I'm doing well. I've got my Oculus, my big-ass computer and Intel-sanctioned barf bag in hand. How about you Ben?

LOLOLOL!

Also joined by James Martin, our ace photographer.

We just got a tutorial on how to use the headsets and what to do if we feel queasy.

BTW, livestream is expected to start in about 10 minutes,

If I'm counting right, there are 240 Oculus Rift setups near us. By the way, I can hear the fans and feel the heat from the laptops powering the VR headset behind me.

I'm testing out the Rift headset right now. Testing out the HTC Vive before, too. But Ian is the VR wizard between the two of us.

What pranks would you pull if you were Intel and had a room full of journalists in VR headsets?

Well, Intel is a big name insomuch as the company's chips are super important. If you listen to Oculus, one of the leaders in the field, VR is expected to kick off a major increasing in investment and technology. Same with Nvidia and AMD.

BTW, Intel has moved on to "Can't Stop The Feeling" from Justin Timberlake. Just so you can replicate the true Intel CES experience at home.

Intel's hoping that Project Alloy can be a reference design that lots of other PC makers choose to build their own VR headsets around, and they're working with Microsoft to make 'em play nice with Windows. Wouldn't be surprised if a couple of those other PC makers are on stage to show off their headsets.

Oooooooooh snap! It's Sean Hollister, ANOTHER VR king at CNET. You're in good hands today, folks.

It's why the big VR companies are funding content... which kind of inflates the industry, makes VR seem bigger than it actually is.

Additionally, from my understanding, many tech companies see AR as the bigger market, with VR being the early development field.

You're correct Ben. By 2020, AR is supposed to be WAYYYYY bigger than VR. And it makes sense because if those Hololens specs from MSFT do well, then yeah, they may just replace my glasses. Maybe we'll ditch screens all together and they'll just float in space, layered on the real world by our headsets.

But there are a LOT of assumptions that go into that actually happening. But the tech industry is definitely enthusiastic and excited about this tech.

I'm just worried (worried, because I love VR) that companies like Intel might dumb it down. Intel told me they're going to have lower-end, good-enough VR running on the integrated graphics inside their processors.

So, we're getting close to starting off. Worth noting, this is also a departure from past years for Intel. Prior Intel presentations at CES have pulled together a bunch of topics, including drones, robots, smart home and diversity. This one should be heavily VR focused instead.

Intel says this is the most technically complex event it's ever held (more so than the dancing drones on stage that follow you around?).

"This is going to be fun. Much more fun than our normal keynote or other press event." --Krzanich

"Technology today, we believe, is extending far beyond" traditional consumer electronics and moving into many more areas.