Gaming has long been a staple of the COMPUTEX experience and this year was no exception, with heavyweights bringing their best, brightest and most extreme products catering to the burgeoning industry to Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, Hall 1.
Perhaps the biggest non-performance-related trend among gaming industry exhibitors this year is personalization, particularly in lighting. From start to finish, nearly all of the booths — some massive and more elaborate than ever before — are highlighting the customizability of their products.
The explosive growth of affordable and flexible LED lighting solutions is readily apparent at COMPUTEX this year. Whether it is modular cases and components from Thermaltake — whose massive stand features a row of systems crafted by some of the world’s top modders, as well as its d&i award-winning Level 20 GT ARGB case and its height-adjustable RGB Gaming Desk — or ZOTAC GAMING’s MEK MINI, which crams some of the most powerful hardware into one of the world’s smallest gaming boxes, LED lighting is present in all its glory and more refined than ever, giving gamers billions of possible combinations to express their personality in their hardware.
ZOTAC, which this year has again co-organized a ZOTAC CUP event featuring top players
from around the world competing for
charity, has a full range of gaming products on display at its booth, including the latest in Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics cards and the latest incarnation of its ZBOX streaming mini PC, which is powered by an Intel processor and is equipped with an Avermedia M.2 capture card with native 4K support and powerful live-streaming software.
Of course, the gaming industry is about more than just a lot of flash, and extreme performance continues to retain its primary importance, although in more ways than just raw
processing power. Alongside the cutting-edge systems, powered by both Intel and AMD’s most recent debuts; world record-breaking, liquid-cooled (and RGB-lit) high-performance memory modules; and the latest in graphics cards, like the d&i award-winning ROG Matrix GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, gaming displays have again
returned to the forefront of performance innovation.
Local heavyweight ASUS has a massive Republic of Gamers booth across the isle from its main pavilion that it has packed not only with an impressive array of powerful gaming systems but also with the bleeding edge in display technology. In addition to standalone displays for desktops, the firm also announced its ROG Strix SCAR III and Hero III gaming laptops with 240 hz panels promising true high-FPS gameplay with smooth and crisp visuals.
Of course, such impressive specifications can be applied to areas other than gaming, including productivity. Most manufacturers have at least one product with factory calibration to the sRGB or AdobeRGB color spaces or a Pantone Validated palette. And due to advances in semiconductor process technology alongside innovative designs, both desktops and laptops are getting slimmer, lighter and more efficient, meaning all that power is even more portable than before.
MSI, in particular, has taken things one step further, bringing renowned creators from
around the world to showcase the performance of their gaming systems and how they can be used to replace traditional workstation setups. The power to both play and work hard is definitely becoming a major attraction for consumers.
No gaming setup is truly complete without peripherals. As evidenced by the explosive growth in e-sports, gamers know that having the right tools for the job can be the difference between virtual victory and defeat. From improved ergonomics to reduce the physical toll of
extreme competition to performance improvements that provide a competitive edge through lower latency and wireless freedom, every need imaginable for gamers has been answered by the industry.
One of the most notable examples of how these needs are being met is the Cooler Master ControlPad, the world’s first PC keypad with pressure-sensitive mechanical keys for the most refined, nuanced control possible. The Kickstarter-funded project also provides a plethora of programming options, meaning its applications go far beyond gaming.