Phantom Game Console

jasoncart writes "In a bold move newly formed US technology company Infinium Labs Corporation have announced the release of a new gaming console. They promise that it will be faster than any other console on the market, and have a huge games catalog (32k+ games apparently) available over broadband. Can they take on the big boys? Is broadband pentration high enough? Only time will tell - prototypes are promised in March." There's also an interview with their PR spokesdrone. *cough*Indrema.*cough*

This is doomed

This is doomed to failure. Without any of the big name gaming companies to back them up, noone will buy the console.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the next 3do

Re:This is doomed

"This is doomed to failure. Without any of the big name gaming companies to back them up, noone will buy the console.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the next 3do"

Whoah, easy on the 3DO there. It did pretty damn well for a no-name company that sold a $700 machine. You shoulda said Jaguar!

In any event, everybody and their mother thinks they know how to make a good game console, but until they get big name developers on board they can forget it. Remember when nirvana was getting a game console that could do what an arcade unit does? People want the premium gaming experience, not hacked together games that barely convey the ideas they're after.

This system ain't going to do well as long as Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony are getting the 'wow' games.

Re:This is doomed

Developer support is key, but so is the "Wow" factor.

Who the hell were Sony and Microsoft in the game industry ten years ago? Remember when Intellivision was going to rule the world?

I think it's first big problem is that it's homely. It looks like a homebrew case project.

Shallow as itmight be, they need a much cooler looking console to sell into the market.

A brief history of ugly consoles.

I don't know. If you are talking success the 2600, NES, SNES, GameBoy, PS1, and PS2 are the most successful systems of all time, and most of them are really, really ugly. The 3DO, TG-16, and Sega CD (1st edition) were all very, very pretty, and failed miserably in the market. The PS2 looks like an average a VCR, the financially successful N64 looked like someone threw a cartridge into a blob of clay, and the GameBoy looked like a boring beige box with a green screen when it first came out, especially compared to the vastly cooler Turbo Express, Lynx, Game Gear, and eventually Nomad and Neo Geo Express.

The SNES? Lavender and Beige? I mean, Lavender and Beige? How did this get past test marketing?

For that matter, no system in history has looked as cool relitive to their companions as the Neo Geo did back in the 16 bit era. That company no longer exists, of course.

I'm starting to wonder if very, very ugly systems stick out in consumers minds, thereby increasing sales. It couldn't be just that the name eminates the coolness factor: who didn't laugh the first time they heard the word "Playstation," "Dreamcast," "Ultra 64," "SuperNES," etc.

Perhaps those industry critics are right when they say that people decide on games to buy, then get the console to support them, rather than buying cool consoles to facilitate gaming. In that situation, the "WOW" factor is firmly where it belongs: with the developers. In the mean time, big players will probably continue to hire design professionals who have never touched a console in their lives. Look at the Playstation. Look at the Vaio line of computers. Which looks very, very cool, and which pads Sony's bottom line to the tune of several hundred million dollars per year?

Sheah, right.

It's either fraud, stupidity, or MAME-in-a-box.

mistype

maybe it was 32Kbytes of games.

oops

But the real question is...

can you heat an egg on its heatsink?

REAL gaming machines cook eggs.

Sweet, but...

But can it topple Duke Nukem Forever as the #1 vaporware item for this year?!?!?!

Re:Sweet, but...

You mean, can it topple Duke Nukem Forever as the #1 vaporware item for this year, and the year before, and the year before... and so on...

Re:At least they got the name right...

DNF was named correctly, it will take them forever to write it.

Only time will tell if "Phantom" was also named appropriately.

32K games?

Pong, Breakout, Space Invaders..

Re:32K games?

I wonder if they count variations as separate games like Sears used to do with their versions of Atari 2600 cartridges. I remember the Space Invaders label boasted something like "120 Games!", which meant standard, moving bunkers, no bunkers, invisible invaders, fast missles, zigzagging missles, moving bunkers + fast missles, moving bunkers + zigzagging missles, moving bunkers + fast missles + zigzagging missles, etc.

Re:32K games?

OMG!!!!

Childhood flashback.

Playing the 'Sears' version of Atari on Saturday afternoons at the mall.

Space Invaders.

Combat.

Standing around in the back of the Sears by the lawnmowers and the garden supplies where they had the Atari set-up.

