Kickstart: Gaming is for everyone

The standard injection molded video game controller is getting upgrades from some key companies to make it easier for everyone to play.

At CES in Las Vegas, Sony became the second big name in consumer electronics to offer a take on an adaptive video game controller. Project Leonardo will allow gamers using PS5 consoles to move buttons and pads as close together or far apart as comfortable. Individual pads can be programmed to best meet users' needs, with the settings saved so they can quickly pick it up and begin playing. The controller can be hand-held or placed on a flat surface such as a table or wheelchair tray.

The Sony project, which is officially still in development, follows Microsoft's Xbox Adaptive Controller. There also have been independent video hardware makers who sell adaptive controllers.

Both Sony and Microsoft worked with advocacy groups such as AbleGamers, SpecialEffect and Stackup in developing the controllers.

Beyond the potential for more sales for Xbox and PS, AbleGamers says video games offer needed connections. People with disabilities are 51 percent more likely to be socially isolated, it says.

Electric cars also spent a lot of time in the spotlight at CES in Las Vegas last week, but materials companies are moving quickly to position themselves to fill a gap in the electric vehicle infrastructure, promoting plastics for housings and functional components.

On the trade show floor, EVBox Group, a Dutch provider of EV charging, talked with Covestro for a video posted on the resin maker's Twitter page about the importance of chargers and the requirements for the materials used in them.

"It's the future, point blank," James Fox, senior vice president North America EVBox, said. "Everyone knows that with all of the legislation that's been passed focused on improving EV infrastructure … we're focusing our efforts to enable that and be a partner in that journey or transition to a more sustainable future through electric mobility."

Covestro, obviously, isn't alone. Sabic featured its work on charging stations during K 2022 and has been focusing discussions within the auto industry on the potential for replacing metal parts with plastic ones, PN's Sarah Kominek writes.

Both Covestro and Sabic have experience in chargers already. Their predecessor companies — Bayer Material Science and GE Plastics — have been used in Tesla's network of superchargers.

Getting everything right in an acquisition takes time. Getting something wrong, however, is expensive.

Latest case in point: Baxter International, the Deerfield, Ill., medical supplier that "flubbed" its $10.5 billion purchase of hospital supply company Hillrom. In late November, Baxter disclosed it had a $3.1 billion impairment charge related the purchase, meaning that it overpaid for Hillrom, our sister paper Crain's Chicago Business wrote.

Now those mistakes are costing Baxter its largest division, the kidney care business, worth $5 billion in annual sales. Baxter will spin off the unit within the next 12-18 months as part of a restructuring.

Katherine Davis from Crain's Chicago has more.