Phantom Goes Software Only

Daysaway writes "Gamasutra is reporting that the Phantom Game Service will be replacing the Phantom Game Console. The company formerly known as Infinium Labs has stated that the Phantom hardware was originally designed to run on a Windows XP platform, so it is not a stretch to believe this service will be launched sometime in the very near future." From the article: "A recent update to Phantom Entertainment's website, though, indicates that 'The Phantom Game Service was originally engineered to run on a Windows XP embedded operating system on a Phantom Game Receiver managed by Phantom content servers over the Internet.' The site now suggests that: 'The Company intends to modify the Phantom Game Service software to run as client software on personal computers operating Windows XP and Windows XP Media center operating systems.'"

Comments

I'd love to be an employee there

[Denial93]

So they will have a subscriber model and need people to connect to their servers to make money. But, crucially, they neither have hardware lock-in to make sure no-one sets up an alternative server to connect to, nor the resources to survive a dragged-out court battle if someone does. I want to be the guy who wrote the server code, has a copy of it all somewhere far away, and walks up to the boss demanding ten times the pay for not doing anything.

Re:It's so cliched now but...

[andrewman327]

It is especially apt compared to the original claims about the platform. This was supposed to be revolutionary, now it seems like it will be yet another pay-to-play PC progam. HardOCP was perhaps the most skeptical of the device's claims back in 2003 when other tech news outlets were still drooling over the proposed specs.

The company's website still features the Lapboard as coming soon. I hope that they get the Lapboard out the door and into the market as it has some promise and seems feasible to design. However if it does appear in stores it will still have heavy competition from Logitech, Microsoft and all the other usual suspects.

Wasn't the point to take the guesswork out of PCs?

[default luser]

The Phantom console was intended to make PC gaming easy - it has one set of specs, and was configured from the factory. Combine that with downloadable games, and it was suppoed to be the easiest gaming PC you could imagine.

Now, as an add-on to existing PCs, Phantom becomes a gaming service. No more pre-defined, pre-configured hardware and software...no, they'll have to download the latest video, audio and network drivers, OpenAL and DirectX installs, and then patch and tweak the game to get it "just right."

Not that I'm dissing the PC, I love gaming on the PC, but it does require some knowledge to get certain games running.

Now Phantom is just one of many download gaming services. How, exactly, do they expect to sell enough gaming subscriptions to pay back the millions of dollars they owe creditors, when they're swimming in a pool already filled with big players? Three years ago when the Phantom was announced, the idea of an online PC game delivery service was novel, but now that they've sat on the idea, the world has left them in the dust.

Not like I ever expected anything solid to come out of Phantom. Nice to see them match my expectations.