You must see this website.
 

Anyone hear of this yet?
Some new gaming console.
CLICKY here!

Aye..It's beautiful.

lame
 

sadly, its also fake ;/

WHAT??
Whats fake?
Huh?
If its fake or not, you gotta admit, its sweeeeet.

it's not fake..
it's called Vaporware.. and until i see some photos and read some first impressions.. It's not an issue with me.

you don't buy any games..
you download them all

They worked awfully hard on the website for it to be a hoax...

Ah-HAAA!! It's not fake! Check out Phantom's website for a look at it and some details. Anybody heard anything about this? Any good games for it?

hmmm that was an interesting web site to say the least.. wether the phantom looks appealing or not i can't say... i have to read more about it...

It's just a closed-box PC... even moreso than Xbox.

they said somethig like aug 27 will be the unveiling date for it so its pretty close until we see how good it will really be

the penny-arcade crew has this to say about it:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2003/20030820l.gif
I have nothing to add....

Thats really good tele, Thanks.

The Phantom is actually a step towards merging the home console with the home PC. As far as I know, it will have a CD drive, but one of their biggest features is to download games to try them out (like renting them at your local blockbuster) and then having the option to buy it if you want to keep on the machine. Also, they're trying to have a library of close to 200 games available on release, the majority downloadable through the Phantom itself. It's an interesting concept, but it's performance and software support is still in question. I recieved some information on the Beta Test I signed up for, and it looks like I have a good chance of getting in. I'm hoping to get to test this sucker out.

It will suck suck ass

I mean who the fuck are these guys?

Never heard of them...i wont buy anything that isnt TFP aproved...and i dont think this is...

It's a bold step, but I'm pretty sure it will fail miserably.

But I know that a lot of their ideas are unique, and will probably be stolen and used in future video game consoles.

VAPORWARE

if i wanted to download games, i would use my PC

and I would't pay for the games either

I signed up to beta test that machine. It's not fake.

Developers for the Phantom:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2003/20030122l.gif

I remember saying AND hearing other ppl say the exact same thing about the X-Box when it was announced...so it may happen.,..plus they have an offfice located in Florida and they got a bunch of contacts and a beta program...too many things going on to be a hoax

Has anyone seen the beta program? I have heard that their florida office consists of a big empty space with pretty much nothing in it. I am pretty sure that this is a hoax, too many loose ends.

i registered to be a beta tester for that thing back in june, i might get a call in Oct. to recieve it.

It will probably go the same route as the Atari Jaquar.

haha the jaguar actually got made though..
poor poor bastard..

This Phantom thing is a very, very bad idea. No one wants to pay for a game monthly. That's ridiculous. I buy my games so I can play them as much as I want and then add them to my collection. This sounds like it's gonna work as well as the X-Band thing for SNES.

-Lasereth

These guys are supposed to have an 8,000sf booth at E3. They seem to have put together a decent mgmt. team. Maybe they can pull this off. Latest word is the box will be free, monthly charge is $29.95. Still might have to rent or purchase the newest, most popular titles(???)

How about a heads up from anybody attending.

It's gonna be free? Bitchin' I'll take 10 at that rate.

$30 to rent games online by the month month? I'm sure that will work out well cause no one would ever dream of aquiring games without paying.

The Phantom at E3:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2004/20040303l.jpg

I agree with youse guys. I just wonder can they really pull it off? The CEO has said it will take 750,000 subscribers to break even. I say there is no way you are going to get that many subscribers.


The following are from recent news articles........


Infinium said its hardware would be free with a two-year subscription to its service or $199 without the subscription.

The announcement came at the start of E3, the annual video game industry trade show in Los Angeles.

Infinium executives hope that finally taking the wraps off the Phantom, and demonstrating a functional version of the service, would dispel doubts among some industry observers that the company can deliver on its planned offering.

"I know all too well the skepticism and the cynicism and the jokes and the rumors and all that stuff," Kevin Bachus, the president of Infinium, told Reuters recently.

Bachus, an industry veteran who once held a senior role on Microsoft Corp.'s (NasdaqNM:MSFT - News) Xbox team, was appointed in January.

