CES 2014, scheduled for this week, might be a vital event for gamers, as rumors hint at two gaming devices to debut at the event: the 1st commercially available Steam Machine and Sony’s long rumored VR headset.
If the rumor turns out to be true, we will see the 1st Steam Machine available to consumers from bespoke PC maker IBuyPower. This build will be around the same size of a Playstation 4, with a multicore AMD CPU, a Radeon R9 270 graphics card, a 500 GB HDD, WIFi and Bluetooth. At $ 499, it is expected to take attention away from Sony’s and Microsoft’s recently launched consoles.
Regarding the Sony VR headset, the rumor is being fueled by no less than Sony Worldwide Studios President Shuhei Yoshida himself. In reply to a tweet from IGN’s Scott Lowe, which had a pic of a VR headset being demoe’d from 2011, Yoshida said that he was looking forward to Lowe’s reaction when they release photos of a new product to be announced at CES 2014.
@ScottLowe We'll see you on news sites when they post a photo of journalists taking photos of a newly announced product at CES 2014
— Shuhei Yoshida (@yosp) December 18, 2013
Sony has yet to confirm that they are making a VR headset for the PS4, but they have been quietly making VR headsets for the past few years, for viewing certain 3D movies. Rumors came about that they were making one for the PS4 when asked if Sony intended to add support for a similar device, the Oculus Rift, to the PS4. To bolster this further,a patent filing was found late last year.
Please note that these are still in the realm of rumorsville. At the moment, lacking official confirmation or more reliable sources giving clear statements, these are as likely to be revealed as Apple or Samsung finally making a video game console. If nothing else, though, it’s something to look forward to in the coming week. CES will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada January 7 to 10. Sony President and CEO Kaz Hirai will himself be giving a keynote on the 7th, where many believe he will be making the VR announcement.
