All the semi-interesting, game related stuff at this year’s CES
Matt Hawkins As noted yesterday, the annual trade event for high tech toys is usually a total wash; much like last year, it’s been mostly stillborn Android tablets. But there are still a few game related items worth knowing about.
Believe it or not, at one point in time, the Consumer Electronics Show was actually interesting. Because that used to be the place where all video game makers showed off their wares. That was, until E3 was established. Still, a few game folk like to maintain a presence, mostly because their parents companies produce all manner of junk, like Sony. Who just unveiled this…
It’s the Xperia S, the latest Sony phone (they’re dropping the Ericsson name from their mobile handsets, but the logo is still on the back, which is sorta odd) to be “PlayStation certified”. Just like the Xperia Play, meaning one can officially play Crash Bandicoot on the device without having to load in an illegal PSone emulator. Though I would have to assume that other titles are now available… right?
It’s also completely button-less, meaning virtual buttons all the way. Which in some ways means it’s directly competing against the 4S. And with the loss of a physical d-pad and the like, it officially has none of the advantages from the older device. lol.
As for their other handheld that everyone knows about already, it’s just been confirmed that it’s getting Netflix support. Unfortunately, pretty much every mobile device under the sun from the past two years can do so as well, which somewhat undercuts the impact of such news, but at least there’s yet another device that will allow you to watch the entire run of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Microsoft was pimping Kinect something fierce. Not doubt because everyone is of the iPhone 4S and its Siri, which MS has been doing all along, so copycatting Apple is something they can’t be accused of doing in this particular instance…
The big news is that it’s coming to Windows at the beginning of next month. And it’ll cost… $250.00. A full one hundred dollars more than the 360 version. What? Sorry for those who assumed that they could just hook their existing Kinects to their PCs, like you can do with the wired controllers.
The official reasons stated is how it uses a different kind of lens. Given how the original wasn’t designed to view things up close, and most folks are front and center with their computers… Also, IGN, the Wall Street Journal, Fox, and Fox News are also coming to the 360 dash. Now you can watch political pundits bitch about violence on video games, on a video game console!
Back to the mobile space, other than the aforementioned Android tablets, the primary focus of this year’s CES are iOS peripherals. I guess the iCade (that arcade until looking housing for the iPad that was attractive for like two hours, before iMAME got yanked from the App Store) sold well enough to justify a new line of products. Like the iCade Core; it’s like the original iCade, but just the bottom part…
About 300 times wackier is the iCade Mobile, which places the phone in the middle of a cradle, in a unit that immediately invokes memories of the behemoth that was the Atari Lynx and other portable game machines that, in fact, were not very mobile…
Though my fave offering would have to be the iCade Jr, which there’s no official video or product shots of, but here’s a pic via Endgadget. It’s basically a tiny iCade for the iPhone…
Unfortunately, the same problem with these three new items persists with the original: there’s nothing good to play with them, or at least hardly. Call me when Super Crate Box is supported.
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