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Late Night Consoling

by jason bergman, Jan 21, 2003 8:30pm PST
Related Topics – Atari, Activision, Bungie, Games: Console, FCC

According to this press release, the Infinium Phantom is a new "console" in the works, which will be the "most robust gaming console, with "state of the art design and architecture," and feature "up to 50,000 games to choose from." This dream machine will be the first system to ship with a wireless controller, have online compatibility with PC games, and will use the Internet as its sole means of game distribution. Are you laughing yet? It gets better...there's "seamless upgrades and patch management," and "a multi tiered subscription service that meets the needs of casual, moderate and hard-core game players." Hoo boy. I'm waiting for the part where it says it runs on Linux. Here's a Q&A with more facts about this thing. I hate to belittle someone's hard work, but this is so ridiculous a notion that I'm having a hard time containing myself. So I make this pledge: if this is for real, in the sense that it's a legitimate gaming console, which stands a chance at surviving for more than a year after launch, I will be the first in line to buy one. Prove me wrong guys, and I'll happily humiliate myself by admitting I was wrong.

GameCube

 Jeff Minter on GameCube! The latest issue of the UK magazine EDGE apparently confirms that Jeff Minter, the insane genius behind Tempest 2000 and the Virtual Light Machine (among other insane projects), is working on a new GameCube game with funding from Lionhead Studios. Here are some details, and here's a post from the Llama-master himself.
PS2 Xenosaga English Voices As part of their unusually late update tonight, PS2.IGN has posted some clips from the English version of Xenosaga, offering the first chance to hear the English language voice actors.
Xbox Halo Action Figure Prototype Last night I posted that Ertl was working on Halo action figures...well tonight a look at one of them has hit the web. Over at Bungie's official fan site, there's a prototype shot of the Cortana figure. Pretty cool, but let's see what the Master Chief looks like!
GameCube PS2 Xbox Activision Signs with Dreamworks Activision has signed a multiyear deal with Dreamworks to develop games based on several upcoming movies from the studio. This could be kinda cool if it included things like The Ring, but it sounds like it's only their animated movies, which will probably mean we'll see lots of mediocre kids games.
Xbox Godzilla on Xbox Atari announced today that Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee will be released for the Xbox sometime this spring. The Xbox port will feature support for ripped soundtracks streamed from the Xbox hard drive. The first person to make a suitable "Godzilla-sized console" joke wins a no-prize.
PS2 Contra Paper Cut-Outs Having already posted that cool Contra comic, the Japanese Contra: Shattered Soldiers site has been updated with paper cut-outs of one of the characters. Sadly, extra outfits are not included.
PS2 The Getaway Reviews GameSpot's review of The Getaway is online, and sadly, it's not overly complementary, saying "the game just isn't fun." IGN's doesn't fare a whole lot better, giving it a 5.5 for gameplay (although there's a 9.0 for presentation). If you're interested in what other Shack readers have to say, the game will be added to the database this weekend.
PS2 Tomb Raider Delayed Eidos announced their financial status today, reporting good sales for both TimeSplitters 2 and Hitman 2 (proof that solid games make for solid sales -- Acclaim should be listening), and announcing that Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness has been bumped again to the spring. Anyone else remember when this was going to be an episodic title?
GameBoy Advance Misc. Media GameSpot has posted new shots from Army Men: Sarge's War and RTX: Red Rock for GameCube, along with new shots from Brute Force for Xbox.
Console Game of the Evening: Vid Grid for the Jaguar CD. This game really was quite lame, but I must admit, I played it more than a few times. Maybe I just wanted something else to use with my JagCD besides the VLM's trip-o-tron?


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Comments

38 Threads* | 112 Comments
  • #75
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    By: burbons_lacs x
    Reply
    I hope I’m not too late to the party, I’m posting pretty late here.

    Yes the “Phantom” will most likely flop hard, but their idea is good and is what Sony and MS have slowing working toward for future consoles. I think this new console has just bit off more then it can chew for its first release. Being a leading gaming console is difficult enough, but throw in content download on demand (rentals, demos) and everything else is just too much.

    I think soon a home console will do much much more then just play its own games. If you look at some of the features already in Xbox and PS2; dvd player, music cd player, online play (and patching… grr!!!) online buddy list via XBL. You can easily see the next step like a PVR (which is already available in some form for PS2 Qcast I think it is called?) or maybe IM and hotmail access with Xbox.

    Even if Sony and MS won’t directly come out and say they are moving toward this its obvious they are. It really makes good business for Sony and MS to have a do-it-all set top box in every house. These companies are smart and are looking into the long term possibilities. However MS and Sony are doing it right and building it piece by piece and building a good install base in each generation. Even for a company like MS all of the proposed features of the Phantom would be too much to support. Look how much man power and money it cost to launch XBL even after all of the money spent launching the Xbox itself.

    However I’m not sure the time is right for most of the features they want. Just look at online gaming. Are there really enough people that have broadband to make download content your ONLY distribution? I don’t think so. The XBL numbers are impressive but that is still a very small audience compared to the PS2 install base. Online gaming is still young yet alone an online only solution. I think the M2 also failed (and got canned before hitting stores) in part due to being “before its time” situation.

    Having a game that works on both PC and a major console with the SAME disc would be a developers/publishers dream. Look at the number of PC -> Xbox or Xbox -> PC games that we get these days, port city it seems like at times. Could anyone back in the NES days think this would be such a common thing? Again it might be a bit off but the next step will probably be getting cross platform games to work together. A good example would be Phantasy Star Online for the GCN and Xbox. I fully understand why they didn’t allow GCN <-> Xbox players to play together but its getting close. I’ll sure Sony would love to have PS2 <-> PC with Everquest sometime in the near future.

    Jason, I’m really interested in what you think a console currently is (being what really defines a console these days) and what you see a console capable in the near future. Due to some of your comments about “lame closed pc boxes” I’m really interested in what you have to say. It seems most of the people in here are well away of the inners of the Xbox and Dreamcast and how close these parts are to a PC.


    Jan 22, 2003 12:42am PST