CES 2007

(Credit: Gadgets Weblog)

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 having the Mako around just as an accent piece. Even Black Adder would approve.

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 there's no reason why you couldn't swap in an 8800 GTS. An 8800 GTX card, however, is too long to fit inside the unit.

The XG Station's control panel provides a variety of system information, from GPU clockspeed, fan speed, and temperature to volume and frames per second. The large dial to the left of the display lets you adjust the settings, including cranking up the GPU's clock speed. With a couple of USB 2.0 ports onboard, you can leave your game keyboard and mouse connected to the XG Station for an instant game docking station--just add laptop.

Asus gave a quick demo of the XG Station, which we mentioned briefly over the weekend. While a laptop without an XG Station chugged through a game, the same laptop connected to an XG Station provided very smooth gameplay on a huge LCD hooked up to the GeForce card's DVI port. Asus told us it's still working out the pricing details, but expects a 7900GS-equipped XG Station to go for roughly $599 when it's released in April.

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 Xbox 360 later, Microsoft has been pretty vague on the subject. No specific features or dates were announced, and the only remotely specific statement offered was a hypothetical scenario: a gamer watching a football game can get Xbox Live voice chat or challenge friends in Madden 07 while enjoying the game. We can only assume that Microsoft will explain more about the Xbox 360-IPTV connection later this year.

Dell developed its own cooling hardware on this PC.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

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 less expensive than similar over-the-top gamer PCs. We've reviewed similar systems from Velocity Micro and Widow PC in the last week, and they both came in around $7,300.

Dell's new XPS 710 H2C

(Credit: CNET Networks)

The hardest of the hard core might balk at the fact that Dell still relies on an Nforce 590 (D) motherboard chipset, which doesn't have as many features as Nvidia's standard 590 circuitry and is a generation behind the more recent Nforce 680i chipset. But if its status as a volume player hurts Dell by making it less nimble than its smaller, boutique-shop competition, we're glad that Dell is making up for it with its ability to drive down prices.

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.

(Credit: Michael Kanellos/CNET Networks)

The amBX system essentially tries to create an ambiance, Lucas Covers, chief marketing officer at Philips, said at the Consumer Electronics Show. The amBX systems range in price from $199 to $399.

You will hear a lot about ambiance from Philips in coming months. The company has succeeded in many markets with its Ambilight TVs, which adjust their brightness to ambient light. The sales success has prompted Philips to come up with more products that take cues from their environment or make a pleasing environment.

One product, for instance, you could call the earthly alarm clock. Lights begin to come on slowly, until the room is fully bright by the time you want to wake up, said Covers. "It takes about a half an hour," he said. "But you wake up refreshed."

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 USB hub with gold-plated USB ports located on either side of the keyboard, and it includes two 360-degree spinning dials that can be customized to control things like volume and steering.

With a smaller price tag and a slightly less "hard core" image than the Tarantula, the Microsoft Reclusa seems like a good middleground for gamers who want a solid, good-looking gaming keyboard but don't want to shell out $100. Of course, we'll have to see whether the $70 keyboard has anywhere near the same excellent responsiveness as the Tarantula when it ships this spring.

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 offers a few options to pilots with varying skills, thanks to a "beginner/expert" switch on the controller and a detachable ribbon tail on the bug itself. In beginner mode and with the ribbon connected and producing drag, the Dragonfly flies in leisurely circles. In the more sensitive expert mode and without the tail, the bug flutters fast and frantic.

I got some time with the FlyTech Dragonfly, and after a few crashes and near misses, I was flying it around with ease. Of course, when I took the tail off and switched to the expert setting, I started crashing again. Thankfully, the Dragonfly's body proved surprisingly durable; I saw the little flier survive crashes of more than 10 feet. (Crave reported more than a month ago on WowWee's initial plans for the Dragonfly, which was seen in action on YouTube.)

WowWee also showed off some other interesting robotic toys at its CES booth. Following in the footsteps of the RoboRaptor and the RoboReptile are the RoboQuad, an insectile but strangely endearing robotic bug creature, and the RoboBoa, a programmable robotic snake. The sickeningly cute RoboPanda lacks the remote control of the other robots and instead uses touch sensors all over its body to give it interactivity.

Finally, the WowWee Alive Elvis is a disturbingly realistic singing animatronic bust of the king of rock and roll. He and the Burger King's rubbery visages will haunt my dreams. The FlyTech Dragonfly will retail for about $40, the RoboBoa and the RoboQuad for $110, the RoboPanda for $230, and the WowWee Alive Elvis for $350. All of the new WowWee products ship later this year.

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 series formed Flagship Studios and are working on the modern-day demonic gorefest that is Hellgate: London. The demo they showed off looked smoother and more stable than the demo portrayed a few months ago at Digital Life in New York, and it included the new gun-happy Hunter faction.

Supreme Commander also showed a lot of potential. This spiritual sequel to strategy classic Total Annihilation will have over two hundred different units and maps spanning hundreds of square miles. Like Hellgate, the preview they showed at CES seemed smoother and more stable than the preview version we saw a few months ago.

Much as it chagrins this avid RPG player to say it, Shadowrun also looked good. The multiplayer cyberpunk shooter supposedly takes place in FASA's Shadowrun universe, where teams of magic-wielding warriors and megacorporation soldiers duke it out in Counter-Strike-style team combat. The game play we saw looked fast-paced, strategic, and pleasantly violent, but the game's format still seems like a waste of a rich fictional universe. The minigun also felt a bit sluggish for my tastes.

Microsoft also showed Lord of the Rings Online, Conan: The Hyborean Adventures, Crackdown, World of Conflict, Fusion Frenzy 2, and a handful of other games. The various titles are scheduled to ship later this year.

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 booth.

With E3 scaled back, it's hard to guess when Sony will have some new gaming news. Perhaps this spring or summer, we'll hear something more than "We sold 1 million!"