Will we ever see the Phantom?

[davepesc]

I started thinking about this again for some reason. It's funny, people heard about the downloadable games on the Revolution and had joygasms, but the reaction for this ranged from "It'll never happen," to "meh..."

I checked out their Web site and they have lots of pictures and specs, but no inkling of a release date.

Supposedly, the president was on Attack of the Show (blech) in June talking about the service. Did anyone see it?

http://www.phantom.net/default.asp

[bazariah]

i think it's been far too long in pre-production and what ever, i doubt it will ever see its way into the hands of consumers

[Sylentwulf]

No.

[maxlords]

Absolutely:

http://www.serialexperience.com/image_gallery/Phantom.jpg

http://www.tebeosfera.com/Documento/Articulo/Clasicos/Phantom/phantom.gif

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00005JMZS.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

http://www.edmunds.com/media/2003/naias/04.rollsroyce.phantom/04.rollsroyce.phantom.f34.500.jpg

[pixelsnpolygons]

I honestly do not. If it has taken them this long to develop the thing (it's "it is coming soon phase" has lasted about as long as this generation) I have serious doubts about their strength to keep it afloat once it hits the shelves. Had they released it a few years ago, like they hinted at (or has their hype lasted less than it has felt like), it would have at least been something interesting. Now? Man, I honestly don't give a shit about paying $8 to play Diablo II on my TV... especially if rumors of Blizzard releasing it for PSP and DS are true.

Actually that's not entirely true, I will play and buy just about any system and if this could play a bunch of old PC games I'd probably give it a go. I'm just not very thrilled about it. I checked out the site just now and it showed pictures from E3. I walked the E3 showfloors until my legs fell off, every single day and I didn't see any damn Phantom exhibition.

[Slimedog]

This thing is vaporware. The management has a record of starting businesses that go nowhere to syphon investment capital from venture capitalists.

I knew this thing would never come out the second I downloaded a demo from XBox Arcade. In spite of the years of development time, MS managed to scoop their market and its going to be built into the 360 before the end of the year.

I'm surprised they had E3 pics on their site. From what I heard, they didn't have a booth this year.

There is no good excuse why it would take them this long either. Off the shelf hardware, all it would take is a relatively simple software front end and they would be ready for production. That is, if they ever intended to go to market with it in the first place. This thing is a scam.

[davepesc]

about it. I checked out the site just now and it showed pictures from E3. I walked the E3 showfloors until my legs fell off, every single day and I didn't see any damn Phantom exhibition.

Note that those are from E3 '04

[Kevin Listwan]

It's called the Revolution, Nintendo will be doing a lot of what the Phantom will be doing (if it comes out). In a sense I think Nintendo will really show us if downloadable games on a console is the future.

The Phantom is a good idea though, think of the savings and extra profit by not having to deal with distribution.

[Dobie]

With their "exciting" announcements of securing deals to bring us such esteemed titles as Mavis Beacon and Reader Rabbit, I preordered on the spot. LOL

I wouldn't say people got all ga-ga over the Revolution because of D/L content yet still rolled their eyes at the Phantom because of the same. I think people saw through the Phantom for what it is, a scam. The D/L content had nothing to do with it. Seriously, which would a gamer rather have available to download anyways... Reader Rabbit or Metroid?

[calthaer]

I watched the Attack of the Show thing in its entirety, actually. Initially, I was firmly in the camp of "this thing is a hoax / scam" etc. - the negative press on [H]ard|OCP was pretty condemning:

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

To a certain extent, I still am in this camp. The thing looks pretty shady.

On the other hand, I want this thing to work - I really do. I agree with what Warren Spector says about the game industry having a "flawed distribution model" -

http://crystaltips.typepad.com/wonderland/2005/03/burn_the_house_.html

There needs to be some way to bring games to people that doesn't involve retail stores - downloads from the internet or whatever. The Infinium is a good crack at doing this, if it works. The system on Attack of the Show (the link to the show is on the Infinium website) looked like it works. The guy appeared to be running Thief 3 on the thing.

They're also not planning on having this thing be a blockbuster hit right off the bat. Whatever that guy's name is on Attack of the Show pointed out that, for most technology, you don't sell a bajillion of them on the first day. It builds over time - with things like satellite radio, etc. Infinium claims to be selling a service, much like satellite radio. You pay a monthly fee for the free games and the ability to download new ones. The price they showed for Thief 3 - like $8 - was pretty reasonable.

The question is: is it worth a monthly fee? I already have a decent PC, so I doubt I'll be getting an Infinium to play their games - which look like they're only PC games, for now. The other question is: if you stop paying the fee, is the thing any good? Can I hop back on the subscription any time I need some new games?

Of course, they probably put a pretty small hard drive in there so that you can't have all your games installed at once - that way you HAVE to keep paying to play, because the guy mentioned that you can re-download any games you've previously purchased.

There are a lot of details yet to be revealed on the system. I won't write it off completely. I hope it works, but I doubt I'll be getting one.

[pixelsnpolygons]

about it. I checked out the site just now and it showed pictures from E3. I walked the E3 showfloors until my legs fell off, every single day and I didn't see any damn Phantom exhibition.

Note that those are from E3 '04

Ah, I see. That explains it. I was wondering how I could have missed something that took up a sizeable amount of floor.

[GizmoGC]

Yeah, e3 2004...Cardboard crackers, WTF! Who bit into those besides me?