CES

Sony's massive booth at CES was dominated by their 3D offerings, while a gigantic screen blared 3D images and trailers, and ladies walked around handing out glasses, cigarette girl style. Even the games were all presented in 3D, although Sony's PlayStation area was fairly modest. They had Killzone 3, inFamous 2, MLB 11: The Show, LittleBigPlanet 2, and a couple of PlayStation Network titles. What they didn't have? The PlayStation Portable or the PlayStation Phone. Plus, the inFamous 2 demo was the same one we'd played last year, although it was extremely buggy and kept dropping frames or chugging through busy scenes. We'll chalk it up to a busy unit of a bad build, but ouch ... it looked bad.

What did look good was MLB 11: The Show, which now has built-in Move and 3D support. 3D Support is throughout the game, but Move only works with Home Run Derby. At first I thought this would feel gimmick, but after finally nailing a few homers into the stands (428 feet, thank you very much), it's something I wish carried over into the full game. It will read left or right-handed batters and puts a bat onscreen held by an invisible batter that you can waggle back and forth. Pointing towards the outfield to call your shot is optional. It takes a few tries to nail the swing mechanic, but once you do it feels natural (and is a workout) and lots of fun. Sony is hoping to bring more Move integration to the next iteration of the title.

And then, we played Killzone 3 in 3D, and with the gun peripheral. Did it rock our world? Read on to find out.

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CES 2011 has got us thinking about gaming gadgets and peripherals. If you're anything like me, your house has become a depot for assorted plastic gaming crap, ranging in usefulness from paperweight to couldn't live without it.

There's something appealing about the thought of owning a bunch of stuff in the name of your favorite hobby, even if it means you embed a broken whammy bar in the bottom of your foot every time you get up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water. It's a small price to pay for the thrill of living dangerously.

Even though there's already a myriad of awesome gaming peripherals floating around out there and taking up space in your living quarters, there's always room for more. That's why we've come up with this list of awesome gaming gadgets we wish existed, but don't ... and probably never will.

Achievement Cannon
Xbox 360



Earning an achievement on Xbox LIVE is like getting a flirty glance from the hot blonde in the coffee shop: it's fleeting, but makes you feel all warm and gooey inside your pants. Who wouldn't want to extend the feeling of elation into a full-on explosion? From a cannon? No one! The Achievement Cannon celebrates your completely pyrrhic victory by blasting your living room with confetti (not included) and filling it with the sweet sounds of John Phillip Sousa's immortal classic Stars and Stripes Forever. There's also an optional Polaroid attachment that will take a picture of you at the exact moment you earn the achievement. Warning: have you ever tried to clean up confetti? It sucks. Enjoy!

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You know what happened this week? The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas happened this week! We were all over that show, believe me, bringing you tons of videos, written pieces and more, more more. Just click on this link to enjoy all that CES 2011 offered and more.

We made our usual slate of high-quality, low calorie web programs for you to enjoy as well.

• Feedback: The Feedback gang hosted gaming legend Tim Schafer and looked ahead to the best of gaming in 2011.
• Fresh Ink: Blair Butler took a look at The Cape and other top comics of the week.
• MMO Report: Casey Schreiner talks about the new, revamped APB and more.

And now, the news...

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Our intrepid CES correspondent Chris Monfette talked to David Dennis, Microsoft Product Manager, about Kinect's relationship with the hardcore gamer, Netflix, ESPN, the future of the Xbox 360 and a whole lot more. Read the entire interview below to get the whole scoop.

G4: Let’s talk about Kinect and the hardcore gamer. Certainly, you’re expanding the technology into the Xbox interface and announcing things like Avatar Kinect, but when is the hardcore gamer going to see the Kinect go beyond the merely casual?

David Dennis: We think that the core actually came out in droves for Kinect. We don’t think there’s a wall between what the core likes and Kinect. Core gamers love games and some games can be fun and casual and some games can be shooters. At the end of the day, gamers want to have fun. And at the end of the day, Kinect games are very fun, very easy to jump in and play. We certainly saw, at lunch, that the core came out and bought the standalone sensor. That sold out within a week and a half. Obviously, we’re going to continue advancing core franchises that aren’t Kinect enabled and bring more traditional core games to the platform…I think you should expect to see a lot of news from us within the next six months or so as we lead into E3.

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The iPhone is coming to the Verizon network. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, Verizon to make the announcement at an event Tuesday in New York City.

