The GamingNexus crew has a full schedule today, as Sean, John and I have no less than 18 different appointments/events scheduled. Some of the companies we will be meeting with today include Capcom, Sony Online Entertainment, THX, Mitsubishi Projectors, ezGear, Viewsonic, Vizio and Tritton Tech. Keep an eye out for updates on these and more.

We will also be wrapping up the day with a visit to the annual Showstoppers event (similar to Digital Experience) and then try our luck at the SOE Annual Poker Tournament, where we will also expected to get some hands on with Free Realms.  I imagine we may have more fun here in Vegas than Chuck, who is hanging out at his own convention back in Sandusky, OH.

It's CES 2009 and as with every CES I've been to the first day saw the GN group at Digital Experience. For those that don't know, it's really a gathering of vendors in a large ballroom and you can quickly hit them in a small environment compared to CES. I had a plan of stopping by three booths from the list as there weren't as many game specific ones at the event.

I'll let Dan and Sean talk about Nyko but they had on hand Wii accessories. Dan and Sean have an appointment with them later on in the week so they will have a greater detailed account of their products. I did hold the new wireless Kama design in my hand and even with my small hands I found it to be a little smaller than I liked. The lower front button had a plastic lip to rest your finger on but I found it to be a little in the way. In all honesty it was a quick look so maybe Dan and Sean will have a better feel of it when they look at the product more closely later on in the week.

There were two products at Logitech's setup I really wanted to get my hands on. First up was the Harmony 1100 remote control. The successor to the Harmony 1000, the Harmony 1100 has some nice improvements. For starters the Logitech rep was really touting the customizability of the screen. Setup the buttons to your liking and make the remote display what you want and when. I was rather impressed with the responsiveness of the capacitive touch screen and the picture was nice and bright. On each side of the screen are some small plastic ridges that correspond with a sidebar button on the screen. They aren't real buttons but they are very helpful in giving a tactile feel of where the LCD button was just by sliding your finger over from the ridge to the screen. The Harmony 1100 felt great in the hand and I think I might have my replacement for my Harmony One.

The other big product was the G19 keyboard. The new gaming keyboard from Logitech has 12 programmable keys and lets you record macros on the fly. Like the G13, you can alter the color of the backlit keys as the product features the same multi-color LED as the G13. In fact you can combine this with the G13 and the new G9x mouse and have an entire setup with matching colors that are to your specification. The major feature though is the 320x240 color LCD display on the top. It's a vivid LCD panel that was displaying a YouTube video when I was looking at it. The video looked mostly smooth but I can't tell if it's because of the video or the panel that didn't make it completely smooth. I'll be able to run some tests once we get it in though to see how well it really performs. I have to say the LCD is quite impressive up close and it will be an open source API to develop plug-ins for it. Due out in March, the G19 looks like it has the chops to become THE gaming keyboard to pick up.

NVIDIA was a quick stop for me as I will be meeting them Saturday but they were on hand to show off their 3D glasses technology. Now the system is like those 3D movies you view in the theater with powered polarized glasses and they were running it off the up and coming Samsung 22" LCD monitor that had a 120Hz refresh rate. Dan can offer up more details on the monitor but the powered NVIDIA glasses would produce an impressive 3D effect on videos and games. They had my current favorite, Left 4 Dead as the demo. I'll have more details on it after Saturday but this might be a good seller for those wanting a new experience in gaming. It does need specialized hardware in the form of the monitor to work though and I heard the way they are going to sell it was in a bundle. Look for more after Saturday.

On an unrelated gaming note, I did stop by the HTC booth which makes my Touch Pro phone. Scanning the table, I told one of the reps it's too bad he didn't have the Touch HD out to look at. With that said, he pulled one out of his pocket saying that they did for those that asked for it. The phone felt really nice in my hand and it's certainly an appeal for those who want an iPhone physical format but want the flexibility of Windows Mobile. I don't know if I could do without a hard keyboard though but the Touch HD had me drooling. [READ MORE]

Black Box's Skate 2 is kick-pushing a demo onto Xbox Live on January 8th and on the PlayStation Network on January 15th.  The demo welcomes you to the city of New San Vanelona with some singleplayer challenges in place, and also features two of the game's online Party Play modes:  Thrasher's Hall of Meat and Spot Battle.  The first Skate made Tony Hawk take a sebattical.  Do you think Skate 2 will force The Bird Man into an early retirement? [READ MORE]

Here are a few screenshots from 50 Cent:Blood in the Sand which show off the new cover system in the game.  Here's a hint, it's a lot like the one in Gears of War 2 as the game uses the same engine.  I know a lot of people are dismissing this game but from what I've seen I think the game has a ton of potential. [READ MORE]

I've been playing a ton of Horde mode lately in Gears of War 2 so I'm happy to see that Epic is fixing a few things regarding multiplayer mode. I'm also happy to see that the shotgun's getting some fixes as I use that a ton in the game. Now if it wouldn't take so long to get into a multiplayer game sometimes when searching for other players by yourself, I'd be a happy camper.

