I ran the Where Is Phantom? website when all this was going down. You have no idea how crazy it was behind the scenes. It was just two of us running the site doing interviews, running up leads and research. I still have the broken console faceplate that Kyle smashed on stage. Great to see this story being told again.
That Phantom trailer is such a delightful 2000s tech cheese, I would love a return back to that rather than the boring minimalism that has become standard in console dashboards.
The Phantom was so legendary at the time, kids today can't even image. Ironically what they promised in console is exactly where Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony went with their hardware later on. Which is why OG gamers tell the story of the Phantom to younglings at the end of LAN parties and closing time (or power outages) at PC arcades. Though most times the story ends with the founder of Infinium disappearing on his yacht in the Bermuda Triangle rather than federal prison.
I found it mind blowing when I found out that the Amiga was made by disgruntled Atari employees and the ST was made by disgruntled Commodore engineers 🤣🤣
I highly approve of you showling classic MS-DOS games while talking about the Indrema product, particularly Descent and Jazz Jackrabbit, those games are brilliant.
Indrema L600? I don't know how you do it but you managed to find a console I had yet to hear of. I honestly thought the world had run out of such things at this point. I wanted the Phantom when it was in development. I'm not a PC gamer, and was still several years away from owning one, but there were so many horror titles I wanted, from Harvester of Sorrow to Alice. I liked the idea of being able to buy a PC game, not having to care about specs, and just putting in the disc and playing as simply as a console. I was disappointed to learn a bit later that Phantom would be digital only but coincidentally enough, another PC games console appeared and it did have a disk drive. Huzzah! My savior, ApeXtreme! 😍 Of course, it ended up being cancelled and to this day I _still_ haven't played any of those PC games I always wanted. 😞
A look into the window of consoles that could have been... I wonder how many of these actually got into the operational prototype phase and how many were just concepts that never got that far. 0:58 - Wait, Colecovision could count? Did they have an existing computer at the time? I suppose Sega's Master System (or rather, the SG-1000) is ruled out due to it being developed alongside the SC-3000. 2:52 - I love the design pitch here; so charming. An no wonder the Amiga was a beast as a game's machine, with gaming being at the forefront of it's inception. 4:45 - Ironically, it came full circle with the CD32. A shame Commodore's poor financial situation didn't allow them to properly invest and support into the CD32 (though for it's brief time on the market, it did well). 6:06 - An interesting concept, though that does end up making the console rather complicated, and simplicity is one of console gaming's greatest strengths compared to home computers. Obviously not open sourced, but wasn't the eventual PS3 Linux-based? 10:21 - They recognised the problem... and then chose a company that wasn't suited to solving said problem. How strange. I suppose it was the early days of gaming and so companies who knew about video games were more limited. 12:05 - Though Milton Bradley would later support/purchase the Vectrex, a home console that could stand out from the crowd... it just came out at an unfortunate time. 17:00 - There was always something very... fake, about how the Phantom looked. It being a computer generated mock-up makes sense and now I understand why it's disc drive is missing. So it was like a Stadia, Zeebo or even an Xbox Game Pass but all the way back in 2003. Given how those more recent systems struggled, I can't imagine the Phantom would have fared well. 18:28 - Oh my gosh, they were actually committed to making the thing. When you started to mention lawsuits, I expected it to be a scam but nope, it was a physical thing. 19:54 - I wonder if that customer knew the insane rarity of the device they possessed. Absolutely fascinating.
"Open source".... That phrase still sends me shivers if it's related to any kind of gaming system. We've seen what kind of crap that always creates **coughcoughOUYAcoughcough**
I think if Atari did make an ST based console it should have tried to fit it into the size of a 7800 and have the games be floppy disk based to cut costs down.
The Commodore 64 sold over 27 million units and was the only machine to outsell the IBM compatibles... three years in a row! How the hell did the console not set the world on fire?
It can easily be argued that the Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, Playstation 4 and Playstation 5 are PC based, the Atari VCS is definitely pc-based but I hasn't hit store shelves in the literal sense that I know of.