Get tired of playing, head on down to Aladdin's Castle to play Donkey Kong, Pac Man, and Tron.

Then off to Radio Shack to fiddle with the TRS-80's and the acoustically-coupled 300 baud modem. Meet some curly haired guy named 'Eberle' in the TRS-80 section who managed to have *every* TRS-80 game in existence -- Asylum I, Zork, Death Maze 5000, you name it.

Teach myself BASIC on the TRS-80 Model III.

Then off to Orange Julius.

Then bike ride home.

Play D&D in the evening. Talk about the new 'module' you're writing. Talk about getting some more modules. Talk about Grayhawk.

Childhood was so simple. Malls, computers, orange julius', and Gary Gygax.

Re:32K games?

I think MAME [mame.net] is around 6,000 emulated games now, so even if MAME went on for another decade there still wouldn't be 32 thousand games.

Perhaps its like those Asian pirate carts you can get a million games [atarihq.com] but they're all randomly generated hacks of Contra.

They need more...

more than just 32k games and a great console. They need the mindshare and advertising power that Sony and Microsoft have, and to a lesser extent, Nintendo.

Even then, I think consumers already have enough with the PS2, XBox, and GameCube. Will they pick up a fourth?

The idea of playing games over broadband is interesting, but that's already a common use for computers (where you would have the broadband!).

Hmm.

Think they're seeking capital?

Business plan.

I just re-watched the Mel Brooks classic, "The Producers." To quote Blum, Gene Wilder's character: "You know, in the right circumstances, you could make more money with a flop than with a hit!"

I present to you: Springtime for Hitler, the console.

Go Slashdot go!

I hope it's quicker than their web server

interesting name

i wonder how long they debated whether or not to keep "phantom" or go with the name "vapor".

Too many games?

How in the world are they going to have 32,000 games to start with? Are that many in the world now? This must be a case of quantity over quality.

Re:Too many games?

Pick a Number Between 1 and 10....

What Color am I thinknig of....

Guess which hand.....

How much do I weigh....

Pong....

Draw!...

Spell!....

and so forth and so forth...

Re:Too many games?

My guess is at least 15,000 of them will be mahjongg.

32k+ games??

(32k+ games apparently) available over broadband

That's nothing! My old Apple IIe could play 64k games!

Is this a hoax or what?

Something tells me this is just a joke. I sat and listened to the little media hype thingy, and I actually laughed out loud.

It shows a little rendered image of a console, while saying things like "Imagine being able to pay for each play" and "Imagine downloading the latest patches and bugfixes".

Ahead of its time

If they try to take this device and compete with Nintendo, MS and Sony they have no chance to survive. The product is too ahead of its time to make any money. However, it could be succesful if they market it to hotels, airlines, trains, doctors, dentists, cafes, etc. Put a money slot on it and put it in various public places. I think if they market it this way they can be quite profitable.

They had to call it phantom ...

... because calling it vapor would have been too obvious.

Games

claiming that there are currently 32,679 retail game titles available

I don't think 684 versions of Tetris, each with slightly different graphics, should count as distinct games.

32K?

claiming that there are currently 32,679 retail game titles available

So that must mean they're only 89 games short!

32k???

They promise that it will be faster than any other console on the market, and have a huge games catalog (32k+ games apparently) available over broadband.

Making something faster than other consoles wouldn't be hard, but getting enough people to develop 32,679 games and keeping it quiet would be tough. (Assuming that these are small games and four people -- two coders, one artist, one music/sound guy -- could make a game in four weeks, it would take twenty thousand people six months to come close to this number. But who can come up with 32,000 ideas, or employ 20,000 people, without anyone hearing from them?)

Anyway, if they actually did make 32,679 separate games, most of them probably suck due to lack of imagination, polish, play testing, or they simply aren't fun. The idea is halfway decent, though I don't think enough people have broadband to make this viable, but the details are rather far-fetched.

Re:32k???

Remember how the atari 2600 worked? one cartridge could have like, 140 games on it, all variations on a theme...

Here is the tank game!
Here is the tank game in a maze!
Here is the tank game with bullets that bounce!
Here is the tank game with bullets that bounce in a maze!

and so on. Hope thats not what they mean...

Re:32k???

Here's where you can go to sign up to be one of these lucky developers! Get them resumes ready!

