Asus Builds a Gaming System Which May Devour It's Owners

I literally yelped out loud when I saw this. Today at CeBIT, Asus launched a gaming desktop, the ARES CG6150. Oh. My. God. Beyond being the most ridiculous example of dragon case syndrome that I've ever seen in my life, they've narrowed their market by making it look too much like a Decepticon. Most nerds who want to own a transformer would much rather have Optimus Prime. Marketing didn't do their legwork on this one.

A few months ago, I posted about how I thought Asus needed to concentrate on supporting the massive business that they've built and that they needed to address the chaos that seemed to define their company. Since then, they split the company into three units, their eeePC has created a new market, and recently I've caught wind from the inside that their rapidly degrading barebone notebooks business is basically done in the US. Now, with a new "gaming" desktop, they've displayed that their focus has certainly been in flux.

From my standpoint as an enthusiast-level system integrator, Asus has become a distant entity that I just can't relate to. A year or two ago, I could at least expect some level of consistency in product line and support. They were still at least interested in their partners, since that's what any company in this industry depends on. Now, their business has just become too fractured and far-reaching to be anything more than a mass-market, retail competitor. They'll most likely continue to put out some enthusiast-level component products that are worth using, but this isn't a company that I can feel good about building a business with anymore. Times are definitely changing.

As far as this Ares system itself goes, I can't be too threatened. This is obviously a retail product, most likely very shallowly configurable, if at all. People who are going to even consider buying this are not looking for the customer experience and support commitment that they'd get from any boutique integrator. Maybe they don't even know what that is or maybe I just don't understand retail. I see these up on Newegg and in BestBuy next to Velocity and whoever else does that kind of thing. I'm sure those guys are plenty more concerned over this than I am.

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