Phantom Console was test driven at CES

slerch666 · Jan 19, 2004

I for one am utterly amazed that the thing even exists.

Here is the article where people took it for a test drive.

Who would be interested in the Phantom? People who want to play PC games (assuming they get ported) but don't want to pay $1500+ to play them at the "speeds" that hard core gamers want to play them at.

I'll reserve final judgement for when it actually makes it out the door, but that's definitely an attractive way to play Doom 3 (if id ports it) and not have to pay for a top of the line PC to do so. And assuming it's ass for the X-Box (which I doubt it will be, but just in case...)

Anyway, what do you guys think?

RabbitTroop · Jan 19, 2004

Well... it's sure... big... and silver...

-Nick

Ghost-Dog · Jan 19, 2004

It could be a successful platform, but I don't think it will sit well with collecter gamers. People like myself need a tangible piece of software, a disc, a cartridge, whatever. That alone might make me steer clear of it.

slerch666 · Jan 19, 2004

Ghost-Dog said:
It could be a successful platform, but I don't think it will sit well with collecter gamers. People like myself need a tangible piece of software, a disc, a cartridge, whatever. That alone might make me steer clear of it.

I really think the big draw are gamers who wish to play PC games but don't want the investment often required to do so.

I'll never buy one, since I have a decent PC and upgrading for me isn't all that much of a stressful event. But for those people, like my neighbor, who is completely computer illiterate, it's a GOD SEND since you don't need to do the installation and what have you to get the games running.

chimpmeister · Jan 19, 2004

Another waste of time and effort from Infinium Labs, who have done this same sort of thing several times in the past. This product is guaranteed to never come out, just like all the other vaporware ideas they had. As Ghost-Dog said, most people like to have a tangible game in front of them, and this system doesn't provide that at all. If you could buy special Phantom-version PC games for it, it might make a LITTLE more sense, but not much. Doomed again . . . (pun intended) :oh_no:

toy_brain · Jan 19, 2004

One of the major concerns with the Phantom has always been just how the hell they plan on delivering games down a broadband connection.
Most PC games nowardays take up more than one CD's worth of space, and usually weigh in at a couple gig after install. Thats gonna take ages to transfer over an ADSL connection and is hardly as convinient as poping a DVD/CD into the drive.

Add to that the online gaming aspect and you have some bloody heavy network traffic!

Oh yea - and the thing also looks like ass. Check out the pictures of the rear-end of the console on Slerch's link. There are clearly gaps between the metal and the moulded case so the whole thing just looks unprofessional and..... well...... like a PC in a fancy case.

With Xbox 2 on the horizon, I simply do not see the point of the Phantom at all.

galfordo · Jan 19, 2004

LOL ....

In that article they state that Phantom Net offers a lifetime subscription for the Phantom console. Is that the lifetime of the player or the lifetime of of the console?

Big difference there .... since the Phantom will probably only last about a year and a half (if it's even ever produced).

Nesagwa · Jan 19, 2004

There arent even controller ports.

Frame Gride 2 · Jan 19, 2004

the ports are in the back of the system i think.. usb.

Nesagwa · Jan 19, 2004

Frame Gride 2 said:
the ports are in the back of the system i think.. usb.

USB Ports = PC
proprietary ports = console

This thing is so fake its funny. Jesus christ.

Eric · Jan 19, 2004

toy_brain said:
One of the major concerns with the Phantom has always been just how the hell they plan on delivering games down a broadband connection.
Most PC games nowardays take up more than one CD's worth of space, and usually weigh in at a couple gig after install. Thats gonna take ages to transfer over an ADSL connection and is hardly as convinient as poping a DVD/CD into the drive.

Snipped from article
DSL and cable connections can be pretty shameful at times. Infinium is proposing to deliver entire games over these mediums with barely a noticeable load. Is that even possible? According to Royal it is. Phantom only loads 40 or 60 megs of a game into memory at any given time, and whenever it's not being played, or is just left idle, the system picks up where it left off and begins loading the rest of the game onto the hard drive or into memory (if running, of course). It even defrags itself, another plus of being based on the XP kernel.

