Phantom
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Spy the SWTOR Imperial Agent!
When BioWare gives out so much information about one class, where do you start? We now have confirmation of the Sniper DPS sub-class and the support/healing Operative class for the Imperial Agent. Also, we know more about the Chiss' origins, the Agent's starship, and the Agent class' combat role in Star Wars: The Old Republic. The Chiss hail from the the unknown regions of galactic space, and their advanced Ascendancy evolved independently from the Republic and the Sith Empire. Despite having a grand army these blue-skinned humanoids prefer to handle war through negotiation and espionage. So when the Sith Empire brought its fleet to conquer Chiss Space, instead of being met by brute force as in other systems, the Empire was met by diplomatic messages. These negotiations allowed for the Chiss to become the only true ally of the Sith Empire. As with any spy for the Empire, the Agent needs the most advanced starship one can find. In this case, we are talking about the X70B-Phantom-class Prototype. The superior technology of this starship prevents it from being mass-produced, so it is only given to the best operatives. The shape and haul keep the craft off most radars, and the navigation system will not be seen on any other ship for the next couple of decades. Generally, the training for an Imperial Agent will go one of two ways. Secrecy and stealth are the weapons of the Agent, and much like its Republic counterpart, the Smuggler Scoundrel, the Operative can specialize in medical technology as well. However, unlike the Smuggler Gunslinger DPS class, the Sniper's advantage is the distance and precision of rifles instead of the Gunslinger's rapid-fire dual short-ranged pistols. Be sure to check out the gallery of concept art and screenshots below, and don't miss the Agent's teaser video after the break. %Gallery-106262%
Phantom camera captures flamethrower vs. fire extinguisher in ultra slo-mo (video)
Korn's "Freak on a Leash," Smashing Pumpkin's "Tonight, Tonight" and Michael / Janet Jackson's "Scream" come to mind when thinking of stunning music videos of the past score, but we're guessing that a 3:19 clip from the good people in Dancing Pigeons will be joining that fray. The music video for "Ritalin" was shot entirely on a Vision Research Phantom and Canon EOS 7D, with the former handling the slow motion work. Which, of course, is the star of the show. You may not think 199 seconds of flamethrower vs. fire extinguisher would be entertaining, but you'd be wrong. Hop on past the break and mash play, but be sure to position a drip rag beneath your chin beforehand.
NZXT Phantom proves there's still life in chunky desktop towers
Did the recent reappearance of the Phantom console spark a tiny bit of nostalgia in you? If so, you'll be happy to hear that NZXT has picked up the moniker for its latest full tower chassis, and it's a fittingly futuristic-looking beast of burden. The angular steel enclosure provides tool-free access to five 5.25-inch drive bays plus the room to fit in 7 HDDs, 7 fans (up to a mammoth 230mm size), and a dual radiator within its walls. A top-mounted mesh window is accessorized with a slightly more useful array of USB, E-SATA and audio ports, while the innards are specifically designed to accommodate the bulkier graphics cards and CPU coolers out there. Sounds like a winner to us, and the $139.99 price seems about right for a flagship product that aims to tick all the boxes -- see the Phantom on video after the break and expect it to arrive, in all its glorious hues, this September.
Life after death: Phantom game console remembered in design mockups
Man, talk about a blast from the past. The Phantom game console aimed to change the video game landscape as we knew it back in the wild days of 2004, but for one reason or another, the box never actually materialized. Of course, just because you never saw one on a Walmart shelf doesn't mean that no mockups ever existed, and core77 managed to dig up the industrial design firm who was responsible for engineering the admittedly handsome box. Robrady won't ever get the credit it deserves for piecing together a shell that never went anywhere, but you can visit the links below to hand over your own tribute.
ADB set-back box squeezes a DVR on SDHC card behind your HDTV
The space and weight requirements to fit a tru2way cable box behind an LCD or plasma HDTV would seem to rule out DVR functions, but ADB showed off a second generation set-back box that does just that. Dubbed Phantom, it can hold an SDHC card with programs either recorded elsewhere, or it can record directly to the card itself. Light Reading mentions there's also MoCA support to stream from standard DVRs, so while it's unlikely you'd have a memory card big enough to hold all the HDTV programs we watch, whether you're old school sneakernetting or going multiroom it can be your hidden HD DVR. The ADB-4820C it designed for Sony HDTVs that we saw at CES 2009 never appeared, but the company said at The Cable Show the Phantom could be available by late this year or early 2011, with potential targets in the hotel industry or direct retail sales.
Alienware's 'Phantom' concept became M11x, cranks through Left 4 Dead 2 on video
It's turning out to be quite the day for Alienware, eh? First we see that the M15x and M17x are finally up for order (with their swank Core i7s within), and now we've got the first public video of the M11x doing its thang. If you'll recall, we only had enough time at CES to snap a few quick pictures, but now that the starting-at-$799 ultraportable (or "netbook," if you must) is said to be "coming soon," it seems that parent company Dell is feeling pretty good about showing it off. An employee recently had the chance to sit down with what was originally coined the Phantom (full story awaits you in the Source link), and even though it can be hidden behind a standard sized magazine, this diminutive monster is still potent enough to cruise through Left 4 Dead 2 with nary a hiccup. Don't believe us? Check the video for yourself after the break.
