I may be deluding myself if I think my readers have missed me (or that I even have any readers), but it's been a while since my last blog entry. Blame that on the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas the 2nd week of January. My morning email increased ten fold I think, as I was invited to meet manufacturers of anything from Robotic Lawnmowers (how did that guy get my email? I had specified my beat as Games and Gaming hardware) to Security Software.

This year was the year of "Hey, everyone, the gaming space is fine! Jump in!" as I saw everyone from CE manufacturers to Pro-Audio manufacturers enter the Hardware Gaming space. Last CES, I mourned the fact that I could not find a single manufacturer demoing Gamer Headsets - i.e. not just headphones, headphones with built in boom-mike. This year, I found at least four and some of them aren't your boring black either.

Pro-Audio Company Sennheiser had a line of VOIP & telephone headsets, but now has a Gamer Headset made to be worn for hours at a time.

Tritton also has a couple of great looking headsets, and my favorite gaming peripheral company - not only because I'm biased as they headquartered in my hometown - Razer was also showing off their new gamer headset, their THX certified 2.1 speakers and their sweet, sweet, sweet new gamer keyboard - the Lycosa and Destructor mousepad. Yes, I have them for review, and yes, I love them.

I had made the trek all the way to the North Hall for Razer and I'm glad I made the time for them. Not only are they great people, their products have come a long way since the BoomSlang.

While there, I met a buyer from Woot!. Hmm... I don't know if I should spread the news of this online retailer. If it was hard enough trying to get "A Bag of Crap!" a year or two ago, the more people know about this site, the harder it will be for me to get one. What is this Woot! you ask... it sells ONE item a day until it runs out or the day turns over at midnight. The item might be new or refurbished, it might be at a fantastic discount or merely at a good price. The copy is amusing. The freight is cheap, they sell the leftovers at a "Woot Off" where items go up until they are sold out, then they sell mysterious "Bags of Crap" which go for $1 and could have utter crap or that returned 52" Plasma TV.

Anyway, I am digressing, but my two hardware previews for this year's CES can be found here. I had a part one, but durn if I can pull it up now.