The Consumer Electronics Show does have plenty of gaming news coming out of it, but for the past several years I've attended, I can tell you that almost none of it comes out of the event's Gaming Showcase. Going to the company booths elsewhere gets you more, and a lot of companies show their wares away from the crowded show floor. The Gaming Showcase itself is usually pretty sad in comparision.

I think they're trying to fix that. CES has just announced that the size of the Gaming Showcase will increase by 50 percent when CES hits this January. They will have 13,000 square feet of floor space dedicated to gaming. The press release doesn't really say much in the way of what will actually be shown there. I hope we get a bit more than gaming chairs this year. 

We'll be at CES next year to either report on or make fun of what comes out of the Gaming Showcase.

Just like in previous years, we've pulled together a collection of things at the Consumer Electronics Show that make us say what the f*ck?

Really, really weird things are interspersed with huge high-definition televisions, cameras, and mobile phones at this show. This year we sought them out with a camera, trying to make some sense of them. We saw the strangest stuff, and we still have no idea what was going on. Watch this and tell us if you know.

Among many other stupid things that have no business being at CES, we came across floating chairs for swimming pools at this electronics show. Why? Why here? Nick said that the whole thing reminded him of a local home show, a place you might see Ginzu knives and super-absorbing sponges demonstrated and pitched to the public. It reminded me more of a strange circle of hell where everyone eats chicken caesar wraps while wearing bluetooth headsets.

The wierdest thing of all was an interview we conducted with a parrot. Yes, a parrot. Sadly, it was lost in the shuffle, but the parrot makes it into our video anyway. Enjoy

Showing how big of a role name recognition plays in the videogame market, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock has become the first game to earn $1 billion in sales.

Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith spoke about the company's latest accomplishment during his CES keynote, and how games are "poised to eclipse all other forms of entertainment in the decade ahead."

"Music has a history of evolving through technology and we are at the beginning of the latest chapter in that story," says Griffith.

With artists seeing higher sales after appearing in games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, and today's youth more often than not discovering new music primarily through these games, I'm inclined to agree with that sentiment.

[Via GameDaily]

As we told you before, the whole state of the Consumer Electronics Show is pretty sad when it comes to gaming. There are games here, but they're off site in private meetings.

We visited the floor anyway, picking out some video highlights to share with you. It wasn't all bad, though. We saw some sweet PC gaming gear, some crazy controllers, and a bit of console stuff from Sony and Microsoft. 

The full-blown PC racing rig mid-video was pretty impressive in person, as was Nvidia's 3D technology, running modified versions of hits like Mirror's Edge and Left 4 Dead. 

I was not impressed, though, with the little dude at the end of the video. Someone needs to tell that boy to get outside and talk to girls. 

What's the hype about? Killzone 2 looks amazing, and these new videos definitely impress.

To be honest, I wasn't very excited about the title up until this week. I didn't understand they hype. I came to understand it a bit more after our CES team had a chance to get some hands-on time with the game on the show floor. 

We followed that with a presentation on Killzone 2 and its inner workings. The presentation was peppered with clips that highlight visuals, technology and other details. The video above is a new trailer for Killzone 2, also aired at this presentation. This looks damned good.

After the jump you'll find some of the highlight videos strung together. We think the ballet one is pretty cool. There's a "fine details" video montage in the mix too.

What do you think after seeing this cam footage? Is it just a pretty face on a mediocre game?

According to retail publication Twice, over 110,000 balding, overweight, blue-jacket-with-brown-slacks-wearing douchebags waddled the floors of the Las Vegas Convention Center this week to check out the new wares at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show. Of course, they called them "attendees," but we have better names for them.

This isn't a final number; that will come in a couple of months. It looks like attendance is down last year, just as we pointed out in our CES impressions yesterday. CEA's president barfed up some statement that points to "quality over quantity" when speaking on attendance. Recession. Blah, blah.

A few days ago, Nick and I were doing our duty, going through and photographing funny things and laughing at the self-important as*holes here. We weren't moving fast enough for one group of the fat bastards. He called out behind us, channeling some strange new retail buyer supervillian as he said, "gentlemen, excuse"  with his thundering voice.

