WEBVTT - The Phantom Zone 0:00:04.480 --> 0:00:12.120 Text with Technology with tech Stuff from staff works dot com. 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:15.240 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I am your host, 0:00:15.480 --> 0:00:19.360 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer here at how Stuff 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:22.200 Works and a lot of tech. So today we're gonna 0:00:22.280 --> 0:00:26.520 focus on the Phantom, which was a proposed gaming console 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:30.400 that never made it much further than a prototype. So 0:00:31.160 --> 0:00:35.040 this is kind of a part story about what you 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:38.800 could consider a tech failure. Some people go much further 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:41.880 than that. They call it the an example of an 0:00:42.000 --> 0:00:45.879 entire scam or hoax, And I'll let you guys decide 0:00:45.880 --> 0:00:48.880 for yourselves, but I'll say this, there's a lot of 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:53.000 at least evidence that seems to support that not everything 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:57.960 was on the up and up. But draw your own conclusions. So, uh, 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:01.520 the prototype, when it did happen, it was kind of 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:06.560 cobbled together from standard computer parts. So what was the Phantom, Well, 0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:09.320 it is meant to be a next generation gaming rig 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:12.480 that would bring PC gaming to the living room back 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:16.119 in two thousand three, two thousand four, and it proposed 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:20.399 something fairly revolutionary in the process. Now, today, if you 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:23.200 were to unveil a gaming device that required you to 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:27.400 download all the titles to a hard drive, you probably 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:31.520 wouldn't raise that many eyebrows. It's not uncommon for a 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:35.360 gaming PC to lack an optical drive, after all, most 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:38.240 gaming rigs I've seen these days don't have an optical drive. 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:41.440 And digital delivery of games has been growing in popularity. 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:44.800 I mean, just take a look at steams numbers, They're incredible. 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:48.280 There's still a market for physical copies of a game, however, 0:01:48.520 --> 0:01:51.840 particularly since you can potentially sell or trade in old 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:55.400 games if you use physical media. But overall, I'd say 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:57.280 the trend has been to move toward more of a 0:01:57.320 --> 0:02:01.400 digital download experience. So if I said I was going 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:04.360 to launch a brand new console that could only stream 0:02:04.520 --> 0:02:08.320 or download games, I probably wouldn't leave very many people 0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:11.720 scratching their heads today. But the same was not true 0:02:11.760 --> 0:02:15.240 back in January two thousand three. That's the year a 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:19.200 new company that was called Infinium Labs announced it was 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:23.120 bringing a gaming console called the Phantom to market. Now, 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:26.360 this was months before Steam would launch, let alone become 0:02:26.400 --> 0:02:30.160 the dominant online market for computer games. In two thousand three, 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:32.400 it was pretty much common practice to go to game 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:36.600 stores or big box outlets to purchase computer titles. So 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:40.160 when Infinium Labs brazenly announced the company intended to turn 0:02:40.400 --> 0:02:43.360 the home gaming market on its head. They got a 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:46.720 lot of attention. Now, ultimately the story would be followed 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:52.280 by controversy, anger, and finally mockery. And it includes allegations 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:55.600 of fraud or at the very least ineptitude. It involves 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:58.160 the company that changed its name and switched tracks to 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:00.520 create a totally different product than the one that was 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:03.480 promising to consumers. So we're really going to dive into 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:07.480 the story of the Phantom and what actually happened. Now, 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:09.880 our story begins. You guys know me, I like to 0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:13.840 always dive further back than when the actual stuff happens. 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:17.040 Our story really begins almost a decade before any mention 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:20.079 of the Phantom ever hits the public. In the early 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:24.240 nineteen nineties in St. Louis, Missouri, They're a man named 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:28.240 Timothy Munroe Roberts was working at a computer store and 0:03:28.240 --> 0:03:31.320 he had a customer named Andrew Gladney, and the two 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:33.639 of them began to talk about an idea for a business. 