Actually you have answered for me one long standing question. Why was the Ti99 such a hopeless design of home computer? Clearly only able to make anything run well from a cartridge as it has so little CPU attached memory. That's because it's a game console with a keyboard stuck on it. I am sure Ti must have made a fair wad on all the graphics ICs it sold so not such a failure and a lesson that they should have stuck at silicon rather than full systems.
@@TheLairdsLair yeah sorry to bring it to your attention but people can at least see in the comments you're aware and I agree nothing worth doing about it. You can update the video description I guess. Anyway I always enjoy your videos 🤗
@@TheLairdsLair I was about to comment on the Amiga release date also, but then saw this comment. No reason to beat yourself up over small errors though, your videos are so well made and comprehensive, such blips are only human, and I'll take that over AI shizzle any day 🙂
Consoles are in the essence crippled and locked-down computers. In order to sell well, they need to be lot cheaper than equivalent computer. Most of these were not.
Terrible description, it might be closer to what an arcade was. Except for the Odyssey and the Pong clones, all are computers, most were even planned to be low cost computers. Only a few were indeed crippled and/or locked down. The 5200 was, the Jaguar, the 3DO, the SNES, GameCube, Wii and WiiU, Switch, XBOX, PS4 and 5, not counting the handhelds, are most of the few which were indeed crippled and locked. The rest, at some point, could be expanded to have usage as what you could consider a computer.
Technically, there were a number of somewhat successful 80s consoles based on MSX hardware, either directly or with fairly similar specs. The XBox was the only one since then that actually got any foothold in the market.
Have vague recollections of the phantom but not so much in the UK. In that ad for it in passing I did spot the "pay per play" in there with the "rent or buy", wonder what would have happened if it was ever released. Think it would have hard to have got a foothold with Sony & Nintendo back then, though sega was failing at that point. Ultimately, don't think there was anything that would have made it a success in competing against known names especially with the PC based XBox already trying to make inroads in a crowded market.
I did not know the Phantom existed before watching this. Even today you hear gnashing of teeth about systems with no physical drive a la the PS5 Pro, and so I have to wonder about the process that got this idea green-lit back in 2006 when DSL and dial-up internet were still very commonplace.
2006 was also the year the Wii launched, which became often used as an entertainment center as well due to having netflix as well as having a successful a digital game distribution model of it's own, it doesn't seem far fetched the Phantom could work fine back then.
I'm your number 1 fan believe me and I take a mandatory work break when a new video pops up but God I can't stand it when u use fax modem noise between spots
What are you talking about? Most consoles are designed as a console, a console is not the same as a computer. How can you not know the difference, what is wrong with you?
I ran the Where Is Phantom? website when all this was going down. You have no idea how crazy it was behind the scenes. It was just two of us running the site doing interviews, running up leads and research. I still have the broken console faceplate that Kyle smashed on stage. Great to see this story being told again.
Oh wow, that's amazing! I can only imagine how wild that was, thanks for stopping by!
That Phantom trailer is such a delightful 2000s tech cheese, I would love a return back to that rather than the boring minimalism that has become standard in console dashboards.
The Phantom was so legendary at the time, kids today can't even image. Ironically what they promised in console is exactly where Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony went with their hardware later on. Which is why OG gamers tell the story of the Phantom to younglings at the end of LAN parties and closing time (or power outages) at PC arcades. Though most times the story ends with the founder of Infinium disappearing on his yacht in the Bermuda Triangle rather than federal prison.
I found it mind blowing when I found out that the Amiga was made by disgruntled Atari employees and the ST was made by disgruntled Commodore engineers 🤣🤣
A Phantom prototype also appeared at E3 2004 but that was also rumored to be a mockup as well. (18:23)
I highly approve of you showling classic MS-DOS games while talking about the Indrema product, particularly Descent and Jazz Jackrabbit, those games are brilliant.
Infinium sounds like the Delorean of games companies 🤣🤣
glad you got the [H]ardocp part in there with the phantom. last vid i saw on it completely missed it! wild times back then...
