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Phantom Shows Pictures, Pricing, Huang Hire
HawKe writes "Audioholics reports today on details of Infinium Labs' new Phantom Gaming Service which is to be unveiled at this year's E3 in Los Angeles. The service looks to be geared towards a wider demographic rather than the hard core gamer, but for the price of included Phantom hardware (basically free) it appears to be a good compromise - the article explains the PC 'console' is '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'." S!: GameDaily also has a feature interviewing Infinium's Kevin Bachus, in which it's confirmed: "Infinium is concerned about protecting its IP and its consumers. To that end, Bachus and Infinium have hired Andrew Huang, the MIT grad student who gained fame for hacking the Xbox."
I have to ask, will Duke Nukem Forever be avalible on it?
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
click-clack, front and back. I'm not moving this car otherwise.
Phantom Game Receiver(TM)
... no.
* AMD® Athlon(TM) XP 2500+ central processing unit (CPU)
* NVIDIA® GeForce(TM) FX 5700 Ultra graphics processing unit (GPU)
* NVIDIA® nForce(TM)2 Ultra 400 platform processor
* 256 MB RAM
* 40 GB local content cache
* Microsoft® Windows® XP Embedded Operating System
* Dynamic, personalized user interfaces customizable for age, gender or technical expertise
* Lapboard, mouse and game pad included
* HDTV and Dolby Digital 5.1 compatible
* Works any consumer-standard broadband Internet Service Provider (ISP): DSL or faster
This is different from a computer? How? There's nothing that would make me buy this, except for possibly the price. If it's as cheap as a GC I might consider
Infinium is concerned about protecting its IP and its consumers.
Right... those mod chips have a way of crawling into your home and installing themselves, ruining your valuable data. Better protect the consumers!
so this free console winds up costing me 718 dollars in the long run. Yeah, I'm all over that.
With those specs if it's cheap enough, why not just strip it for parts?
-Stu
Look whats at the bottom, I mean, how professional is this?
Safe Harbor Statement
Certain statements included in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from such statements expressed or implied herein as a result of a variety of factors including, but not limited to: the development of the Infinium Labs technology, the successful marketing and distribution of the Phantom Gaming System, acceptance by the market of Infinium Labs, products and technology, competition and timing of projects and trends in the gaming industry, as well as other factors expressed from time to time in filings Infinium Labs will make with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). As a result, this press release should be read in conjunction with periodic filings Infinium Labs makes with the SEC. The forward looking statements contained herein are made only as of the date of this press release, and Infinium Labs undertakes no obligation to publicly update such forward looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.
Anyways... those pictures look pretty manipulated, can't really say why. The lighting is way the hell too bright for one. And also, whats with that ONE cable on the front? First, it looks like it is in a different place in each of the pictures. Also, are they intending to sell a one controller console? I understand its for PC games, but even the XBOX has like 4 controllers.
Now, lets humor the guy for a moment, and ignore the past terrible PR, lack of evidence of a product, bandwidth costs for this guy to stream whole games, etc. Who would spend $30 a month for two years to rent a console? Thats $720! You could buy an XBOX, Gamecube, and PS2 for that price, and still have money for some games.
I'm suprised no one else has commented on the new design depicted in the article. They're definitely digital renderings.
So they missed their first proposed launch date, and have since scrapped their origional design entirely, including the box.
Personally, I think they've already got a valid (as per SCO) business model in suing people and providing On-Demand Console (via JPEGs on news sites).
Case in point: Sega and Nintendo.
Here we had two of the largest video game manufacturers on the planet, who were literally spanked by Sony who spent gobs of cash to make their Playstations a success. PS2 hardware is inferior to that of the Gamecube and Xbox, although it has consistently outsold their competition quarter after quarter.
If Phantom hopes to be successful, they will need to spend millions to get the word out. Even 'giving' the machine away may not stem the tide of the traditional consoles with multi million dollar marketing efforts.
Lastly, I'm worried about their software distribution method. Most people don't have broadband connections, and those that do don't have a home network. If there is no built support for 802.11 wireless many will balk at the thought of having to wire their home just to play games.
www.lonseidman.com
Bunny Huang. Seriously, it they are really ready to showcase a nearly finished product, hiring a security specialist at this point in the game to secure your product for your vedors is just silly, its much to late *unless* that security specialist is a high profile figure like Andrew "Bunny" Huang!
I still doubt that the Phantom will ever come to light.
