Followers of major electronic and gaming events take heed: the activities for the upcoming 2008 International CES (Consumer Electronics Show) are finally announced, and there's a lot of stuff in store for gadget aficionados and gamers alike.

The 2008 International CES will put the latest gaming technology in the spotlight, with major gaming exhibitors such as Commodore Gaming, Entropia Universe, Red Lion Interactive, Shuttle Computers and War Machine as participants.

The gaming-related CES events are as follows: CES Game Power Conference Partner Program; Sandbox Summit, where people can experience the latest gaming gear, toys, and products; CES Mobile Entertainment Partner Program, where breakthroughs in mobile gaming and technology are featured.

For general electronics consumers there's the Home and Lifestyle Entertainment Knowledge Track, where visitors are given a peek of whats to come in the future of gaming as well as the possibilities of 3D home theater.

Finally, close followers of the current format wars should be interested in the Blu-ray Disc TechZone and the HD DVD TechZone, where the features of each of the leading high definition formats are tackled.

The 2008 International CES will be held in Las Vegas on January 7-10. Bill Gates will deliver the opening keynote address for the event on January 6.

 

The E3 Trade Show has been the gaming industry's most revered gathering since it started way back in 1995. The traditional format was a series of larger than life events for everyone to drool over. For most people, this setup was one that worked well, but industry insiders may have been thinking otherwise all along.

In July 31, 2006, E3 organizers announced that the marquee event would be reconstructed and a new format was revealed in October 13 of the same year. What we witnessed in E3 2007 was a sleeker, harder to access, less hectic, and more professional E3 Business and Media Summit.That's not to say that there was anything wrong with the new model. It may not be as flamboyant as it was before, but all the big announcements along with spectacular sights and sounds were there, and that's good enough for most of us.

Taking a look back now at everything that transpired in the few days of gaming heaven, we saw some amazing stuff coming from the three big players of this generation's console cycle. Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo Company Ltd. all had their chance to deliver their pieces, and what we got was a nice mix of corporate and strategic mindsets reflected in the content and manner that the three dished out.

Let's take them one at a time. Just click on the Full Article and read on.

The Blu-ray is leading the next-generation format war in North America thanks to the good sales of the Sony PlayStation 3 console. Around 94 percent of all Blu-ray players in the US are PS3s, prompting Microsoft to take action.

The apparent response from Bill Gates' troops comes in the form of the Xbox 360 Elite package. The new Xbox 360 not only has a bigger hard drive, but has also packed in its own HD-DVD drive. In light of all this, ZDNet analyst John Carroll asks why.

Carroll questions Microsoft's move to make like the PS3 and adopt an all-or-nothing ploy. The PS3 did this for a lot of reasons. First, it wants the PS3 to be the most advanced entertainment machine on the planet, and Blu-ray was the way to do it because of the huge storage that can accommodate big game files and movies. Second, it has a vested interest in Blu-ray because it developed the technology. Ergo, the console and the disc are bound because they live and die with each other.

"A failure of the Blu-Ray format would negatively affect PS3 sales (though I would argue that the PS3's failure as a game console is more dangerous)," says Carroll. He then went on to say that Microsoft is not in the same situation as Sony and did not have to take the same gambit. Microsoft helped develop HD but isn't producing HD DVDs. The Xbox 360 is leading the console war because it debuted early and has the biggest game library among the three competing machines.

By choice, buyers seem to prefer HD DVD because of the value. Half of all players sold using the format are stand-alone devices, meaning that even if the Xbox 360 wasn't helping out, there would still be a market for it. European studios are embracing HD DVD even though the PS3 has already launched in PAL territories.

"The PS3 has put new wind to the Blu-Ray formats' sails, but it hardly seems to have blown away the advantages of the HD-DVD format," concludes Carroll.

We know you had a blast (from the past) when we ran a feature about turning classic 80s cartoons into next-gen videogames, so we thought "why not do a 180 and focus on what lies ahead this time?" So this time we'll try to go crazy (in the process, be as absurd as possible) and try to peek into the kind of videogames our grand, grand, grandchildren would play in the far future.

We know that videogaming evolves depending on the kind of technology the current generation has. Whether it's a top of the line cell, motion-sensing technology, or an oober rich gameplay, current crop of consoles and games will try to equip themselves with the most technologically advanced weapons (yeah, kinda like "real" wars).

