This took place in the Ballroom at the Palazzio inside the Venetian. The security was really tight you where either allowed earlier to walk in if you where press or exhibitor. We finally got a shot at walking into the ballroom hall. Where they served us complimentary drinks on the house and we got to stand for about a few minutes outside the hall before we where able to actually find our way to our seats. I would say there were around 3,000+ press/vip people waiting to go into the Palazzio seat. Once we finally where allowed inside the ballroom they entertained us with various hip music. Which I wasn’t surprised, practically every event that I have attended they try to get as hip as possible, nothing wrong with that. :)
The keynote was introduced by Gary Shapiro, president and chief executive officer of Consumer Electronics association. He introduced us with a video clip of Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates and Microsoft Entertainment, from previous times he had attended the event as well as it included some videos of Gates being goofy and funny.
For me the highlight of the show was their new products and services that will be available for "Windows Vista", which was demonstrated by Justin Hutchinson, group product manager for Microsoft Corporation. Some of the new options that where demonstrated that impressed the audience very well was an option called shadow copying which it's used to restore files that are saved in the wrong folders, organizing files in a more easier way, virtual 3d map of the world provided by Windows Live, media center, new device called sports lounge, which provides you real time scoreboards, etc. you will also be able to see on demand video services and the photo gallery is used to store your pictures (of course) where you can use editing pictures without the need to use a graphics software (ie. Photoshop) this is included in Windows Vista Ultimate.
Although Microsoft has been very quiet with Live Anywhere, we got to see some demonstrations of Uno being used via Vista. Some of the titles that are going to be available are Uno, Shadowrun, Microsoft Games Studios and Halo 2 for Windows Vista and hopefully more right away. But these will the first titles that will facilitate gamers to connect via LIVE network with their friends on the Xbox 360. So finally console players will get to face the PC players (it's on PC gamers).
From the gaming we stepped into the future in technology such as Virtual signatures from the comfort of your cell phones. How you will be able to accept package from without the need to be home. Also, we got a demo of the kitchen of the future, Gates using a projector as a cook book that that recognizes the condiments that you put down on the table and match them up with different recipes.
Overall the keynote was quite entertaining, some of the negative ignorant comments that came from the back or inappropriate members of the press falling asleep the entire keynote was really not necessary. It would’ve been nice if some more gamers and actual people who are interested in technology could’ve attended the event. Some of the press that we ran into the keynote was actually their first time they had a glance at the Xbox 360, wow...seriously! They had no idea what in the world Halo 2 was nor did they know the Microsoft actually has an online service called Xbox Live, wow, just wow.... So great advertisement for Microsoft to introduce a new crowd that is not well in touch with gaming portion of Microsoft.
- NO PICTURES SOMEONE FORGOT TO TAKE PHOTOS-
Later, we attended the Games for Windows social gathering. It was pretty relaxing I had a few drinks after the craziness from the keynote, but who wouldn’t, seriously. The people that attended this gathering were majority Microsoft people such as Xbox community guys, John, Tony, Chris from gamerscoreblog.com, also saw Peter Moore, and a few more that I can’t name. The appetizers that they servicing were pretty decent, servers kept up with you, almost spoiling you with food. Then after we headed back to our hotel to get prepared to what was coming
[ More Keynote Photos | Vision's Pre-CES: Gates Keynote | Gamerscore CES Photos ]