Traditionally, gaming's calendar year of expos, conventions, and trade shows doesn't generally kick off in earnest until March's fanfare arrival of the Game Developer's Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, which thus opens the floodgates for a host of platform events. However, before July's new-fangled E3 Media and Business Summit (the now scaled back, renamed, and invitation-only E3 of legend) shifts into view alongside August's Penny Expo (PAX), September's Tokyo Game Show (TGS), and the newly announced and ESA-endorsed Entertainment for All Expo in October (previously known as the Gamepro Expo), it falls to January's annual Consumer Electronics Show to whet our collective appetites-at least where related is concerned.

Playing with you head

This year's CES in Las Vegas, Nevada, ran from 08-11 January and, as per usual, it provided the tech industry's major (and minor) players the opportunity to showcase their latest wares to the watching world, while also oiling their corporate muscle before the gathered throngs of competition. With CES being a dedicated trade show of consumer electronic goods, it obviously isn't likely to be brimming over with videogame content beside the latest cutting edge VoodooPC and Alienware systems, mobile phone handsets (note: Apple's launched at this week's Macworld Expo in San Francisco), LCD and Plasma TVs, GPS trackers, and much, much more. Yet, that doesn't mean that gaming doesn't barge into the global spotlight each year in a brash attempt to wrestle some of the show's specific media attention-not that it needs it-and CES 2007 has seen a few notable videogame-related highlights. Let's take a look at them.

Making its debut at CES 2007 was Headplay's Personal Cinema System, a portable over-the-head 'ignore the embarrassment' visor that offers its users the eye-popping close-quarter spectacle of a virtual 52" screen. Headplay claims the system will deliver an "immersive, high resolution, cinematic, big screen viewing experience for gaming, watching, and Internet use."

Furthermore, Headplay's virtual visor combines "revolutionary design" through its oddly appealing Fashion Tech (IDEO) construction that complements the system's high performance optical technologies for creating an accessible and enjoyable personal viewing experience not presently available anywhere on the electronics market.

"As the demand for portable entertainment options continues to expand, coupled with the 'New Generation 3D' content coming from Hollywood and game publishers, Headplay allows consumers to experience this explosion of content," enthused Glen Ward, Co-CEO of Headplay, Inc. "We are thrilled to be unveiling our product's unique look and feel at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show."

The Headplay Personal Cinema System is compatible with virtually any device (videogame consoles, DVD players, video iPods, cell phones, etc) and offers simultaneous gaming access of a controller and a keyboard while pushing visual performance up to a resolution of 1024x768. The company's patented optical technology delivers separate but identical images to each of the user's eyes via a single LCoS micro display, which helps to eliminate eyestrain. It doesn't, however, eliminate pocket strain, which will arrive in tandem with the system when it arrives in April of 2007 at a whopping price of $499 USD.

Games coming Zune

Microsoft took the opportunity presented by CES 2007 to unveil a few interesting videogame-related additions, the first of which involved the official confirmation that portable videogame content will arrive on the software giant's new Zune media player in the next 18 months. Prior to this year's show, Microsoft's stance on bringing gaming to its Zune essentially stretched to boss Chris Lewis's quote of "You can already plug your Zune device into your to stream music, pictures and video content. Looking ahead, the vision for connected entertainment provides a number of consumer scenarios and with our heritage in Xbox and Games For Windows, gaming is certainly something we're considering for the device."

However, a report from financial Website Bloomberg has now set Microsoft's plans firmly in stone, stating that Peter Moore, VP of the company's interactive entertainment business and devices division, commented during CES that does plan to introduce videogame content on the Zune, adding that its impressively large screen (3") offers users a better option for playing portable games. However, it's likely that Microsoft will only offer gaming possibilities that run in parallel with those currently seen on Apple's iPod, not least because the (current) Zune lacks the necessary accelerator hardware to compete realistically in the 'proper' handheld arena.

Winning control

CES 2007 also experienced a degree of award-winning confusion, as proudly revealed that its innovative PlayStation 3 SIXAXIS game controller had snagged a thoroughly well deserved Emmy award from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS).

Presented at CES 2007, the 58th annual Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards were distributed in two separate categories covering science, engineering, and technology in both broadcast and personal television-with personal television encapsulating the realms of interactive TV, videogames, Internet, cell phones, private networks, and personal media players.

However, any resultant SIXAXIS pride was abruptly ended when NATAS popped the engorged balloon of Sony's boasting by stating that the Emmy award for innovation was in fact 'shared' by the PlayStation 2's Dual Shock component and Nintendo's original NES D-Pad technology. Needless to say, countless enraged Remote and Nunchuk fans probably breathed a collective sigh of relief at the timely correction, while also pointing out that the Dual Shock technology was the result of a patent infringement against motion-sensing technology company Immersion-which is why it's no longer a feature in Sony's controllers.

It wasn't all bad (or markedly tainted) news for Sony though, with the PlayStation 3 scooping the CES 2007 'Best of Innovations Award' (Wii fans looked on in perplexed disbelief). The console also secured World's '20 Most Innovative Products Award', Sound and Vision's 'Editor's Choice Award', and DEG's Emiel N. Petrone 'Digital Innovation Award'.

A million and counting

At Sony's initial CES 2007 press conference, Peter Dille, senior vice president of marketing for Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA), officially confirmed that the PlayStation 3 console had shipped the company's North American target of 1 million units by the close of 2006. Sony also promised that it fully intends to ship some 6 million PS3s worldwide by the end of its fiscal year in 2007.

According to market analysts Group, between 700-800 thousand of Sony's shipped first million have found their way into North American homes since the console's launch in November. That figure was somewhat eclipsed by the Wii's estimated 1.8 million sales, which, in turn, was bounced from the limelight by the Xbox 360's (unexpected?) 2 million unit across the same period-though its seasonal popularity may have been boosted somewhat by the relative lack of availability in both Wii and units.

Sony also revealed that its Xross Media Bar (XMB), which is already utilised in the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3, will be arriving on television GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces) in 2007 to help deliver IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) and streaming video while assisting the company in its quest to complete its "transformation into an entertainment powerhouse".

Gates open for IPTV

Sony's IPTV announcement was swiftly followed by a similar revelation from outbound Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, who revealed in his CES keynote speech that the American software giant will also offer the streaming service through its existing Xbox 360 videogame console. IPTV will essentially allow its users to simultaneously watch such things as their favourite sporting events live while talking to friends and/or recording another television program in the background.

Microsoft is expected to release its IPTV service to consumers around of 2007, and it will be available to users armed with a Microsoft TV IPTV Edition of the existing Xbox 360. "Our goal is to make entertainment more personal, more interactive and more social", said Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Devices Division (though evidently no cheaper). Content providers running through the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition software will duly deliver said service. Costs relevant to both Sony and Microsoft have not yet been confirmed.