Apparently Konami makes desktop gaming PC now?

Konami, the Japanese company best known in the West for developing the Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hilland Castlevania franchises has apparently gotten into the gaming PC business. Japanese exit Pc watch reports that its Arespear gaming PC line is open to preorder now starting at 184,800 yen (about $ 1,760), and it is reported to ship in September.

I can’t say that I’m a fan of the design of these PCs. Their bulbous boxes look like someone blew up a small bomb inside a Mac Pro, and they’re also powered by ninth-generation Intel processors. Otherwise, its specs seem decent enough for a range of precompiled machines.

The entry-level C300 184,800 yen (about $ 1,760) offers you an Intel i5-9400F CPU, an Nvidia GTX 1650 graphics card, 8GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. Upgrade to the C700 for 316,800 yen (about $ 3,017), and you’ll get a water-cooled Intel i7-9700 with an Nvidia RTX 2070 Super and 16GB of RAM, and an additional 1TB of hard drive space. Finally, there’s the 338,800 yen C700 Plus (about $ 3,227), which has the same specs as the C700 but has a transparent side panel and RGB lighting.

Image: Konami

It should come as no surprise that Konami continues to do other things besides developing great new entries in its tent franchises given its recent history. Five years ago, the CEO of Konami Digital Entertainment said the company was diverting its attention from AAA console games in favor of mobile devices, and a year later, the company came under fire for remastering select scenes from one of the best games. ever created, Metal Gear Solid 3, just to use them to promote a pachinko machine. Yes, I am still bitter.

Since the company seems determined to produce anything that is not new Metal Gear Solid or Silent Hill gaming, making gaming PCs makes as much sense as anything, especially since PCGamer PC games have reportedly become increasingly popular in Japan in recent years.

It is unknown if Konami plans to bring its gaming PCs to markets outside of Japan.