Infinium Labs
5380 Gulf of Mexico
Suite 409
Longboat Key, FL 34228

[e-mail]

Re:awesome

Supporting Linux would be a key advantage over existing console makers, who go out of their way to prevent customers from running a real OS on their devices.

I wonder if you've ever heard of this little company called Sony [playstation2-linux.com]...

Anyway, yeah, what-ever. An advantage, yes. A key advantage, no. They might sell more consoles. They wouldn't sell any more games, thus they would get no more money from royalties. That's where the money in the console market is.

faster than any other console on the market

Interviewer: Hey, why are there wheels on the console? Spokesman: It's faster than any other console on the market. Interviewer: Umm... usually when referring to the spees of the console, you quote the processor speed, or some benchmark. Spokesman: You want a benchmark? This thing gets 112 Miles per gallon. The tank holds a pint. You do the math. Interviewer: What's the purpose of a moving console? Spokesman: It's the ultimate mobile platform.

Re:faster than any other console on the market

Plus, it has hardware acceleration of 9.81 m/s^2.

Too many already.

I grew up with the rise of consoles - from the early ones like the atari and pong - through NES and its siblings to now, the ps2 xbox etc, just as many of us have. But I still do not own one.

I had a sega, I had NES and super NES and dreamcast. But I choose not to buy any new ones now.

I have played computer games religously ever since I was in 3rd grade. I play games on my PC and thats how I like it.

I have a big comfy chair - a huge monitor and a very fast machine - in a room dedicated to computer gaming. I prefer this setup greatly over sitting on the floor in front of my TV. I prefer the level of interaction that a PC can provide.

I dont have any desire for an xbox, ps2 gamecube or other... my PC is just fine. and it serves a hell of a lot more functions than a console system.

The current prices of hardware is incredible. I just built another great system for $400. at just twice the price of an xbox/ps2 I get 1000 times the functionality.

Unless the system they are offering is $25.00 and I dont have to pay any sort of monthly access (like if it were to utilize my *exisiting* lan and broadband connection - without a large price for a lan adapter - i will continue to have no interest in console systems.

What they should do is focus on making a PCI card that you can insert into your PC and utilize its hardware to make it a "console" system in that it can hold the controllers and play all the games - for a minimal cost.

then make all the money off the price of the games (which are already overpriced at $50.)

Speaking of too much...

I, too, grew up with the various historical consoles. Since this comment was deemed 'interesting', let me ask you a few things. Consoles... But I still do not own one.

That's cool. What I want to know is, how do you find maintaining this bleeding-edge level of gamer gear?

I ask because, honestly, the PC gaming rig puzzles me. Even with the basement-level prices you speak of ($400/box), it still strikes me as prohibitively expensive. I suppose it depends on your dedication ot the hobby.

Let me illustrate - I do most of my gaming on a PS2. My personal computer is a Mac, which isn't good for anything but the biggest mainstrain PC games (ala WarCraft).

PS2 = $US 200 (new when it came out)
PS2 game = $US 50

Now, this thing, if its anything like my PS1, will last me for about 3-4 years. I get to sit on a comfy couch, with friends who can also see clearly my large television, with my surround-sound stereo (that I already forked out for), and play 1st-rate video games. It boots very quickly, the graphics are great, most importantly the games are great. The controller is custom-designed just for gaming. It never crashes. I don't apply patches or download things, 99% of the unit's uptime is actively gaming.

Now, before you go off and shut me down, tell me.. you've got:

Gaming PC = $US 400
PC Game = $US 50

now add to that PC Game Controller = $US 35
Large Gaming PC monitor = $250
Good PC Speakers = $100 Windows license to run said Games = $50

How is that better? You're paying a premium for graphics and sound that are only ever going to be marginally better.

I know its not all about economics, but the games, man! You must have as much money as possible to buy games. That is the whole point.

How often do you update your rig? If it's 'fast', as in fast enough to run a cutting-edge PC game all the time, the turnover must be at least one a year, no? (Of course, the PC is more functional than a PS2, but we are talking about games, no?)

I wish you luck, PC Gamer, but I fear your days are numbered. The consoles are custom-designed to eat your lunch.

Re:Speaking of too much...

