Phantom Game Console

jasoncart writes "In a bold move newly formed US technology company Infinium Labs Corporation have announced the release of a new gaming console. They promise that it will be faster than any other console on the market, and have a huge games catalog (32k+ games apparently) available over broadband. Can they take on the big boys? Is broadband pentration high enough? Only time will tell - prototypes are promised in March." There's also an interview with their PR spokesdrone. *cough*Indrema.*cough*

Comments

This is doomed

[bludstone]

This is doomed to failure. Without any of the big name gaming companies to back them up, noone will buy the console.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the next 3do

Re:This is doomed

[nightsweat]

Developer support is key, but so is the "Wow" factor.

Who the hell were Sony and Microsoft in the game industry ten years ago? Remember when Intellivision was going to rule the world?

I think it's first big problem is that it's homely. It looks like a homebrew case project.

Shallow as itmight be, they need a much cooler looking console to sell into the market.

Hmm.

[lukew]

Think they're seeking capital?

Too many games?

[Blaine Hilton]

How in the world are they going to have 32,000 games to start with? Are that many in the world now? This must be a case of quantity over quality.

Is this a hoax or what?

[stratjakt]

Something tells me this is just a joke. I sat and listened to the little media hype thingy, and I actually laughed out loud.

It shows a little rendered image of a console, while saying things like "Imagine being able to pay for each play" and "Imagine downloading the latest patches and bugfixes".

Ahead of its time

[Apreche]

If they try to take this device and compete with Nintendo, MS and Sony they have no chance to survive. The product is too ahead of its time to make any money. However, it could be succesful if they market it to hotels, airlines, trains, doctors, dentists, cafes, etc. Put a money slot on it and put it in various public places. I think if they market it this way they can be quite profitable.

Games

[athakur999]

claiming that there are currently 32,679 retail game titles available

I don't think 684 versions of Tetris, each with slightly different graphics, should count as distinct games.

32k???

[delta407]

They promise that it will be faster than any other console on the market, and have a huge games catalog (32k+ games apparently) available over broadband.

Making something faster than other consoles wouldn't be hard, but getting enough people to develop 32,679 games and keeping it quiet would be tough. (Assuming that these are small games and four people -- two coders, one artist, one music/sound guy -- could make a game in four weeks, it would take twenty thousand people six months to come close to this number. But who can come up with 32,000 ideas, or employ 20,000 people, without anyone hearing from them?)

Anyway, if they actually did make 32,679 separate games, most of them probably suck due to lack of imagination, polish, play testing, or they simply aren't fun. The idea is halfway decent, though I don't think enough people have broadband to make this viable, but the details are rather far-fetched.

Re:32K games?

[Dudio]

I wonder if they count variations as separate games like Sears used to do with their versions of Atari 2600 cartridges. I remember the Space Invaders label boasted something like "120 Games!", which meant standard, moving bunkers, no bunkers, invisible invaders, fast missles, zigzagging missles, moving bunkers + fast missles, moving bunkers + zigzagging missles, moving bunkers + fast missles + zigzagging missles, etc.

What Garbage.

[TheGeneration]

Boy that flash intro with 4 static images was really worth the download/loading time.

Their blurb reads like toxic corporate MBA talk. "It'll change the world forever, parents will be able to monitor what their children play." blah blah blah.

This is a company which -obviously- doesn't know who it's target audience is. You don't win people over with a cheesy looking computer model of your console. You win them over by showing flashy graphics in your commercials matched with good games.

This company is doomed to go down in flames unless they figure out how to play with the big boys and their big PR companies.

Re:awesome

[Cutriss]

Supporting Linux would be a key advantage over existing console makers, who go out of their way to prevent customers from running a real OS on their devices.

I wonder if you've ever heard of this little company called Sony...

Anyway, yeah, what-ever. An advantage, yes. A key advantage, no. They might sell more consoles. They wouldn't sell any more games, thus they would get no more money from royalties. That's where the money in the console market is.

Understatement

[M.C. Hampster]

I think calling him a Spokesdrone is an understatement. Check this answer out:

Infinium Labs was formed by veteran entrepreneurs who have a successful track record in building large scale companies and advanced architectures for supporting massive eCommerce and enterprise applications. Combining skills from Telco, Data Communications, Digital Rights Management, Software Development and Security, the management team brings together a unique array of skills to develop the most robust next generation gaming console and delivery network on the market.

Except for the term Wi-Fi (and maybe synergy, although that's so 20th century), I think we've hit just about every buzz word in the English language.

Re:Speaking of too much...

[Danse]

Since I'm of much the same mind as the original poster, I'll respond to this. First of all, I can do damn near anything with my computer that I want to. It can do thousands of things that the consoles can't even dream of. I even do real work on it. But, even if we're just considering games, the PC still wins. Much better selection of controllers (including keyboard/mouse), giving you just the right type of control for any given game. Compare playing a FPS game using keyboard/mouse to attempting to aim using those crappy thumb-nobs on most console controllers. Much more flexibility and immersiveness in games. No console can match the PC for depth of gameplay, and especially not for customization. Try creating a mod for a console game. Hell, that's where Counter-Strike came from. A mod. And now it's the most popular FPS game in the world. Try creating a game like Neverwinter Nights for a console. Not gonna work. Consoles still have a looong way to go before they can compete with the PC. They're fine if you're just a casual gamer and you don't have much use for a decent PC other than games, but if you're a more serious gamer, then there's nothing out there that can beat a good PC. Sure, it's a lot of money, but you get a LOT more out of it than you get from a console.