This was a perfect presentation. This is what I thought about myself after leaving iBUYPOWER and HYTE’s Silver Wolf conference.
For those unfamiliar with HYTE, they are the (cool) sister brand of iBUYPOWER, recently known for their unique, high-quality products and collaborations with a catchy name that is well recognized by anime watchers. If you’ve been to Anime Expo in the past few years, you might have even seen them. They include Hololive, Persona 3 Reload, Dokibird and (as you know) HoYoverse. (They’re also running a Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale on their website through December 5th, where you can get up to 50% off cases, keyboards, and other accessories).
If you’ve been watching the ANN After Show, they’ve sponsored a few of our episodes, and last month they were kind enough to send us an early shipment of their newest product: the official Y70 Silver Wolf Box Set.
I ended up receiving the case and making a video about it, but I was also invited to their launch party.
A 2-day weekend event held at the Micro Center (Tustin) in early November to celebrate the launch of the box set, which you can purchase in the store. There will be cosplayers, scavenger hunts, prizes, meet-and-greets with HoYcreators, and (most importantly) boba milk tea.
I remember them telling us about it before it was officially announced, and I’m honestly not sure how to feel about it. Maybe I was just feeling a little jaded that day, but I wasn’t sure how they were going to pull it off. I was willing to go because of the promise of free boba.
I and other members of the media arrived early and they introduced us to how the scavenger hunt works. Guests will receive a card with prompts directing them to the area where they will receive the sticker. When they get all four, they’ll receive a prize and meet the HoYcreators at the end.
The first sticker you get is taking a photo in front of the Penacony photo area and posting #HYTExMicroCenter on social media. The second sticker is obtained after you head to the display/display section of the store and spot another Silver Wolf HYTE product on display: the Silver Wolf “100% Break” Keycap Set and Table Mat Bundle. The keycaps and table mats are displayed using another HYTE product, the Keeb TKL keyboard.
Guests will find their third sticker when they arrive at the store’s box section, where they can see the box and another Silver Wolf table mat in person. Finally, the last sticker guests need can be found in the “Build Your Own” section, where they’ll not only see a custom liquid-cooled PC using this case (a $7,000 value that someone bought on day one) , but HYTE’s Nexus ecosystem products include its never-before-seen THICC Q80 AIO. After getting all four stickers, guests will go outside and meet 3 HoYcreators (Minsleif, Braxophone, and Dukaja) who will present them with prizes (LS10 light strip, HYTE-dro flask, iBUYPOWER fanny pack, and Incessant Rain Lightcone poster , which can be signed by HoYcreators). Almost forgot the most important part, you get free boba at the end, which is provided by Boba St.
A quick review of Boba. Really good.
So the scavenger hunt was a lot easier than I thought it would be, but honestly, it was the best. The shop remains open so guests can easily meet HoYcreators and receive their prizes. But more importantly, it helped HYTE achieve the purpose of this event: to showcase the Silver Wolf case.
I really liked the way they arranged the venue for the event. They took Penacony photos around the line and parked the iBUYPOWER Cyber Truck in front of the Micro Center, which was serving Honkai Impact-themed boba milk tea. When you walk into the store, you’ve seen the computer case that helps you get to each checkpoint. Boxes are also placed in the store’s alleys to guide customers to the next area. At each checkpoint they play a Silver Wolf video, and my favorite part is probably the 3D printed origami bird from the game decorating the station. I even saw one of them printed on one of Micro Center’s 3D printers. This actually brought home to me what made me think this event was perfect.
Being at the Micro Center will make you want to build a new computer. Because of the way the scavenger hunt is set up, you end up having to walk around the store, and the way the Micro Center is set up and seeing a PC built with that case will make you want to buy parts for a new computer build. I say this because I’ve seen a surprising amount of people put Gameboy-inspired Silver Wolf PC cases in their shopping carts, as well as Intel and NVIDIA cases. While I was there I was also tempted to buy a new power supply. iBUYPOWER and HYTE certainly chose the perfect location for this event to launch their new PC cases. This also helps HoYo players (such as myself) and spending a lot of money go hand in hand.
HoYo players are very passionate about the game and are very nice people. I see a lot of people lining up to represent their main characters and play all the different characters. They definitely added a lot of energy to the entire event. I couldn’t speak to the HoYcreators, but they all seemed like nice people who enjoyed interacting with all the guests and even helped decorate the place before starting. I got a signed poster from them (since I’m a fan of their content I asked the staff if they could get one for me) and I think I remember Braxophone was a little upset because someone on the news team wanted his sign. Thanks iBUYPOWER.
Speaking of iBUYPOWER (and HYTE), I want to make sure that the people I refer to as iBUYPOWER and HYTE are not pretending to be fans of Honkai Impact or the brands they work with. They are real fans. When they sent the email about the Silver Wolf case film, they invited us to the iBUYPOWER headquarters where we filmed interviews about the case and they gave us a tour of the place. I still remember when we arrived they asked us if we were playing Honkai Impact and we briefly discussed characters like Robin. As they were giving us a tour of the headquarters, one of the guys randomly pulled out their phone to look at their Gallagher (for no reason). This is the most realistic thing I remember seeing at headquarters. Even before and after the interview, they told me things about the case design that they specifically wanted to do something, like on the top of the case, they just wanted to draw two ventilation lines because they thought it looked cooler that way. If you watch our interviews with them, I hope that when they talk about the design of the case, their true love for gaming comes across.
But yeah, I thought the event was great. I may be biased because they made me the first person to drink boba at the event, but even without the boba I thought it was a simple but cool event that did a great job showcasing the Silver Wolf case . If so many people are out there buying this box, they’ve done something right. I’m glad to see this campaign worked well for the folks at iBUYPOWER and I hope they continue to work with more of their favorite brands.
If you’re interested in any of the HYTE products I mentioned, they are running a Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale on their website until December 5th. If you’re a fan of Silver Wolf, Hololive, or any brand and want a less-than-stellar PC to start the new year, grab something while on sale. I can say, as someone who currently owns one of these products…it’s pretty cool.