Since I'm of much the same mind as the original poster, I'll respond to this. First of all, I can do damn near anything with my computer that I want to. It can do thousands of things that the consoles can't even dream of. I even do real work on it. But, even if we're just considering games, the PC still wins. Much better selection of controllers (including keyboard/mouse), giving you just the right type of control for any given game. Compare playing a FPS game using keyboard/mouse to attempting to aim using those crappy thumb-nobs on most console controllers. Much more flexibility and immersiveness in games. No console can match the PC for depth of gameplay, and especially not for customization. Try creating a mod for a console game. Hell, that's where Counter-Strike came from. A mod. And now it's the most popular FPS game in the world. Try creating a game like Neverwinter Nights for a console. Not gonna work. Consoles still have a looong way to go before they can compete with the PC. They're fine if you're just a casual gamer and you don't have much use for a decent PC other than games, but if you're a more serious gamer, then there's nothing out there that can beat a good PC. Sure, it's a lot of money, but you get a LOT more out of it than you get from a console.

PC gaming is not the holy grail

To each his own, but as a serious gamer I feel obliged to respond to your post. But I'm tired of saying all this like a broken record so I'll try to keep it short.

The whole PC vs console debate is so fucking dated and pedestrian that to make your assertion in any gaming circle will get you laughed out of the room. I don't think you mean badly, but I'll venture to guess that you're just mainly into a certain type of game. Nothing wrong with that, but I do take issue that you're spinning your personal preference in games as objective reason that [god-like-voice]PC's Are Better Gaming Systems Than Consoles[/god-like-voice].

I have the high end PC setup, and I agree that Battlefield 1942 cannot be enjoyed the way it should be on an XBox. Neither can Icewind Dale, Warcraft 3, or Space Quest 4. Now that we have that out of the way. I feel bad for you, the exclusive PC gamer, because you'll never enjoy the likes of Panzer Dragoon Orta, Garou: Mark of the Wolves, Metal Gear Solid 2, Soul Calibur, Ikaruga, Megaman 2, or Punch Out. Even if the above were ported/emulated to a PC (I think MGS2 might already be ported), they would be as bad as playing Starcraft on an N64 (*cough*).

So I'll keep my MAME cabinet, all my consoles, and my PC. I count myself lucky because I can afford to do so. If you want to get into console gaming, feel free to ask me (or someone like me) for recommendations. Don't worry, no one will tell your UT clanmates. ;)

What Garbage.

Boy that flash intro with 4 static images was really worth the download/loading time.

Their blurb reads like toxic corporate MBA talk. "It'll change the world forever, parents will be able to monitor what their children play." blah blah blah.

This is a company which -obviously- doesn't know who it's target audience is. You don't win people over with a cheesy looking computer model of your console. You win them over by showing flashy graphics in your commercials matched with good games.

This company is doomed to go down in flames unless they figure out how to play with the big boys and their big PR companies.

Go read their press release

No really, go read it. It'll take a little extra time, but it could be the most hilarious thing you'll see in months.

http://www.infiniumlabs.com/PR/Infinium%20Labs%2 0P ress%20Annoucment%204.0.htm

I've seen companies promise a subset of the features that I want in product XYZ, but this is the first time I've ever seen a company promote that it has every single feature ever .

A good quote: "Combining skills from Telco, Data Communications, Digital Rights Management, Software Development and Security, the management team brings together a unique array of skills to develop the most robust next generation gaming console and delivery network on the market."

Wha?

It's just too funny on its own... I can't add to anything they've said...

NonProprietary Windows?!

From http://www.infiniumlabs.com/developer_benefits.asp

Moreover, foresee the ability to develop games on a nonproprietary system, which is Windows based, something relatively unheard of today.

How nonproprietary can it possibly be if it's "Windows based"? Do they mean Xwindows?

Re:NonProprietary Windows?!

That's probably why it's unheard of ;)

Wait ... There's More!

The new game console is 6 times faster than any other game console (it crashes at 7 so they had to limit it to only being 6 times faster). It has every media player built in. And it's battery powered with batteries that continuosly recharge themelves.

It's basically a big 'ol DRM box.

I read the press release on another game news site, and it seems like they're focusing completely on online delivery of games, game demos, media (movies and music) and rentals. No doubt highly encrypted and protected from hacking -- when they talk about 'buying' games they mention subscriptions to downloaded stuff, not buying a physical disc. Try to imagine every piece of software on your computer phoning home to ensure it's been legally purchased, and the joys of what happens when you run out of disk space and have to delete something you 'own' and can never install again.

