21st January 2003, 10:18 PM
Quote:Destroy Your Game Systems
The Phantom is coming...
January 21, 2003 - Normally we're a bit skeptical about the announcement of new game systems, especially when they're scheduled to come out in the same year they were announced and all calls to the manufacturer's offices are answered by smooth talking recordings that promise the "PR staff" will get right on our request. But, clearly this is the greatest thing ever.
Sure, we have no idea how fast or cool The Phantom is, what its specs are, who's in line to manufacture it, what partners the mysterious Infinium Labs Corporation has -- even if it is a corporation (which it does not appear to be) -- what platform the system is, how much it'll cost, what exactly it plays, how all this developer support is planned for, or even how they plan on meeting their unveiling and launch schedule with no complete hardware. Hell, we know absolutely nothing of worth, but we're going to go ahead and say it's a scaled down PC, possibly powered by Linux or some kind of wacky Lindows, though likely a stock version of Microsoft's money machine only with a far more simplified UI.
The slow loading official website and accompanying press release are so intentionally vague and devoid of anything worth reporting that many are believing this entire announcement to be an elaborate hoax. With no substantial evidence to either prove or disprove the actual existence of the machine, we're going to go ahead and say nothing at all. We'll let The Phantom In Depth description speak for itself:
"Infinium Labs is the inventor and manufacturer of the first broadband game console. The Phantom game console provides consumers the ultimate game playing experience with potentially thousands of games offered by the December 2003 launch."
Assuming, for the sake of argument, that The Phantom is corporeal, here's what we do know:
No apparent optical drive
Broadband enabled and dependent
Required subscription service
Will retain the ability to play PC gamers online
32,679 titles available (PC games)
Patches and demos
All content delivered over Internet
Some "games" come preloaded
2.4GHz wireless controller
Ability to add peripherals
Suspiciously vague press release
Suspiciously vague concept art of the system
Suspiciously vague everything
We've also been unable to find out whether or not this company is even registered, which leads us to believe it is not. Searches for patents, trademarks, and more all turned up nothing. Who cares, right? If you're actively seeking gainful employment, Infinium Labs Corporation is currently looking for persons with the following backgrounds:
Engineering
Marketing
Sales
Business Development
Operations
Finance
Information Systems
It may be a hoax, it may be entirely dependent on networking technology that isn't mature and an infrastructure that doesn't exist, and it may just be a cheap PC, but don't let our pessimism get you down, an official unveiling is expected in March of 2003, so we're planning on seeing it at the GDC (an event Infinium claims to be attending, even though Infinium isn't actually on the exhibitors list). Prior to the GDC, the company says it'll be at the DICE summit. After the GDC, it says it'll be at E3. It's not on that exposition's exhibitors list either. Okay.
I guess you can expect little to no more information, ever.
Well I'm ready to give up my cube and PS2