Razer’s concept chair can temperature control your tuchus | Stuff

Razer has never been afraid to try something a little wacky with its trade show concepts, but the gaming hardware specialist has wheeled something truly unique out for this year’s CES. Project Arielle is the world’s first gaming chair with built-in heating and cooling, so you’re always playing at the most comfortable temperature.

The built-in fan system uses a bladeless design to keep noise in check and make cleaning a breeze. It has three speeds for cooling, which can lower the sitter’s perceived temperature by between two and five degrees celsius. Or if you’re feeling chilly, you can activate the heating element to warm things up to a perceived 30 degrees celsius.

A touch-sensitive control panel at the side of the seat makes it easy to tweak settings on the fly. As you go from hot to cold, the edges of the chair light up either blue or orange – because you just know Razer couldn’t release a concept product without at least a little Chroma RGB on board.

It’s based on Razer’s existing Fujin Pro chair, which has a more office-inspired design than the racing buckets favoured by gamers and streamers. The seat and back rest are made from mesh, rather than fabric or leather, for maximum breathability as well as comfort. That’ll also help the air flow across your bum and back. It has all the Fujin Pro’s adjustability, with the new hardware located at the rear.

With no bulky built-in battery the concept needs to plug into mains power in order to waft warm or blow cold – but it has the same quick release connection system as the Freyja haptic gaming cushion to prevent the cable from becoming a trip hazard.

Project Arielle is just a concept for now, so there’s no word on if, let alone when, a retail version will land. But Razer’s concepts have a habit of becoming reality, so I’m betting this won’t be the last you hear about it.

If you can’t wait that long, you’ll want to check out the new Iskur V2 X also announced at this year’s CES. A more mainstream version of Razer’s lumbar-adapting gamer chair, the V2 X instead comes with a fixed lumbar curve. The armrests have 2D adjustment instead of the V2’s 4D ones, and the whole thing is wrapped in fabric instead of leather.

It has launched worldwide today, and will set you back $300.