Phantom not quitting yet, game service delayed until 2007

In a resurrection of not-so-epic proportions, Phantom has seemingly not thrown in the towel just yet, as its latest announcement has shown (delayed) signs of life. Just when Infinium Entertainment shed its old skin and dubbed itself Phantom, we all had such high hopes that it might actually deliver on some promises (like giving back their shareholders some money, for one), but we suppose this latest delay isn't such a letdown considering the company is probably recovering from whatever caused it to vanish last month. Although Phantom's ever-elusive Lapboard is still on track for a November release (ahem), it has announced that its gaming service won't see any action until March 2007 "as part of a licensing and recoding effort" -- apparently its CEO is hoping the setback will give Phantom time to license its goods vaporware to "well-established PC and HTPC manufacturers." Whatever the case, we're just overrun with elation (ha) to hear that Phantom is alive and kicking, and be sure stay tuned for more late-breaking delays that are practically guaranteed to hit sometime before next March, or your money back.

[AJerman @ Sep 13th 2006 11:09AM]

You've gotta give them credit, they never give up do they?

[Blair Thiessen @ Sep 13th 2006 11:24AM]

this system is still alive? I have to check out what there system is going to be like. I remember a few years ago it sounded powerful but those specs now are nothing :P

[tiuk @ Sep 13th 2006 11:30AM]

Who the hell cares? Seriously?

[TVGenius @ Sep 13th 2006 12:14PM]

Sounds more like they're trying to sell what little they have to make back some $$$.

If they do launch by then, they may beat the PS3 to Europe...

[Tony Rayo @ Sep 13th 2006 12:41PM]

Heh TVGenius beat me to the first PS3-related comment, but I was going to say "at least the PS3 doesn't look so bad now". I remember back when it was going to be it's own gaming system, then it just turns more and more into a PC, and with home PVR/DVR and Windows MCE I as well as numerous other solutions (some like MythTV which is free and probably more developed than whatever they could ever come up with not to mention other great Windows/*nix/Xbox/etc open-source software).

The last demo I remember of the Phantom it was just a PC playing UT2003 (or 2K4, not sure) and the idea was that they would just create a custom version of Windows (such as many companies do for embedded products) with custom scripts that auto-installed and configured popular PC game titles... I guess for the lazy/new PC gamer. I think they promised the ability to download PC games at the time as well. I think we can all agree download services (Steam, Direct2Drive, etc) have pretty much supplied this demand (not to say it couldn't be improved, but I don't think there is some huge untapped resource here that Phantom could do that others couldn't... i.e., offer all past and present EA games).

Also with the launch of GameTap (which I haven't tried but have heard good reviews of and looks slick) and other services sure to come via next-gen consoles it seems like Phantom needs to remain just that and let whatever remaining stockholders take what money they have left and put a bid on the Brooklyn Bridge.

- Tony R.

[HelpLine @ Sep 13th 2006 12:45PM]

@ Phantom

Why are you still trying to take shareholder's money. I mean, you can do that once and get away with it but try it twice and you'll get burned. This company has got to be related to Gizmondo in some way.

Yours Truly,

Help Line

[Joe Sager @ Sep 13th 2006 12:45PM]

Sarcastic much?

[HelpLine @ Sep 13th 2006 12:57PM]

@ Tony Rayo & TVGenius

Are you guys seriously comparing this piece of crap to the PS3? You guys just never stop. I can't wait til November 17th to prove all you idiots wrong. It's gonna be like the PS2 release. People will be so amped they'll be selling their empty PS3 boxes on Ebay for 50 bucks.

Yours Truly,

Help Line

[. @ Sep 13th 2006 1:21PM]

"@ Phantom

Why are you still trying to take shareholder's money. I mean, you can do that once and get away with it but try it twice and you'll get burned. This company has got to be related to Gizmondo in some way.

Yours Truly,

Help Line"

Are you kidding? They've rotated investors so much and so quickly that it could very well affect the earth's rotation.

[Namssorg @ Sep 13th 2006 1:59PM]

Maybe it will launch with Duke Nukem Forever.

[Ron Licata @ Sep 13th 2006 3:01PM]

Does this thing ship with the latest version of Duke Nukem and run on Windows Vapor... err... Vista?

[0_0 @ Sep 13th 2006 3:05PM]

The mother of all vapourware!

No wait.. that was Silicon Film
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0109/01091702siliconfilmvaporizes.asp

[clayton D. @ Sep 13th 2006 3:27PM]

oh phantom will definiatly come out

.,,as soon as GNR releases chinese democracy

[Dan @ Sep 13th 2006 4:44PM]

Sweet, I just heard that Duke Nukem Forever will be an official launch title! I can't wait!

[Spooge @ Sep 13th 2006 5:20PM]

What the f(@&? They let go the entire product dev team back in January, if any of the prototypes are still working they're hopelessly obsolete. Software development pretty well ground to a halt late last year. Who are they kidding? The whole company consists of that dimwit CEO and a few of his buddies, not one person who actually *makes* anything.

I guess if idiots keep dumping money into the stocks that's their problem, there's a sucker born every minute.

[TangledThorns @ Sep 13th 2006 9:42PM]

I wish they would just concentrate on the lapboard first. If it comes out and works like it should then sweet!

[thungerleg @ Sep 13th 2006 11:15PM]

It's obviously making *somebody* money, or we wouldn't be hearing about it every year.
Poor, dumb suckers.