Gaming finally has its day at CES 2014

LAS VEGAS -- CES 2014 will go down as a landmark show for gaming. Normally a stage reserved for the newest TVs, laptops, phones and other tech, CES had plenty up its sleeve for button mashers this year.

Things got going quick, when at the company's press conference, Sony spent a significant amount of time introducing PlayStation Now, a cross-platform video game streaming service that will open up a selection of the PlayStation legacy of software to a multitude of platforms, not just the PlayStation 4.

Oculus VR upped its Rift game this year, introducing a special prototype code-named Crystal Cove that impressed CNET editor Scott Stein. It seems the campaign to get a retail device out the door is coming to a head as the company continues to refine its innovative product.

But perhaps the most consistent underlying theme of CES 2014 was the explosion of Steam Machines coming from more than a dozen PC manufacturers. Valve, the company behind the Steam platform, was on hand to show off 13 PC makers' contributions to the emerging category. It's still early, but these devices are ready to compete for your living room, even if they may not have the full Windows Steam experience out of the gate.

Finally, there was Razer's Project Christine, arguably the show's most surprising gaming concoction. Its modular plug-and-play, configure-your-own design won us over, even if it's not ready for public consumption. It'll no doubt be expensive when and if it does ever make it to retail, but it's an engineering marvel that had us drooling.

So that'll just about wrap it up for the gaming category here at CES 2014. For our full coverage, make sure you hit up CNET's CES gaming section.