E3 2004: Phantom limbers up for public debut

News - Pricing and launch information revealed for new console...

With Infinium Labs plucky console debutant the Phantom currently preparing itself for a full debut at this week's expo in LA, the company behind this new hardware have revealed the first official information on pricing. In fact, this pricing information makes for surprisingly pleasing reading, especially to those that thought the Phantom would simply be to costly to lure gamers online with its lofty broadband-powered promises.

Those signing a two-year contract at $29.95 per month will receive the console free, whilst those opting for a 'pay as you go' model can fork out $199 up front to get their hands on the beast. What's more, this initial investment will be credited back once a user has completed two-years of subscription, which is an interesting way of working things.

A launch date is also mooted for the first time reliably informing us that the Phantom online service will go live on November 18th 2004, and promises to make both old games and brand-spanking new ones available for download 24/7. Free games will be made available upon the service's launch, with others being made available to subscribers with every month's payment - and additional 'premium' titles being downloadable at extra cost.

The console - or 'receiver' as Phantom prefer to call it, consists of an AMD AthlonTM XP 2500+ central processing unit (CPU), the NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 Ultra graphics processing unit (GPU) and the NVIDIA nForceTM2 Ultra 400 platform processor. 256mb of RAM is also included, and a 40gb HDD. The package also offers a keyboard, gamepad and mouse.

"Everybody loves games, both the casual player and the avid gamer," enthused Infinium President Kevin Bachus. "People my age who grew up playing video games are now starting families of their own and are eager to play together. We'll have an array of titles, something for everybody. And all the consumer will have to do is sit down in front of the system, choose a title and begin to play. The service is that easy to use. We anticipate that every generation will be fighting over the controllers."

Each user of the Phantom in the home will be able to customise the look of their menus, etc., and the system will apparently learn the tastes of individual players and offer appropriate titles. The system will remove older content as the HDD fills, and will re-stream such data when re-called later on. Multiplayer games will also be available from the off - we're promised - and players will apparently be able to duke it out with other Phantom gamers as well those on other consoles and the PC too.

"With the Phantom Gaming Service, publishers can get a title to gamers within hours of when the gold master is cut," Bachus enthused. "They hand us a disc, and we'll do the rest, making it available to consumers in record time because we don't have to deal with physical manufacturing and distribution. We can also help publishers get a buzz going with rentals before the title arrives at traditional outlets. Another benefit will be a new revenue stream from previously released titles."

The service will be demonstrated in a number of 'settings' at E3, and Bachus has already expressed his interest in getting the Phantom into internet cafes, hotels and other non-traditional locales. The service will apparently be sold at leading retailers and online, as well as other non-specified outlets.

More on this ever-intriguing prospect as we get it.