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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.'"
...the "Nothing to see here. Move along." message was so appropriate.
Is it just me, or does Valve's Steam already do what PHANTOM is planning to do? Heck XBox Live 360 seems about the same too.
Props to the Phantom guys if they can get others to join them.
IMarv
Trusting software vendors is no smarter than trus
...if that isn't a huge smack from a clue-by-four, I'm not sure what else could possibly. The investors for this project are screwed. It doesn't exist, they had no intention of making it exist, it will never exist. The name alone says that.
Somewhere, in some parallel universe, the Phantom Console is capable of running Duke Nukem: Forever at 120fps. And it can provide you all the services of a loving wife.
Informatus Technologicus
So let me get this straight. A company that has failed to knock together a custom PC that boots CDs despite FOUR YEARS of trying now thinks that they're mogul enough to take the PC World by storm with an online game delivery application (like Steam?) that appears to have little to differentiate itself in the market?
Excuse me while I don't hold my breath in anticipation.
This company has churned through incredible amounts of talent to produce nothing more than press releases about a fancy keyboard and mouse! In that time, Microsoft has launched not one, but TWO separate game consoles that both compete in the exact same space. In that same time, the company was believed to have been a Pump and Dump scheme by the SEC. In that same time, they have never demonstrated an actual working prototype of anything more than their mouse and keyboard!
Excuse me? Could someone please tell me how long it takes to send a manufacturing file out for a custom case, then stuff standard hardware into it? (Don't answer that, it's a rhetorical question.)
I have absolutely no trust in this company, its vision, or its future; and I feel deep sympathy for anyone who has had the displeasure of dealing with them in the past.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Somehow the con just goes on and on... and somehow there's always a few gullible angels around willing to perpetuate it.
What I love most is the brazen use of word "Phantom" in the name... I mean, why not just call it "Vaporware Console"?
Anyway, here's a better analysis of both the company and of Tim Robert's curious (for lack of a better word) resume history.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
1) Say you're doing something totally fantabulistically amazing.
2) Seduce investors.
3) Do nothing.
4) Do nothing.
5) Do nothing.
6) Do nothing.
7) Do nothing.
8) Spend venture capital on crack and hookers.
9) Do nothing.
10) Declare that instead of doing something totally fantabulistically amazing, you're going to rewrite the same software that dozens of companies already have.
11) Act like this is a simple "desing decision" rather than a total failure of your product.
12) ???
13) Profit!
Le français vous intéresse?
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.
blow your mind already
So, basically, Phantom just became a Gametap competitor?
I'm a bit surprised they didn't think of this sooner.
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.
Man is the animal that laughs.
And occasionally whores for Karma.