![Games Games](http://a.fsdn.com/sd/topics/games_64.png)
![Entertainment Entertainment](http://a.fsdn.com/sd/topics/entertainment_64.png)
More Info on Phantom Game Console 443
MImeKillEr writes "Newsforge is reporting that the Phantom Game Console
discussed on Slashdot is really a DRM-protected PC, sans floppy or CD running Windows XP. It uses a proprietary encryption method to protect the data on its harddrive, and the only thing that differentiates this 'game console' from a standard, Windows-running PC is that it has no way to get data on or off of it except through a dedicated connection to Infinium Labs' own servers." Newsforge and Slashdot are both part of OSDN.
Fair use? (Score:5, Insightful)
That's what these DRMs remind me of. They're *supposed* to be a gentle reminder for you to not break the law yet allow fair use. The idea that you can circumvent a DRM and get in trouble is ludicrous, to me.
It's like my pen analogy. If you went to the store to buy a pen and *all* of the pens had chains on them, you'd have to buy a pen with a chain on it. Would you have to use the chain? Could you remove the chain? You certainly could remove the chain from your own pen.
I don't understand how fair use got so screwed up like this. Hey, shouldn't this article be on yro.slashdot.org?
Re:Fair use? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Fair use? (Score:2)
You're not required to buy a PC. There's a whole world of tae-bo and yoga and other types of entertainment out there!
Re:Fair use? (Score:5, Interesting)
My wife went out and bought a yoda cd and it wouldn't play in her circa 1992 sony cd player. Ironically, I was able to make a copy of the CD with my phillips burner that then played fine on her stereo.
Moral of the story: copy protected CD's hurt consumers.
Re:Fair use? (Score:5, Funny)
Was that Yoda CD anything like this [counterpoint-music.com]?
Re:Fair use? The real moral (Score:3, Insightful)
Moral of the story: copy protected CD's hurt consumers.
The real moral, if this is the total story, is that the label and the stores don't care. As far as they know they just made another sale. The CD should have been returned to the store (after you made your copy) as not suitable for it's indended use and you should have received a full refund. That way copy protection hurts the people it should a
Re:Fair use? (Score:5, Insightful)
Only problem with any type of voting...you're in the minority, you lose, whether you're right or not. And the whole "DRM prevents pirates, pirates are terrorists" campaigns make sure that we're in the minority. The user who doesn't want to use his own hardware any differently, ie the parents of the small children this is aimed at, sees no difference between a DRM enabled and a DRM disabled console, and hears the big companies saying that DRM is good.
Re:Fair use? (Score:5, Interesting)
It these people really are so stupid that they tink that the current way of selling consoles is a good business model, well, good luck..
If somene breaks the crypto and DRM in a way that makes it possible to run Linux, well guess what; I'll say fuck their crypto and DRM scheme:
I'm running Linux on *my* box.
*Maybe not, sice they are a uppstart company with less cash to burn off.
Re:Fair use? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Fair use? (Score:5, Insightful)
Does my argument have holes? Sure. So does yours.
1) Any company with the financing to pull off a successful game console probably isn't going to notice the damage done by either method.
2) Both methods hurt the distribution channels at least as much as they hurt the manufacturer.
If you want the machine, buy it. If you don't, don't. Economics will sort it out in the end.
Re:Fair use? (Score:4, Interesting)
Remember the Iopener from Netpliance? The bitty-PC with a built-in LCD that required you to use their proprietary ISP?
Once someone found out how to make it a regular PC, it really put a crimp in their plans. Those units were sold at a significant loss in the hopes of making it up in subscription fees. It later turned out more people were buying it to mod into cheap Linux boxes and MP3 players than to use it for sending email to grandma.
Re:Fair use? (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm not going to buy it merly to inflict economical damages on them because of their business modell etc.
My point was that; If I want this box, and the price is right(for me and my wallet) I will buy it and run Linux whether they like it or not.
Re:Fair use? (Score:5, Funny)
This coming from somebody that chose "Acidic_Diarrhea" as their nick...
Har, har. (Score:5, Insightful)
These are all focused consoles with their own markets. There is overlap, but it's fairly well satured. Everyone who has broadband and cares about games will have an Xbox with Xbox Live!. Everyone who wants neat Japanese games will have a GameCube and PS2. Etc!
The Phantom is a joke. MS can pull off PC components in a game console because they have clout with nVidia and other people to spend millions of dollars fabbing specific parts. That company probably doesn't, as evidenced by their use of XP as the environment for the console.
What kind of game console doesn't have a bare-bones OS and SDK libs that are meant only for running one application ever?
Re:Fair use? (Score:3, Insightful)
*I'll* definitely vote with my wallet. How do you propose to convince the millions of people who have no idea what DRM is to do the same?
As much as it pains me to say this perhaps there's nothing to convince them of. If the general consumers purchase the system and don't find the restrictions offensive and recommend the systems to their friends and coworkers who also don't find the restrictions offensive then the market will have spoken. While it's possible that the first wave of consumers will buy th
Re:Fair use? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Fair use? (Score:5, Interesting)
Voting with your wallet almost never works for me because my tastes and ideals differ so greatly from most Americans. You can't say that "voting with your wallet" is really a useful approach for everyone. I think the best approach is to try and educate others why it is that I choose to do things the way I do. If enough people are persuaded to see things the way I see them, then it all works out for the best. (Assuming that they want to do things the way I do them)
The only problem with my approach is that it puts me in the position of being the promoter. I hate being a promoter. But if I want the world to become a slightly better place, the only way to do it is to promote fair views. Kind of sucks in a way.