Of course, I told him to f*ck off,  we mocked him, and have continued to quote him throughout the event.

Destructoid is still here, finishing off our last bit of coverage, typing with red eyes and unrested brains. Bear with us.

If there's one thing people have been asking for since pretty much the first month or so after buying their Xbox 360, it's that Microsoft removes the 100-person friends list restriction.

Some of us have gotten around the limit by using the "view your friend's friends list" trick, but I think it's about time we got a real solution. Joystiq spoke with Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg about the matter during CES, and he surprisingly responded with something other than "no comment."

"I can't commit to when that will happen, but that is something we want to do," says Greenberg. "It's definitely something we're looking at expanding and, as this social network grows, we've absolutely heard the pleas for that. It's on the list."

While this is certainly no official announcement or anything, I'll gladly admit it is nice to hear that the idea is at least being entertained.

[Image: bunnyrabbit2]

You see that video right up there? That's a trailer for the coolest thing I saw at CES. Oh, sure, Resident Evil 5 was being played on the side of Planet Hollywood and there was a porn convention going on in Vegas at the same time, but Flock! speaks to my interests in a way that half-naked starlets and zombies never could.

Okay, maybe that's going a little bit too far. Let's just say that Flock! is one of the downloadable games I'm most excited for right now. After having the chance to play the game, I am ready to spread my intense love of sheep all over Destructoid. I'm totally Scottish over them. Seriously.

Hit the jump and I'll try not to get too much in your eyes.

If there were two things we saw too much of at this year's CES it's third-party music game peripherals and 3D gaming and movies. It was everywhere. And apparently, it's the future.

NVIDIA had their flavor of 3D gaming on display, the GeFORCE 3D Vision. The stereoscopic 3D is achieved by a combination of NVIDIA's wireless 3D shades, a compatibile GeForce video card, and a "GeForce 3D Vision-Ready" display. NVIDIA has a number of games on display that utilized the technology, including Guitar Hero III, Tomb Raider Undeworld, Left 4 Dead, Mirror's Edge, and even World of Warcraft. 

Impressions after the jump.

You know what I'm going to do once I've become disgustingly wealthy because of my highly literate work on a major gaming blog? I'm going to buy one of these chairs, sit down and never stand up again for anything ever.

This is an Emperor Workstation, and mere words cannot properly describe its glory. In addition to the three 19" synchronized displays, it comes equipped with a 5.1 surround sound system (using BOSE speakers), a lamp which simulates natural light to reduce eye strain and a freakin' air filtration system. The plush leather seat can be adjusted in three locations as well as tilting the entire unit back or forwards for maximum comfort using a touchscreen control panel. 

Oh, and did I mention that the thing rotates? Yeah, it comes pre-programmed to turn 360 degrees over an eight-hour period in the event you've positioned it near a window and need to avoid irritating glare from the sun. And the monitor arm retracts to let you out of your awesome alien pod in the event that your house is on fire and you value your life more than the chair.

The Emperor is not cheap by any stretch of the imagination and retails for just under $40,000. So let's get those pageviews crackin', folks. My La-Z-Boy is looking a little ragged and I'd like to replace it with this bad boy as quickly as possible.

When it comes to gaming-related peripherals, the amount of fake-plastic instruments at this year's CES was at an all time high. From guitars to the dozens of plastic drum varations, it all started to look the same after awhile. But one in particular caught our eye -- there was one shaped like a damned shark. 

A custom guitar designed by Peavey especially for Jimmy Buffet, this weighty shark guitar was a full-sized instrument, compatible with both Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Peavey had a copy of Rock Band 2 running on a monitor shoved into the back of a custom made "Margaritaville" golf cart. The whole is as ridiculous as I look in the video of me above, making an intentional d-bag of myself on the show floor. 

The wireless guitar had a decent feel, but the buttons were spaced further apart first-party Rock Band and Guitar Hero controllers, so I had a bit of an issue adapting. I also noticed I missing a lot of notes, especially in hammer-on and pull-off situations, something I'll blame on the guitars seeing three days of CES use. The strum bar was responsive as well, with a "click" feel similar to Activision's peripherals.

