I went along to the Cooler Master press event for the launch of their MasterCase 5 last week. This was fancy as all hell because (1) being a gaming columnist rarely gets me any freebies and food is my favourite type of freebie and (2) going to “invite only” events makes me feel like a celebrity. It’s slow pickings in the attorney’s profession so I have to take what I can get.
You may be wondering why I, of all people, got invited to this considering that I have never believed in “PC master race” anything and I would sell my soul for my PS4. Well, basically I was the only person from EGMR in Johannesburg that was available and able to drive in peak Fourways traffic for free food. The event was at Café Cru at Monte Casino which is quite a cool café and not technically in the casino part (it’s in the Pivot).
I took my boyfriend with because he is a computer gamer and I didn’t want to embarrass myself with my fundamental retorts of “but it’s just a case!” and “just leave the sides open and then you don’t need fancy cooling things!” and he came with because I lied to him and said that he might win a computer (we only got a mug).
Despite my “but this makes no sense” foundation, I was pretty impressed by the new Cooler Master products. Their showcase item is the MasterCase 5 series which, as I guessed, is a case. The new marketing line which Cooler Master is introducing is that they want to work with their fans (consumers) by enabling them with their products to customise their rig to best suit their needs (look at me sounding like I know what’s going on). What this means is that essentially everything in your MasterCase 5 can be modded and customised.
MasterCase 5 is not punting itself just to gamers. It’s a productivity tool for developers, artists, graphics designers, industrial engineers and attorneys (okay, not so much). So, if you are a designer and need extensive storage capability, your MasterCase 5 will allow for that. If you are doing scary things with VR and need insane cooling requirements which are more sophisticated than leaving the sides open, then your MasterCase 5 can be configured to that.
The entire mantra is to create and make it yours, which translates to their entire product line being fully customisable. For example, the mouse (this was the one piece of hardware I actually understood) can have different sized scrollers, can be wired or wireless, and you can choose different surfaces for the different types of grip you want on your palm. It was all very cool admittedly and makes you feel like you are in a “choose your own adventure” novel for mouses and keyboards.
One of the most exciting things about the event though (for me) was that there was an Oculus Rift VR demo. It was nothing complex but this was my first foray into VR and I am sold on this being how I want to play all my games in the future. I was standing in a canoe and looking around a lagoon. It was amazing because everything was in my head and I spent a lot of the time craning my head upwards and physically turning around to see behind me. This was not ideal because (1) cables present the danger of a very expensive accident and (2) you actually need to move your mouse around and not your body. I hope that VR experiences extend to understanding when I crouch and registering running on the spot. Then I will never have to do proper exercise again.
In short everyone at Cooler Master is really excited about this new product range and understandably so. In a meta sense, we are already at “create” and “innovate” marketing models by technology companies and it’s a great direction for consumers. Who better to tell you what build is going to work for you than you?
And the food was awesome by the way. Thanks, Cooler Master!