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:37.000 This was not the business that would become in Phinium Labs, however. 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:39.920 It was instead to create a data hosting service and 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:43.880 an early internet data hosting company. They called it the 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:49.360 Savaths Communications Corporation s A v v I. S now 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:53.480 Gladwell put up the majority of the starting capital. He 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:57.040 had a pretty healthy trust fund to draw from. It 0:03:57.120 --> 0:03:59.120 was left to him by his grandfather, who has a 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:01.560 founder of a company that made a little soft drink 0:04:01.600 --> 0:04:05.720 called seven Up. Together they got the business up and running, 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:09.760 and the company saw some early success with Robert's landing 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:13.280 a big deal with Apple Computer Incorporated. And landing Apple 0:04:13.440 --> 0:04:17.680 meant Sabbaths had some serious market buzz behind it, and 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:22.000 they soon secured several other big contracts. Roberts, however, had 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:24.280 decided that he wanted to try and do something else, 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:28.400 so he left Sabbaths in n and went out to 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:31.640 start a new business. Now. This time, this was a 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:35.560 web hosting company called in tira I n t I 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:39.120 r A, also based out of St. Louis, Missouri. Some 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:42.320 of the concepts the company pushed were predictive of the 0:04:42.360 --> 0:04:45.520 cloud computing craze that would follow a few years later, 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:48.479 but perhaps it was a touch too early for the company, 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:51.080 and coupled with the dot com bubble bursting in the 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:55.240 early two thousand's, it ended up not surviving, it filed 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:59.800 for bankruptcy protection in two thousand one. Oddly enough, Roberts 0:04:59.839 --> 0:05:03.239 had already extricated himself from the company at that point, 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:07.440 selling off most of his stock, which in hindsight might 0:05:07.480 --> 0:05:09.159 seem like it was a bit of a tip off. 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:13.599 Roberts had left in Tira around nt SO a couple 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:16.040 of years before the company went under, and he went 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:21.080 on to found another company, this time called Broadband Infrastructure 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:25.400 Group Corporation, also known as Big b a G. The 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:28.160 company's mission was to act as a sort of incubator 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:33.080 for tech companies and developed communications businesses, according to the St. 0:05:33.080 --> 0:05:35.719 Louis Business Journals, So this is still happening in St. Louis, 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:40.239 Missouri now. According to the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Big 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:44.479 raised about eighteen million dollars from investors in two thousand 0:05:44.920 --> 0:05:48.520 and it even sponsored a race car during the Indianapolis 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:52.000 five hundred that year. There are also stories of lavish parties, 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:55.440 expensive wines. In fact, part of the bankruptcy proceedings, because 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:59.120 spoiler alert, Big went out of business to part of 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:01.960 the bankruptcy proceeding has included the auction of twenty four 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:06.160 models of Chateau Lafitte Rothschild, which was a worth about 0:06:06.240 --> 0:06:12.440 twenty four thousand dollars. Within nine months of raising those 0:06:12.520 --> 0:06:16.800 millions of dollars, b I G closed. Now that led 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:20.240 to Roberts getting some heat in St. Louis See. I 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:22.640 changed it to Sant Louis for this part, and soon 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:24.960 he had folks at the state and federal and city 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:28.640 levels all asking some really tough questions about his entrepreneurial efforts, 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:32.359 and undaunted, he picked up stakes and he moved to Florida, 0:06:32.680 --> 0:06:37.000 near Tampa. He started a new company called Infinium Labs, 0:06:37.480 --> 0:06:39.960 and on January twenty, two thousand three, he started the 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:41.560 company two thousand two, by the way, but in two 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:44.839 thousand three, on January twenty, company issued a press release 0:06:44.839 --> 0:06:47.560 about their plans. It's a short one, so I'm going 0:06:47.640 --> 0:06:51.719 to actually read the press release. A Tampa Bay area 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:55.480 technology company in Phinium Labs Corporation, will develop and market 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:58.800 a new game console that will outperform the Xbox Sony 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:02.640 PlayStation two GameCube. The company plans to market a high 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:06.400 performance gaming console and delivery system to provide consumers with 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:09.680 options and capabilities that are not available in today's marketplace. 