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Bachus Talks Phantom Rehabilitation Tactics

Posted by simoniker on from the convalescence-long-overdue dept.

Thanks to HeraldTribune.com for its article discussing prospects for the Phantom PC 'console' with new Infinium president Kevin Bachus. Bachus, a recent ex-Microsoft appointment to the PR-challenged Infinium Labs, discusses possible release dates: "The challenge I have given my team... is we've got to be out with a product for this holiday season." He also acknowledges skepticism over the product: "When I first heard about Infinium I was squarely in that camp as well", but suggests the PC compatibility for the 'console' means that "...there are thousands of people out there writing Phantom games today... They just don't know it." GameSpy also has an interview with Bachus in which he argues: "What's interesting about our service is that we can offer an outlet for independent developers. Will we have something that's the gaming equivalent of The Sundance Channel? Probably."

3 of 15 comments (clear)

  1. Indie console by CelticWhisper · · Score: 3, Insightful

    A "Sundance Channel of video games" sounds intriguing, but is there really a market for that sort of thing? OSS games are one thing, but would people be willing to pay for what are essentially going to be no-name games (by comparison to Resident Evil, Half-Life 2, Halo, etc.) and have them distributed via the DRMed-up-the-wazoo methods Infinium originally mentioned? Don't get me wrong-I'm all for giving small-time developers a way to get their stuff out, but...they really might be better off just releasing their stuff as shareware or under the GPL and remaining in the tried-and-true PC world.

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    1. Re:Indie console by neostorm · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I think I can speak for myself and at least a dozen of my friends when I say we'd be a small portion of a market for that sort of thing.
      There are very few really good games made, and more often lately I find myself having fun with some obscure indie developers lower-budget creation. With indie games the expectations are lower, and gameplay is generally the focus, so it's much more entertaining bang for my buck.
      Whenever my skeptical gaming friends and I disguss our perspectives on the game industry today we always arrive at the conclusion that our middle-aged gaming years will be spent in the game industries equivalent of the sundance festival. It's nice to know other people are thinking along those lines as well.

      As for if the Phantom can deliver it, that remains to be seen. I still haven't seen anything that really proves it's not a really elaborate hoax yet.

  2. Just a PC + Locked in distribution channel? by Mawen · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The only way I would be interested in this thing is if it came with a keyboard / mouse, and oh, NTSC resolution is too low... gotta be at least 1024x768. Hmm.. I guess I already have one of these.

    So the main appeal it seems is the distribution channel. Perhaps this can help make the indy/shareware-level type market more serious and worthwhile, both for customers who are sick of weeding through crap on the net, and for devs who get lost among the crap on the net and don't have good access to marketing resources. I'm thinking something along the lines of mp3.com, except with all the best items rising to the top of the charts.

    Just like mp3.com was great for indy music makers and seekers alike, perhaps this can do something for the game industry, and perhaps enable some fresh ideas to rise to the top and get noticed. However, the XBox guy, and especially the "DRM up the wazoo" part freaks me out. I can see indy developers porting their stuff to Phantom just to gain more recognition for themselves in the PC or console world.

    Of course, if Phantom never gains market share (which at this point would be no big surprise, except for the surprise that it turns out not to be vaporware), this won't be worth it, and if the returns to game devs get all the revenue milked by this mischevious Infinium CEO, then that could be bad as well.

    Ooh... on the other hand, perhaps this is a chance to reform and revolutionize the gaming industry. IMO, input devices these days kinda suck. Consoles got with it and released controllers with dual analog sticks (and no mice), but the PC world is still mostly stuck with one 2D analog device (dual analog is too fringe to be a requirement in games). So my oddball and probably ignored idea is, use this as a chance to put in a new input paradigm, with a keyboard for typing, and two optical mice with loads (5-15) of buttons on them. Yeeahh! (Or maybe one of those 3D input devices)

    Oh well, if infinium can dream, so can I...