The DeanBeat: CES will explore new platforms and paths for gaming

I made my predictions last week about what will happen in games in 2015. But it’s going to be hard enough predicting what will happen next week. I’ll be attending the 2015 International CES next week in Las Vegas. The tech trade show is the biggest in the U.S., and it will draw more than 150,000 people to view more than 3,000 exhibitors across more than 2 million square feet of space. Among the exhibitors will be 637 companies with gaming products, according to Gary Shapiro, chief executive of the Consumer Electronics Association, which puts on the show. That’s up from 511 a year ago, an indicator of the healthy growth of the gaming sector, which analysts expect to generate $100 billion in revenues by 2017.

But many major game companies skip the show. Electronic Arts and Activision have no presence on the show floor. Microsoft dropped out a couple of years ago, so we won’t expect any news about the Xbox One game console or Windows gaming. While Sony’s Kaz Hirai gave a keynote last year, the company isn’t among the major speakers this year. And Nintendo isn’t part of the show either. Instead, the show is going to have a lot of news about tech for cars, smartwatches, smart homes, and the Internet of Things (or connecting just about every to the Internet). We’ll have a crack team of writers covering all of that news from start to finish.

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Valve made a big splash last year with its announcement of its Steam Machines initiative, where it is designing a controller and system for the living room. Some 13 hardware companies said they would build gaming machines based on Valve’s designs. But the company is skipping CES this year, and it plans to say more about the delayed project at the Game Developers Conference in March.

But emerging game platforms will be a hot topic. One of the cool new directions for games debuts today with the unveiling of Osterhout Design Group’s consumer version of its R-6S augmented reality smartglasses. The San Francisco company spent six years and $60 million refining its military and enterprise technology for the consumer market, and it’s finally ready to show off the R-6S. A consumer version of the glasses could hit the market this year for under $1,000. While it isn’t primarily for games, the sunglasses allow you to view high-definition video on the inside of the lenses of a pair of sunglasses. The possible applications include simple augmented reality games and 3D location apps.

This may not sound that exciting to hardcore gamers, but it fits with the trend of making gaming more accessible from any location. That trend is helping to expand the universe of gamers to many people would never otherwise play a game with a console and a game controller in front of a big-screen TV.

A session on Tuesday, the first day that exhibits will be open, will explore emerging trends in games with representatives from Advanced Micro Devices, Oculus VR, and gameplay streaming firm Twitch, which is owned by Amazon. That session’s speakers tell you a lot about where the action is in games now.

I’ll meet with Oculus to get a good view of the virtual reality pioneer’s latest demos. I’m not sure we’ll get much news about when the company, which was acquired last year by Facebook for $2 billion, will ship its consumer product. But we’re sure to get some clues. I’ll also meet with other virtual reality companies such as Virtuix, which makes a platform that allows you much more freedom of movement in a virtual world. There will be a session on virtual reality and a lot of VR stuff on the show floor, says Shapiro at CEA.

Samsung Electronics will have a press conference at 2 p.m. Monday, and it will also have a keynote speech at 6:30 p.m. on Monday in the formal opening of the show for the masses. It’s not clear whether gaming will be a big factor in those events, but Samsung is sure to talk up its foothold in virtual reality, the Samsung Gear VR. This smartphone works with an Oculus VR headset, allowing you to play full virtual reality games on a mobile devices.

Nvidia has a press conference on Sunday evening, but my guess is that the focus will be on getting the Tegra mobile processor into automobiles. Still, we’ll probably see some eye candy, as Nvidia has invested more than $9 billion to date in visual computing technologies. Nvidia chief executive Jen-Hsun Huang will host the press event at 8 p.m. on Sunday (Jan. 4), before the official show gets under way. Last year, Nvidia unveiled its Tegra K1 processor, a mobile chip with more than 192 graphics processors. And the year before that, it unveiled its Nvidia Shield portable gaming device at CES 2013. If Nvidia introduces an upgrade to its processors, we can expect that tablets and smartphones of the future will be far more capable of running cool 3D games. We’re hoping Nvidia will have some other cool stuff for gamers.

And Intel chief executive Brian Krzanich will give a talk on Tuesday about the world’s biggest chip makers efforts to . Don’t be surprised if, like last year, a few of the things he talks about have bearing on consumers.

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As for new gadgets for gamers, Razer will show off its latest hardcore gaming gear. And I expect we’ll see a lot of new monitors with immersive, curved screens that are idea for gamers. LG showed off such a screen earlier this week, and it will be on display at CES. The screen has a 21:9 aspect ratio. It’s an UltraWide monitor with a curved screen. There will also be some huge 4K and 8K televisions with the capacity to display games with outstanding graphics.

As for non-gaming news, VentureBeat’s Harrison Web, Mark Sullivan, and I will be on location covering a lot of things like the press reception on Sunday, the press conferences on Monday, the keynote speeches, the Eureka Park startups, and the show floor as well. We expect to see a lot of wearable computers, 3D printing, Internet of Things sensors, health and fitness trackers, car gear, drones, virtual reality headsets, iPhone accessories, and a lot of goofy stuff too.

I don’t know if all of these new gadgets are going to drown out the news for gaming during the show. But we do know one thing for sure. No new consumer electronics platform succeeds if it doesn’t accommodate gaming or gamers in some way. If you doubt that, just look at smartphones. About half the revenue from apps still comes from gaming, according to mobile analytics firm Flurry.

Stick with us through CES. We’ll be happy if you read our coverage.

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