Late yesterday, Vizio outlined their lineup of TVs that will be on display at CES. This includes five new XVT TVs (including two with 240Hz refresh), seven models (VL320M, VL370M, VL420M,VL470M, VT420M, and VT470M) in the VL and VT lines that have full 1080p and 120Hz. We will check all of these new models out later today during our appointment with Vizio and post full impressions. Check out all the specs, pricing and availability in the press releases. [READ MORE]

Unlike last year when Chuck and I were shut out 15 people from the door, Sean and I made it into the Samsung press event (despite a huge line) and were in row seven for the event. At the presser, Samsung introduced a bevy of new products today, highlighted by their LED televisions that display some incredible black levels, are thin as can be and are simply gorgeous. I snapped the pictures (after the jump) zoomed in from about 50 feet away, yet you can see how impressive they looked. We will get a much closer look at these during our booth tour on Saturday.

Another product announcement that caught our gaming eye was the Samsung 2233RZ 22” 3D PC monitor. It is compatible with Nvidia’s new GeForce 3D Vision graphics card and should hit retail outlets in April 2009 with an MSRP of $399.

Some other items of note included Samsung shifting to a one style fits all strategy with the menus of their products. So their cameras, TVs, MP3 players and so on will all have the same menu system, similar to how Sony PS3, PSP and XBR series TVs share a menu. [READ MORE]

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]

ezGear announced that their innovative UFO surge protector is now available in a wall model. The ezSpace Wall Mount UFO comes in black and is designed to fit between snugly against any wall outlet. It features 6 outlets, LED indicator and a front mounted reset button and plugs directly into a wall socket. We will take a look at this when we visit with ezGear at CES later this week. [READ MORE]

Polk Audio today announced the latest addition to their SurroundBar Family, the Polk Audio SurroundBar SDA Instant Home Theater (SB IHT). The SB IHT is a two-piece, affordable audio solution for those that are looking to add high-quality surround to their gaming rigs at a decent price. The unit features a main SurroundBar speaker system featuring four 2 1/2 drivers and 2 tweeters, as well as a 6 1/2 wireless (that's right, wireless) sub that uses the 2.4 GHz frequency. It is scheduled to retail starting around the second week of February at $499.95 wherever Polk products are sold.

In addition, I had a chance to chat with Polk Audio's VP of Product Line Management Mark Suskind last week to discuss the SurroundBar SDA Instant Home Theater. Mark covered several topics about the product, including why its is ideal for gamers and movie buffs alike, as well as the design and specs of the wireless sub, which is a first for any Polk SurroundBar product.

GamingNexus was also given exclusive access to the SB IHT prior to its announcement today, so look for a review of it in the very near future. In the meantime, enjoy the 35+ minute interview with Mark Suskind: [READ MORE]

NAD Electronics announced today that they will be offering up two new high-performance Home Theater receivers that wont quite break the bank. The NAD T 747 ($1299) and NAD T 737 ($799) will be unveiled at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas in two weeks. Both receivers offer clean sound, full 1080p switching and support NAD's initiative to be green with only 1 watt of power consumption during standby and possessing no heavy metals or hazardous materials. Glancing over the specs, both receivers look to be a great addition to any Home Theater or gaming rig to get the best possible performance. We have an appointment to check out the NAD product lineup in Vegas at CES, so expect a write-up on these products and more in a few weeks. [READ MORE]

Vuzix announced yesterday that the VR920 is now compatible with World of Warcraft with the v2.4 software upgrade. In addition to WoW, support for Fallout 3, Crysis: Warhead and Crysis: Wars was added to increase the total titles supported to 79. We have an appointment to visit with Vuzix at CES 2009 next month and should have all kinds of good info. [READ MORE]

If anyone is looking for a new HDTV or to upgrade your gaming rig, Vizio is giving you some options with price drops on several models. Here is a list of five of their models (including locations, prices and restrictions) found at either Costco, Sam’s Club, WalMart or Sears have seen s price reductions. This is not the entire list, so visit these retailers to see all models involved:

• VIZIO 19” HD LCD HDTV (VA19) $199.99 at Costco Locations Nationwide through 12/7/08 with Member Only MVM Coupon
• VIZIO 32” Plasma HDTV (VP322) $437.00 at Walmart effective Wednesday, 11/26/08 - New Everyday Low Value
• VIZIO 37” HD LCD HDTV (VW37) $499.99 at Costco Locations Black Friday weekend while supplies last Friday-Sunday, 11/28-30/08
• VIZIO 32” Full HD 1080p LCD HDTV (VOJ32LF) $559.99 at SEARS Stores Nationwide thru Sunday, 11/30/08
• VIZIO 42” Full HD 1080p LCD HDTV (VS420) $698.00 at Sam’s Club Locations Nationwide now while supplies last for the Holidays. [READ MORE]

Sanyo announced today an extremely lightweight and portable LCD projector is now on the market. The Sanyo PLC-XW57 is slightly over 3” tall, offers up to 1080i resolution and 2000 Lumens for screens up to 100” in size. At an MSRP of $895, this looks to be a great portable option for everything from the classroom to the boardroom to the game room. [READ MORE]

Acoustic Energy has finally crossed the pond and is bringing to North America its high-performance Bluetooth multimedia speaker system. The AE-29 is a 90 watt, three-piece Bluetooth speaker system designed for use with PC, mobile phone or PDA’s. Some of the features include one-button synching, two full-range speakers and 20 watts of power. The AE-29 will be available this month in North America at a MSRP of $219.99.  Check out the full product line and sales locatins on their website. [READ MORE]

Vizio announced recently that two new lines of mid-sized LCD televisions will be available in October. The VOJ and VO lines will come in both 32” and 37” sizes and offer full 1080p. The VOJ line will come in the new color of “Java”, have 6500:1 contrast and 6.5MS refresh. The VO series features the same specs, but without the upgraded cabinets and color. Other options on all four models include an HD “Game Port” (HDMI) and SRS Lab's TruSurround XT audio processing. The best part, the 37” VOJ370F and VO37LF will both have an MSRP of $849.99 and the 32” VOJ320F and VO32LF will be $649.99. [READ MORE]

The OLD E3 is officially back, will kick off June 2nd and run through June 6th.  Details are sketchy (it's X-Play) but it looks like the old scale of the game is back.  We'll update this as more details (like booth babes) become available.

More details from Newsweek:
 - Attendance will be capped at 40,000 (significantly less than PAX and previous old school E3's)
 - Media days will be Tuesday through Thursday with the doors opening to the masses on Friday
 - Press conferences on Monday and Tuesday (again old school style)

Seems like a nearly perfect mix of press and media, now we just need to see who's going to show up.