HP BlackBird 002 Headed to Retail Stores

The finest HP's gaming division has to offer will soon drop its Web exclusivity and show up at retail stores for in-person manhandling.

For those who haven’t had a chance to ogle HP’s high-profile BlackBird setups at tradeshows and other promotional events, the company’s slick gaming machines have largely remained catalog eye candy to lust over on the net. But not for long. HP will soon put the machine’s crowd-drawing capabilities to work in storefronts when it begins selling the BlackBird 002 at brick and mortar shops this summer.

The in-store demo will allow shoppers to watch video demonstrations of the system, or get down to business and run it through the gauntlet with some gaming. “While Blackbird has been well-received online, we know there is a large segment of consumers who crave a hands-on experience before making a purchase decision,” said Mike Perkins, general manager of HP’s Voodoo Business Unit, in a statement. “We are introducing the HP Blackbird 002 to a new audience and anticipate a fantastic response to this one-of-a-kind fragging machine.”

Although the BlackBird can be fully customized online, the version offered in retail stores will feature Intel’s Core 2 Quad Q9450 Processor, dual SLI Nvidia GeForce 9800 GT graphics cards, 4GB of Corsair Dominator system memory, and a 500GB 7,200 rpm SATA hard drive. If gamers want to take one home, they’ll ring up for $3,299.

The machines will crop up at Best Buy, Circuit City, J&R and Micro Center retail store, along with Amazon.com and Newegg.com online. HP will post a full list of retail stores and availability dates on June 29.