Indrema L600? I don't know how you do it but you managed to find a console I had yet to hear of. I honestly thought the world had run out of such things at this point.
I wanted the Phantom when it was in development. I'm not a PC gamer, and was still several years away from owning one, but there were so many horror titles I wanted, from Harvester of Sorrow to Alice. I liked the idea of being able to buy a PC game, not having to care about specs, and just putting in the disc and playing as simply as a console. I was disappointed to learn a bit later that Phantom would be digital only but coincidentally enough, another PC games console appeared and it did have a disk drive. Huzzah! My savior, ApeXtreme! 😍
Of course, it ended up being cancelled and to this day I _still_ haven't played any of those PC games I always wanted. 😞
A look into the window of consoles that could have been... I wonder how many of these actually got into the operational prototype phase and how many were just concepts that never got that far.
0:58 - Wait, Colecovision could count? Did they have an existing computer at the time? I suppose Sega's Master System (or rather, the SG-1000) is ruled out due to it being developed alongside the SC-3000.
2:52 - I love the design pitch here; so charming. An no wonder the Amiga was a beast as a game's machine, with gaming being at the forefront of it's inception.
4:45 - Ironically, it came full circle with the CD32. A shame Commodore's poor financial situation didn't allow them to properly invest and support into the CD32 (though for it's brief time on the market, it did well).
6:06 - An interesting concept, though that does end up making the console rather complicated, and simplicity is one of console gaming's greatest strengths compared to home computers. Obviously not open sourced, but wasn't the eventual PS3 Linux-based?
10:21 - They recognised the problem... and then chose a company that wasn't suited to solving said problem. How strange. I suppose it was the early days of gaming and so companies who knew about video games were more limited.
12:05 - Though Milton Bradley would later support/purchase the Vectrex, a home console that could stand out from the crowd... it just came out at an unfortunate time.
17:00 - There was always something very... fake, about how the Phantom looked. It being a computer generated mock-up makes sense and now I understand why it's disc drive is missing. So it was like a Stadia, Zeebo or even an Xbox Game Pass but all the way back in 2003. Given how those more recent systems struggled, I can't imagine the Phantom would have fared well.
18:28 - Oh my gosh, they were actually committed to making the thing. When you started to mention lawsuits, I expected it to be a scam but nope, it was a physical thing.
19:54 - I wonder if that customer knew the insane rarity of the device they possessed. Absolutely fascinating.
The ColecoVision is based on the MSX standard.
It's funny how so many of these abandoned project stories are just: "Everything was going fine, but then Jack Tramiel."
Remember the PC mini that was announced several years ago during the wave of ''Mini'' repos of retro gaming systems ?
Phantom Owner of the Phantom! 🤣 Dude could sell that sucker for tens of thousands of dollars! 🤯
That Phantom trailer could have really done with an epilepsy warning. 💀
"Open source".... That phrase still sends me shivers if it's related to any kind of gaming system. We've seen what kind of crap that always creates **coughcoughOUYAcoughcough**
I actually have a limited edition dev kit Ouya, I've never even taken it out of the box 😂😂😂
I think if Atari did make an ST based console it should have tried to fit it into the size of a 7800 and have the games be floppy disk based to cut costs down.
I have the Phantom lapboard
They probably didn't manufacture a lot of those, that thing is a bit of a collectable but only to tech weirdos like us lol
The Commodore 64 sold over 27 million units and was the only machine to outsell the IBM compatibles... three years in a row!
How the hell did the console not set the world on fire?
The XBox was the only PC-based Console, which reached the store shelves.
I feel like I don't understand this comment. I mean the PlayStation 5 is a PC in a box. The Apple pippen is just a Macintosh. The Atari XEGS too
It can easily be argued that the Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, Playstation 4 and Playstation 5 are PC based, the Atari VCS is definitely pc-based but I hasn't hit store shelves in the literal sense that I know of.
He said PC, as in IBM compatible, and so he is correct. despite several attempts no PC based console was released before the Xbox.
The Atari VCS has been sold at retail in some selected stores, so it counts.