As for my opinion....This thing will live or die by its exclusive software (if there is any at all)...

slerch666 · Jan 19, 2004

Nesagwa said:
USB Ports = PC
proprietary ports = console

This thing is so fake its funny. Jesus christ.

Read the article. It was supposedly playable. They could have been running from a totally different location and piping the video in to make it look like it was coming from the box, but who knows?

If it does use normal USB, the nice thing is that you can decide on your own controller and not be stuck with what they give you (assuming you don't want to buy 3rd party peripherals). Too bad there aren't many, if any, PC gamepads I like to use...

mog · Jan 19, 2004

When I read it was for PC games and sorta cheap I thought "Oh hey that's neat." Then I realized that 300-500 dollars to play the 1 or 2 good PC games that come out a year is not worth it.

OmegaSaber · Jan 19, 2004

It says it has wireless controllers, i.e. no controller ports.

It's still a joke though.

Big Shady · Jan 19, 2004

It actually exists :spock:

Halox · Jan 19, 2004

I would be impressed if this thing ever comes through. The dude that runs the "company" is a huxter\con-man. I wouldn't be surprized if he didn't pull this just to get some more investors, so he can declare bankruptcy and ditch with their money. Fuck the phantom and the gay ass over the net software.

Nesagwa · Jan 19, 2004

slerch666 said:
Read the article. It was supposedly playable. They could have been running from a totally different location and piping the video in to make it look like it was coming from the box, but who knows?

If it does use normal USB, the nice thing is that you can decide on your own controller and not be stuck with what they give you (assuming you don't want to buy 3rd party peripherals). Too bad there aren't many, if any, PC gamepads I like to use...

Well if they wanted to make some kind of profit, why not make their own?

There arent controller ports, because this is just a PC running a custom kernald XP machine. It isnt that hard to make fake shit like that. Shit, I COULD HAVE DONE IT and I dont have a dime to my name.

EMAGDNIM · Jan 19, 2004

this system is not going to fly with a lot of people...I donno...I have to see it in person first...plus the there's great game lineup either...

toy_brain · Jan 20, 2004

Snipped from article
DSL and cable connections can be pretty shameful at times. Infinium is proposing to deliver entire games over these mediums with barely a noticeable load. Is that even possible? According to Royal it is. Phantom only loads 40 or 60 megs of a game into memory at any given time, and whenever it's not being played, or is just left idle, the system picks up where it left off and begins loading the rest of the game onto the hard drive or into memory (if running, of course). It even defrags itself, another plus of being based on the XP kernel.

Christ, that's even worse than a long initial download!
Can you imagine how annoying its gonna be to wait for a 40meg download to complete every time you have to load in a new level?

For a moment there I thought that the console would load the next level/section while you are playing - but then I noticed it says "whenever it's not being played, or is left idle" so I guess this is not the case.

BarfHappy · Jan 20, 2004

impossible in france, the standard is 512kbits/s downstream, if you want higher you have 2 choices:
1) pay a lot
2) pay cheap but with a shitty service (my connection never worked during 3months so i switched back to national operator working at 512kbits/s)

at 512kbits/s even only 40megs will take ages. worse than a neocd that is

Takumaji · Jan 20, 2004

It even defrags itself, another plus of being based on the XP kernel.

What a retarded comment. I really hate marketing babble like that.

chemical · Jan 20, 2004

Sounds like the ApeXtreme. Except you have to pay a monthy charge. And you have to download the games instead of having it work with pre-existing ones. Winnar = apex.

Lastblade · Jan 20, 2004

Specs:

Approximately Xbox in Size Jeez, let's give people more reasons to mock this thing....

Custom OS on Windows XP Kernel They took off the Win98se logo during bootup

Up to AMD XP 3200+ CPU at 400MHz FSB Not bad if you are putting a computer together

Up to 1GB RAM Up to? I guess they have different versions to further alienate the 3 people who are going to buy this thing.

$300 to $500 dollars, but never over $500 Never is right.

GeForce FX 5700 Not bad, not great either.

nForce 2 Ultra 400 Motherboard At least the folks at Phantom all shop from Newegg.com

80 to 320GB HDD Depending on how much porn you need.

Bleh.

Phantom Console was test driven at CES

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