Play now sells Commodore

We recently reviewed the Commodore XX gaming PC and wondered how Commodore was going to take on the likes of Dell and Alienware in mass distribution and adoption. Those thoughts seem to have been partly answered, as massive UK online retailer Play.com is now stocking the Commodore G series systems.

The G series is the baseline offering from Commodore but still features:

• Processor: Intel QuadCore Q6600 2.40GHz, 8MB L2 Cache, 1066MHZ FSB
  
• Memory: 2GB XMS Pro Corsair RAM 6400 800MHz
  
• HDD Capacity: 500GB 7200RPM
  
• Graphics Card: nVidia 320MB 8800GTS SLi ready
  
• Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
  
• Optical Drive: 18x Speed DVD +/-RW
  
• Card Reader: 13 in 1 Memory Card Reader
  
• Audio: Integrated 7.1 Realtek ALC883 audio codec Audio
  
• Power: 550W Ice Cube PSU
  
• Motherboard: ASUS P5N-E SLI (NVIDIA nForce i650) motherboard

All for a grand. Sure, you could build it yourself for less but you wouldn't get the C-kin and warranty. You'll still need a monitor, keyboard and mouse but you do now get a 5 Game Pack including: Tomb Raider Anniversary, Heroes 5 Might of Man, Heroes 5 Expansion Pack (Hammers of Faith), Rayman Raving Rabbids, Supreme Commander in addition to the 50 C64 games.

According to Gameindustry.biz, Play has a one month lead on other e-tailers, but don't expect there to be a competition on price as this should be firmly dictated by Commodore.

Is Commodore working along the right track by selling through Play, or is it a huge mistake thinking people after music and DVDs will want to buy a PC as well? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.