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:12.720 The console will appeal to the hardcore gamer and the 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:16.960 high end consumer electronic purchaser. The next generation game console 0:07:17.000 --> 0:07:21.360 provides a robust, fault tolerant delivery system that supports games 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:26.840 on demand, game rentals, game demos, seamless upgrades, and patch management. 0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:31.040 The game console is an always on broadband device. It 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:33.800 is easy enough for children to use independently, yet so 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:37.640 advanced it exceeds the needs of hardcore gamers. In Phinium 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:40.760 Labs was formed by veteran entrepreneurs who have a successful 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:44.200 track record in building large scale companies and advanced architectures 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:49.200 for supporting massive e commerce and enterprise applications. Combining skills 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:54.480 from telco data communications, digital rights management, software development, and security, 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:58.040 the management team brings together a unique array of skills 0:07:58.040 --> 0:08:01.240 to develop the most robust next ration gaming console and 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:05.440 delivery network on the market. The Infinium Labs game console 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:08.560 features a high tech design and offers ease of use 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:12.040 for the variety of game players worldwide. The on demand 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:14.680 delivery system will appeal to hardcore gamers as well as 0:08:14.720 --> 0:08:18.480 casual users. The unique design architecture allows for delivery of 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:21.280 a large number of games and the ability to participate 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:27.200 in online massive multiplayer gaming. Key features include fastest console 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:32.520 on the market, broadest selection of preloaded games, cross platform capabilities, 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:36.120 state of the art design and architecture, advanced accessories and 0:08:36.160 --> 0:08:41.160 wireless capabilities, online connectivity for multiplayer gaming, seamless upgrades and 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:45.000 patch management. A multi tiered subscription service that meets the 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:48.920 needs of casual, moderate and hardcore game players, demo games 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:53.000 before purchasing or subscribing, games on demand, and game rentals. 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:56.240 The advanced system provides game developers and publishers a secure 0:08:56.280 --> 0:08:59.880 and efficient software distribution system. In Phinium Labs intends for 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:03.000 game developers and publishers to reap greater profits using this 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:06.240 new game delivery system. And Phendium Labs has engineered its 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:09.440 prototypes and it expects to unveil the new gaming console 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:12.599 in March of two thousand three. The company intends to 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:15.319 launch the game console to the US consumer market by 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:20.360 November two thousand three. Remember that date. And Phenium Labs 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:24.000 has chosen Florida as its corporate headquarters. Florida has emerged 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:26.880 as a leader in support of technology companies with its 0:09:26.920 --> 0:09:30.920 e Florida initiative. Offices will soon will open soon in 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:35.120 Silicon Valley and St. Louis, Missouri. About in Phenium Labs 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:37.920 and Phenium Labs Corporation was formed in October two thousand 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:41.280 two as a global entertainment gaming company and Phenium Labs 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:43.760 mission is to market a gaming console and delivery system 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:45.679 that will be the performance leader in the game playing 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:49.040 entertainment industry. The company will market a robust game console 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:50.920 that will appeal to a wide audience with its ease 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:55.200 of use, quality assurance, and robust delivery systems. Now, we 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:58.760 could probably say today that those promises we're a little 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:01.960 astounding for their time time and perhaps even a bit boastful. 