LG sure excited many people on the CES floor, but many other companies had their own technology to prove that they’re still in the game.

Sharp was promoting their love for MLB, giving away signed baseballs by Prince Fielder. And at the same time, they introduced the new technology: RGB + Y. Conventionally, LCD sub-pixels use Red, Green and Blue to create the colors needed. Sharp came up with the four color pixel technology with the addition of Yellow.

Honestly, we weren’t too sure if it gave any significant changes in color, but it looked good. They gave us a small magnifying device to take a look at the pixels of their TV screen. We wished that they had  put the two TVs side-by-side to get a better comparison.

The next booth we visited was Samsung. They’re famous for their TVs, monitors and cell phones. This time though, we could tell that Samsung isn’t stopping there; they had hundreds of other products like laptops, netbooks and many different models of mobile devices as well as the TVs.

If you think about E-book devices, it’s nothing more than low-powered PDAs with larger screens. Besides, who reads books nowadays, right? Man, were we wrong. Samsung’s E-book device was one of the most popular products at their booth, with people waiting in line to try them out.

I guess the E-books were cooler than we’d imagined.

Samsung also had cool TV stuff, like the Motion Zone, which is a TV promoting their 240Hz technology. Well, we already witnessed the 480Hz at the LG booth, so it wasn’t a big deal for us. Well, they attached two motion sensors for us to play a game that displays the smoothness of 240Hz and it was cool.

They also had a cool remote control that has a small LCD screen. The use for the LCD screen? It works like a dual monitor setup for you PC; you can check out other channels on the remote control, or you can watch the exact same thing as the people in the living room are watching. So basically, if you and your family were watching a movie, and if you have to go bio, you don’t have to tell them to wait until you’re done; you can simply bring your remote control with you while doing your business in the restroom. A sweet concept.

Another cool thing that Samsung offered was the analog/digital caricatures. We had the choice between a guy who drew caricatures on paper with a sharpie, or a girl who did them digitally with a PC tablet. It was to promote their color laser printer, but since it was the only place to sit and rest, we thought it would be a good idea to try. Our official participant of any event, GillRider, went for it.

We loved the result.

Other things that Samsung is famous for is the mobile sector. We can really see their enthusiasm on netbooks and mobile devices. Hundreds of different devices, with their own App store and all. We could totally tell that Samsung really wants to expand their market from specialized products to general electronic devices.

One last booth that we visited was for my personal taste. It’ll also interest you if you’re into digital photography; Canon’s booth. Oh man, I was one happy man, staring at lenses and DSLR camera bodies that’d cost both my arms and legs.

From the premium L-series lens to the EOS-1D Mark IV, the famous 7D. It was enough to make me feel right at home. If you’re into the full-frame DSLRs, you probably wouldn’t care much about these models, but since 7D has so many new features with about a $1000 cheaper price tag than the 5D Mark II, its sure to attract many people looking to upgrade their camera in 2010.

Okay, so CES may not be the best convention for the gaming industry, but it definitely satisfies our geekness to the core. So many cool products and showcases; we were definitely thrilled to be there. These are all the pictures that I personally took for our CES 2010 trip, but it’s not over yet. GillRider will cover the upcoming title from Sony which utilizes the camera to own and care for your very own virtual pet, so stay close and you shall see what the Eye Pet is all about.

Okay, we saw some really cool stuff, but LG really pushed the limit to be the innovative leader at this year’s CES. We’ve seen so many cool stuff that we had to make a gallery just for LG’s booth.

LG is a company known for their TVs and refrigerators with cool LCD screens in the US market. But this year it looks like they’re reaching into the mobile territory while still expanding the TV market. You’ll be amazed how many “world’s first” products they had at the booth, such as the UHDTV, the thinnest TV, 3D projectors, etc.

There was no one there to explain what it does, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out. Basically, the LCD monitor in your car and your phone talks to each other via Bluetooth. I think a couple of button pushes can do the job, but in our geek world, that’s just too simple. It’s way cooler to use our cell phones to control the car’s AV control.

As we stated before, CES 2010 was all about 3D gaming. LG and so many other companies were in on it, which kind of saddens me a bit because it’s hard enough to keep up with purchasing $400 video cards just to keep up with the latest graphic enhancement. Now they want us to spend more money on the 3D converter and 3D glasses.

At least it was fun to play with though. That’s our editor, GillRider in the pictures.

No doubt gamers are into the latest TV technology. We have to consider the contrast ratio to spot the enemy sniper in the dark, fast response times to avoid ghosting/smudge effects, LED backlighting for clearer visuals, inputs and outputs, wireless for convenience and blah blah blah..

At CES, if you really wanted to see the future of TV sets, LG booth was the place to be. From LED TVs that save energy to the borderless, and world’s thinnest TV, they had it all.

LED is obviously the future of LCD panel TVs, and they were aggresive about it. The energy saving usually comes with compromise of visual brightness, but the LEDs looked so much better than our traditional LCD TVs. And for their 6.9mm thin TV, which is world’s first, was just incredible to stare at. That’s less than a centimeter, folks. Only press such as ourselves were allowed to take pictures. But even with our DSLR camera, it was so hard to focus on the TV from the side because it was just too thin. And with people pushing aroud to take pictures, it wasn’t easy.

The next cool thing that we came across was a TV with a Magic Motion remote control. Basically, it’s a TV with a Wiimote-like motion sensor remote, with a handful of casual games INCLUDED in the TV. It’s like they want gamers to stare at the TV screen 24/7.

