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Phantom Console Impressions from Conference
racketboy - Oct 24, 2003
  racketboy Oct 24, 2003
Penny Arcade had a good write-up of Phantom impres...

To summerize the article, it sounds like IF the Phantom ever makes it to the market, it will royally suck in pretty much every aspect other than specs (which the makers aren''t even sure of). Pretty lame.

The article is a good read just for a good laugh though. Check it out.

 Lyzel Oct 24, 2003
Heh :lol:

 ratfish Oct 24, 2003

  
	
	

		
		

			Originally posted by "Penny Arcade"



Overall, however, there's the impression that these guys really have little knowledge of or respect for the gaming public. In all of a 90 minute presentation/Q&A session, not a single game was mentioned by name by anyone from Infinium. They seem to be of the opinion that gamers will just buy the console because it's "cool and new." They claim to support indie development but the impression is they'd rather just exploit it. There's an almost sinister air about their trademarked slogan, "By gamers for gamers," because there's really doesn't seem to be a gamer among them.


Exactly why I don't plan on buying one.

What gamers are looking for a new and innovative games, not new and slighly different consoles. <_<

I'm just extremely indifferent right now.

 CrazyGoon Oct 25, 2003
Haha :lol: The phantom is more of a joke than the N-Gage.

 Lyzel Oct 25, 2003
well, you never know.. I'm sure it is going to sell some, I mean.. there are plenty of stupid people out there.

 racketboy Oct 25, 2003
I just read one insight/theory

The owners of the company are basically making vaporware and pitching it the concept to investors who give them tons of money to develop it. The head guys use that money to pay themselves big buck while they "work" on this console. Then it either never materializes or it flops. But they still keep a nice chunk of change.

Of course, these suited investors don't know squat about the console industry.

 ratfish Oct 25, 2003
It's people like this that make me distrust the game industry as a whole.

But then again, we don't really know how where this is going, we're just 99% sure. :lol:

 Scared0o0Rabbit Oct 25, 2003
It says it'll have intrusion detection and use epoxy to make sure you can't fiddle with it. Well, .... time to invest in a new hacksaw... now anyone know any good methods for removing epoxy?

 racketboy Oct 25, 2003
like somebody is gonna mail in their super huge console for an upgrade

part of the benefits of console gaming is not having to worry about different system specs for the same system -- why would you want upgrades? It's just gonna be like PC gaming

 Scared0o0Rabbit Oct 25, 2003
it's going to be exactly like pc gaming, except with another monthly charge on top of your isp, with a broadband requirement, that has resolutions worse than pc! But just think of all the advantages! Like paying the same price as a boxed game, but recieving no physical product! And the added benefit of being full of DRM and not being able to take games other places! Think of all those benefits to the gaming community /sarcasm.

 Curtis Oct 25, 2003
Hmmm...lets see. The size of a desktop ATX case, no games, ancient hardware (at least, by the time it sees it's "Q1" April release) and no OS.

Good start so far.

Then we get the impression that the Phantom is not targeted at gamers (PC or console), but gamers will buy it because that's what we do ( ). "Indie" developers will have to pay a fee if they ever want to see their games listed as anything other than "indie_game 883390.exe".

Getting better.

Unresolved technical questions like "how in the hell are you going to provide the bandwidth required to download games?". You won't be able to actually physically buy one. You may be able to go into a shop, pick the one you like, but they'll mail it to you. Oh and despite the fact that it uses stock standard components, neither the legal owner can upgrade it, nor can this be done in the field. Mail order will be your friend.

Who do they think is even interested in this thing? This has got to be the most utterly useless peice of crap I've ever heard of. Do they think that America is made up of those hideous "families" as seen on Shaw Cable advertisements (Canadians know of what I speak...)? Consoles that sounded good on paper have failed miserably - this thing can suck on my ass and balls. I can't believe that there are investors stupid enough to sink anything into this shambles.

 ratfish Oct 25, 2003
If this is going where we think it is, and becomes a complete flop, then it could always be a good learning example for any no-name companies that want to introduce a new console into the market in years to come.

On the other hand, what if this is the opposite of what we all think it's going to be? What if one day, so you go over to your friend's place, and they're one of the suckers that decided to ge the phantom because of (hypothetical) marketing and advertisement by Infinium Labs. You turn it on, and after a few minutes of using it, it turns out to to be the best idea to hit the world of video games, and the most povitol role of a console ever since the Great Video Game Crash of 1984. What will you do next? Go out and fork over a measly $300 as soon as you can find the door knob? Convince all of us to buy one (maybe we've already seen them for ourselves, and have already ended up shoving old people out of the way in the mall just to get one first)?

Just a thought. Talk amongst yourselves, I'm all veclempt.

 Des-ROW Oct 25, 2003
I really believe it will never get it released, hahaha.

 M3d10n Oct 25, 2003
The Indrema was 500% better conceptually, and had maybe 200% more chances of survival, and floped before being given birth. Can this hunk of plastic do any better?

 Curtis Oct 26, 2003
What really pisses me off about the whole saga is that it is yet another example of some greedy arsehole out to make a quick buck. Infinium know that this product is a complete sham - they've been working on it for a year and they know it's just a worthless piece of junk. It'll probably never make it to market - 6 months out from release and they still haven't locked the hardware down, let alone have a demonstration model.

It offers nothing new, does nothing better, has no redeeming features. Yet by all reports thousands of people have sunk large chunks of money into it - they'll never see it again. Millions wasted on a totally pointless venture. I'm sick of seeing this in the world.

 Quadriflax Oct 26, 2003
I'm sure on paper this whole thing sounded pretty sweet when they started. Access to thousands of games, low distribution costs, great anti-piracy/hacking measures. But I think they bit off more than they could chew. Like the article says, they obviously don't know squat about games or gamers. It's almost as if they keep going because they have no choice. I bet they're frustrated that NOTHING is working out the way they wanted it to, but they want to use (read: pocket) all the investment money. Hell, maybe that was their plan all along. A great scam. Again, like the article says, the model could have just been a box with a light bulb in it. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

To nail something that really erks me is that whole "we're keeping the price at $50/game, even though we don't have to pay for packaging or shelf space." Why? Simply because we're "used to it?" That's asinine. You're giving me LESS of a product, why the hell would I pay the same/more for it? Screw you, this has greed written all over it. Even the RIAA is begining to understand this. People don't have to pay the same price for a CDs songs when they d/l them because they aren't paying for the packaging. I don't think these online music sources like iTunes would be nearly as successful if everything cost the same. Not exactly the same model, since you're only likely buying part of a CD (ie: one, two songs), but still, you get the idea.

The Phantom, if indeed a real, honest-to-God "console," is a joke. No one in their right mind is going to sacrifice everything they know about console gaming for this insanely twisted, illogical, and confusing scheme Infinum Labs has cooked up.

 ratfish Oct 26, 2003
Well then lets hope Microsoft buys them out to shup them up.

 Gallstaff Oct 26, 2003
I dunno I mean there has been one thing that everyone thought as a flop that I enjoyed very much, the 3DO. Now that thing is a work of art and I'll never forget it. Just keep in mind there's a .1% chance this thing wont come out crap.

 VertigoXX Oct 27, 2003
Difference between this and the 3DO is, when this flops, their server goes down and you can't get any more games for it. So you've got a $300 doorstop. With the 3DO, you can buy used games (or even download ISO's of them as the case may be).

 Scared0o0Rabbit Oct 27, 2003
maybe when this thing flops... I'll buy one on ebay, rip out the atx motherboard, and put a real pc in there. Then I can use it as a media box or something.