So Phantom is not a vapourware afterall! :)

[Deepak]

Link

Start-Up Unveils PC-Based Game Console
Mon Aug 18,10:00 AM ET

Martyn Williams, IDG News Service

A Florida-based start-up that plans to take on Sony and Microsoft with its own computer gaming console announced preliminary specifications of the device over the weekend.

The Phantom game console will be based on a PC architecture, will download games via broadband networks to an internal hard drive, and should be available in the first quarter of 2004, said Infinium Labs. The company published details of the console on its Web site after a computer games show at which it had been planning to disclose the details was cancelled.

At the heart of the Phantom will be an Intel processor. Infinium Labs, which previously promised a processor running at 2 GHz or faster, still hasn't identified the processor but over the weekend said it would run at a speed up to 3 GHz. The console will also include 256MB of DDR DRAM, a graphics card from NVidia, and a hard drive with a capacity of at least 100GB, according to the specifications.

Those specifications won't stand still--one of the features of the Phantom is the ability to upgrade the unit as technology advances.

Device Details

A feature it doesn't have is an optical disc drive and that sets it apart from its competitors--Sony's PlayStation 2, Microsoft's XBox (news - web sites), or Nintendo (news - web sites)'s Gamecube. That leaves customers without any physical media should the hard disk suffer a failure but Infinium says, should that happen, users will be able to redownload games they have purchased. When the disk drive is full, they will also be able to store games on network servers to make room for new games on their local drive.

Games for the Phantom, which is based on the Windows XP (news - web sites) Embedded operating system, will be downloaded through a custom online service that will require a broadband Internet connection. The Phantomnet online service, which will also offer access to gaming content, demos of software, and online gaming, will be a subscription service and is currently projected to cost $9.95 per month, said David Frederick, chief marketing officer of Infinium Labs.

Downloaded games are expected to cost the same or less than current packaged games and users will also have an option to rent games, said Frederick.

Like other console makers Infinium Labs expects software and not hardware sales will be where it makes most of its profits. That's a classic business model for computer game console makers but one that demands resources.

"Microsoft will be the first to tell you that its incredibly difficult to break into this market," said Schelley Olhava, an analyst covering consumer products at IDC. "You need some great games and you need some developers. You need to pump out some great games, not just one or two."

Doing Things Differently

Infinium Labs is going about things differently, said Frederick.

"Sony and Microsoft are in a position to demand exclusivity on certain titles," he said. "We take a different approach. To us it doesn't matter if the title was originally created for Xbox or whatever. We make it easy to have content on the Phantom and unlike Sony and Microsoft, who charge a royalty to port and for the [software development kit], we provide the SDK virtually free and don't charge a royalty to have it on our platform."

Relying on games ported from other platforms to the Phantom might not be enough, said Olhava. "If you are a gamer and have a PlayStation 2 (news - web sites), why would you go out and buy another box to play Madden Football."

Olhava also worries about the upgrade option that Infinium says it will offer.

"Consoles are fixed and there is commonality," she said. A game developed in year one will still work in year five. When you start being able to upgrade it changes the equation and makes it more like a PC."

Price Points

Looking ahead, Frederick said the company is planning to begin a beta testing program limited to the U.S. in October. He said the company has received more than 40,000 applications for the beta testing program ever since it began advertising it on its Web site. Sales are not expected to begin until the first quarter of next year in the U.S. and the company is targeting a price of around $400 for the console . International sales are planned but no schedule has been fixed.

The $400 price tag is more than that of both the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox, which each cost around $180 online, and a price that analyst Olhava thinks could prove too high.

"Gamers have shown time and time again that $299 is the threshold,"she said."I think it will be a very niche product. All three companies are very well established and those are the killer platforms."

Infinium's Frederick, not surprisingly, feels differently about his company's prospects.

"We don't feel that there is any major competition,"he said."It is a game console and there are two huge players in that space but we feel very strongly that we have been able to differentiate enough between static game consoles and dynamic platforms."

Infinium Labs has faced some hurdles in coming this far. When it first disclosed it was developing a game console, online gaming message boards were filled with messages from users casting doubt on the company's plans and even on whether Infinium Labs was a real company.

"I can tell you flat out, not only is Phantom real but it's coming and it's coming real soon,"said Frederick."For people who don't think it's real, they will be in for a huge shock."

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DOOOOMMMMEED!

 

[zurich]

I read somewhere that they need 1 million subscribers to break even... heh.

 

[London Geezer]

We don't feel that there is any major competition

yeah i guess there will be no competition if no one will buy this thing or anything that works like it....

i mean.... downloading games? WHOLE games? do they think everyone has a 10Mb broadband line at home or something?

dont know about u, but here in england u're lucky if u have the possibility to get 1Mb which is something less than 1% of the people have.
2Mb has JUST been introduced and it only works at certain times of the day, after which times the lines go back to the normal 512K...

 

[Andreww]

I'll tell you what the Phantom is, it's the Ghost of Trip Hawkins yelling at them that they'll screw it up and wind up losing millions of dollars like he did with 3DO.

 

[cthellis42]

I found this comment particularly... er... amusing?

The interesting thing is we let the cat out of the bag back around March and the response was just overwhelming, we have just created so much demand and interest, in fact so much so that we see comments like, "It's not real, it's vaporware."

