Phantom not as dead as we thought...

From www.gamerfeed.com

Phantom Console Secures Industry Heavyweights
By Mike Meikle -- News Writer
Published 7:01 PM CDT, September 22, 2004

Infinium Labs upcoming Phantom console scores some publishers and developers for the Phantom Game Service.

In a move that indicates the video game industry is embracing digital distribution as a vehicle to expand the market, more than 20 major game publishers and independent developers have signed on to supply titles for the Phantom Game Service, an on-demand game service to be offered by Infinium Labs.

In the first of a series of planned announcements, Infinium Labs unveiled an initial content partner roster for the Phantom Game Service that includes four of the top 10 PC publishers in the industry; game companies that represent, collectively, one-third of the current PC games market, according to PC Data's July report.

Publishers and developers supplying content include 21-6 Productions, BraveTree, Chronic Logic, Codemasters, Dreamcatcher Interactive, eGames, Eidos, Enlight Interactive, Framework Studios, GamerBlitz, Gameware Development, GarageGames, Global Software Publishing, Interplay, Kuma Reality Games, Legacy Interactive, Max Gaming, O-3 Entertainment, Riverdeep, Skunk Studios and Vivendi Universal Games. Atari Inc. has also signed on to supply select titles for the service.

The company has already secured more than 500 titles, a wide breadth of content which includes more than half of the 50 best PC games of all time, as rated by Gamerankings.com.

"Our agreements demonstrate that game publishers and developers are recognizing that digital distribution offers them a significant opportunity to expand sales in conjunction with the existing retail model. They're joining with us to promote market expansion," Kevin Bachus, president and COO, Infinium Labs, said.

In addition to securing a new audience for their latest releases, Infinium Labs' content partners will recognize a new revenue stream from their back-catalog of previously released games. Retailers will get incremental revenue from the sale of hardware, subscriptions and games.
The Phantom Game Service will offer a wide range of game genres, including Action/Adventure, Strategy, First Person Shooter (FPS) and Role Playing Games (RPGs) as well as Classic Games, Arcade Games, high quality Educational Titles, Games for Young Children and Board Games. Consumers subscribing to the service will be able to access the game of their choice anytime, day or night, from a consumer electronics device sitting near the TV in the living room, and play brand new titles as well as popular old favorites, games made by independent developers, imports and games not sold at retail.

The Phantom Game Service will help content creators reach several largely untapped audiences. Although avid gamers have expressed the highest level of initial interest in the service, Infinium Labs' research studies also suggest that an enormous and growing segment of the population -- lapsed gamers who played games earlier in life but no longer participate in a gaming lifestyle -- are an important new target.

"By making the game selection and purchase process as easy as watching television, we plan to welcome former gamers back into the fold. It's always gratifying to see the immediate enjoyment they get from playing on our service," Bachus said. "Amazed at how fast they can call up games and begin having fun, they see that the Phantom service offers something for the whole family."
» Mike Meikle

 

Eh, not like they are going to survive...Hell, the N-Gage had Sega, EA, and a few others companies, and it still bombed like hell...

 

IT LIVES...

 

Man, when are they going to give up? Nobody cares about Infinium anymore, and the distrust racked up from the missed release dates, lack of ANY progress over the last 2 years, and the whole "We'll sue you if you dare call us fake!!" thing pretty much ensures that the hardcore gamers - where the money really is - aren't going to give the thing a single look and go back to playing a current and viable PC-based gaming system like, oh I don't know, a PC. :angry

 

It's like the turd that won't flush. If it ever gets to shelves, atleast it will flop N-Gage style and no one will care (and it will be gone forever (at-bloody-last!)

 

Damn! I wish this thing would just stay dead. :angry

 

well, i don't care about games , i just whant some hackers to make this thing as a potable and stylish pc. :-D

 

It will be. Here's what will it be in fact:

AMD XP 2500+
256mb RAM
40gig HDD
nforce 2 Ultra 400 mobo
GeForceFX5700

You can get that all for $199 but getting those parts seperately costs a lot more.

Thats a good HTTPC. the HDD is enough but you can put in a bigger faster one like a 250gb hdd AND put in 512mb RAM.

 

:smt043

Oh man, that was just utterly hilarious.

 

:smt043 :smt043 :smt043

 

When this thing is dead and they shut down the service, how will we get games? I think it seems pretty easy to pirate this system. Since it stores games on its hard drive and gets them from a cable, you could just write a new program that tells it to change where it accepts games from. You know hook it up to a computer and tell it its the official server.

 

Should be a nice cheap pc if it ever comes out! Lovely to use as a media player for the house.

 

exact, and that's why im waiting for this console.... it will be a good add to my collection (because everyone know it will end as a good collectible.) and with a bit of tweaks, this system will make my next computer! it won't take alot of time to be hacked.... well, it seems pretty easy to pirate...

 

Too bad

It would have been alot more interesting if it was released a while ago but now it is really just a ho-hum set-up...

 

Re: Too bad

that's already far better than my pc ...and its upgradable you know? the specs you see are for the basic , untouched system.

 

.

Is the latest proto even ATX? I read a thing over at HardOCP where the opened up one of the older protos and it was just standard ATX set-up but the "thin-ness" of the latest version just makes me wary.

 

Do we even know what the price will be for this ? or even a ball park idea ? If its fair I will defenitly be picking one up just for the modding that can be done with it. Heck might be kinda cool to be the only one I know that knows what the hell the damn thing is anyway haha

 

released in 2005

tada!!

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=4611


we will see if they REALLY release it in 2005.... :drinkers: :drinkers:

 

I would buy it for the same reason people buy XBOX´s to use as a media player/emu box, looks rather nice http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?section_name=new&aid=3420. They should give up on the whole Broadband gaming thing and just produce hardware with nice video out :smt045 The DVD player KISS (reads divx) that has a HDD sells rather nice and costs more than an XBOX so people are indeed interested in such gaming/media player solutions.

 

Really? Because I bought my XBOX to play XBOX games.



Anyway, I like this Phantom a lot better :-D