The International PC Gaming Association (IPCGA), the largest non-profit membership organization serving PC game developers and enthusiasts, today announced that HP Blackbird 002 has been banned from next month’s 2008 International PC Gaming Tournament due to concerns that the next-gen PC is too powerful.

The IPCGA’s International PC Gaming Tournament represents the PC gaming industry’s largest worldwide annual gaming competition. The prestigious event features top PC gaming competition with more than 1,000 top-tier players from all over the world.

The IPCGA’s official reasons for the disqualification of the HP Blackbird 002 include:

• Liquid Cooling: The completely enclosed, tool-less entry, liquid-cooling system never needs the periodic maintenance that other systems demand.
• Six-way airflow: Micro vents line all six sides of the Blackbird’s aluminum chassis ensuring long-term gaming.
• Maximum performance components: Blackbird contains performance-tuned components, enabling higher performance than standard versions.

“The HP Blackbird 002 is just too bloody powerful. It creates unfair competition. Forget about a ‘one-arm-behind your back disadvantage,’ playing another machine against the Blackbird would be like playing without a head. It ain’t pretty,” said Farad Soliploy, President, IPCGA. “We believe that gamers would be better off brushing their teeth with a cactus rather than head into a competition against a HP Blackbird 002. We stand behind our decision to ban the machines from our Tournament.”

Despite banning the HP Blackbird from the official competition, the IPCGA has confirmed that it has indeed bought five of the next-gen gaming machines and will continue to “thoroughly test and evaluate” them in-house using the latest PC games. According to Soliploy, IPCGA staff were proving reluctant to part with their Blackbirds and unpack their older machines from storage.