The service, starting at $29.95 a month, will offer users certain basic content for free, and access to either buy premium games at prices comparable to regular retail or rent them, usually $5 for three days.

"When I look at the company, what I see is a services company," Bachus said. "People were excited about the idea, but they were skeptical about the company's ability to execute."

The console features a PC-like architecture, with 256 megabytes of random access memory and a 40 gigabyte hard drive, running an embedded version of Windows XP. It will use a custom controller and support surround sound and high-definition TV.

But Bachus downplayed the capabilities of the hardware, saying the real focus was the gaming service.

"It's kind of a fool's errand to try and chase the PC," he said.

The company is reaching out to game publishers, seeking licenses to offer their games on the service. It is also seeking deals with retailers, who would share in the revenue from new customers activated in their stores.

Infinium also has an advisory board looking at issues like content security, to make sure games are not pirated. One member of that board is Andrew "Bunnie" Huang, famous in hardware circles for hacking the Xbox's security system.

But in the interim, the company acknowledges that it will face an uphill battle winning over a marketplace that has doubts it will ever launch.

"For us to be successful at E3, we've got to be credible, and we've got to convince people we're a real company with a product shipping this year," Bachus said.

In a game industry first, the company plans to provide the Phantom Gaming Service hardware free of charge to consumers who sign a two-year contract for a basic subscription to its flagship online gaming service at $29.95 per month. Consumers can also opt to buy this advanced gaming "receiver" and required accessories without a commitment for $199, which will be credited back to their account over two years if they remain a subscriber.

Designed for the whole family, from the avid gamer to the casual player, the new service will offer subscribers a library of titles, from the top new games to old standards people want to play again and again -- and make them available any time, day or night, from the comfort of their home. The Phantom Gaming Service is slated to go live on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2004.

The Phantom Gaming Service has four key components: the service itself, the receiver hardware, a robust yet flexible distribution network and a large library of games. Titles will be streamed on demand from the service to a Phantom receiver over any broadband Internet connection, in much the same way as consumers receive on-demand satellite or cable television content. Subscribers will receive an initial library of free games, which will be supplemented with new choices each month as a part of their subscription fee. Additional titles can be rented or purchased. Premium content packages will also be made available.

The receiver for the Phantom Gaming Service can sit in any room in the home, connected to the TV and any broadband Internet connection, and be used by various members of the household at different times of day. The receiver hardware will be designed to deliver a compelling entertainment experience into the future, featuring the AMD® Athlon(TM) XP 2500+ central processing unit (CPU), the NVIDIA® GeForce(TM) FX 5700 Ultra graphics processing unit (GPU) and the NVIDIA® nForce(TM)2 Ultra 400 platform processor.

The Phantom Game Receiver will be produced in Asia by BIOSTAR®, a leading Taiwan-based contract manufacturer, and will feature 256MB of main system memory and a 40GB hard drive. In addition, the receiver will come bundled with a gamepad, a mouse and the Phantom Lapboard, an extremely innovative peripheral that enables players to control games designed for keyboard and mouse usage as intuitively and with as much fidelity on the couch as they are used to in the office.

"Everybody loves games, both the casual player and the avid gamer," said Kevin Bachus, president, Infinium Labs. "People my age who grew up playing video games are now starting families of their own and are eager to play together. We'll have an array of titles, something for everybody. And all the consumer will have to do is sit down in front of the system, choose a title and begin to play. The service is that easy to use. We anticipate that every generation will be fighting over the controllers."

The Phantom Gaming Service will give everyone in the household a personalized game system, from the selection of what interface they want to have to an individual filing system of their favorite titles, based on their choices. The Phantom Gaming Service will also "learn" the game preferences of individual users and automatically offer titles likely to please that player.

Games owned by the subscribing household or base location will be downloaded to reside on the hard drive in the Phantom receiver. Should the hard drive approach capacity, the service will recognize this and will manage the cache in the background, invisible to the user, removing those games that were played least recently. Down the line, if the user tries to call up a removed game, the Phantom service will simply re-stream it to the hard drive.

