New Gaming Tech That Stood Out At CES: Portable Switch Joy-Con Chargers, VR Headsets, And More

At CES 2019, GameSpot's sister site, CNET, saw and occasionally tried several new pieces of technology that could change the way people play games in the future. Below, we've gone ahead and highlighted the ones that stand out the most, but you can also head over to CNET's CES hub to browse through everything.

Some folks showed up to CES with pieces of third-party tech that allow you to play Nintendo Switch in new ways. The first is something that people have been asking Nintendo to make for a while: a means of charging Switch Joy-Cons while playing with them. Both Xbox One and PS4 controllers can be charged while in use, as can wireless mice and keyboards on PC, but Switch Joy-Cons will only charge while docked. GameSir also showed off a portable mouse and keyboard combo that can connect to Switch, which would probably be helpful for playing shooters like Fortnite and Splatoon 2, should Nintendo decide to update them with support

VR had a pretty heavy presence at CES this year as well. HTC unveiled two new headsets, one of which, the Vive Cosmos, is specifically built for gaming. The other, called the Vive Pro Eye, isn't designed for games just yet, but it supports impressive eye tracking technology. The company also announced Infinity, which is a new subscription model for Viveport that offers unlimited access to select VR titles for less than their full retail price. Holoride showed off a brand-new VR experience where you wear a headset while riding in the back of a car, allowing you to swiftly travel through worlds of fantasy or moments in history while on road trips. CNET also tried out Cyber Shoes, which allows you to feel like you're running in real life while playing VR, as well as a foot controller that should help make PSVR more accessible for those with a motion disability. CNET got to try out Oculus' new VR headset too, called Quest, which promises full motion and no cables.

There were also just your typical pieces of new tech at CES. We always expect to see new laptops each year, many of which have the specs to be used as gaming computers. Spherical gaming chairs aren't a stranger to CES either, although CNET notes the Predator Thronos is probably the best of what they saw.

AMD also had a fairly big year at CES. The company announced its third-generation Ryzen CPU and new Radeon VII GPU. Xbox boss Phil Spencer also came up on stage during the AMD keynote and hinted the partnership between Xbox and AMD would continue into the next console generation.