Gaming at CES

LAS VEGAS – Back in 1995, the newly-formed Entertainment Software Association (ESA) parted ways with the world’s larges trade show, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), and started its own, the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). In addition to being a growing industry thanks to Sega and Nintendo (Sony would be entering the party soon after), CES, which at that time was held twice a year, relegated games to an outdoor tent during the winter event in Las Vegas, when inclement weather was routine.

Today, CES is held once a year in Vegas and it continues to grow. The Las Vegas Convention show floors go on for miles, and there are also outdoor set-ups as well as many ballrooms and hotel suites spread throughout the strip. When you look at the show as a whole, videogames are a very small part of the overall picture. But gaming has slowly grown each year. In fact, according to the Consumer Electronics Association (ESA), the amount of official floor space dedicated to games this year has doubled from last year. That doesn’t include the off-floor hotel suites that companies like Sony Online Entertainment, Nyko Technologies and Mad Catz have set up.

Electronic Arts is making a big splash at this year’s E3. They’re the only game publisher using the show to debut new titles to the press. The focus for EA is all about its casual label, the fastest-growing segment of gaming today thanks to Wii and Nintendo DS. EA has The Sims 3 as its major tentpole. The publisher is also offering new digital versions of Hasbro board games like SCRABBLE, Trivial Pursuit and Yahtzee. The new Xbox Live Arcade suite of Hasbro games called Hasbro Family Game Night ports players into an online community where new games can be pulled off the “shelf” and played with others around the country. EA also has an innovative new puzzle/platform Nintendo DS game, Henry Hatsworth and the Puzzling Adventure, which was created by a small team of eight at EA Tiburon -- home of the Madden franchise. Another cool new DS game, aimed more squarely at kids, is Zoob?.

Sony Computer Entertainment America is looking ahead to 2009 with playable versions of upcoming PlayStation 3 games inFamous and Killzone 2, as well as the PSP shooter Resistance: Liberation? Sony’s games are part of the mammoth Sony booth, which is the largest CES has ever seen. The game division is also showcasing the new PlayStation Home social network.

Microsoft has an assortment of Xbox 360 and PC games at its booth, including Epic Games’ Gears of War 2, Fable II, Lips, and Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. PC games on display include Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto IV and THQ’s Dawn of War II.

The bulk of what gamers will find at CES are peripherals for game consoles like new guitar controllers and charger packs and suped-up gaming PCs and accessories. Johnathon “Fatal1ty” Wendel, a gaming staple of the show, is playing Quake IV against any takers. He has new PC gaming products in the Fatal1ty line from Creative Labs. PC makers like HP, Dell, Lenovo, Asus and Toshiba all have new portable and desktop machines maxed out to take full advantage of the latest PC games like Far Cry 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV.

Paradigm has a new Dolby 7.1 surround sound system for gamers just as new PS3 games like Killzone 2 and Activision’s Prototype start taking advantage of the extra sound capacity of the console. Surround sound headphones are also popular for game consoles with offerings from companies like TRITTON, Track Scan and Turtle Bay.

While CES has done a nice job of setting up gaming zones, it’s still a huge show with too many types of electronics and clutter for games to really stand out. As much as E3 has changed over the past three years, it still remains the premiere destination for gaming news.