Looking like a refined relic from Sydney’s prehistoric Sega World, the Cool Master Orb X GamePod is a pocket of pure privacy for hardcore gamers. While it’s being described as a “fully-immersive multi-purpose semi-enclosed workstation for gamers and professionals”, it’s clear what this egg-shaped chamber will be best used by first-person shooter addicts who want the full experience of plugging out of the real world.
Although office workers could also approach this as a next-level cubicle for supreme productivity. After all, Cooler Master has designed this as an ergonomic masterpiece. The semi-enclosed egg has a chair in the centre, flanked by multi-coloured programmable RGB strip lighting and slots for up to three 27-inch monitors, or a single 49-inch display. The brief here was “full immersion”, and it looks like Cooler Master, a computer hardware manufacturer based out of Taiwan, have taken the ball and run with it.
The futuristic Orb X workstation doubles as a fully motorised “shuttle dome”, which Cooler Master says maximises the sense of privacy once you’re locked inside. There’ll be no need for any noise-cancelling headphones to drone out external noise; there’s a full surround sound system to sink you into whatever it is you’re doing, whether that’s to fully immerse you in those relentless Call of Duty gunfire, or churn through your Spotify chill playlist.
A few of these for the office wouldn’t go astray, and certainty beats the hell of a desk for anyone who just wants to be cradled in comfort for a few hours with zero disturbance. The Coolmaster Orb X features an adjustable headrest, lumbar support, and a footrest, plus it’s fully automated so you won’t have to writhe around to operate it – there’s a button that can instantly lower the umbrella-like top in front of the user, doubling down on privacy and giving you yet another passive-aggressive signal for the office to back off.
While storage inside the actual Cool Master Orb X looks rather tight, your gaming rig, work PC, or even a console can actually be fitted on the exterior. As you can see from the photo above, there’s a small compartment on the rear of the Orb X which can fold out and serve as a sliding tray for those bigger bits of kit. It looks like wiring can just be fed through to the enclosure, so having anything physically disturb you while you’re hard at work or ploughing through a video game shouldn’t be an issue.
What may be an issue, however, is ventilation. Cool Master has offered no word on exactly how ventilation works for the Orb X, but seeing as they’ve thought of everything else, it wouldn’t surprise me if the pod had a complex system to dissipate any heat so you aren’t trapping yourself in some kind of electrical oven.
Although exact pricing and a release date have not yet been confirmed, rumours swirling around the internet indicate delivery before the end of 2021, with most predicting availability around late November or early December. Considering how much high-end gaming chairs have been priced at lately, expect the Cool Master Orb X to be a substantial investment.