Let's look at this carefully. Has a consumer product yet emerged which did not work without a service charge, yet was not hacked?
The article mentions that the company is most worried of spoofing identities. Well, they'd better be. If they want the console and service to succeed they must provide one click shopping for games an apps, with either try before you buy, or some sort of 'dissatisfied' cancel in a few hours after purchase return.
This means that once someone has another person's id/password/encrypted key or whatever, then they can purchase games in another's name while having charges applied to the other person.
I believe that within 3 months of wide availability this will be hacked so you can modify the machine without the service knowing, possibly spoofing IDs. Within a year someone will have the service connected to and running on a regular PC.
And, of course, they'll find out that it runs Linux since MS isn't going to license windows to an xbox competitor at low rates. (ie, they'll use windows, but it'll be so expensive that they'll fail financially)
-Adam
Hiring Huang as a security advisor means that this "free" computer will be harder to hack into a general purpose machine than an Xbox, that's all. I give it six months-- that is, running under the sickeningly optimistic assumption that the Phantom even gets made.
Can we get some confirmation that Huang was actually hired? Specifically from Huang himself? Infinium has a habit of lying about who they're associated with, you know.
"Why Subscribe?" Good question...
going to infinium press image area you can find the full size images- which are basically uncropped versions that you see from one of the post links.
looking at the mouse shot (and that's an interesting design- the upper case is one piece, and the buttons flex it when pressed) it's definitely photoshopped. somebody else can do all the gamma-type proof, but all it takes is to look at the glow around the cord.
so they might be actual devices- but they probably don't look that purty in the real world, i betcha.
regardless, we'll see in a couple of days.
stored on computers from birth to the grave
The service looks to be geared towards a wider demographic rather than the hard core gamer
Naturally, Infinium has been hyping their pursuit of the easycore (anti-hardcore) because that's supposedly where the money is, or at least according to possible investors. So, just how easycore is the Phantom in comparison to other consoles?
* Requires broadband. Hmm, well, broadband is certainly more proliferated than ever, but in regards to gaming it's still considered an element of the hardcore. I think it's safe to say that Xbox Live is doing well for an online service, but according to most publishers online gameplay is still cutting edge, and therefore hardcore. So, broadband alienates a lot of users. What's more: how many easycore people have a cat5 hookup in their living room? Is the Phantom going to support wireless? Do you see how more involved this is becoming?
* Keyboard and mouse control. I think it's fairly safe to say that the easycore far prefer a controller to a mouse and keyboard. And yet the latest renderings have no controller at all. If a user of the phantom is willing to use a mouse and keyboard to play FPS games, why not play it on their PC? Again, this is not catering to the easycore, the mouse and keyboard is definitively hardcore.
* Price. $30 a month? So, the easycore are already paying $30-50 for broadband. Probably $30-90 for cable/satellite, which I mention because it's an entertainment expense. So why would any easycore person pay $30 just to own the phantom and play freeware games? The Phantom subscription fee does not include the games, which themselves will be $40-50. Xbox Live is what, $60 for 12 months? $30 a month is a hardcore price, perhaps even more so because you really don't get anything for it. Even just paying the $200 means you get a machine that people have not coded specifically for. In other words, a game coded specifically for the Xbox, if done well, looks better than a game coded for a PC of the Phantom's specs for obvious reasons. So, why the Phantom again?
I could go on, but I have better things to do than talk about the Phantom. Feel free to add.
The linguistics used by Infinium that seem to cuddle up to the casual gamer are a farce. There's no centralized design here to that end. Gamecubes are for the casual gamer more than any other console, and there is nothing in here that is Apple or Nintendo-esque. The Phantom is just that, a constantly morphing mismatch of ideas piecemealed together from different people and different gaming idealogies, if you can even call them gaming idealogies. Practically, the Phantom is, judging by their choice of words and marketing, little more than an attempt to raise investor monies. It is not a gaming machine but a perceived cash cow for Infinium.
There's always more to the story, and especially in this case. Lawsuits, criminal backgrounds, past failed ventures... it goes on and on. Whereisphantom.com and HardOCP have been leading the investigations into Infinium Labs. If you want to get more than press release information, then you should check out these sites.
As somebody above said, this just looks like a crippled computer.
