In September 2006, when HP acquired VoodooPC and brought VoodooPC Founder Rahul Sood on as chief technology officer for HP’s Global Gaming Business, the wheels were set in motion for HP to make bold statement in the gaming space. Sood explains what’s been going on behind the curtain for the last 12 months here, but the bottom line is that the “symbolic” partnership between Voodoo and HP has, by many accounts, not only marked HP’s entry into gaming with a splash, but raised the bar for the gaming PC industry, from the Blackbird 002’s high-performance engineering to the kind of design that has some comparing it with some stylish competitors.

On hand for the announcement were the celebrity “achievers” who have made their “faceless” statements in television advertisements spotlighting the adaptability and versatility of HP’s personal computing technology, including Olympic Gold Medalist Snowboarder Shaun White, Tennis Pro and fashion designer Serena Williams, supermodel Petra Nemcova and The Orange County Choppers, all of whom took a few moments to speak with PodTech’s Catherine Girardeau about HP and the role of personal media technology in their lives. Each of them, in their own way, embodies the event’s theme — “Your Life is the Show.”

The hopping party also provided a chance for press and enthusiasts to hear from several HP Personal Systems Group execs, including Satjiv Chahil, senior vice president of global marketing and Todd Bradley, executive vice president; Rahul Sood, CTO for HP Gaming (and founder of VoodooPC), and Phil McKinney, vice president and CTO for the Personal Systems Group and general manager of HP’s Gaming Business Unit.

Responses to the announcements have come from around the globe — in Britain, one blogger named Dave acknowledging, “This is not just any PC. This is the Blackbird 002,” while in Florida, Mark N. writes about the new PC with a simple, “Now that’s what I’m talking about.”

But the announcement wasn’t all about the gaming PC — it was also about building community around HP’s efforts in multimedia. Philip Churchill notes, on his blog, that in addition to the MediaSmart Server unveiled at the event, HP is supporting it with a “community for enthusiasts [of the server] to share information, offer support, and enjoy the product together.”

In addition to the PodTech video, photos from the event can be found here.

Director of Photography: San Key Sa

Tags: HP, Skylight Studios, iPAQ, handheld communications, MediaSmart PC, MediaSmart Server, multimedia, gaming enthusiast, Blackbird 002, VoodooPC, Rahul Sood, Shaun White, Serena Williams, Petra Nemcova, Orange County Choppers, Your Life is the Show, Satjiv Chahil, Todd Bradley, Rahul Sood, Phil McKinney