 3.0. The highlights of today's release are the completely overhauled look and user interface, which allow users to browse content in an easier way and have more customization options within the guide -- things like setting your favorite channels. DirecTV also added a redesigned Info Page that displays more details about the content you're interested in, while a new Watch Button will let you seamlessly choose whether you want to view something on your iPhone or TV. Oh, and just in case you're still stuck in the old days, we should tell you that the company says this is the last update to support iOS 5, so any future versions are to only be friendly with iOS 6 or later.

[Thanks, Stuart]

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Here at Gamescom -- as you might expect -- you're gonna see a lot of games. Not all of them are finished, but even the beta versions come with complex worlds, and shiny new physics engines. Amongst all of these creations, jostling for our attention, was something a little different. Something we heard about back at E3 initially, and something we've been itching to see in action ever since -- Project Spark. We made sure we got to have a look at how it works, and some of the new features. So, click past the break if you want to know too.

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