Konami, the Japanese company that’s best known in the West for developing the Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, and Castlevania franchises, has apparently gotten into the gaming PC business. Japanese outlet PC Watch reports that its lineup of Arespear gaming PCs is open for preorder now starting at 184,800 yen (around $1,760), and they are reportedly due to ship in September.
I can’t say I’m a fan of the design of these PCs. Their bulbous cases look like someone set off a small bomb inside of a Mac Pro, and they’re also powered by 9th Gen Intel processors. Otherwise, their specs seem decent enough for a range of pre-build machines.
The entry-level 184,800 yen (around $1,760) C300 gets you an Intel i5-9400F CPU, an Nvidia GTX 1650 graphics card, 8GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. Step up to the 316,800 yen (around $3,017) C700, and you get a water-cooled Intel i7-9700 with an Nvidia RTX 2070 Super and 16GB of RAM, and an extra 1TB of hard drive space. Finally, there’s the 338,800 yen (around $3,227) C700 Plus, which has the same specs as the C700 but has a transparent side panel and RGB lighting.
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It should come as no surprise that Konami is continuing to do things other than developing big new entries in its marquee franchises given its recent history. Five years ago, the CEO of Konami Digital Entertainment said that the company was shifting its attention away from AAA console games in favor of mobile, and a year later, the company was criticized for remastering select cutscenes from one of the greatest games ever made, Metal Gear Solid 3, only to use them to promote a pachinko machine. Yes, I’m still bitter.
Since the company appears determined to produce anything that isn’t a new Metal Gear Solid or Silent Hill game, making gaming PCs makes about as much sense as anything — especially since, as PCGamer reports, PC gaming has grown increasingly popular in Japan in recent years.
There’s no word on whether Konami plans to bring its gaming PCs to markets outside of Japan.