Infinium Labs Sets Launch for Phantom Console

[Jakanden]

By Ben BerkowitzMay 10, 10:16 AM (EDT)LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Infinium Labs Inc. <IFLB.OB>, the long-secretive video-game company, on Monday took the wraps off of its Phantom gaming console and service, setting a Nov. 18 launch for the system designed to play conventional PC games on televisions.

Sarasota, Florida-based Infinium said its hardware would be free with a two-year subscription to its service or $199 without the subscription.

The announcement came at the start of E3, the annual video game industry trade show in Los Angeles.

Infinium executives hope that finally taking the wraps off the Phantom, and demonstrating a functional version of the service, would dispel doubts among some industry observers that the company can deliver on its planned offering.

"I know all too well the skepticism and the cynicism and the jokes and the rumors and all that stuff," Kevin Bachus, the president of Infinium, told Reuters recently.

Bachus, an industry veteran who once held a senior role on Microsoft Corp.'s <MSFT.O> Xbox team, was appointed in January.

The service, starting at $29.95 a month, will offer users certain basic content for free, and access to either buy premium games at prices comparable to regular retail or rent them, usually $5 for three days.

"When I look at the company, what I see is a services company," Bachus said. "People were excited about the idea, but they were skeptical about the company's ability to execute."

The console features a PC-like architecture, with 256 megabytes of random access memory and a 40 gigabyte hard drive, running an embedded version of Windows XP. It will use a custom controller and support surround sound and high-definition TV.

But Bachus downplayed the capabilities of the hardware, saying the real focus was the gaming service.

"It's kind of a fool's errand to try and chase the PC," he said.

The company is reaching out to game publishers, seeking licenses to offer their games on the service. It is also seeking deals with retailers, who would share in the revenue from new customers activated in their stores.

Infinium also has an advisory board looking at issues like content security, to make sure games are not pirated. One member of that board is Andrew "Bunnie" Huang, famous in hardware circles for hacking the Xbox's security system.

But in the interim, the company acknowledges that it will face an uphill battle winning over a marketplace that has doubts it will ever launch.

"For us to be successful at E3, we've got to be credible, and we've got to convince people we're a real company with a product shipping this year," Bachus said.

Perhaps the phantom will see the light of day after all?

[Julius]

I hope not, it sounds like a really silly, unprofitable idea to me...Either you own a PC or you own the consoles, you don't go out and buy a pc console system...Anything that this Phantom has to offer, the PC or Consoles are already doing it...This idea will never float...If you're paying 30 bucks a month for this thing, and say down the road it offers MMOLG, are you going to have to pay an additional 15 dollars a month to play that game? No thanks...