I guess being a system admin for a major corporation would give me no background on systems, etc? Nor would having a business degree qualify me to speak about business models

I don't disagree with the statement that the problem with PC games is the loading, patching, hardware config, etc.

But consoles address this situation at a lower price point and generally without a subscription required just to play (I realize some specific console games have subscriptions and that some PC games, like Everquest have been successful using a subscription model).

My point with this thing is that they are asking for a bigger initial investment than the consoles, as well as solely depending on a broadband connection for any ability to play games (XBL depends on broadband, but playing an X-Box game itself does not). These are risks, that a company without substantially deep pockets is probably unlikely to be able to deal with and overcome in a reasonable timeframe (i.e. to turn a profit before they run out of capital)

Also, they are probably taking a bigger hit on the initial sale of this thing than the current console makers are taking on selling the current gen of consoles; i.e. losing more money up front. If the phantom is cannibalized for parts or hacked in significant numbers and their revenue stream is affected by this, then it will most certainly cause the Phantom to be a failure. At that point they would have harmed their reputation severely with the early adopter crowd who bought the thing for legitimate use because most likely the content would not continue to be provided.

I don't see it as a viable business plan at this point, especially keeping in mind that a substantial userbase would probably be required to cover the cost of supplying the promised content.

It took me exactly .5 seconds of thought to see a lot of problems with this machine.

I can't believe that people are going to pay for games that they don't actually own.

Console owners and PC owners (you know, the people who would buy this thing) are used to buying games, bringing them home and putting them in the machine. I can't believe they would trust that they could pay for a game that they "own" but all it would take is the bankruptcy of the company and the closing of the servers to completely wipe out their game collection.

People can still play their Dreamcast games, even though it is a dead system. What happens if the Phantom dies?

Sorry, no, that is NOT going to fly.

Do you give all the spam you get the benefit of the doubt?

yes, I know this, which is why I come to the forum in the first place.

My point was not that people here aren't knowledgeable, but between this thread and the new Nintendo gizmo thread, there's just a lot of people making broad comments based on very limited information (more so in the Nintendo thread than this one).

I'm certainly not saying the Phantom is the greatest idea ever. But it's an interesting one. I think it will have a broad appeal to the average gamer.

I do however think that everyone should be excited to see this kind of innovation coming from various companies. It can only help the gaming industry as a whole, which in the end, is what we are all looking for I'd hope.

lol, the drama that is the Phantom continues. I forgot about them actually but they keep trying to bring themselves back in the spotlight. Now they're trying to sue HardOCP.com for that article posted at the beginning of this thread, which has been there since September.



You can read HardOCP's response here

http://www.hardocp.com/news.html?new...FyeSAsMjAwNA==

And if that wasn't funny enough, Infiniums owner Tim Roberts made a post a few days ago on Infiniums message board (which he now deleted) stating that the guys at Penny Arcade called him on the phone to tell him he was they were intentially joking with him with their recent comics, which it turns out (as you might have guessed) PA stated on the site that they never called them nor have any intention to ever do.

this guy at Infinium is so full of crap its amazing.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2004/20040223l.jpg

hilarious...

HardOCP is now fighting back. They've filed a lawsuit against Infinium.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/03...s_6090525.html

...On February 27, Bennett filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, "to clear the air and terminate the flurry of demands, allegations, and defamatory Internet posts directed against HardOCP.com, by Infinium Labs and law firms representing Infinium Labs and its CEO, Tim Roberts." Documents were served to Infinium Labs representatives in Florida yesterday.

In a press release soon to be made public, lawyers representing KB Networks (the Bennett-founded entity that owns HardOCP), refers to the suit as one based on a legal statue commonly referred to as the "Declaratory Judgment Act." HardOCP lawyers explain the act as one that "permits a person or entity being threatened with lawsuits from another party to force the issue to be decided, rather than having to operate under a cloud of uncertainty and intimidation." ...

I think everyone is pulling for HardOCP. Infinium should have just dropped this issue, but now it will cause them embarrasment when they lose this case in court.

haha, hardocp will own infinium.

lol! They probably weren't expecting that. I hope they finally expose Infinium and Tim Robert's for the scam artist that he is. I liked PA's headline: "Stop pretending like you're a real company!"

edit:uhh...because people are being sued for so called alledged "defamatory comments," i need to point out that I didn't really mean what I said up above. Its uh, only what I heard, or something.

Too late!

Chris

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...l-distribution

Might as well put to a close, to this 5 year story!

Chris

They were too ahead of times.

A part of me really wanted to bump some of the even older threads about this

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/video-game-...hlight=phantom

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/video-game-...hlight=phantom

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/video-game-...hlight=phantom

Anyway, apparently someone found a functional prototype of the console.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/0...antom-console/

So many guests and banned users up in here.