I got to see a prototype Phantom!

[CMAN]

I got to see a prototype Phantom today and talk with some of the guys who are pitching it to companies. Most of the guys seemed very nice and I got to ask them a bunch of questions about things such as piracy, modding the Phantom, benefits and such. They seem very confident on the piracy/modding issues. They know someone will end up modding it, but they believe there will be very few people who do.

The unit itself is actually good looking. Much better than an XBOX or PS2. They liked to think of it as "Apple like". The keyboard also looked decent, but the mouse could have used some work.

I am going to go see their presentation tomorrow morning and hopefully be able to get some play time on it. They mentioned Doom 3 going to be a title on it, so I will try and play it. I want to see the performance of it. I've played Doom 3 on my system with a 9700 Pro and a 6800 GT. The Infinium guys believe they can eek more out of their card (5700 FX I believe) than if it was on a normal computer.

If you guys have any questions you'd like me to ask, or any games you think I should try just tell me. Or if you had a question, they told me a lot more than what I mentioned here.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Do they have any plans to sell the keyboard/mouseboard thingy seperately? :|

Then again, if they ain't worried about it getting hacked I guess I'll be picking one up anyways...

 

[CMAN]

The mouse keyboard comes with it, and they plan to see a wireless one if you want to upgrade.

I did not look to see the connector for the keyboard, other than it connects in the middle of the front of the console. There was also no other visible ports on the front for 2nd, 3rd, or 4th player controls. I look closer tomorrow.

 

[Sonic]

I'm glad someone was actually able to see one in real life. What is their marketing strategy like and do they plan to actually compete with consoles? Actually how much is this thing going to run?

 

[one]

Awesome!
At what resolution can it play Doom3?

 

[CMAN]

I'm not sure if I can say price. I'll find out tomorrow. I will say the price is what one might expect XBOX 2 or PS3 to cost.

They seem to be going after the consumer who wants to play computer games but not dealing with upgrading, dealing with going to the store, or troubleshooting games not working.

The couple of times I mentioned PS2 or XBOX, they tried to point out they didn't want to compete with them, or the Phantom was another kind of product.

They also seem very happy with there delivery system (and the time it took to start a game). They claimed a recently released game took only 10 minutes to start from "ordering" it. I took this as a shot at Steam, but I could be wrong.

 

[CMAN]

They are hooking the system up to a flat panel HDTV, so I'm assuming it supports HDTV, but I'm not sure. I will check that out tomorrow.

edit: I can't spell....

 

[rabidrabbit]

Is... is this "Phantom" console going to be competing with Revolution, xbox2 and PS3 :?

 

[CMAN]

It is the "Phantom", but I woulnd't say it can compete with the XBOX2 or PS3.

 

[Deepak]

Who all are developing for Phantom?

 

[jvd]

I don't think its a bad idea .

Its not going to sell millions of units but i dont' think it has to .


I have many cousins that want to play doom3 and they will spend the money to upgrade thier pc to run well which is most likely 2-300$ . If they can buy a system to play it on for 200-300 , surf the web in thier living room and play other pc ports for hte next year or two that would be a good thing . Then when doom4 comes out they can buy another one . Saves me a ton of trouble

 

[London Geezer]

So you saw the only unit that will ever be made? Nice!

 

[Deepak]

I have many cousins that want to play doom3 and they will spend the money to upgrade thier pc to run well which is most likely 2-300$ . If they can buy a system to play it on for 200-300 , surf the web in thier living room and play other pc ports for hte next year or two that would be a good thing . Then when doom4 comes out they can buy another one . Saves me a ton of trouble

Err! Then why not spend that money on a new GPU and enjoy a superior experience? Or else buy XBox.

 

[London Geezer]

I have many cousins that want to play doom3 and they will spend the money to upgrade thier pc to run well which is most likely 2-300$ . If they can buy a system to play it on for 200-300 , surf the web in thier living room and play other pc ports for hte next year or two that would be a good thing . Then when doom4 comes out they can buy another one . Saves me a ton of trouble

Err! Then why not spend that money on a new GPU and enjoy a superior experience? Or else buy XBox.

Cause the Phantom is cheaper.
Not that i would ever buy one, but still...

 

[Deepak]

Cause the Phantom is cheaper.

How do you know? Do you work in their Manufacturing factory?

 

[London Geezer]

Cause the Phantom is cheaper.

How do you know? Do you work in their Manufacturing factory?

Well, the whole point of the Phantom is that it will be cheaper than buying a new GPU+CPU to run games on. Not defending it, i just thought that was the whole idea behind it.

 

[Deepak]

Well, the whole point of the Phantom is that it will be cheaper than buying a new GPU+CPU to run games on. Not defending it, i just thought that was the whole idea behind it.

My point is why not buy Xbox then.

 

[London Geezer]

Well, the whole point of the Phantom is that it will be cheaper than buying a new GPU+CPU to run games on. Not defending it, i just thought that was the whole idea behind it.

My point is why not buy Xbox then.

Phantom is more powerful? Did u see Doom3-Xbox?? :?

 

[CMAN]

I think you guys are missing the point. This isn't for any of us probably. It's for people like my mother and sister. They know nothing about computers, but they may play a few computer titles. Or they may not want to deal with an XBOX and such. I am very curious about parental controls with it. I think they are focusing on a different market.

Also, the seem to plan to updgrade the machine at a rate much much quicker than an XBOX or PS2.

The machine they have currently is very expensive as it was hand crafted. I just hope i don't get pissed and die when playing Doom 3....


J/K

 

[London Geezer]

I think you guys are missing the point. This isn't for any of us probably. It's for people like my mother and sister. They know nothing about computers, but they may play a few computer titles. Or they may not want to deal with an XBOX and such. I am very curious about parental controls with it. I think they are focusing on a different market.

Also, the seem to plan to updgrade the machine at a rate much much quicker than an XBOX or PS2.

The machine they have currently is very expensive as it was hand crafted. I just hope i don't get pissed and die when playing Doom 3....


J/K

Your mother and your sister are much much much more likely to buy a Playstation or a Gameboy (whatever variations) than a Phantom.
And a new lipstick to go with that, cause when mothers and sisters go shopping, they always come back with a new lipstick, even when they buy a new house, they find the lipstick that's just right for saturday!!!