Honestly, I don’t know where to start with this pair of trainers that PC maker NZXT and fashion suit Artifact Studios announced last night. At first, I thought it was nothing more than a fancy shoe with an RTX 3080 floor on its heel, a feat that, during the global shortage of graphics cards, would have made my soul cry big salty tears of bitter discontent. Although, after a more detailed inspection, it looks like they have built an entire PC inside this huge shoe, with an NZXT refrigerator, motherboard and fans, all visible through the transparent purple side panel. True, it’s an awesome feat, but I also have so many questions. How it works? How many feet per second can you travel on these things? And will the fans help keep my fingers nice and fresh, or will they break my plants into absolute pieces?
I’m kidding, of course, but wondering if that’s the logical end point of the weird love affair with the shoes in the gaming industry. After all, once you’ve put an entire PC in your gaming shoe, where else is it? Cords that duplicate as controller cables?
So far, the NZXT x RTFKT shoes don’t seem to still have a name of their own, but here’s their real look.
SNEAKERS MASTER RACE, @NZXT DRIP 💧 pic.twitter.com/OuNrEA6j4R
– Artifact Studios (@RTFKTstudios) January 20, 2021
It is also unclear if or when they will be available for purchase, as the Artifact website only points to a sign-up button for their distribution list at this time. In fact, the only thing Artifact Studios have said so far about the shoes is in one unique tweet: “We are very excited to announce a partnership with NZXT, which empowers RTFKT and our community of designers to create the future of fashion and collecting, enhancing our vision, community and crazy ideas with their fantastic constructions and his love of games “.
Does that mean people will be able to create their own customizable versions of these PC shoes at some point in the line? Or will it be a unique type of offer? Who can say.
These NZXT sneakers are not the first gaming-related shoes Artifact has made. Take a quick look at his Instagram page, for example, and his crazy game shoe collection dates back to April 2019. There are Minecraft-inspired Air Jordans, Fall Guys trainers pink and showy and PlayStation 5 trainers with cute little buttons on the tongue to name just a few.
Would you buy a pair of PC sneakers if you got the chance?