I just can't see gamers -- and more importantly, game companies, going with this. The power of going down to the retailer and nabbing an actual DVD-ROM of your favorite game is too intense. You can swap the game with friends or keep a library going in your home, you can pull a classic out of storage to emulate or simply play later. Having the game be something you grab off the ether(net) which doesn't really exist in a conventional sense isn't going to click with the mass mainstream game public they need to convince.

Phantom System?

It was already done in Brazil. :P
Behold:

The Brazil NES Market [planetnintendo.com]
Brazil and the NES [atarihq.com]
NES at ROAR! [roarvgm.com] - a nice picture

Actually, it was a NES clone. Strangely, it featured Mega Drive-like controls. If you read the articles, you'll see this little console brought luck to its maker Gradiente, which later managed to be the official distributor of Nintendo products in Brazil. At the time it was good, because we only had Sega systems in Brazil. Let's hope this new "Phantom" initiative, if successful, brings something good to the world again. ^^

Interesting

On the one hand, they appear to be charging for downloads of traditional PC games, so it appears that they have finally found another way to take commodity hardware and make money licensing game sales (the other, XBox).

Outperforming a generation of consoles that was released over two years ago isn't particularly difficult... The Dreamcast did it quite well, but failed miserably in the market. The key is not to be better than everyone else, (the PS2 is currently the slowest console available), but to be so much better that all of the developers flock to your system and produce must-have games. With a system of renting otherwise available PC games, I don't see how they will have any of the exclusives they need to thrive, unless they develop them themselves.

Limiting themselves to broadband-only customers and broadband-only distribution is an interesting choice. Traditionally, if you wanted to sell a console you had to convince hundreds of thousands of stores across the world to devote 5 - 20 feet of shelf space to your product... a difficult task to say the least. However, by going with broadband, they have cut out that huge fixed cost. If they didn't go overboard with their DRM and can find a somewhat linearly scaling manufacturing facility (difficult, I admit), they *could* survive on a very small installed userbase. They will have to work with the Nintendo model (all partners absorb fixed cost risks in exchange for a cut of razor blade sales), but I could really see them living comfortably on a base of 1 to 2 million people or less.

On the other hand, by going with broadband, they have limited themselves to selling a crippled, specialized PC to people who are guaranteed to already have a full-fledged PC. Microsoft tried it with the XBox, and while sales aren't horrible, they are still losing the race with a lunchbox. Infinium will have to develop / buy exclusives, and it doesn't seem like they have the funding to do that.

Furthermore, DRM and temporary rentals are *designed* to frustrate consumers, and the home entertainment device crowd is notoriously unforgiving when they feel they have been wronged. They will have to dance a fine line between demos / rentals / subscriptions / and sales. Just reading their mission statement makes me wonder if they will have anytime, night-and-weekend, and overtime minutes. Can I get extra minutes if I sign to a one-year contract? What do you mean I owe $170 dollars for going over? But it was Final Fantasy, what do you expect me to do?

I'd like to say I have high-hopes in this situation, but high hopes in this situation would be survival.

-c

Emulation

The answer to the 32k games statement seems pretty obvious to me. I think that in addition to having a small set of games written for and optimized for their supposedly powerful platform, they will put emulators in the box by default. Boot code will detect a disc/cartridge of Type X and load the appropriate emulator from rom. They could easily emulate NES, SNES, N64, PS1, Sega up through Dreamcast, and maybe PS2 althought I'm not entirely sure on that. The 32k games will be other consoles' games that you can replay on this one. It's the only way that number can make sense.

Faster than any other console?

I'm a bit stumped as to how they can claim that they make a 'fast' console. Quite frankly, I've never used a 'slow' console.

NTSC TVs have a maximum frame rate of 30 FPS (29.7 if you want to get technical). I don't find load times particularly offensive for most consoles now ( the N64 could load anything instantly). Almost every game I've ever played on a console could be played that 30FPS rate ALL THE TIME.

Do they want to turn up the quality of the graphics? It won't be FASTER, but it'll look nicer (although there's only so much you can do at 640x480 interlaced). Sure, you can play pong at 8,000 FPS (even though your TV can only display 30), but do you really WANT to?

Emulator.

This platform *MUST* act as an emulator, thus the *need* for it to have the most power of any console on the market.

Why do I say "must"?

