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Reading Time: 5 minutesThe new year is already striking hard with tech giants from around the world coming together in Las Vegas last week to share their latest innovations at CES 2022. While crowds were thinner this time around due to the ongoing pandemic, the convention still offered the same if not more amount of industry-shaking hype. Among the participants causing a stir this year was none other than the world’s leading lifestyle brand for gamers: Razer.
Despite hosting their own convention—RazerCon 2021—just a few months prior, they came to the expo baring their fangs with some absolutely thrilling announcements for us fans. As we recover from the initial shock, awe and speechlessness, these are the three most exciting unveilings from Razer’s CES 2022 showcase.
Project Sophia Gaming Desk
Credit: Razer
As the world’s first true gaming desk concept, Razer’s Project Sophia is probably one of the coolest ideas to grace the CES floor. The apparatus is fully modular, completely customizable, and looks like it came straight out of Tony Stark’s lab.
For an immersive experience, Project Sophia comes equipped with a 65-inch next-gen OLED display and forward-facing speakers that line the sides of the device. On the surface, you have 13 individual modules that can be pertinently personalized to your preferences. Configurations for these sections include things like secondary screens, audio mixers, programmable hotkeys, system monitoring, and so much more. In true gamer fashion, the spacious desk is also lined with LEDs that can be linked to the Razer Chroma RGB ecosystem for even more immersion.
While this desk with desktop power leans towards gaming, the folks at Razer have built it with such versatility that it’s suitable for just about any type of use: gaming, creating, streaming, and working.
Credit: Razer
By attaching a Razer Kiyo Pro and Seiren V2 Pro to it, you got yourself a pretty nifty streaming station. And with a few adjustments to the modules, you can turn Project Sophia into a professional content editor. Then you can hop on a Zoom call to discuss your videos with other creators for feedback. The possibilities seem endless. It actually wouldn’t surprise me in the least if this device became the preferred desk for day-traders too.
Razer did a great job teasing Project Sophia at CES 2022, but alas it is still just a concept. There’s no certainty on whether the device will come to fruition or not. We can only hope!
Razer Enki Pro Hypersense Gaming Chair
Credit: Razer
As always, the company looks for more ways to enhance the gaming experience for players. For this concept, Razer builds on their all-day comfort Enki gaming chair, adding haptic response to tickle your senses while you play.
Teaming up with D-Box for development, the base of the chair houses a motor that simulates a range of vibrations, textures, and movements in association to the user’s content. With 65,000 haptic variations, the Enki concept also offers 1.5 inches of vertical and backward tilt as well as a tactile feedback of plus or minus 1 G-Force.
Credit: Razer
According to Razer, the Enki Pro Hypersense is already programmed with native support for over 2,200 games, movies, and music tracks. Even titles that aren’t currently supported can be thoroughly enjoyed with Direct Input Haptics, where feedback is correlated with a controller, keyboard, and mouse inputs.
As a big fan of movies, I would love to have this high-tech chair to relive some of my favorite classics like Back to the Future and Top Gun. Just thinking about experiencing these films through haptic response already has me pounding my debit card on the table while blasting “Danger Zone.”
But before you start scouring the web for pre-orders, the Razer Enki Pro Hypersense is just a concept like Project Sophia. Although, this idea might have a higher possibility of becoming a reality. If you take a look at its page at Razer.com, the upper right-hand corner features a “Notify Me” button, whereas the Project Sophia does not. Only time will tell.
Razer Smart Home Application
Credit: Razer
To expand your gaming ecosystem beyond the bedroom, the company also introduced the new Razer Smart Home App at CES 2022. Powered by Razer Chroma RGB, fans can utilize its 16.8 million colors and suite of lighting effects to take home-entertainment to another level. Think Willy Wonka’s tunnel boat ride, but less frightening. How you configure it is up to your own pure imagination.
Addressing the inconvenience of switching between smart home platforms, Razer’s application aims to be an universal solution for natively controlling and customizing all devices on the network. As it stands, Razer Chroma RGB has over 50 hardware partners and thousands of products supported by the lighting tech. But they want more!
In an effort to better fulfill their vision, they have launched the Razer Chroma Smart Home Program. This is an open invitation for new partners from the smart home industry to integrate into gaming’s biggest lighting ecosystem. Program participants currently include smart home brands like Nanoleaf, Yeelight, and LIFX, just to name a few.
Credit: Razer
Unlike Project Sophia and the Enki Pro Hypersense, there is some certainty for this announcement. The Razer Smart Home App is expected to drop sometime in the first half of 2022 and would be a fascinating addition to any gamer’s home. However, there are still many details to uncover. Is it going to be free? What is the setup process like? Are there any other functions available? These are just some of the questions on my mind.
Learn More About Chroma at Razer
The new year is still young and it will undoubtedly be more exciting as Razer shares their developments on these projects. Hopefully Sophia and Enki can become your gaming buddies in the not-too-distant future.
Quan Tsang
A long-time bargain pirate, Quan has been scouring the digital seas for discounts and spreading the savings throughout Slickdeals for years. His Aggregate Reviews help many consumers gain comprehensive insights on the latest cutting-edge gadgetry. Despite his unconditional love for tech, Quan’s favorite deal category is actually watches. Thanks to Slickdeals, he has amassed over three dozen timepieces for his collection.