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:04.600 I mean, you're talking about the fastest game console on 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:08.320 the market. Back in two thousand three, this was a 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:13.120 new company, untested in this space, setting out to challenge 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:17.360 entrenched companies like Sony and Nintendo. And then you had Microsoft, 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:20.760 which was relatively new to the video game console market 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:23.640 at this point but had already established itself as a 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:27.160 powerful presence in the industry. And the features the press 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:30.720 release listed were extremely innovative at the time. I'm sure 0:10:30.720 --> 0:10:32.840 the gamers out there recognize that many of those features 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:36.480 are now standard on several consoles. For example, both on 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:39.120 the Xbox One and on the PS four you can 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:41.920 sample some games and even get some titles as part 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:45.920 of a monthly subscription service. So that kind of stuff 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:49.120 today isn't innovative, but at the time it was a 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:53.240 totally different way of doing business. So the promises being made, 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:57.120 while advanced, we're all features that would later on become 0:10:57.240 --> 0:11:00.160 standard in video game consoles. It's just that in two 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:03.240 thousand three, this was a really wild idea, and it 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:07.400 raised questions was the world ready for an always on 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:11.719 internet connected console? Now? Judging by the resistance gamers put 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:14.520 up when Microsoft first said the Xbox One was going 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:18.240 to follow that same model and being always on broadcast service, 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:20.480 I think it's safe to say that if pack in 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:23.040 two thousand three, the world was not ready at that point, 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:25.400 because it wasn't ready when the Xbox One came out. 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:30.400 More importantly, was the technology ready or did the company 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:33.240 make promises that would have been impossible to deliver upon 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:37.840 even if it had been established as a big player 0:11:37.880 --> 0:11:40.720 in the space up at that point. In other words, 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:43.640 if this had been Sony or Microsoft, would they have 0:11:43.720 --> 0:11:46.200 been able to pull it off? Or was this just 0:11:46.640 --> 0:11:49.160 a promise that no one at the time could deliver 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:52.680 upon we'll take a look at more details about the 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:55.160 unveiling of the Phantom and what happened in the wake 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:58.120 of that, but first let's take a quick break to 0:11:58.240 --> 0:12:07.120 thank our sponsor. Now, before I get into all the 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:09.679 controversy that surrounds the Phantom, I thought it would be 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:12.240 a good idea to talk about what it was supposed 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:15.560 to have inside of it, what kind of connectors it 0:12:15.600 --> 0:12:17.079 was supposed to have, you know, how it was going 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:20.679 to connect to your television, and talk a little bit 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:25.199 more about the subscription service and the online element to this, 0:12:25.600 --> 0:12:28.200 to kind of get an idea of what exactly was 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:33.400 supposed to come out. Now, keep in mind that not 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:37.720 all of this ever materialized. Also, this is dependent upon 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:40.840 technology of the early two thousand's, even the TV technology 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:43.040 at the time. So there's some things that you would 0:12:43.040 --> 0:12:46.760 have considered would have needed to be standard that we're 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:49.280 not included, like h d m I is not a 0:12:49.360 --> 0:12:54.320 component on the Phantom spec list, and that's largely because 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:56.840 back in two thousand three not such a big thing. 0:12:57.240 --> 0:12:59.920 But other things that you don't see as much anymore, 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:03.600 like composite or component video that definitely was part of it. 