The Consumer Electronics Association or CEA has decided to award Ken Kutaragi among others with the CE Hall of Fame award. The ceremony is scheduled to take place this coming October in Las Vegas. Alongside the PlayStation father are 11 others who were trailblazers in the electronics industry. Know more after the jump!

The video game industry has had a pretty good growth spurt over the past few years. However, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has given word that the growth is expected to slow down this year. Apparently, it has something to do with a decrease in the hardware sales as compared to previous years.

Head on over to the full article for more.

No less than Microsoft founder and Chairman Bill Gates, Panasonic President Toshihiro Sakamoto and Intel CEO Paul Otellini will keynote the 2008 International CES organized by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) in Las Vegas Nevada on January 7-10 of next year.

This was announced by the CEA as it ushers in the latest that the industry has to offer for people who like to live off the high-end. The show is known as a stage for previews of upcoming products and campaigns of each firm.

Gates is scheduled to kick things off with a pre-show talk discussing the state of the computer world and how his company is pushing it forward. Sakamoto and Otellini are set to do similar speeches as the first day progresses.

Some 2,700 exhibitors will show off their latest gear encompassing some 30 areas which include entertainment, wireless connectivity, audio and gaming. Products such as gaming consoles, TVs, notebook computers and portable audio are just some of the many devices which have been shown off in the past CES gatherings.

Madden is comparable to Halo in terms of popularity, sales, and reception of American gamers to the titles. It's not rocket science to figure out how every new football game (be it Madden, All-Pro, or NCCA) drives console sales. PlayStation experienced much success with the genre, but 1UP believes that things aren't too hot for Sony anymore.

"Xbox 360 versions of Madden NFL 08, All-Pro Football 2K8, and NCAA Football 08 will run at 60 frames per second, whereas the PS3 editions are locked at just 30fps," reports 1UP. Looks like a major disadvantage? Sony doesn't seem bothered.

"We have already proven that sports titles can run on the PlayStation 3 at true HD with 1080p output with NBA 07. If you have questions about specific third-party games, you should speak to those publishers," said Sony CEA's senior director of corporate communications Dave Karakker.

EA replied, supporting both platforms. "We want to make sure that we give the best experience we can on each platform. In designing a game, there are all sorts of tradeoffs that include frame rate, visuals, features, AI, etc," said EA's vice president of marketing sports Todd Sitrin.

He added, "As you can see, every company making a football game this year made a decision that the best experience for the Xbox 360 included 60fps whereas the best experience for the PS3 was 30fps."

That said, it doesn't really seem like Sony is losing because of the framerate. Some say that running at that speed might actually pull out PS3's potential in other areas and dish out unprecedented features aside from graphics alone. 1UP sees it as a disadvantage, pointing at hardware issues and relations between Sony and third-party developers. We'll have to see the end result before accounting anything to that, right?

In life, there are winners and there are losers. But for the CES, ever wondered how they churn out awards? We'll be taking a brief look at how the CEA administers to the "Innovations Design and Engineering Award." Branching out a bit, there are 29 categories to win for this award.

Within these 29 categories, one wins the "Best of" in their category, with 17 to 18 honorees. These 17 to 18 honorees are entitled to use the award for future product endorsements. Think how movie productions use lines like "Academy Award nominee."

To apply for the award, each company submits their best wares, which is in turn scrutinized by a panel of 40 judges. The panel itself consist of a healthy mix of industry journalists, designers, officials and other specialists who make the final call.

Of the 1,000 awards nominees that a CEA spokesman mentions, the Wall Street Journal notes that 380 received some sort of award. Statistically speaking, we're looking at a 40% chance of winning even an "honoree" status, which is still good if the company is after press coverage.

Just consider this additional insight into how current awardees earned their stripes (or was it gold) in the ongoing show. Keep alert for the further awards updates.

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.

Attention all you male chauvinist gamer pigs, pretty soon videogames won't be a man's world. The lady gamers are moving in and the signs are everywhere. A new magazine, play vanilla, just for lady gamers is coming out next year. The Frag Dolls and the PMS, both all female FPS clans are kicking ass with their skills. And why do you think Sony rolled out the Pink PSP and Nintendo their fashion accessories-friendly colored DS?

But the biggest proof that estrogen and testosterone are destined to collide is "Understanding the Female Gamer" - a panel discussion for targeting female gamers and other non-traditional players at the 2007 International CES in Las Vegas. Moderated by Ismini Boinodiris Roby, the panel is made up of notable gaming experts including Mary Margaret Walker and Sheri Graner Ray.

While their names may sound like they're more at home baking cookies and folding the laundry, they are women on forefront of the movement. Roby is co-founder and Chief Editor of WomenGamers.com. Walker is CEO and co-founder of Mary-Margaret.com, a leader in international recruitment services for the interactive entertainment industry, while Ray is a Game Design Consultant and author of "Gender Inclusive Game Design."

These ladies will be joined by Robert Riedl, Executive Producer, Her Interactive, Inc. and Jason Rubinstein, Senior Director of Global Product Marketing, Mobile Devices Business, Motorola, Inc.