Thanks Kotaku.

• Defunct Games is going to "Let 'Em Dangle."  When I asked who, they simply pointed to Comic Mod Johnny Turbo.
• Slider isn't the most innovative puzzle game, but it's got 99 levels a b*tch ain't one.
• Axl Rose once said, "We don't need no 'civil' war."  Our own Ben Berry begs to differ.
• Jan. 7 - 14 marks the open beta for side-scrolling 2D MMOG, Wind Slayer.
• Halo Wars heads back to the RTS roots of Halo that were never realized until now.
• AtomicGamer's 10 games to look for in 2009--with the caveat that Diablo III might not wrap up production this year.
• The Corsair Dominator 1600MHz 6GB Triple-Channel Memory Kit is specially designed to work with Intel's new i7 platform.
• Techgage EIC Rob Williams gets into his first netbook experience, apologizing profusely like he's the last on his block.

Thanks to Defunct Games, AtomicGamer, Outspark, Legit Reviews, and Techgage for today's news roundup.

• Defunct Games draws a startling parallel between Dead Space, Prince of Persia, and Left 4 Dead.  We gotta hand it to 'em.
• It's time I shed my fear of the frighteningly deep strategery in Europa Universalis III.
• The CoolIT Systems Domino A.L.C. Water Cooler fills in the sub-$80 price point.
• Star Trek Online published a timeline updated to the year 2384.
• The current flagship for the ECS Elitegroup is the ECS X58B-A Black Edition Motherboard.
• Spire Torq Laptop Backpacks are practical, roomy, and with "infinite" numbers of pockets.
• It may be time to draw new conclusions on products from this mid-level motherboard roundup.
• If you want groundbreaking aesthetics and design, you want the Thermaltake SpinQ Heatpipe CPU Cooler.
• GameRanger added matchmaking for the Global Crisis expansion for Supreme Ruler 2020.
• AtomicGamer probably doesn't have any surprises in their Top 10 Games of 2008.

Thanks to Defunct Games, Legit Reviews, Star Trek Online, APH Networks, iXBT Labs, Tweaknews.net, GameRanger, and AtomicGamer for today's news roundup.

A few of us here at Gaming Nexus will be at CES in a week and Dan's been saying we have to go to the Microsoft keynote. Well if what TechCrunch says is true, I'm going to skip it. The "highlights" of the keynote will be that Windows 7 will be an open beta, two already announced Halo games coming to the 360, easier networking, and Windows Mobile gets Flash in the first quarter of this year. If again this is true, then yeah it's going to be pretty boring. I mean we already have Flash on Windows Mobile via Opera on some of the latest WinMo phones and the two Halo games are pretty much well known in the gaming community. If you really want to you can find a leaked copy of the Windows 7 beta so the only thing we don't have any knowledge on is the easier networking which isn't that big of a deal in my opinion. Overall, sounds like something we can skip but who knows. Dan, Sean, or I might just stop by and check out the happenings before Digital Experience.

• Looks like videogames aren't so recession proof after all.  Xbox America discusses.
• Transformers Animated: The Game for the Nintendo DS is apparently ... less than meets the eye.
• Our own Ben Berry is suited up, Lippi Selk'Bag 1-style, ready for sub-arctic temperatures or Best Buy all-nighters.
• The In Win Matrix Chassis (case) is equipped with an 80-plus 300-watt power supply, and is intended for home theater use.
• In Win has another eye-catching creation with the NA USB/ESATA HDD Enclosure.
• Aluminum construction and serious features for cooling, the Cooler Master ATCS 840 case is one of the newest.

Thanks to Xbox America, Defunct Games, BurnOutPC, Legit Reviews, and Tweaknews.net for today's news roundup.

• You could do worse with a Mario Party/RPG mash-up.  Defunct Games reviews Dokapon Kingdom.
• Entering into the increasingly-popular netbook market, it's the MSI Wind Netbook Laptop.
• AtomicGamer hits up Grand Theft Auto IV on the PC with a C+.  Ouch.
• The Foxconn A7VA Motherboard is assembled with a successful, classic design.
• Incredible overclocking headroom from the $80 Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200.

Thanks to Defunct Games, TechwareLabs, AtomicGamer, iXBT Labs, and Techgage for today's news roundup.

Wired has published their list of Vaporware for 2008 and the list has some interesting selections. Game wise, Starcraft II and Home made the list. I probably don't have to tell you what #1 is though. As if there was any surprise what it was going to be.

Happy Holidays from everyone at GamingNexus.  Things will be a bit slow here as we spend time with out families and check out the fat loot we got over the last week or so. 

We want to know what you got though, post your best gift in the comments.

For Penny Arcade fans or just cartoon fans in general, the storybook for Prince of Persia by Penny Arcade is now complete.While it has some of the PA stylings, its got some flair of its own to it as well. I'm impressed by the details that went into it and it really does look like a cool children's book. I hope Ubisoft decides do a small run of it in print to perhaps hand it out to some lucky Prince of Persia fans or given away at a convention like this year's E3.