This development will shake up the entire cell-phone world, as the monopoly that AT&T has held as Apple's carrier is set to end, leading to competition for iPhone users' plans, as well as, hopefully, lower prices. Smaller players in the market will be affected as well -- the two biggest players in the industry will be offering the most popular phone, essentially freezing out smaller players, for the time being.

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There’s always been a long-standing battle between the console folks and the mouse-and-keyboard elite, and amongst a small sea of solutions, Penguin’s Eagle Eye adapter offers a seemingly suitable option for most gamers. At least, for most PS3 gamers…The Eagle Eye adapter converts the signals from any standard USB mouse and keyboard into the equivalent of a PS3 controller, offering one-to-one conversation between the mouse and the usual right-analog stick. Software included with the package allows you to map specific keyboard keys to the common controller functions for enhanced ease-of-use and comes with an automatic preset for some quick, plug-and-play action.

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It's one thing to read about Microsoft's offerings at CES 2011, but when it comes to Micrsoft's Surface, you've got to see it to truly believe it. That's why we've got video below: Check out Surface in action, from Micrsosoft's keynote address.

While gaming isn't the primary focus of Surface, the possibilities are mind-bending. How about a Surface-powered RTS? How about Surface-powered tabletop Dungeons and Dragons?

If you’re in the market for an ottoman with built-in speakers or a beanbag furniture set capable of storing all of your beloved peripherals and other gaming related items, then XRocker has you covered. We stopped by the company’s booth at CES 2011 to get the lowdown on its lineup of gaming furniture from vice president of sales and marketing Mike Brechtel. Pro-tip: Come for the beanbag chairs, stay for the Brechtel. Love that guy.

ThinkGeek has combined the future of portable gaming: the iPad with retro arcade machines. At this year's CES they debuted the iCade iPad Arcade Cabinet. You might remember the iCade as last year's ThinkGeek April Fool's joke but like the Tauntaun sleeping bag, a high level of interest brought the joke to reality. Thanks to a three-way partnership with ThinkGeek, Ion Audio and Atari you'll be able to play iPad games the way they were meant to be played, with a joystick and eight buttons.

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The 2011 Consumer Electronics Show rages on with even more tech, gadgets and booth babes than ever before. We’ve had the chance to check out a number of the products on display, and this morning we dropped by to see the folks at Turtle Beach about their latest product announcement, the PX5 wireless headset.

Designed for both the hardcore online multiplayer enthusiast and the casual gamer who’s wife won’t stop telling at him to turn down the damn surround sound, the PX5 is designed specifically with the PS3 in mind. Certainly, Turtle Beach already has a number of first-rate solutions for the Xbox gamer, but it’s time that the PS3 player saw the love. That said, the headset is compatible with both platforms, and we were able to give it a test run during a game of Halo: Reach and really scrutinize some of its more high-value features.

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The CES show floor is filled to the brim with the future of gaming technology. While exploring the many booths we had the chance to check out the efficiency experts at Levelup to see the latest and greatest in gaming organizational tools. After being shown a few of the company’s trademark – and super swanky – instrument ottomans, we got a peek at their latest line of towers for the PS3,  Xbox 360 and Wii.

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One of the best things about CES is getting to see all of the new third-party controllers and peripherals that will be coming out in the future. Power A rocked our Buyer's Guide back in November when we checked out their Power A Pro Pack mini Wiimote and nunchuck controller. On paper, it's a shrunken down Wiimote and nunchuck that are 35% smaller than normal and coated with a thin rubber shell. In your hand, it just feels a lot better than Nintendo's own controller, which will feel like a gawky piece of plastic as you've used the Power A a few times.

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While the name "Thrustmaster" may conjure images of CES's sister-convention the Adult Entertainment Expo, the company creates high-tech steering wheels and racing peripherals for gamers who are serious about racing. They make everything from car-game specific controllers to full-on racing chairs.

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We're on the floor at CES 2011 all week, checking out the future-tastic offerings of the world's top technology companies. SoftKinect set off our cool-sensors with their motion-based technology and slick presentation. If nothing else, controlling your media with hand motions means no more lost remote controls!

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While CES is a whirlwind of gadgets and electricity, most major publishers aren't at the show this year. Sure, you've got your first parties like Sony and Microsoft, but the Activisions, the EAs, the Ubisofts, the Bethesdas, the 2Ks ... they just aren't here. That sort of juice is usually saved up for E3 and other shows. But you know who is here rocking things out? Capcom.

They treated Capcom Unity fanclub members to the perfect gaming party last night at the gorgeous Aria hotel in Las Vegas. Wondering what a perfect party consists of? I'll tell you: tons of free pizza, and Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Watch the pepperoni-ized video below to see what the event was like.

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