Razer is a company that isn't afraid to take risks. The upcoming Blade is a $2,800 piece of hardware that's gambling on the idea that gamers are looking for an ultra-premium gaming laptop, and we'll have some thoughts on our hands-on time with that hardware later. But we're here to talk about the brand-new concept device it showed off at CES this year, and it's a doozy.

The Project Fiona is a gaming PC that takes the tablet form factor and adds controls on either side of the screen. Combine that with internal components that will allow all modern PC games to run and a projected sub-$1,000 price point, and you have a system that is like nothing else we've seen, for better or worse.

"Multitouch screens are good for casual gaming, but it just doesn't work well for first-person shooters or the existing PC games of today," Razer's CEO Min-Liang Tan told Ars. "What we've done is include a dual analog stick design on the sides of the 10 inch screen, with a full multitouch screen and accelerometer, and it's running off an Intel Core i7 platform."

He described this product as going in the other direction of tablets that are using an ARM architecture; Razer went with a very powerful CPU that would be able to run all existing PC titles without any need to port the games.

Right now the hardware is running a skinned version of Windows 7, so you can navigate through the games and tabs such as video and an Internet browser, but this is a concept device, and Razer is hoping to launch by the end of the year with Fiona running Windows 8. The only detail they're willing to reveal about what's under the hood is the CPU; the rest is being worked out. The games we saw during our demo were running off Steam, and there was also a tab for OnLive in the user interface. The audio on the hardware will also be THX certified, and will include force feedback in the controls.

Tan stresses that the unit may feature a touchscreen and you'll also able to hook up a mouse and keyboard, but that's not the focus. The idea is that you'll be able to play your favorite PC games with the built-in controls just as you would a gamepad. The handheld nature of the hardware allows you to play against your friends face to face, without having to lug your gaming rig over to a central location. This is a gaming PC you can throw in your bag.

So how well does it work?

I was able to take the unit for a short test, playing Space Marine using the built-in controls. The game looked great on the screen, and ran at a very respectable framerate. The controls didn't seem to be optimized to the hardware, so it was hard to tell what button did what in the game, and I was very aware of the fact that I was holding the entire unit in my hand as I controlled the game. It's not hard to use, but it's much heavier than an iPad, and the form factor definitely takes some getting used to. But using it also drove home the hardware's utter uniqueness.

The device didn't seem hot to the touch, even after a few minutes of playing, and I could feel the internal fans blowing a good amount of hot air through the top of the system. While my brief demo didn't tire my arms, I could definitely see wanting to rest the unit on a table or my lap if I were playing for a long period of time.

"For all existing current-generation PC games, out of the box they're going to run on Fiona," Tan said, also stressing that developers could add support for the accelerometers or different interface ideas using the touchscreen. It's a bold vision, and my short demo of the hardware was interesting, but it's unclear whether this is a product that gamers are looking for. Razer gets our respect for trying something new in the world of PC gaming, but we're going to reserve judgment until we see the final hardware.