32k games equals, roughly, the number of games ever created for all major consoles (and that includes both regional variants, and what MAME calls "clones", which usually make up half to two thirds of the known games for a given platform). Without including such almost-identical versions of the same game, 32k very well might equal the number of games written *ever*, for *any* platform.

No, I did not just pull this number out of the air. As of December 30th, the Cowering ROM ID tools included 33,586 games for "major" console systems (Atari, Nintendo, Sega, Intellivision, Coleco, TG16, NeoGeo). That does not include the Playstation or Xbox line, of course, as the games take up too much room on current hardware, even if a decent emulator existed. But I figure that would add another two to three thousand.

For comparison, the C64/Amiga line, arguably the longest running, most popular gaming platform of all time (though not really a console) only had 26k games. But this never-before-heard-of company has already beat that for their initial launch? Not very likely.

So, as my guess, they plan to push this on the retrogaming community, and possibly open it to "modern" ports (though I don't think they'll focus on that area, at least not unless/until they get a good market share). They can claim such a high number of games without already having licensed them for the same reason Nintendo now carries games written by Sega: They don't need to "steal" the original works, or make obscenely complicated licensing deals (as many people have suggested would hold true of and retrogaming platform). They'll just let the authors republish their original games (without even needing a rewrite, since very likely most of the source code for older consoles no longer exists), for a cut of the action.

On the bright side, I could see this as actually succeeding. Personally, I enjoy retrogaming, and would gladly pay a few bucks (perhaps even the price of a single "modern" game) for a *legal* CD with 50-100 classic games on it ($0.25 per game, with at least a quarter of them "good" games, sounds quite reasonable). I suppose this would have the number of people into classic video games as the biggest limiting factor, though.

The case of the Phantom console

... and we would have beaten Microsoft and Sony too if it hadn't been for those darn kids!!

Sorry just had to say it :)

Understatement

I think calling him a Spokesdrone is an understatement. Check this answer out:

Infinium Labs was formed by veteran entrepreneurs who have a successful track record in building large scale companies and advanced architectures for supporting massive eCommerce and enterprise applications. Combining skills from Telco, Data Communications, Digital Rights Management, Software Development and Security, the management team brings together a unique array of skills to develop the most robust next generation gaming console and delivery network on the market.

Except for the term Wi-Fi (and maybe synergy, although that's so 20th century), I think we've hit just about every buzz word in the English language.

Sheeshh speed - always speed

I'm serious - why is the be all and all of what a console can do always measured by speed?

And anyway what speed?

In a modern machine be it PS2/XBox/PC the graphics CPU is as important as the main CPU.

So do we measure in clock speed - polygons per second - frame rate - operations per second - memory bandwidth....


At the end of the day the big secret is IT DOESNT MATTER

What MATTERS
a) Do the games play fast enough to be responsive?
b) Are the graphics convincing enough without being obviously limited

All of these are down to how well the game is programmed - who cares how cool the graphics are if it runs at 10 frames per second and takes half a second to respond to a button press - who cares if the graphics don't have quite the same number of polygons in if the game is moving so fast you don't notice.

Before I get flamed by the console-kin I am aware this only holds within certain bounds - if the hardware is lacking badly then even good code-craft will not help - but the PS2/XBox/Dreamcast/PC game experience can all be equally as good with a good game, and equally bad with a sucky game.


What matters more to me would be the range of games - the XBox is great when you play Halo, but what then? - and the convenience of the hardware - PS2s don't have hard drives so are suprisingly shock resistant, PC controllers always feel clumsy when compared to console ones but boy can you get a range (the problem here of course is its easy for a PS2 developer to figure out a really good button arrangement because all the controllers are roughly the same - god help PC developers who generally resort to letting the user map the keyboard)

The 'best' console is relatively easy to spot - its the one doing well in the market - the problem is PC 'consoles' don't show up because they are so flexible. At the end of the day the 'best' console is like a car - whatever is the best package for the person that buys it - otherwise we'd all be driving Ferrais (and I am not having a flame war on cars BTW)


For the record my choice would still be the PS2, its got great games, is well engineered and is just a good package.

As it happens I don't own any consoles, nor a bleeding edge PC (well it is, but for DV editing not polygon count) because most of the time I'm watching DVDs....

31.9k games will be:

Tetris level A
Tetris level B
.
.
.
Tetris level ZZZZZZ