@@TheLairdsLair The Apple pippen was a Macintosh in a box. And of course the PS5 is just a PC. Hell the Dreamcast ran windows CE
Actually you have answered for me one long standing question. Why was the Ti99 such a hopeless design of home computer? Clearly only able to make anything run well from a cartridge as it has so little CPU attached memory. That's because it's a game console with a keyboard stuck on it. I am sure Ti must have made a fair wad on all the graphics ICs it sold so not such a failure and a lesson that they should have stuck at silicon rather than full systems.
Did you say 1995 for the Amiga 1000?
I know you know it's 1985!
Not sure why I said that or how I didn't notice because the script says '85, but nothing I can do to fix it now sadly.
@@TheLairdsLair yeah sorry to bring it to your attention but people can at least see in the comments you're aware and I agree nothing worth doing about it. You can update the video description I guess.
Anyway I always enjoy your videos 🤗
I really beat myself up when I make mistakes, but thanks anyway.
@@TheLairdsLair I was about to comment on the Amiga release date also, but then saw this comment. No reason to beat yourself up over small errors though, your videos are so well made and comprehensive, such blips are only human, and I'll take that over AI shizzle any day 🙂
I had an MBX. It easnt cancelled. It was am extension for the 99. It was great. Aint seen space bandits in ages.
Had most of the MBX titles
You either didn't watch the whole video before commenting or weren't paying attention . . . . .
Consoles are in the essence crippled and locked-down computers. In order to sell well, they need to be lot cheaper than equivalent computer. Most of these were not.
Terrible description, it might be closer to what an arcade was.
Except for the Odyssey and the Pong clones, all are computers, most were even planned to be low cost computers. Only a few were indeed crippled and/or locked down. The 5200 was, the Jaguar, the 3DO, the SNES, GameCube, Wii and WiiU, Switch, XBOX, PS4 and 5, not counting the handhelds, are most of the few which were indeed crippled and locked.
The rest, at some point, could be expanded to have usage as what you could consider a computer.
Technically, there were a number of somewhat successful 80s consoles based on MSX hardware, either directly or with fairly similar specs. The XBox was the only one since then that actually got any foothold in the market.
Yeah, hence why I mentioned the ColecoVision and Sega SG-1000 in the intro.
The MSX came later. It should be more appropriate to say those consoles were based or improvements on the TI micros.
Have vague recollections of the phantom but not so much in the UK.
In that ad for it in passing I did spot the "pay per play" in there with the "rent or buy", wonder what would have happened if it was ever released.
Think it would have hard to have got a foothold with Sony & Nintendo back then, though sega was failing at that point.
Ultimately, don't think there was anything that would have made it a success in competing against known names especially with the PC based XBox already trying to make inroads in a crowded market.
I did not know the Phantom existed before watching this. Even today you hear gnashing of teeth about systems with no physical drive a la the PS5 Pro, and so I have to wonder about the process that got this idea green-lit back in 2006 when DSL and dial-up internet were still very commonplace.
Yeah, it would have been totally unfeasible back then, I mean look at how On-Live failed some years later!
2006 was also the year the Wii launched, which became often used as an entertainment center as well due to having netflix as well as having a successful a digital game distribution model of it's own, it doesn't seem far fetched the Phantom could work fine back then.
The Phantom was supposed to launch in 2002, it just kept getting delayed.
This Phantom runs DOS games why it is so powerful?
The Steam deck has been quite successful and has become my gaming platform for choice.
I'm your number 1 fan believe me and I take a mandatory work break when a new video pops up but God I can't stand it when u use fax modem noise between spots
Sorry!
Mannnn I wanted the PHANTOM so BAdly!
It Never Happened
Did I hear you say that the Amiga 1000 was released in 1995?
Slip of the tongue, already addressed in another comment.
16:25 does look like ps 5
❤
Phantom System > Phantom 😅
The Indrema looks terrible, like it's melting.
Literally every console is computer-based, what's wrong with you?
What are you talking about? Most consoles are designed as a console, a console is not the same as a computer. How can you not know the difference, what is wrong with you?