When you think of tech giant Intel, a rained-out jail-turned-arts-school is likely not the venue you’d expect them to choose.
Which, I imagine, was the point.
Though I expect they could have done without the stormy weather.
Still, it made for a fitting stage for the company to showcase both local partnerships, talent and tech over the course of the evening.
Intel’s Game Chamber event saw a number of gaming rigs on display, each intended to show off the capabilities of the companies Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition and Skull Canyon NUC.
Each of these machines was configured for a different number of players and, sure enough, it wasn’t long before attendees of the Game Chamber drifted around the room to test them out.
One end of the room featured four controllers and Rocket League, the other set up for solo adventures with DOOM and Mad Max.
There were even a number of enthusiast displays on offer, with a pair of overclockers using liquid nitrogen cooling to break world records off to the side and a large flight-sim display taking up a whole section of the chamber.
Then, of course, you had the CounterStrike LAN tournament happening to one side of the event.
It felt like an auspicious addition, but the promise of victory amidst the mingling of professionals and amateurs didn’t fail to find an audience.
The final component of Intel’s Game Chamber was the virtual reality tech.
The company had a cordoned off section of the chamber where guests could play around with the HTC Vive and a number of games.
As someone who hadn’t yet experienced the Vive in action, it was quite engaging with Google’s artistic Tiltbrush proving a highlight.
The addition of hand-tracking to the VR feels like a major step forward and Intel did a great job of selling me on how much more involved VR experiences can become as a result.
When all is said and done, Intel’s Game Chamber event felt less like a product showcase of what’s to come and more of a celebration of what’s available to consumers now.
And what’s available is exciting.