GDC09: Massively previews Huxley, a hybrid sci-fi MMO and FPS
Huxley: The Dystopia is a massively multiplayer online first-person shooter (MMOFPS) in development at NHN USA. We haven't heard much about the title since mid-2008, so we were happy that NHN USA was willing to sit down with us at GDC 2009. We spoke with Andy Hong, Huxley's Project Manager, who showed us some of the basic concepts behind the game. Huxley is a persistent world built upon Unreal Engine 3 foundations and is a game that differs from many of the MMOs we cover at Massively. Like other titles entering the market such as Global Agenda, Huxley is a marriage of the twitch combat of a first person shooter with classes, skills, trading, banking, and player housing we associate with MMOs. "At the core of the gameplay in Huxley, at its heart, it's an FPS," says Hong. But the depth of the rest of Huxley's gameplay, not limited to its quest and crafting systems, makes it a title quite unlike any pure FPS. %Gallery-48874%
Rolls-Royce CEO hints at electric Phantom
While we imagine that the vast majority of you would be perfectly content with an all-electric MINI Cooper (or a Porsche, if nothing else), some debutantes and Chuck Bass wannabes just won't have anything but the best. For those out there who can actually consider putting a Rolls-Royce in the garage, you'll be thrilled to know that CEO Tom Purves is spending some serious time thinking about a battery-powered Phantom. Reportedly, the bigwig stated that "many of its customers do small mileages exclusively in the city," and for these customers, "an electric Rolls-Royce would be ideal." He wouldn't hand over any prospective time lines or anything, but we did get the impression that he reckoned the engineering wouldn't be too terribly taxing. And the best part? He suggested that most buyers would opt for an electric Rolls for "urban use" while sporting a gasoline-powered version for longer journeys. Yeah, that's something we can totally relate to. [Via Autoblog]
Paradigm "Phantom" Cinema Gaming speaker system review
Paradigm has a long history of offering speakers that provide a big slice of audiophile-approved sound at reasonable prices. Its speakers aren't the cheapest and they can't be found at every big-box retailer, but chances are that if you seek out a Paradigm dealer, you'll be rewarded with some great-sounding gear at a fair price. Follow us past the break to see how much of the high-end Paradigm delivers with its latest entry-level offering, the Cinema Gaming speaker system.
Incrudo Phantom: "Mobile Phone with a Man's Character"
Welcome to Incrudo country, gentlemen. Out here, we grow chest hair as bushy as the tumbleweed, and we like our phones built thick. We're not talkin' no ordinary thick, either, no sir -- give us 2 to 3mm of solid titanium casing here. We like our phones heavy, too; a half pound sounds about right. We didn't get these burly muscles wrasslin' cattle just to tote around a Samsung X820, if you know what we're saying. Make it look like a brick, because it's built like a brick. Just like us, because we're men. Incrudo men.[Via Unwired View]
Piicron: why choose, when you can have it all? Invest now!
It's hard to tell if those awesome consoles up above are artists renditions or very real pieces of gaming technology that will shake the industry at its core. So hard to tell. We won't humor Piicron enough to actually describe their ideas (okay, just one: Ubercron, a $500 console that can play "any game ever released to any console" with its 3.2GHz quad-core processor) but we do recommend clicking on over to the website, where you can easily squander an afternoon reading through all this insanity. To be honest, we're almost a little disappointed none of this is grounded in reality, or even vaguely aware of reality: at least Phantom was trying.
Paradigm Cinema Gaming speaker systems target double-duty living rooms
Paradigm strikes an uncanny balance with its speakers, covering a wide gamut of price points while maintaining audiophile cred at each one. Recognizing that gaming consoles play an increasing role in HT setups, the company is introducing pre-packaged speaker bundles with its Cinema Gaming systems. Let's see -- a high-end badge, value-conscious pricing and single-SKU convenience? Sounds good to us. First up is the Micro system ($894), consisting of a pair of Paradigm Micro bookshelf speakers and Cinema ADP surrounds, a Cinema 110C center channel and a PDR8 sub. If you need to fill a little more volume with, er, volume, there's the Phantom system ($1474) with a pair of Phantom floorstanding speakers and Cinema ADP surrounds, a Cinema 220C center channel and a PDR10 sub. These 5.1-channel systems are also available in 2.1-channel flavors -- just leave out the surrounds and center channel -- bringing the prices down to $487 and $977 for the Micro and Phantom setups, respectively. Available now from authorized Paradigm dealers, so hop to it! Full press release after the break.
Phantom Lapboard now on sale, suckers rejoice
At this point we're pretty certain Phantom's shady, vaporous history is warning enough to anyone thinking about giving cash to the company, but the risk-takers out there might want to take note: Phantom's oft-delayed Lapboard is now available for purchase. Of course, there's no ship date listed and -- true to Phantom form -- the site's SSL certificate is a little shady, but come on, you know you want to pony up your credit card number and let us know what happens.[Thanks, Ray Z.]