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:07.320 So for the standard components of the Phantom, because you 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:10.800 could also get optional components added on, or at least 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:13.160 in three you could. In reality you couldn't get anything. 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:17.560 The standard components were supposed to include a custom operating 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:22.360 system on a Windows XPE kernel, so that custom operating 0:13:22.400 --> 0:13:25.880 system was to make it proprietary, kind of like the 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:28.880 operating systems you would encounter on other video game consoles, 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:33.640 and it would end up locking you into the Phantom's ecosystem. 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:35.800 It was supposed to have an a m d Athalon 0:13:36.000 --> 0:13:41.080 XP plus central processing unit which would have approximately one 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:45.319 point eight giga hurts of CPU power, and it was 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:49.120 supposed to have an Nvidia g Force f x fred 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:52.000 Ultra graphics processing unit. Was also supposed to have an 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:56.080 Nvidia enforced to Ultra four hundred motherboard, two hundred fifty 0:13:56.080 --> 0:14:00.079 six megabytes main memory, forty gigabyte hard drive. Don't be 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:04.679 digital five point one surround sound onboard, radio frequency wireless 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:08.240 modules that would allow you to connect things like UM 0:14:08.360 --> 0:14:12.600 wireless mouse or wireless controllers or wireless keyboards to this 0:14:13.160 --> 0:14:16.520 and S video r c A or component video connections 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:21.040 also composite, as it would turn out uh a Ethernet 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:23.920 port so that you could actually plug that into your 0:14:23.960 --> 0:14:26.120 Internet connection. That was supposed to always be connected to 0:14:26.160 --> 0:14:29.080 the Internet, so you need to have something a wireless controller, 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:32.960 a wireless keyboard and mouse, to USB ports, and four 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:37.040 controller ports. Then there were some optional components you could 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:40.640 add on to that, which would include extra controllers, either 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:45.040 wireless or accorded ones, a keyboard and mouse with charging, 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:49.400 base station storage expansion for additional game storage so you 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:52.880 could double the amount of storage space on there in theory, 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:57.840 a DSL modem, a cable modem, a wireless WiFi card, 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:01.640 memory upgrades, speaker set, and flat screen displays. So in 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:04.480 other words, you could go from something that you were 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:06.680 supposed to just hook up to your TV to something 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:09.600 that would have potentially multiple screens, although as far as 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:13.040 I can tell, they the graphics card wasn't necessarily set 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:16.440 up to support multiple displays, but that doesn't mean that 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:20.200 it couldn't happen. One thing the Phantom did not have 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:23.040 was any sort of portable storage drive, so there were 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:27.160 no CD drives, no DVD drives, no cartridges, no floppy disks, 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:30.040 nothing like that was ever supposed to go into the Phantom. 0:15:30.080 --> 0:15:33.640 All material was meant to be downloaded or streamed directly 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:36.120 to the console. Now you may hear some of those 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:38.280 specs and say, well, that just sounds like it's a PC, 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:40.480 and really, when you get down to it, that's what 0:15:40.560 --> 0:15:43.880 the phantom was. But then, to be fair, all video 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:48.960 game consoles ultimately end up becoming variations on the concept 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:52.400 of a personal computer. The big differences you've got some 0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:56.320 changes in architecture. Something like the PlayStation four has an 0:15:56.440 --> 0:16:00.760 architecture that's different than most PCs. Uh And with a console, 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:03.720 you typically are stuck with the hardware that the system 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:06.960 came with when it first launched or whenever you bought it. 