Since our list is supposed to be played during the future, don't be surprised with its absurdity. Even Edison and Einstein were laughed at by their peers during their time. We can't play videogames without platforms, so we've pulled out some out of this world (or time) ideas and created our own versions of future consoles. We'll stick with the big three this time - Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony. Here they are:

Xbox Revolution: Nope, they did not rip off Wii's former name. It's 50+ years into the future and I doubt if anybody would still remember that Nintendo used it as a WIP name for one of their consoles. Why "Revolution"? Well Microsoft followed 360 with 720, then 1440, and then...let's just say they got tired with spinning figures they christened their console of the future with a name that "revolutionizes" rotation (and an excuse to get rid of all those numbers). Main feature: Nerve sensitive controllers enabling the owner to make commands with the power of thought. Bonus perk: Comes with complementary infobot/condom dispenser (part of Bill Gates mission to stop AIDS).

PlayStation 3: Yeah, Sony will stick to the name PS3 because it is the future. In the far future they've stopped relaunching completely new consoles and have just resorted to periodical hardware and system updates. Main Feature: Interactive Body Teleporter: Technology immersing the player to actual in-game participation (gamer gets warped inside the game). Bonus perk: 20% off the next hardware or system update, which should be in a month.

Nintendo YeePee: It turns out the "Wii" is Nintendo's sublime way of sending the "our console is fun" message (hence the name's "weee!" sound). And their most recent console's name, descendant of Nintendo "Yey" and "Hura", follows the same trend. Main feature: Strap-on technology, the console works like a mobile suit, giving the gamer the ultimate motion sensing experience. Bonus perk: Party hats and balloons, and a couple of pots and pans.

Getting trippy already? Get a load of titles for the future by clicking on the "full article" link below.

It looks like another research group is predicting the possibilities of consoles as one-stop shops for more than just games. A new study from ABI Research indicates that as more people grow accustomed to the online nature of their consoles, the amount budgeted towards gaming will veer more towards online transactions.

If this sounds a lot like what Bill Gates was talking about during the World Economic Forum, then you're right. The prediction here is connected to the convergence of different forms of tech and micropayments.

Of the three console manufacturers, Microsoft is the one ABI gives the lead to though, as a result of Xbox Live's current prominence in gaming circles. Still, ABI asserts that the battle will still be on, as Nintendo carries with it a ton of first-party content through the virtual console and Sony has the high attach rate resulting from their PlayStation legacy.

The question is: how are we really going to pay for it though?

Here's even more from Bill Gates on the console war. Apparently, he thinks that in the end HD-DVD and Blu-ray may not even "count" since they represent the last generation of optical media.

In an interview over at The Daily Princetonian, he said: "For us it's not the physical format. Understand that this is the last physical format there will ever be. Everything's going to be streamed directly or on a hard disk. So, in this way, it's even unclear how much this one counts."

Writer Theo Valich, thinks that while many other people have overlooked that statement made by Bill Gates, he believes that Bill is pretty much on target.

He predicts that the technology that will win the optical standards war isn't even an optical standard. He believes that flash memory, with its falling prices and its ever increasing capacity will win in the end. He also adds that the trend today is that consumers are willing to sacrifice quality for mobility.

Of course Bill Gates doesn't miss the opportunity in the Princetonian to decry the Blu-ray format, but you can't really blame him for that. It's sorta his job.

It's not the physical format that we have the issue with, it's that the protection scheme on Blu is very anti-consumer. If [the Blu-ray group] would fix that one thing, you know, that'd be fine.

Well guys, what do you think? Blu-ray, HD-DVD, some hybrid format, or flash storage?

No, we don't find it shocking when execs trash talk products made by the competition. For instance, take Bill Gates and his statements made to a small group of reporters after his speech at the CES about the PS3. Mercury News has an report on it and it claims that Bill said that Sony has no advantage in graphics at all. Here's the paragraph in the report:

He said that Sony had no advantage in graphics at all. He said Sony started earlier but "burned a year" trying to make the Cell processor do graphics functions. When it didn't work, Sony went to a fallback plan by tapping Nvidia for the graphics chip at the last minute. It also didn't have embedded DRAM or unified memory. The Xbox 360 game developers would always be a year ahead of Sony on the learning curve in taking advantage of the system. As a result, Gates said that Sony would never have games that look better than Microsoft. He said that either system, limited to 512 megabytes of memory, would not likely exploit HD resolutions beyond 720p. If you go to 1080p, he said, you will have to give up something.

