Phantom Mock-up

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On January 20, 2003, Infinium Labs announced that they were about to launch a console by the name of Phantom, that would directly take on the three big players of the industry, Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft. March came, the month of the supposed launch, but no new console was launched. As times passed, several high profile game sites and magazines began to doubt the actual existence of the console, and even the company itself.

A site was launched, and mock ups of the console were shown of to the press, but it was only around E3 2004 that the actual specifications, design and final idea of the company was revealed.

The Phantom, as it was named from the very beginning, was to be a so called "always on" broadband device that would make games available though the Phantom downloadable system. these would then be saved on the internal hard drive, with the only difference in the experience being the lack of a cover, booklet and a game disk.

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Infinium Labs, a Tampa Bay area technology company, announced on January 20, 2003 that they were on the verge of releasing a new game console called the Phantom. The announcement seemed to have come out of blue causing some to believe that this console was either a hoax or vaporware. Could a small Florida based company take on three of the largest technology companies in the world with their untested and unknown game console?

So what would the Phantom be packing that would make it stand out? Not only is Infinium Labs promising to make this console out perform any on the market, but provide a unique way to attain games. The Phantom is described as an "always on” broadband device making games available via the Phantom’s downloadable system. Users will be able to subscribe to gaming packages, pay per play, demo / rent games you are looking to purchase and seamlessly upgrade your system requirements and patches. This game-downloading concept is not something new. The concept was originally introduced with the Taito WoWow, and later put in effect with the Satellaview in Japan. Not only will the method be interesting for gamers, but game developers and publishers could reap greater profits using the new game delivery system. It makes sense since they don’t have to pay for a game media format (Cart/ CD / DVD). Meanwhile the Phantom reaps in funds from purchased downloaded games, licensing fees, and rentals (steal away Blockbuster’s thunder).

The Phantom will also supposedly come with a bundled 2.4 GHz wireless controller. The Phantom also is suppose to allow “Cross Platform Gaming” (Phantom gamers could play users on other systems such as PC’s). Thousands of games are also supposed to be offered by the quoted December 2003 launch. No specifications for the machine have been released yet.

Could the Phantom succeed in a market dominated by three console giants clawing for superiority? Infinium Labs intends to unveil the new gaming console in March of 2003. With the quoted launch a short time away we will all have to wait and see.