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:09.720 So if I go out and buy an Xbox One today, 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:12.960 it's hard for me to upgrade that. I can probably 0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:16.720 upgrade the storage by adding external storage, but I'm not 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:19.680 going to be able to upgrade the processor or graphics 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:22.440 cards or anything like that. With a PC, you can 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:25.440 actually upgrade components, at least until you bump up against 0:16:25.520 --> 0:16:29.320 limitations like you've got stuff that's going to be too 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:31.560 big for the size of case that you have, or 0:16:32.240 --> 0:16:35.080 the motherboard will no longer support it, something along those lines, 0:16:35.400 --> 0:16:38.800 And technically you could keep on swapping out components. You're 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:41.520 essentially building a new computer at that point rather than 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:46.040 just upgrading. But it is a possibility, but consoles are different. 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:48.200 You pretty much have to wait for the next generation 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:54.240 to buy up and and increase your console's capabilities. The 0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:57.800 Phantom was meant to play PC games, so that was 0:16:57.840 --> 0:16:59.880 one concern a lot of people had early on was 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:03.040 if this in fact was to be a standalone video 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:05.240 gaming console for the living room that would allow you 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:07.399 to play PC games in the living room, something that 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:09.080 a lot of people have been trying to do, and 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:11.720 in fact today are still trying to do, like steam 0:17:11.760 --> 0:17:17.800 boxes are essentially that same kind of approach. Uh. Even 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:22.040 though you know that was the mission statement, everyone was 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:25.320 pointing out, well, what happens when the games get too 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:28.560 advanced to run on the hardware of the Phantom. You 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:31.000 would have to upgrade somehow, and you could do some 0:17:31.119 --> 0:17:34.199 upgrades through firmware, but that's not going to make the 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:37.240 process or work any faster necessarily, or make the graphics 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:40.280 card work harder. So that was a big concern was 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:44.439 that if in fact, this is essentially a customized personal 0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:48.320 computer running some proprietary software on top of it then 0:17:48.359 --> 0:17:51.479 what happens when the games get too advanced? Now, as 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:54.000 it turns out, there was never a need to answer 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:56.240 that question, but it was one of the early ones. 0:17:57.160 --> 0:17:59.800 And as I mentioned earlier in this episode, the console 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:02.080 or hit the market, so some people would refer to 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:06.399 it as vapor ware, but all the components existed. The 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:08.920 stuff that they talked about really did exist. I mean, 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:11.600 all of those different elements you could go out there 0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:15.080 and buy, so there was never a problem with that. 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:17.639 There's just there was no consumer product that featured all 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:20.560 of those in that configuration as a phantom console. There 0:18:20.560 --> 0:18:23.600 are a couple of prototypes or show models that Infinium 0:18:23.640 --> 0:18:26.040 Labs would trot out at various events like c E 0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:29.159 S or E three, and there's some debate in online 0:18:29.160 --> 0:18:32.000 circles as to whether those prototypes represented a real effort 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:34.640 to create a phantom console or if they were in 0:18:34.680 --> 0:18:36.560 fact just a run of the mill PC inside a 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:40.320 customized case. In some cases, it wasn't even that. According 0:18:40.359 --> 0:18:43.480 to one story I was reading, a games journalist went 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:47.000 to E three and saw a demonstration of the phantom 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:52.560 console and it sat down next to uh representative from 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:55.640 Infinium Labs who was going to give a demo of 0:18:55.760 --> 0:18:59.119 the whole thing, and they had the console sitting in 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:01.440 front of them. They tried to launch a game and 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:04.160 it didn't work out properly, And as it turned out, 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:10.480 the representative actually revealed to the games journalist that the 0:19:10.520 --> 0:19:14.200 game itself was being run on a PC behind the cabinet, 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:18.359 that the console that was on display was in fact 0:19:18.359 --> 0:19:20.760 a dummy console. It didn't do anything. It just had 0:19:20.800 --> 0:19:25.200 some lit up letters that spelled out Phantom, but there 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:28.239 was nothing going on inside of it. Now that's not 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:33.119 to say that every single instance was a fake console 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:37.080 with a real PC behind the curtain, Wizard of Oz style, 0:19:37.480 --> 0:19:39.919 but at least according to that one report, that was 0:19:40.000 --> 0:19:43.040 the case. Now, as it turns out, years after the 0:19:43.040 --> 0:19:46.880 Phantom controversy had kind of fizzled out, Ours Technica would 0:19:46.960 --> 0:19:50.840 run a piece about a reader named Eddie Schlessinger who 0:19:50.880 --> 0:19:54.840 worked at a computer repair shop in Venice, Florida. Now remember, 0:19:55.560 --> 0:19:59.639 Infinium Labs was originally located off Florida and around to 0:19:59.800 --> 0:20:03.600 the and twelve. A customer brought in this weird PC console. 