The Phantom Menace

[Mr Jones]

No no, not the limp Star Wars film, the next super console to enter the ring...


More details of a challenger to the console gaming crown have been released by Infinium Labs, the Florida start-up behind the Phantom console.
The machine's operating system will be based on Windows XP, said the company on its website.

It have a 3GHz processing chip, an Nvidia graphics card, a 100GB hard drive, 256MB of RAM memory and come with wireless technology built-in. But there is no CD or DVD drive as games will have to be downloaded over a broadband connection.

The machine is not due to go on sale in the US until the first quarter of 2004 and it is expected to cost around $400.




http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39415000/jpg/_39415611_phantom203b.jpg

Xbox wannabe, or genuine contender for the console market ?.

/discuss

[Mr_007]

This is very good console game.

[Tarron_D]

With those specs, i hope someone makes games for it, because i want one! At 400 bucks its outrageously low priced. You could design some killer games for it.

[Mr Jones]

Infiniums web site is sooooo sleek it makes me weep...
http://infiniumlabs.com/

[LawnGnome2005]

Was just talking with a friend about this. I personally don't think it's going to last very long. It's going to cost WAY too much for the average person. The console will cost somewhere from $300-$400, then you have to pay the $10 subscription fee, you still need to pay for new games, and on top of that you need to fork over money for your highspeed net access. And it's going to be upgradeable. You'll be able to order it with more ram or a bigger hard drive etc.. I origanlly thought that consoles were supposed to all use the same parts. So the developers only had to worry about 1 configuration for the game to be played on, unlike a PC. Of course between now and COMDEX they might change something that will make me actually think about buying this. But for now I would say it's just a wannabe :p

[Niffle]

it doesn't appear to be a console, more like a compact PC with no disc drive

[Omit Name]

when i read about this when information about it first started coming out a bit ago. it seemed to me like it was a cable box for games. "pay per play" with demo's and such for all the consoles from my impression of it as explained in some game magazine. it does seem a bit pricy thogh.

[Fickle]

can you say "Dreamcast 2?"

[Bob the Tomato]

I would think you could fill a 20 gb hard drive pretty quickly if you have no way to store the data outside the system. Surely they could have used a bigger HD? Or maybe it's a stability issue, I dunno. At that price, it seems marketed towards high-end users (ie with money to burn). Only time will tell how this thing faires in the market.

[BlueTape]

Originally posted by Mr Jones
No no, not the limp Star Wars film, the next super console to enter the ring...

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39415000/jpg/_39415611_phantom203b.jpg

Xbox wannabe, or genuine contender for the console market ?.

/discuss

To me this seems like "hardware spyware", what I mean by that is... people are gonna watch and see on what games get downloaded most. and then predict whats the next big style of game play...

I could be wrong but thats how I see it

[DragonSon]

I don't think this thing will last very long...People would probably not want to fork out all that money when they could just pay fifty dollars to buy a game, and not have to download anything for it..

[mark]

penny arcade refer to it as a broken pc...
http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2003/20030820l.gif

[DragonSon]

ROFLMAO!!!That's hilarious...my thoughts on the damn thing, as well. :D

[sgtfuzzbubble011]

pfft @ phantom

[HarsH]

it will be good in some peoples eyes, but i'll stick by my trusty p.c. it'll never go out of date.

[Mr Jones]

I'm entirely apathetic towards this.

Great specs, who wouldn't want one, but who the hell wants to download games for it?, what if you live in a non broadband area?, what if you have broadband and it's got a download cap on it?, what happens when the hard drive fills up?, what happens when the hard drives borkes, do you have to re-download all your faves and pay over for them again?, what happens when someone write the "phantom console msblast" worm :D

Too many "what if's" for my liking

It's a case of nice hairstyle, shame about the face...

[dylman]

You have to question whether or not the Phantom console even exists...

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NTEy

[xenosomething]

that link says the pics of the system are only 3D renders and not actual photos.....:rolleyes:

this thing is gonna die real hard.....i'm gonna use this thing as a coaster for my ps2.

[sgtfuzzbubble011]

"Register to be contacted to preorder your Phantom..."

Wtf?


*shits on Phantom*