This session will focus on a Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) survey which found that women gamers outnumber men gamers in the 25-34 age group. Yes, guys, if you're in that age group you're in the minority. Better get used to the idea of being pwned by the girls every now and then.

Regardless of whether you're a gamer or not, as long as you're American and weren't deprived of a happy childhood (hahaha), we're guessing you've probably heard of Mr. Nolan Bushnell.

No? Oh c'mon! Mr. Chuck E. Cheese? Still doesn't ring a bell? Oh alright then, Nolan Bushnell is not only the founder of gaming icon Atari, he's also responsible for the wonder that is Chuck E. Cheese, the restaurant chain that first brought together kids, food, pizza, and video games.

Red Herring was able to score an interview with this video game and consumer electronics association hall of famer (he's a founder of more than twenty companies), where Bushnell talks about his new business venture that once again brings food and gaming together, the uWink.

In that particular interview, Bushnell was asked about his thoughts on current gaming systems, he IS (or WAS) a major player in the gaming industry after all.

Red Herring asked Bushnell which areas of the game industry he's following now, and we quote:"I’m very curious and interested in the Nintendo Wii. I think it may expand the market beyond the hardcore [18- to 24-year old]. Xbox Live is interesting because it potentially becomes the platform for the living room."

Safe answer right? But wait, it gets better. When asked what he thought of Sony's PS3 strategy, Bushnell says:

I think Sony shot themselves in the foot… there is a high probability [they] will fail. The price point is probably unsustainable. For years and years Sony has been a very difficult company to deal with from a developer standpoint. They could get away with their arrogance and capriciousness because they had an installed base. They have also historically had horrible software tools. You compare that to the Xbox360 with really great authoring tools and additional revenue streams from Xbox Live... a first party developer would be an idiot to develop for Sony first and not the 360. People don’t buy hardware, they buy software.

So, Red Herring then tried to rebutt his argument by saying, "But what about Sony’s success with the PlayStation and PS2? They sold more than 100 million of each system." And Bushnell's answer? Sony's success with PS and PS2 was nothing brilliant and that they were merely able to hit the market right on spot because of perfect timing. Bushnell even calls Sony as "almost the accidental winner." Ouch very much for Sony!

As for his predictions about Sony's next-gen console? "It would not surprise me if a year from now they’ll be struggling to sell 1 million units. [Factoring in the PS3’s price], I think in the U.S. the number of early adopters you have is actually around 300,000."

Just another rich man who can afford an opinion? You decide. But it wouldn't be a surprise though if Sony luvvvers all over suddenly decide to boycott Chuck E.Cheese (and be deprived of a happy cheesy childhood. Awww...).

With next year's ESA-sponsored E3 Media and Business Summit now set for July 11-13 in Santa Monica, California, another electronics entity has just tossed in its two cents regarding this highly expected (and downsized) event.

The Consumer Electronics Association has recently annnounced  that in light of the new provisions for next year's upcoming E3, they would be backing down from staging their own '07 video game -centered event, even as their own Consumer Electronics Show was to be staged in Las Vegas, January 8th to 11th.

"Although the CEA was prepared to launch a new event, the recent announcement by ESA that it would open its event to both ESA and non-ESA members and would include PC and wireless gaming, led us to conclude that a new spring West Coast event would likely not serve the best needs of the industry," said Karen Chupka, CEA events and conferences senior VP.

CEA was quick to point out, though, that they were not chucking the idea entirely out the window, and Chupka had this to say regarding this: "At this point we will continue dialogue with the industry to determine if the need for a broader gaming event exists for 2008."

A case of letting sleeping dogs lie? With the E3's highly debated revisions leaving the usual fanfare out of the event, it can only be assumed what CEA's plans are in the near future, with respect to their outlook on gamers.

CEA to the rescue?

Yeah, we here at QJ are still pretty bummed with the news about the changes in E3, but it looks like the Consumer Electronics Association is planning to be our shoulder to cry on as they are seriously considering the viability of a new consumer and trade event for the games industry.

After that ESA decision to morph E3 to into the E3 Media Festival, CEA believes there's a gap in the industry calendar which they are planning to fill with a freshly designed event based on feedback from the electronic entertainment industry.

CEA president and CEO, Gary Shapiro said that "since ESA decided to eliminate the E3 event in its known format, we have been deluged with inquiries on whether we could fill the tradeshow needs of smaller video entertainment companies. Our executive board met yesterday and unanimously asked staff to explore ways that we can help the gaming community."

The possibility of an E3-like extravaganza from CEA will be decided by the advisory committee led by CEA executives Karen Chupka and Dan Cole with support from companies including Auravision, Majesco Entertainment and NCsoft. For now, things are looking optimistic, according to Ms. Chupka, "a major goal of this advisory committee is to generate gaming community feedback on how best to meet the needs of the industry...As long as there is desire and commitment, we are ready to service this community and will begin looking at venues in Las Vegas and Los Angeles and for appropriate partners."

So what's your take in all these? Do you think the planned CEA event could fill the large gap left behind by E3? What do you want to see in the CEA event? Tell it to us through your comments.