We were also able to witness the water-resistance OLED TV, but none of them were over 25″ or so. And when we thought 240Hz was the next big thing, LG came up with a 480Hz with TruMotion technology. I don’t know if you guys can tell the difference with the still picture, but for those of us present it was like night and day. Gamers will be able to capture every moment no matter how fast the action spreads on their screen with 480Hz.

And when we thought we’d seen it all, the next TV just made our jaws drop. It was a 84″, Ultra High Definition TV.

It was such at such a high resolution, higher than the computer monitor’s resolution, that it made us sick. They had pictures of a beautiful model, and we could spot every bump and irregularity on her facial skin. We’re not sure if this is a good thing or not, but the details were just too incredible. Amazing.

There’s a reason why CES gave many “Innovations 2010 Awards” to LG like M&Ms in a candy store. So many cool stuff, made so many geeks drool over their products.

They were also environment aware about their products, and that’s a good thing. We as gamers produce so much trash, from PC parts to plastic wraps from games we buy. Things are changing though, like digital downloads which save trees and plastic production. And as long as we can save money on the energy bill while playing games on our crisp clear TV screens, we welcome the future.

A picture can explain so much more than thousands and thousands of words.

We took many pictures indeed, but we’ll only show you the pictures that might interest gamers in general. After all, it’s all for gaming, yeah?

The first booth we visited was Intel.
They were showing off the i7 Core CPU that’s been already released (and loved by hardcore PC gamers), with announcements of the i3 and i5.

For CES 2010, the industry really wanted to push 3D gaming, and almost every if not all companies had something to show off about the upcoming technology. If you ask me for an honest opinion, I don’t think it’ll ever take off, but who knows? From the recent success with the 3D movie, Avatar, maybe investors think that 3D gaming might have a chance as well.

The next booth we visited was Microsoft.

They had several cool stuff such as the Xbox LIVE Game Room, Zune HD with a service that brings your hardware together, interactive touch tables and other cool stuff. Since GillRider did a good job on writing the Xbox LIVE Game Room article, we’ll skip it.

Zune was usually popular among die-hard Microsoft fans, but if you already have a Xbox360 and a PC, you might consider getting Zune HD for your mobile player of choice.

The Zune will now support universal hardware support, which means that if you buy any contents from Zune, you can play it on your Zune HD as well as on your PC and Xbox360. That’s really awesome because you can literally bring your music or movies anywhere you go. And for Xbox360 users, now you can watch movies with your friends; you can invite their avatars through Xbox LIVE and interact with each other while watching the movie in virtual theater a la Mystery Science Theatre 3000. It was pretty fun watching the presentation, not only because it was cool but the lady who explained it to us was incredibly hot. I’m still kicking myself for not taking her picture. We got her email though so if you have any questions about the new Zune service, we’ll use that as our excuse to contact her.

The next cool thing we spotted was the interactive touch table.

We’ve seen it many times already. We just wonder if it’ll ever make it to the mainstream.

We still have many more CES 2010 pictures for you guys so stick with us.

So, as you may have guessed from the updates, we’re back from Vegas!… and by Vegas I mean CES. This was by far the biggest expo I have every attended! But this was definitely geared toward a broader audience of consumer electronics, rather than having a specific niche, like gaming.

Anyhoo, the first thing we did upon arriving at the LVCC (Las Vegas Convention Center) was to get some lunch. After that, we headed into the Center Hall where we were greeted by a huge exhibit by none other than Microsoft. At the exhibit we got two demos, one for the new Zune HD video library, and the Game Room App for the Xbox360.

With Xbox LIVE, Facebook, and Twitter, the X360 definitely has the upperhand in online-social gaming. The Game Room is yet another online-social gaming App to add to the list, and an exciting one at that.

For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, here’s the gist: The game room is a new app for Xbox LIVE where you can create a virtual arcade, with virtual replicas of arcade classics from the 70s, 80s and 90s. These virtual consoles play exactly like the originals, and the arcade unit itself has all of the original cabinet designs, down to the decals.

The Game Room comes initially packed with 30 games for you to try out. You will then have the ability to purchase games through the Game Room with your Microsoft Points, allowing you to fill up your virtual arcade with more arcade units. These arcade games are playable both through your Xbox and through Windows Live. The games will be available for 240 Microsoft Points ($3) for one screen (either the X360 or Windows), and 400 Microsoft Points ($5) for multiple screens (playable on either media).

This virtual arcade creates a whole new arena in which to socialize and compete with your friends. First and foremost, friends will be able to visit each others’ Game Rooms. Everybody will have one free trial on arcade games they find in a friend’s Game Room. If your friend happens to own that arcade game, they can play on that machine and attempt to beat your high score. Once you enter the Game Room, each machine will have either a green or red banner on top of it, indicating the current top high score; green means you own it, and red means someone else owns it. Naturally, leaderboards will also be available, with both a world and friends filter. There will also be replays available to watch, so you can see how the top scorer achieved their spot on the leaderboard.

And of course, what would Xbox gaming be without Achievements? From what we’ve heard, there will be a total of 99 achievements available, for the Game Room as a whole. There are also awards available both inside the Game Room, like little 8-bit icons that run around the Game Room, and avatar awards such as special baseball caps.

All in all, the Game Room app looks pretty awesome. With new games scheduled to come out on a weekly basis, this app is sure to provide hours of old-school, arcade style challenges from the comfort of your own home. The Xbox LIVE Game Room is scheduled to be available sometime in late March.

The Consumer Electronics Show, CES, will be held in Las Vegas this year.
And we’re going to CES 2010 this year.

We’ve got some invites and stuff, but we’ll try to take it slow this time, taking some pictures of cool stuff rather than go crazy and say “zOMG HERE’S THE LATEST NEWS FROM CES 2010!!”

We’re going to pack up now, so see you soon, in Vegas!