Nothing shocking there. Bill Gates is doing what he's supposed to do. He's selling the 360. It's his baby. It's his job. That, and he's comparing the 360 to the competition: The PS3. Nothing here that makes you raise eyebrows.

When execs go out of their way though to trash talk products they aren't directly competing with, we do get a bit confused (well, some of us were). Comparing something that is essentially a multi-functional phone to a multi-functional gaming device? Definite eyebrow raiser. This is why we find it funny that in the same A-E report, Gates manages to find a way to trash talk Jobs. Here's how it went:

...And of course Microsoft announced in December that movie downloading is an option on the Xbox 360.

He said the Xbox 360 would be a high-end set-top and wouldn't really compete with Cisco or Motorola set-top boxes. And he noted that Apple doesn't necessarily have the best relationships with companies such as phone service providers as Microsoft does. So its iTV service may not be as expansive as anything Microsoft does with its partners.

"Jobs always says he doesn't like to go through someone else's orifice," he said.

We've been hearing a lot on the Bill Gates key notes speech in the ongoing CES event. For now, we'll be hearing some words from the CES organizers themselves. The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has just made their predictions for '07, and it sings of their favorite color - green(backs).

With them already pulling in $145 billion in electronics revenue last year, they expect a hearty US$ 155 billion to stream in by this year - a juicy US$ 10 billion boost.

Going into specifics, they expect to see a 23% increase in the videogame market, jacking this year's predicted revenue up to US$ 16 billion. They in turn attribute this to the next-gen console sales that kicked in last year. Given that the year's just warming up for the PS3 and the Wii, with the Xbox 360 already exceeding the 10 million mark, we're hoping that their prediction isn't too far off the mark.

Game Politics just announced that a trailer's up for a new documentary called "Moral Kombat". The film, made by Spencer Halpin, is an attempt to look at the different sides of the videogame violence issues popping up in recent years. We do have our reservations, however.

The trailer is nice and all, but it's also mostly one-sided. We can understand the need for the trailer to be somewhat controversial in its presentation, for the sake of picking up a distributor for it, but this may just make some defensive gamers rather angry. Still, it's just a trailer, so there's a good chance that the viewpoints will be more balanced once the whole film is actually shown.

Some sensitive ears will also notice some voice-overs from some familiar people, such as Microsoft's Bill Gates, Jack Thompson, and Entertainment Consumers Association president Hal Halpin. Yes folks, Spencer and Hal are brothers, just so you know.

If there's one thing the trailer got right though, it's placing the words "Freedom of Choice" and "Social Responsibility" inside. Those are definitely two catchphrases that represent just what needs to be balanced in today's videogaming landscape.

Note: You'll want to check out Game Politics' take as well, if only for their disclosure text at the bottom.

I think we'd all agree here when I say that Jack Thompson would have to be one of the most...err..."unpleasant" people to ever walk on our planet. Just a few days into 2007 and he's already back on his anti-gaming campaign, this time with Grand Theft Auto 4 (Xbox360, PS3) as the target.

This guy really just doesn't know when to stop. After his unsuccessful attempts with Bully and in shutting down Rockstar, he's at GTA yet again. This time, he's expressing his vow to rally against the release and sale of the series' fourth title.

Thompson also said that he would "undertake various means to prohibit" the sale of GTA IV, and further adding the following statement:

Please have your lawyers [Microsoft chairman Bill Gates'] contact me in order that such sales will be prevented. The ICCR report makes it abundantly clear that unless such prohibitions are in place, then millions of units of the new Grand Theft Auto game will be sold directly to minors. I am quite intent upon making sure that that does not happen. I and others will endeavor to stop Microsoft from participating

in any fashion, directly or indirectly, in such sales to minors.

Well, that's that. Now, depending on where you are on the optimism-pessimism spectrum, it's safe to say that at least GTA IV will be making headlines and having much exposure in the days and weeks to come. And you know what they say about these things, negative publicity (with Thompson talking, at least) is still publicity.