So overwhelming that the only commentary has been by people basically saying it'll never come out, or never amount to anything substantial! Heh...

I don't like seeing "high-performance nVidia card" listed as opposed to more specifics, as it's leaned on very heavily in determining its overall gaming-ness and I really want to know the chip flavor before I can judge the relative goodessness. (And since I know of no other specific nVidia designs, they're just strapping a mainstream PC-model card in there and have no reason to hide what one it is.)
I'm also not sure why they're hedging on the CPU and saying a "3.0ghz processor," as they mention an Intel motherboard, and just WHAT idiot would think Intel designed a new one for an AMD chip? Meanwhile as they are, again, going for a standard PC design there's no reason not to mention what flavor they're using; is it Canterwood? Springdale? What?
I also shudder a bit at only 256 megs of RAM. If they WILL be offering conventional PC gaming, 256 is already stretching its usefulness--unless the games themselves won't push it much, at which point WHY would people prefer the Phantom to what they get from their current PCs?

I must admit the Phantom is trying to wedge in with a rather unique and interesting model, but the problem with such models is it A) confuses the consumer, and B) if it is TRULY new, the cost of tweaking and balancing it as they ride on unfamiliar territory may be too much for them to handle.

Another amusing thing would seem to be their "Phantom For Life" program, which makes it almost seem like the original outlay for Phantom hardware is more of a "sign-up" fee than a "buy your hardware" cost. Do they plan to entice people with promises that they will always have the most up-to-date console, and plan to break up and resell used Phantoms returned to make up (perhaps even exceed) the original hardware cost?
As othewise the hardware loss seems MONUMENTAL for them. A 3ghz processor alone will run them over $399 all by itself. Of course they're stating "up to" so what do they mean by that? Are they having multiple scales...? That wouldn't seem to be a bright idea. The only other option is they're providing much lower capabilities and engaging in shifty marketing, which would not seem to be a great idea either.

But my main concern is with the model itself, and aside from that the developers--or lack thereof. Their model would show them as trying to be a lower-cost, subscription-based, PC-alternative, but can they really compete in that market? And why should they WANT to? The console business itself is much more lucrative than PC gaming, but that would require them having to make a new platform and entice developers (which if they have done any of they are certainly not letting we mere mortals know)... So as a PC alternative why are they not essentially stating "well let you play the latest PC games!" Because it sounds like it doesn't. So essentially we'll see "cream of the crap" PC games on a console that begs the question "why not spend $399 upgrading the system you DO have to kick ass?"

My prediction goes to there being very slow adoption from less consumer confidence and no strong developer support to increase the adoption rate, meaning few PC devs would want to sign up in favor of their leasing model as opposed to direct retailer sales, keeping further sales low, making... well, overall making the thing stillborn.

Another scary thing for them should be from the initial outlay, as unless they have a HUGE backer I can't see them being able to absorb the hardware losses long enough to become profitable. (Especially since I have no doubt it will be quickly hacked and become as desirable for Linux-modding and other uses a la the Xbox. If a subscription charge MUST be attached it might cut down on that, but people will either get around it or just not buy the thing at all.)

But in the meanwhile we don't know it's final capabilities and we have no idea just how its plan works nor what kinds of games it has for the offering from the start. And unless we are REALLY surprised by them when they do launch (and I'd say not, as their current leaks do not inspire confidence) I don't see the general public willing to shell out for that model.

 

[zurich]

Much much much larger companies (like Bell Canada/Sympatico [their ISP wing]) have already tried the 'rent/subscribe games over the net' model, without much success.

http://www.gamesmania.com/display.do?jsp=/jsp/home.jsp&lang=en

 

[Tagrineth]

Phantom only having 256MB doesn't really harm it for PC games... keep in mind it's probably going to run a dedicated "games only" mode while running games, and there's no giant OS stealing at least a quarter of that at all times. (Embedded Windows has an insanely small memory footprint)

 

[cthellis42]

Phantom only having 256MB doesn't really harm it for PC games... keep in mind it's probably going to run a dedicated "games only" mode while running games, and there's no giant OS stealing at least a quarter of that at all times. (Embedded Windows has an insanely small memory footprint)

While this may be true, wouldn't it still drag on most modern, high-task games? Plus, I've frequently seen my CPU utilization at 90%+ for the more demanding games, so I'm not too sure the OS will be getting the way at ALL times...

 

[LisaJoy]

 

[Tagrineth]

While this may be true, wouldn't it still drag on most modern, high-task games? Plus, I've frequently seen my CPU utilization at 90%+ for the more demanding games, so I'm not too sure the OS will be getting the way at ALL times...

CPU utilisation != memory footprint.

Windows XP keeps all tasks in RAM in some way or another all the time.

 

[cthellis42]

Are there any decent methods to track and compare between OSes? (Even between different versions of Windows.)

 

[Fox5]

"It is a game console and there are two huge players in that space but we feel very strongly that we have been able to differentiate enough between static game consoles and dynamic platforms."

Wow, they aren't even 1/100th the size of microsoft, and already they don't consider nintendo in the market, let alone microsoft and sony as competitors.

BTW, I used to have a mini windows thing that basically disabled everything(including the task bar) and only allowed one program to run at a time, but there wasn't much of a performance increase. But this way back in the days of windows 98, and I probably had either a 300 mhz k6 or a 500 mhz athlon, with 128 or 256 MB of ram.