Phantom Still Not Dead Yet - Supposedly

[Lord Nepenthean]

When the Phantom didn't show up at E3 this year, I think I was the only person that noticed.  I recently went back to Infinium Labs' site to find out that the domain now just forwards to the Phantom site (fount at www.phantom.net), which seems to be devoid of the forums that were once there.  There is also almost nothing new there, except a link to an article announcing that the Phantom gaming service was shown on G4 the other night.  It will re-air on the 12th.

Here is all I could find on G4's site about what was said:

Infinium's Phantom game console/service has probably inspired more accusations of vaporware than any proposed product, ever. Promising to offer a library of downloadable PC games, the Phantom aims to create a true game-on-demand network with its streaming technology. When former Xbox visionary Kevin Bachus was hired as Infinium's President and COO a year and a half ago, the company gained a good deal of credibility. However, with one postponed launch date and a no-show at E3 2005, the Phantom is once again considered dubious.

Nevertheless, Bachus appeared on the show with a Phantom console in hand and showed how the service will work. Users will be able to try any title, and play games as they stream onto the Phantom's hard drive. Bachus compared the device to a cable box as opposed to a DVD player, saying it was more of a subscription service than just another console. Although he wouldn't name a specific launch date, Bachus said that info will be released “very soon.”

We'll have an extensive web-exclusive interview with Kevin Bachus tomorrow. Until then, you can find out more at www.infiniumlabs.com.

http://www.g4tv.com/attac...ightweight_Notebooks.html

I still bet it has something to do with Xbox 360.

[Tynstar]

I still bet it has something to do with Xbox 360.

Thats what I think as well.

[shadytool]

didnt Turner kinda beat phantom into the download game market?
they do have that game tap service going on now, right?

ps - mike you know that after you ravaged their boards that they had to shut them down :-P

[thx1138]

the PHANTOM doesn't exist, it's just a big prank

[NESJunkie]

Dude THX, I've played the Phantom...yes I am being totally honest. At this past falls EB Games vendor show in Orlando they were there showing off the Phantom trying to get EB to carry it. I sat down with the makers, yea they are real too!, and played with it, they showed me some tech demos and gave me a bundle of info on the thing. I was skeptical on why a place like EB would carry a thing that they would get no recoursive game sales out of, but they had an answer for that as well. If EB would sell a Phantom that serial number is now linked to that specific EB store. EVerytime the owner of the Phantom downloads and pays for a game, that specific store gets a percent of the sale. So it made sense for EB to carry it.

I can tell you that it was still in a alpha or almost beta phase, and not nearly ready. I had glitches going on when I was playing with it, and they were taking notes to fix the problems.

They had an interesting keyboard and mouse configuation. The keyboard was set up at an angle from left to right with the right end goin into the air, and under the right side of the keyboard was a little platform for the mouse. Essentially giving you a place for fps controls on your lap. That was a very neat idea.

One thing I had a question about was the fact that you had to download the games and then wait to play them. NOPE! that's not true. It takes maybe 5 minutes then you can start to play the game, because they have it set up to download the first part of the game iwth menus, then load up the game and keep downloading as you play. You will never play the game fast enough to keep up with the downloads so it worked well.

The game I played was the Temple of Elemental Evil. Looked as good as any PC version would...but they also had the best freaking flat screen high def TV I've ever seen as well. That helped. But the resolution was fantastic.

They are also going to have older games for download like the original Doom for like $5 and stuff like that.

The system itself will be ugradeable like a PC. If you need a bigger hard drive they will sell those components as well as ram upgrades or as they called them upgrade kits. You would either install them yourself or send them to Infimium and they will do it for you.

..............that's all I can think of right now, I know I will think of more later, and when I do I will add to this.

[Izret101]

Thats awesome man.
I hope you do remember more.
Thats definately a story not to many people will be able to tell.

[Tynstar]

gave me a bundle of info on the thing.

Can we see some scans or pictures of these items?

[thx1138]

Was this on the Emperor's Clothes stall?

[NESJunkie]

I'll have to look for the flier they gave me, but most of the info I got was word of mouth because I took the time to sit down and ask questions.

THX what is Emperor's Clothes stall?