CES 2009

It's no secret that gaming's presence at CES can barely be felt, but we were lucky enough to find some diamonds in the rough, including a few that made us want to phone a lawyer.

While there was no new gaming software to be found, there was a respectable amount of gaming hardware and accessories that stole our attention. Nyko stood out with the company's Wand and Kama Charge Kit and Mad Catz showed off Street Fighter IV-branded FightPads and FightSticks. We were wowed by the Nvidia GeForce 3D Vision, but unfortunately getting it all set up requires a few expensive add-ons.

We were upset to see a lack of products devoted solely to game consoles like we had originally anticipated. So where does this leave gaming's future at CES? Believe it or not, gaming actually had more of a showing at this year than it did in '08, so we'd imagine to see an incremental increase next year. Keep in mind, a lot of third-party hardware and accessories are a result of the Wii, a console that lends itself very well to the production of such items.

Check out these other notable CES gaming stories and slide shows:

• How are these console emulators legal?
• Saitek showed us a flight stick for the home console
• Does this Sixense remote improve on the Wiimote?
• The thought-controlled Mindflex game
• DreamGear WarBeast gaming guitar: An exact replica of the B.C. Rich WarBeast guitar
• The Psyko 5.1 headset puts a new spin on surround-sound gaming
• Mad Catz lets you program 11 buttons with the Cyborg X
  

We've seen our fair share of surround-sound headphones, but the Psyko 5.1 PC gaming headset goes about it in a unique way. Instead of loading separate audio channels in each ear cup, the Psyko 5.1 places them on the unit's headband and it's the ear cups that house the actual subwoofers.

With the speakers located on the top of your head, the Psyko 5.1 relies on the strategic positioning of the channels in the headband to create the surround sound effect. Currently the Psyko 5.1 is only available for PC, but the company assures us that video game console versions will be coming soon.

For more on how the Psyko 5.1 works, check out Tom Merritt's first look from the CNET stage.