Phantom Entertainment returns, aims to infiltrate hotel rooms
Those terribly saddened by the recent drought of Phantom Entertainment news now have something to celebrate, as the current king of vaporware has seemingly inked an utterly worthless marketing agreement with ProGames Network to "place the Lapboard and Phantom Game Service content in [select] hotels." Reportedly, the two have agreed to place Phantom's not-yet-available wares into hotels found in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australasia (fancy, huh?), but to no one's surprise, neither firm mentions a target launch date.
Phantom inks $1.3 million in funding to do more nothing
There's just no way to celebrate the ushering in of a new CEO than to ink a loan agreement worth some $1.3 million, right? Just a day after Phantom Entertainment's, um, head honcho, stepped aside and gave the reigns of the vaporware wagon to Greg Koler, the outfit has now announced that it will be using the newfound fundage to "manufacture product lines this year with Alienware and IONE Technologies." We know, it's hard to stifle the chuckling, but apparently Phantom really believes that this time will be different, as it's busting out radical plans to "initiate marketing, sales, and distribution of the Phantom Lapboard." We'd feel sorry for the lenders, but they should have known better.
Timothy Roberts steps down as Chairman, Director of Phantom, which has yet to do something
You can't keep a good snake oil salesman down -- well, until he jumps right the hell overboard from his company. Maybe possibly actually on the eve of -- gasp -- actually shipping something, vaporware stock scamming pump and dump frontrunner Phantom Entertainment (aka Infinium Labs, aka the dudes Gizmondo like sooo looked up to) announced today that its founder, Chairman, and Director Tim Roberts is peaceing out just in time to not screw up their non-sales during this week's E3 conference.Lovely fluff ensues: "'We are grateful for Tim's vision and his service in helping to guide the Company since its inception' noted Greg Koler, CEO and President of Phantom Entertainment, Inc. 'We will miss Tim's counsel and insightful views on the direction of technology and we wish him well with his new endeavors.'" Vision? In producting what, bupkis? Service? In doing what, leaving the company in 2005 with a booty load of stock making the whole business look like a scam? Man, you can't even make this shlock up.Read - press releaseRead - CNN says dude's a crook (2006)Bonus: check out dude's LinkedIn profile. He really seems to believe he's a "Proven Leader in Sales." Sales of what, exactly?
The $73 million dollar Phantom disaster
While this isn't quite as sexy as the whole Gizmondo topple from glory, mostly because there's no spectacular Ferrari crash in Southern California at the heart of it, the simple fact that the Phantom project has hemorrhaged so much cash and still continues to exist just boggles the mind.There is a great article on the whole situation up at ars technica, and they bring you the entire story of the "now you see it, now you ... never will" Phantom game console in three red-ink filled pages. At this rate it'd be an easy bet to take that Duke Nukem Forever will hit store shelves before the Phantom Game System, or their weird mouse, keyboard, lapboard thingamabob ever does.By the way, Phantom stock is now trading at .0008 cents, so if you've got some spare bucks lying around, you could pick up a good chunk of the company and secure yourself a place in Suckersville.
The Legend of Zelda: Pen of Touching
This fall, you'll be able to show everyone that you're all about Zelda and also that you don't care that your DS doesn't fit in its case anymore. To commemorate the release of Phantom Hourglass, Yujin is creating a set of six Zelda styli, each with a Rupee on top and a screen-cleaning strap attached, all designed to dangle from your DS. These won't be out until the fall, so preorder now and hope you still like the game. Also, you should hope you either find five like-minded friends or five more DS's (and ten more hands) because this item comes in packs of six.
Virtually Overlooked Special: A bunch of NES games I get mixed up with each other
Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative. Last week, I asked for reader suggestions for this week's Virtually Overlooked. One reader suggested The Guardian Legend, and I thought that was a perfectly reasonable suggestion. The Guardian Legend was one of the biggest sleeper hits of the NES era, and something that is definitely worth checking out, especially for fans of Ys and Faxanadu.It was only later that I realized that I was thinking of Legacy of the Wizard. I get those two mixed up a lot. They both fall into that "sleeper" category, they were both published by Brøderbund, and they both have "Leg" in the title. They're practically the same game, except that one's a hybrid vertical shooter/Zelda-style adventure developed by Compile, and the other is a side-scrolling action RPG from Nihon Falcom. But other than that, the same game.Inspired by my inability to keep two similar things separate, I thought this week we could look at some more NES games I get confused about, either because they're so similar or because I'm so dumb.
Phantom Hourglass Japanese boxart FTW
It's stylish. It's classy. But we here at DS Fanboy think that Link is getting a little too cute, even yon cel-shaded version. This cuteness is only made more creepy by the fact there is an old man with oddly-styled facial hair standing right next to him. Damn sailors.This boxart reminds us heavily of Wind Waker, and it makes us wonder how big a component sailing is going to be in this new adventure. Crossing the ocean became a bit tedious in Wind Waker, so here's hoping the process has been streamlined (LOLpun) a bit.[Thanks, Braden!]%Gallery-3279%