Both multiplayer and single-player titles will be available when the system is launched, and players will be able to play over the Internet against other Phantom subscribers, as well as PC and console gamers. The service will not require that other players subscribe to the Phantom service to join in.

Bachus said the Phantom Gaming Service will give publishers increased visibility to a wider audience for their titles and new revenue from their back catalogs of games.

"With the Phantom Gaming Service, publishers can get a title to gamers within hours of when the gold master is cut," Bachus said. "They hand us a disc, and we'll do the rest, making it available to consumers in record time because we don't have to deal with physical manufacturing and distribution. We can also help publishers get a buzz going with rentals before the title arrives at traditional outlets. Another benefit will be a new revenue stream from previously released titles."

Promotions and special packages such as a deal on groups of titles in a particular genre will be offered monthly to subscribers to the service. The Phantom Gaming Service will be available this fall through multiple distribution channels, including leading retailers.

"Retailers have been successful selling music download services, DVD rental clubs, satellite radio and television subscriptions, and multiple types of cell phones and service programs for quite a while since they offer the retailer access to ongoing subscription revenue," Bachus pointed out. "The major retail chains have responded positively to having a gaming service to offer as well."

Gaming centers and Internet cafes have also expressed interest in having the service on their premises. Bachus expects the Phantom Gaming Service eventually to be embraced by everyone from fraternities and college dorms, to bars and hotels, to military bases, airport executive clubs and libraries.

The Phantom Gaming Service will be demonstrated in an 8,000-sq.-ft. booth at E3. Visitors can come by and test the service in real-life environments, sitting on a couch or on the floor in an iconic "family room," in the gathering area at a "dorm room" or sitting at a table in a "coffee shop." Starting today, visitors can go to the completely redesigned Phantom Gaming Service web site for the latest company and service information at www.phantom.net.

Infinium Labs, Inc. was founded by a management team with extensive experience in interactive media, entertainment, broadband services and technology. The company is set to launch a cutting-edge online gaming service in the fourth quarter of 2004. The Phantom Gaming Service will be delivered online over any broadband network and offer a broad library of games designed to appeal to the avid gamer as well as the casual player. For more information, please visit www.phantom.net.

That about sums it up. Sure, they may have put together a good management team. Management does not make games, they do biz dev.

I've never really believed anything about this console. Too much smoke and mirrors, no real evidence of anything concrete.

It is 100% vaporware. I feel bad for the investors.

i just got back for the first part of my day at e3 and yes it was there...i will post photos later of it, it did look kind of plasticy and fake but it was there and it was hooked up........

I want to lay an elbow drop on the piece of shit.

hahahaha! But seriously......i am going for a leg drop. Phantom = bullshit.

Why all the venom?

I agree that it is a business risk, but why specifically do you guys think it won't work?

I mean if it's all a scam and there really is no device then ,duh, obviously there is nothing. But if it does what it says, what's the prob? Lasereth says he wouldn't pay for a game monthly, but that is not what it seems like to me. The way it is described, once you download a game it is on your HD and you can play as much and for as long as you like. It seems that this platform would give you the ability to play lots of different games that you would not buy otherwise.

I'm not trying to be a smartass or a devil's advocate. I am just trying to understand the concept. There are some serious gamers here at TFP and I thought I would ask you guys.

I dont like the whole shady aspect of the company. Lies wont get you far in my book.

exactly... very very shady

Like I said, if there is no device - then it is all lies. If there is then where are the lies and shadiness? Is it because the story has changed as the product and concept developed and matured? Name me one business that hasn't done that. The whole idea of video games in general was considered preposterous not so many years ago. Who would buy a machine for $300. and then buy a chunks of plastic to plug into it for $50. a pop just to play games???? Now it is a multi-billion dollar industry.

Once again, I am not trying to incite anything here.

Thanks for you guys input.

Considering that, looking at the specs, it doesn't seem to have any kind of special CPU or GFX card, what's the point? Why buy a "console" when you can't even play platform-specific games on platform-specific hardware?
It only has a 5700 Ultra, which is barely enough to run the latest games at full detail.

I would buy a Phantom except I have the exact same specs in my computer sitting next to me, except for a gig o' ram, a massive HD and one of those l33t cd-roms.