"We want to get kids off the couch," Rahul Sood, chief technology officer of HP's gaming division, said during a presentation on their new Mscape technology. Their handheld technology takes advantage of GPS navigation and accelerometers, similar to the ones found in Nintendo Wii. The basic premise is to allow players to actively play in real environments, such as a park. CNET's Tom Krazit explains: "The early concept involves a handheld and a series of small sensors that a game organizer could lay out around a city or park. Those sensors would trigger certain events in the game, like a bonus level or an attack by the bad guys, based on a small demonstration of the concept here."

While HP will most likely avoid actually manufacturing a console to compete against Sony and Nintendo, the technology is certainly intriguing. Will Sony or Nintendo's next portable feature this inspiring Mscape tech? Or will a new portable from Microsoft or Dell take advantage of it?