CES 2007

We're not gaming addicts by any stretch, but we're often infatuated with stuff made by Razer because it always manages to look sleek and menacing at the same time. The "Mako" THX speaker system is no exception, looking like the best of villains in all black marked with Razer's distinctive serpentine logo while on display at CES this week.

The Gadgets Weblog cites a report that "a listener could hear quality sound across the room and right next to them" (which is why its remote comes in handy), but we wouldn't mind … Read more

Looking to upgrade the weak graphics of your otherwise rockin' laptop? Before you rip apart the machine to get to its innards in what will most likely result in a failed attempt for more frames per second, take a peek at the Asus XG Station. That's X for external, and G for graphics--the world's first external graphics-card solution for laptops. The XG Station connects via an ExpressCard slot and houses a x16 PCI Express graphics card and a sound card that supplies 5.1 Dolby audio. Asus will ship the XG Station with a GeForce 7900GS card, and … Read more

Microsoft has announced that the Xbox 360 will get digital television features based on the company's Microsoft TV IPTV software. The online television service offers users channel guides, digital video recording, on-demand video, and other online features.The upcoming IPTV features expand on the Xbox 360's already formidable multimedia features, like iXbox Live downloads, HD-DVD support with an optional drive, and compatibility with Windows XP Media Center media streaming.

The Xbox 360-IPTV connection was announced at Bill Gates' CES keynote address on Monday, and details remain sparse. Beyond the mention that IPTV features will become available to the … Read more

The Dell XPS 710 H2C, to be officially announced at CES tomorrow, isn't fundamentally that different from the old, vanilla XPS 710, but two important factors make it stand out. Thanks in part to an internally developed, hybrid liquid-cooling rig, the XPS 710 H2C will be the first desktop ever from Dell to ship with a factory-overclocked, fully warrantied CPU. The Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700's stock 2.6GHz will ship to customers at 3.2GHz.

The XPS 710 H2C is also notable for its price. At $5,200 for the core configuration, it's roughly $1,500 … Read more

There's nothing like a bit of realism when you're gaming, according to Philips.

The Dutch electronics company has come out with a PC add-on for gamers that attempts to introduce a whiff of simulated reality to the experience. When you drive faster in a car game, two fans crank up faster and blow wind in your face. When you drive off the track, a rumble strip beneath your wrist vibrates. Two lights dim when you drive underneath a bridge.

The amBX system essentially tries to create an ambiance, Lucas Covers, chief marketing officer at Philips, said at the … Read more

Microsoft has a new gamers' peripheral on the way, and it's not for the Xbox 360. The company has once again partnered with game-controller maker Razer, this time to produce the Reclusa, a new gamers' keyboard directed squarely at discerning fragaholics. This isn't the first Microsoft-Razer collaboration; last year, the two produced the Microsoft Habu gaming mouse.

The Microsoft-licensed Reclusa seems a bit like Razer's excellent Tarantula keyboard. Both are striking black keyboards with blue backlighting and extra, customizable keys. The Reclusa also has a few handy features that the Tarantula lacks: it doubles as a two-port … Read more

There's a new buzz in the air at CES, and robotic toy company WowWee is creating it. The FlyTech Dragonfly is a remote-controlled dragonfly that can fly, flutter, swoop and crash with gusto. The little Styrofoam-and-plastic bug is thrown like a paper airplane, then controlled using the included Xbox 360 controller-like remote. Because it uses wings rather than a propeller to generate lift, it flies like an erratic airplane. While it's slightly harder to keep in the air and can't take off on its own, it's far easier to steer than spinout-prone remote-controlled mini-helicopters.

The Dragonfly … Read more

Microsoft didn't have much in the way of actual announcements, but it did offer a nice selection of game demos at its CES booth. E3 may be scaled back, and the big consoles may be already out, but Microsoft Game Studios showed off several reasons for gamers to be excited in the coming months.

Hellgate: London looks great and has the potential to fill the Diablo-shaped hole in all our hearts. Blizzard has been focusing almost entirely on World of Warcraft, so the hack-and-slash, click-fest genre has been neglected for quite a while. Fortunately, the developers of the Diablo … Read more

After the huge launch of the PlayStation 3 in November, Sony seems to be relaxing on the gaming front. In a press conference last night, the company announced that it sold a million PS3s. Unfortunately, that's about all the news Sony had.

The Sony booth at CES had a nice handful of PS3s set up, but they were playing the same selection of Resistance: Fall of Man and whatever sports and racing games they had on hand. Sony did have a playable demo of the dragon-riding game Lair set up, but that was the most interesting thing at the … Read more