One of these babies could run you anywhere from $150 to $200, depending on your specifications. These are made-to-order direct Peavey's Web site, so if you're looking for a good gift for the Destructoid staff, we're sure they'd be more than happy to make one in the shape of a robot. I'm just saying.

Well folks, this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas has finally shuttered its doors. We came, we saw, we wrote some stuff. And honestly, us not having to be here for a moment longer couldn't have come sooner. 

Everyone we speak to says the same thing: this year's show was a sleeper. Blame it on what you will -- the economy, the new season of 24 -- but things were certainly quieter than usual. Everything just seemed so ... sterile. Boring. The halls of the convention center seemed emptier than usual, and while some new tech on display turned some heads (folding OLED screens FTW!), a lot of what we saw was just new, fancier iterations of what we already knew about. 

On the gaming side, we struggled to find the fresh and new hotness. We definitely saw some cool stuff, but if our minds were blown here in Vegas, it was the endless supply of meat servers kept bring us at the kickass Brazilian barbecue joint in the Mirage, Samba. At one point, we interviewed a parrot that was randomly sitting on a trash can next to the press lounge (unfortunately, that footage was unusable). 

And the schwag? Don't even get me started. The coolest thing we got was the digital "Thirsty Light," that you stick in your plants and it glows when it's time for a good watering. That's what she said.

So while CES is done (and maybe a bit lame this year), that doesn't mean our coverage is going to stop. Once we shake out of our Brazilian BBQ meat comas, we'll be bringing you random coverage over the next few days. Hold tight -- it's really exciting. 

In the meantime, check out our dedicated CES 2009 page for all of the coverage to date.

A few days ago we told you that Nyko has a new Wii remote in the works. Not to call anyone out, but some were quick to write it off as a poor knockoff when we ran the story. Days later, this device won CNET's "Best of CES" award for Hottest Video Game Product of 2009. To get the lowdown, Nyko had us over to check it out.

Guess what? It's pretty slick. We didn't conduct a full-blown test, but we did get to check it out and play a bit of Wii Sports. We instantly noticed an improved hand feel over the standard Wii Remote when we got our hands on it. The underside "B" button is rubberized for an improved grip and feel. And the buttons, although square, are easier to hit and feel responsive. 

The Trans-Port technology we reported on earlier promises to be pretty neat, too. We managed to get our hands on a protoype gun controller (shown in our gallery). It looks like Nyko's Perfect Shot, but upgraded for the Wand. Of course, using the Trans-Port technology, the triggers were changed from mechanical to digital, improving the feel and response time of the gun. This makes any previous mechanical-based Wii gun tech look and feel clunky in comparison. 

We'd want to play with the Wand a bit more to make a full judgement, but we like what we've seen so far. Our impressions are that this is a much better controller than the standard Wii Remote.

At Sony's PlayStation presentation, Insomniac studios showed off Resistance Retribution. The focus of their portion of the show was all around how the upcoming PSP title will connect with its console counterpart, Resistance 2. By connecting their PSP to a PS3 running Resistance 2, players will gain access to a couple of impressive features and new content.

The first, and most exciting feature, is the ability to "infect" your character in Retribution. This gives him the ability to use some Chimera abilities, such as regenerating health. It also grants access to otherwise unavailable areas of certain levels. Plus, infecting your PSP unlocks the wicked-cool HE .44 Magnum weapon from Resistance 2 for use in Retribution as well as a Chimera uniform. It's a very cool way of extending the game by offering some new ways to play.

Also of note is the PSP Plus mode. Activating this mode allows players to use their Dual Shock 3 controller to the control the game, allowing for a much more comfortable control experience to use while playing the game through the PSP's video output capabilities. 

All in all, I'm fairly impressed. It's nice to see developers starting not only to take advantage of handheld-to-console connection capabilities, but to offer compelling reasons for players to make use of them. I hope that this is a trend that continues, as there's absolutely no reason for series which are spreading across platforms not to reward fans who are willing to make the investment to play on screens both big and small.