Is there anything here to be interested in? I'm certainly not excited about playing games only through a subscription service. I want a physical copy of something I own. I want to be able to play my games years after Infinium goes out of business. The only advantage to streaming games over the internet that I can think of is that it saves money on inventory and packaging, and that really isn't an advantage to the consumer unless game prices are lower. Yeah, that'll be the day... CDs were supposed to be cheaper, too. I'm certainly not excited about the games lined up, since I couldn't find any mention anywhere of exactly what titles the damn thing will play. Since Infinium has no first party development, the vast majority of games on the Phantom will already be somewhere else.
So, given those disadvantages, why would anyone want to own this thing? To have a cheap PC? The X-Box already does that better.
If you're just hyping a non-existent product, why limit yourself to such boring specs? If you've already given up your link to reality by marketing something that doesn't and won't exist, why not at least make your fantasy exciting?
Geforce FX 5700 Ultra? Why not "32GB 12-Way Tungstamech Neurogrouts bring you entertainment straight out of the Matrix"? Athlon XP? Why not "Vast arrays of processors shifting in and out of different dimensions deliver impossible computing power while tearing at the fabric of space-time"? Online game rentals? Why not "Direct stimulation of your brain's pleasure centers and direct fine-grained control of all matter in the universe"?
Let's not stir that bag of worms...
At 29.95/month, whether to buy the Phantom will be rationalized as follows for most families:
Broadband internet, cell phone, digital cable/satellite TV, Tivo, other on-line games (XBox Live, misc. PC games, etc.), OnStar, telephone extras (e.g., Caller ID), brand-name groceries, new TV/computer/stereo, new furniture, new lawnmower, etc.
Okay, for this year, pick three or four.
Simply, most families cannot afford to both get new living-room furniture, for example, and get a good cell phone plan and subscribe to the Phantom service all at the same time and stay financially stable with at least some savings. Think about it: $29.95/mo. is $360/year on top of initial costs. I know I spend less than $150/year on PS2 games cause I'm about as cheap as people get; IMO, Phantom is competing with other luxuries like digital cable or broadband internet (yes, middle America, these things are luxuries).
Vote in November. You won't regret it.
It will still need early exclusive content in order to gain the required critical mass to make developers notice it enough to provide dedicated content in the future.
I can't see any reason to sign up for this over buying a PC, it's the same price and much less flexible. By the time the subscription period is up it will be out of date, and the next gen console hardware will be here, spanking it into the middle of next week.
I can't help but think that any parent with half a brain will see it for what it is, a vastly overpriced games console. At least a PC can be used for practical purposes, and is probably cheaper too.
Have you noticed the phantom has so many announcements it looks like they actually WIN money each time they get their name mentioned? Well curious as it sounds THEY DO make money. Phantom is a public investor company so each time you hear anything about the phantom more investors are attracted and flock to Infinium Labs. Investors dont want to hear about games or exactly why the product is any good (hype). They just want to know when it will be out (aproximately) and how much money will they make. And if you check the announcements every single one mentions those two aspects and not a single one detail that would entice a gamer to buy it (it will have great graphics, X game is coming for it) . Makes you wonder doesn't it?
Go ahead MOD my day!
More opinions here
People people people. This is a good thing. Encourage it.
Look at those components. Look at that price. Fairly competitive at retail, especially if you can run non-xp on it. Now look 6 months down the line when the nearest suburban family bought it and the kids got bored with it. Where's the system now? $10 at their garage sale.
Do the math.
Slashdot Patriotism: We Support our Dupes!
compare the size of today's multi-CD games, and how long it takes to download even a cd-romful of ~700mb...
at least a couple of hours at optimal connection speeds on excellent high-bandwidth servers.
now add to the fact that a lot of gamers dislike even the loading times of games that are already installed on their machines...
I dont know about you guys, but me, I'll believe they can pull it off after they do it, when I can see it.
I have some concerns about the price of this service. Infinium claims that their audience ranges "from the avid gamer to the casual player" but what casual player is going to spend $29.95 per month on gaming?
I consider myself to be a bit more than a casual player (but not much more) and I don't currently spend $29.95 per month on gaming. That's $359.40 per year! I spend about $30 - $40 every two months on games and I spend an average of $100 per year on hardware upgrades to keep new games running. That's still cheaper ($280 - $340 per year, usually right at $300) and I'm getting harware upgrades on my PC that tend to boost the system's overall performance.
The hardware that the Phantom is spec'd at looks good now but it isn't out yet and it has to last two years after it comes out for it to be "free." The math just doesn't add up for me.
Wow. News to me...I have no involvement with the security that will be in the Phantom console that's showing at E3. *sigh* the press has a wonderful way of spreading misinformation at times.