Infinium Labs has announced it will demonstrate the Phantom Game Service in the nVidia and Microsoft booths at CES next week.
It seems that Infinium Labs may have found its way out of the many problems, legal and otherwise, which have so far plagued its Phantom console. Criticized by many for its business model and the subscription costs, Infinium Labs has insisted that the service will offer a lot of extra features giving the product value for money appeal.
Today's announcement suggests that Infinium Labs may be finally standing firmly on its own feet, especially since the only two booths at CES where you can sample Phantom will be those of nVidia and Microsoft. The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) will be held Thursday - Sunday, Jan. 6 - 9, 2005, in Las Vegas.
The decision, of course, also has to do with the hardware and software powering the Phantom console, which carries nVidia graphics processing chips and Microsoft's Windows XP Embedded technology.
Infinium will incorporate nVidia's GeForce line of graphics processing units (GPUs) and nForce platform processors in its Phantom Game Service. The actual service will be delivered over broadband to a Windows XP Embedded-based receiver (console) that sits with other devices in the room where family members go for entertainment.
So far, nearly two dozen leading game publishers have committed to provide content for the Phantom Game Service, including Atari, Codemasters, Eidos and Vivendi Universal.
Following a few delays and some doubts over its future the service now has a 2005 release date although it is possible that CES will see the announcement of a more specific and hopefully binding date.
