Sometime in early 2005 we at Voodoo made some changes in the way we interacted with our suppliers, our customers, and the media. For years, enthusiast companies have been used by the much larger hardware manufacturers to help sell their products to mainstream customers; ask anyone in the channel and they’ll tell you it’s absolutely true.

This is how it works: The big guys come up with a new piece of hardware, then they work with the enthusiasts to get the hardware in system reviews immediately because they know damn well that review wins equate to a profound halo effect. The enthusiasts generally play ball and do whatever it takes to put out a review machine at any cost, despite the inherent performance and stability risks. The review comes out, and hopefully it’s a good one, leading to the mainstream reader saying, “Wow! If XY Enthusiast Company uses this hardware in their machine and it got this great review, that must mean that ZZ Hardware Company is the best!”

It makes sense, after all the halo effect is incredibly powerful guerrilla marketing. The problem isn’t in the concept; it’s in the execution, which requires manipulation and sometimes deception to the highest degree: manipulation of the media by trying to justify certain launch dates, and manipulation of the enthusiast company to ensure that it gets the review units out just in time. The biggest loser in this is the customer, who usually ends up waiting months to get a system because the hardware that was promised to us ends up being “over-allocated” and doesn’t really hit its launch date. Granted, sometimes delays are unavoidable, and we make it clear to our customers that certain hardware may cause delays in their order.

Since HP acquired Voodoo, we’ve been getting calls from almost everyone under the sun, including a company who has had years of trouble trying to launch one product. Finally, this company has an accessory that it is trying to get us to buy and our contact can’t even supply a sample (we’re talking about a $200-on-a-bad-day accessory). Our rep claims that we first have to commit to a specific order quantity because his company “cannot keep them in stock.” Needless to say, I “filed” that email.

Sometime last year we were approached by a new hardware vendor who was interested in having Voodoo “launch” its new technology to the gaming market. Our incentive: Voodoo would be one of a handful of companies listed on the company’s Web site and mentioned in its advertising. In looking at the hardware we realized that it wasn’t yet ready to launch, we humbly declined the vendor’s offer. Others jumped on board, and in the end they ended up selling hardware to their customers that wasn’t fully baked.

And then there’s the time a team of executives from a certain supplier told us about an upcoming platform that we should really consider selling to gamers. We got the full PowerPoint presentation, we were wined and dined, and the next day our suitors asked if we would be interested in launching it. The funny thing was we didn’t get to see the product. They wanted us to start taking preorders on it without even seeing it! Are you kidding me? That’s like an 11 on the Ludicrous Requests Scale of one to 10. It’s unfortunate, but that’s almost the level of insanity that we’ve reached in the industry. Thankfully, no one took the bait.

So who are the guilty ones? Almost everyone is guilty of some form of paper launching at one point or another. It’s a symptom of the unhealthy, cutthroat competition that we as an industry need to get away from, whatever it takes. As for Voodoo, we are not puppets; we will not launch something unless we know it’s fully baked—we hate paper launches as much as you do.

Send your opinions to this opinionated guy at rahul@cpumag.com.