International CES is the world’s leading, largest technology trade show, held in Las Vegas at the LV Convention Center from January 8th to the 11th, 2013. People from all over the world come to enjoy this epic week of technologies, geek out over the future electronics.

To give you an idea of the size of this thing, Michael Phelps would have to swim 483 laps to travel the 15 miles of the carpeted CES show floor. My feet certainly wished it was a pool instead of cement floor. There are about 3,280 exhibits, tons of parties and celebrity appearances. My friends and I saw Will.I.Am, Sheila E, Xzibit, Lupe Fiasco, Rohan Marley (son of Bob Marley and father of Lauryn Hill’s babies), Tyson Beckford, Nick Cannon, Mike Tyson and  Snooki, but didn’t see LL Cool J, 50 Cent or Felicia Day.

This was my first trip to CES, so I didn’t really know what to expect. It was definitely a different experience than any gaming convention, and I really had to look hard to find gaming specific innovations. The Gaming Showcase, a tiny section of the show floor, was my favorite part of the event of course, since I’m not really big into mobile tech or televisions. But for those of you who are, here are some highlights!

 Cool Tech News:

• Lenevo and 3M have introduced tablets that are actually the size of tabletops. Meant for multiple users and most certainly for companies, both of the products are going to be pretty pricey.
• Canopy developed Sensus, an iPhone case that is touch sensitive to allow you to use the back and the sides of your phone to scroll and click instead of just using your screen.
• A vibrating fork from Hapilabs that is meant to stop you from eating too much made an appearance. 0_0
• VuzixM100 smart glasses: a bluetooth controllable headset that sits under your eye looks pretty cool.
• The Samsung’s Ultra HDTV S9 was shown off with both an 85-inch and a 110-inch screen. Not only that, it looks like it is floating in its frame, since you can adjust the screen.
• The Pebble – an e-paper watch for iPhone and Android let’s you use bluetooth to seamlessly control your phone with your watch.
• Facecake’s Swivel allows you to virtually try on clothes, different hairstyles and colors, and varied makeup styles without ever taking off what you’re wearing or making a horrible dyeing mistake .
• The Puzzlebox Orbit is a brain-controlled helicopter that flew around and was amazing.
• Monster had an Alicia Keys concert and featured brand ambassadors such as Tyson Beckford, Xzibit, Sheila E., Nick Cannon and more showing off their new and stylish headphones. I drooled (at the headphones… not the celebs :P).
• Sony showcased a ton of cool products that worked by touching your mobile device to them. It was pretty cool looking!

Cool Gaming News:

There was plenty of awesome gaming news as well!

• Monster and EA sports teamed up to create a gaming headset, The MVP Carbon, which also works with lifestyle products such as phones and MP3 players.
• Mad Catz showcased the S.T.R.I.K.E. 7 keyboard. This keyboard won the Best of Innovations 2013 Design and Engineering Award in Gaming Hardware & Accessories at this year’s CEAs. The keyboard is modular, meaning it can be taken abart as needed and rearranged.
• Razer is coming out with a gaming tablet called the Razer Edge
• The R.A.T.M. Wireless Mobile Gaming Mouse from Mad Catz looks pretty awesome

As for the innovations and products that caught my eye, the  real standouts for me were the Extreme Reality software, Nvidia’s Project Shield and Afterglow’s Prismatic Wireless Headset (and girl friendly products). I have a few posts coming up that go into more detail about those babies!

However, with the gaming tech in general, almost everything else was showcased at another event or convention. The one other surprise for me was not particularly innovative for this show, but it was darn fun. The Mag 2 looks like a cheap game accessory. If I came across it online, I would glance over it and keep moving. But when I actually picked it up to play, I found it completely addicting. The gun controls your view in the way movie stars use guns in action movies, pointing the way, looking around with it. It takes a bit to get used to, but once you do you feel like a total badass.

In all, I’m very glad I attended and my only with is that I brought one of our tech or mobile writers along. I’m certainly looking forward to International CES 2014.

I’ll have some reviews and previews coming along for some of these products and more, so please make sure to subscribe to stay up to date on the latest posts!