0:20:03.760 --> 0:20:08.320 It was branded a Phantom, So apparently this customer had 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:10.840 bought the set from someone else who had no idea 0:20:10.880 --> 0:20:13.440 what the heck this thing was. For the princely sum 0:20:13.600 --> 0:20:16.560 of two hundred dollars. Now, considering that it may be 0:20:16.760 --> 0:20:19.199 one of a kind, or at least maybe one of 0:20:19.240 --> 0:20:22.639 a dozen or so, that's not bad. Schlessenger had a 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:25.200 chance to crack it open and look under the hood 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:29.159 and see what was there. Now, Remember Schlessenger was telling 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:31.400 Ours Technica about this a few years later, I think 0:20:31.400 --> 0:20:35.240 it was so about three years had passed so, according 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:41.120 to Schlessenger. Inside the prototype was a motherboard supposedly made 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:46.480 by a sus That's what Schlessenger thought, had the Nvidia 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:50.280 fx F a g P video card that had been announced. 0:20:50.400 --> 0:20:52.879 It had some d DR ram um. Some of the 0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:55.199 ports on the back we're working, and others were just 0:20:55.320 --> 0:20:58.800 for show. It had video outputs for composite component and 0:20:59.000 --> 0:21:02.080 S video connector, which again these days we would probably 0:21:02.119 --> 0:21:05.240 just use hd M I instead. It also had audio 0:21:05.240 --> 0:21:08.600 output jacks for optical co acts or our c A connectors, 0:21:09.040 --> 0:21:12.639 and there were four USB ports. The system was not 0:21:12.760 --> 0:21:16.520 in working order, so he ended up making some modifications 0:21:16.520 --> 0:21:19.520 to it, and he even installed a phantom promo video. 0:21:19.600 --> 0:21:22.960 He took a video that had been circulated on the 0:21:23.000 --> 0:21:25.720 internet for a while, and he used that as sort 0:21:25.720 --> 0:21:28.240 of the load up screen for the console, so that 0:21:28.680 --> 0:21:32.880 the customer could say that he owned a working Phantom console. Now, 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:34.720 it sounds like a lot of the stuff and Phinium 0:21:34.800 --> 0:21:37.880 was claiming the Phantom would include found its way into 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:41.760 that prototype, which is something. At least not all those 0:21:41.840 --> 0:21:44.040 ports were working. But then if the company wanted to 0:21:44.080 --> 0:21:46.160 create a proof of concept to kind of show how 0:21:46.160 --> 0:21:49.240 the system would work, it might only focus on the 0:21:49.280 --> 0:21:52.159 necessary components to get it to perform as needed for 0:21:52.200 --> 0:21:54.960 a demo. So, in other words, if you're shopping it 0:21:55.000 --> 0:21:57.720 around trying to get some investors to give you money, 0:21:57.920 --> 0:21:59.560 you might have a mock up where it's not a 0:21:59.600 --> 0:22:03.760 fully functional unit, but you want to show off the 0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:06.399 concept so that you can get the funding to complete it. 0:22:06.480 --> 0:22:11.400 That doesn't necessarily mean that the company is shady or 0:22:11.440 --> 0:22:15.399 suspicious in any way. Presumably the finished product would have 0:22:15.480 --> 0:22:18.280 included all of the working components that were being talked 0:22:18.280 --> 0:22:20.800 about in their press releases. Now that would also mean 0:22:20.840 --> 0:22:23.600 customers would get a keyboard and mouse in what Infinium 0:22:23.640 --> 0:22:26.679 Labs was calling a lap pad, And this was an 0:22:26.720 --> 0:22:29.440 attempt to make it easier to play PC style games 0:22:29.480 --> 0:22:32.880 on a home television in your living room. Many PC 0:22:33.080 --> 0:22:36.239 games are compatible with game controllers, but some games, like 0:22:36.359 --> 0:22:39.600 first person shooters or real time strategy games tend to 0:22:39.600 --> 0:22:43.040 work best using a mouse and keyboard approach. If you 0:22:43.160 --> 0:22:45.919 use a controller and you go up against someone else 0:22:45.960 --> 0:22:48.560 who's using mouse and keyboard, you will probably find your 0:22:48.600 --> 0:22:52.280 petuity handed to you. So what about the online service 0:22:52.359 --> 0:22:55.960 part of this whole package? Will Athenium Labs plan to 0:22:56.040 --> 0:23:00.679 operate a Virtual Private Games Network or vpg in And 0:23:00.760 --> 0:23:04.440 this is a special type of virtual private network or VPN. 0:23:04.840 --> 0:23:06.959 And you may have used VPNs for work or for 0:23:07.000 --> 0:23:09.959 your own computers. For those of you who are unfamiliar 0:23:10.000 --> 0:23:12.160 with the idea, let me give you a real quick, 0:23:12.800 --> 0:23:17.080 high level rundown. So a VPN creates a private network 0:23:17.359 --> 0:23:21.440 across a public network. So take the Internet for example. 0:23:21.800 --> 0:23:24.320