Re:wrong. (Score:3, Interesting)
You bought it, it's yours. You can do whatever you want with it, besides distribute it to other people.
Re:Fair use? (Score:2, Insightful)
"Fair Use", as taught in law classes, doesn't require an exact copy. Fair Use is quoting from a book, reading a book--maybe even writing a parody of said book. It's not, necessarily, copying the book onto your PDA so you can read it wherever you want to.
DRM systems aren't supposed to be a gentle rem
Re:Fair use? (Score:5, Insightful)
I agree with most of what you said, but this statement is erroneous.
The right to format-shift (e.g. making a CD copy of an audio cassette you've legally bought) and the right to make "collections" (e.g. making a "Bob's favorites" CD with selected tracks from several CD's he legally owns) are both protected by the Fair Use Doctrine. The latter doesn't readily apply to books, but the former is a fairly direct application.
So, yes, you CAN create an eBook from a Book you've bought (assuming you had some means of practically doing so), for your personal and noncommercial use. Obviously, distributing the eBook file(s) of that book to any and everyone is a different story, since doing so is copying, or allowing others to copy, a version of the entire book.
Xentax
Re:Fair use? You're quoting history.. (Score:3, Informative)
Do we have to remind you for the 50billionth time that this level of fair use is history aka. pre-DMCA?
(that is if there is ANY DRM involved.)
Re:Fair use? (Score:5, Funny)
Of course, the new economic model would require a fee for every letter written by the pen.
Re:Fair use? (Score:5, Funny)
And your pen would surrepititously write information about what you wrote and send it to the manufacturer whenever you 'upgraded' the ink cartridge.
And you could only use paper compatible with your pen, of course. And the company would make sure that only *its* paper would work with its pen.
And some people would independently develop their own "open" pen and paper systems, where pens and papers would work interchangeably, only to be sued by SCO for violating the copyright on their pen design.
Re:Fair use? (Score:2)
Re:Fair use? (Score:2)
Re:Fair use? (Score:3, Interesting)
This is why the Phantom will fail. The folks at Phantom are selling you PC hardware from which they have removed a great deal of the functionality. By the time the Phantom starts rolling out you will be able to buy a "real" PC for the $400 that the Phantom would cost. This real PC will do everything that the Phantom does (thanks to the new XBox-Live-style PC gaming service that Microsoft is working on), and it will do PC-type stuff as
online good, copyright bad! (Score:2, Interesting)
copyright bad? (Score:2)
That's exactly what copyright was established to ensure.
Re:copyright bad? (Score:2, Informative)
The fact that copyrights expire is not an afterthought as you make it seem. Here is the applicable
So it's a crappy Xbox? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:So it's a crappy Xbox? (Score:2)
Can't get stuff off? (Score:2)
the only thing... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yet.
Re:the only thing... (Score:2, Insightful)
The moment it has a single byte of copyrightable software in it
Re:I read it the other way. (Score:3, Funny)
Actually, since most people can read around here, I'm gonna guess you are the only one.
weird (Score:5, Insightful)
Seems like they came up with the product by drawing up a list of things it won't do. Well, add another item to that list: it won't sell.
Re:weird (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:weird (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, casual gamers are going to plop down $400 on a console that requires a $10 a month service fee to play games that you have to purchase separately. Oh, and you have to pay separately for broadband. Anyone that thinks that this is likely might want to invest in my specially-reinforced upside-down umbrella I invented just in case it happens to start raining money.
Let's face it. The "kiddie" game market is currently being cornered by flash games at places like nickjr.com. No parent is going to pay P
Re:weird (Score:2)
What about upgrades? Is that going to be something else it won't do? If I lease it, I expect to get an updated one when game requirements change. Would the video card handle Doom3 or Half-Life 2? If you buy it, are you going to need to buy a new every year or so?
Doesn't Yahoo have a games on demand service for PCs close to this, but with less hassle? For consoles why not rent the games?
I can see their arguement about cheaper games, but if I wait a little while most PC games drop down to around $25-
Looking into the future... (Score:4, Funny)
Not -that- surprising, I guess. (Score:3, Interesting)
What with Media PCs picking up acceptance, I wouldn't be surprised to see a game/network/PVR combo soon.
Re:Not -that- surprising, I guess. (Score:5, Insightful)
I assume you mean Xbox? You must come from some other planet where "3rd best selling out of 3" equates to "leader in the field".
Re:Not -that- surprising, I guess. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Not -that- surprising, I guess. (Score:2)
Re:Not -that- surprising, I guess. (Score:5, Insightful)
Except for that last part (which is 100% false to begin with), people have been saying this for at least 20 years. There's always been a leapfrog thing going on between consoles and PC's. You look at the PS2 now and say "a cheap PC can do those graphics better" - then when PS3 is unveiled, you'll wonder if PC graphics will ever catch up again. 4 years later, the cycle will repeat. Just the way it is.
You could argue just as easily that consoles have become commidities. Practically everybody has one, and they're cheap enough now that almost anyone that can afford a TV can afford a game console (adjusted for inflation, my Intellivision cost $900 in today's dollars in 1980, compared to $180 for a PlayStation 2 or Xbox or $149 for a GameCube). Plus, the economics of the industry are such that there's no way dedicated consoles are ever going away - all consoles really are are mini-PC's with their own DRM, and it's always been that way going back to the Atari 2600 (which used off-the-shelf computer parts - the reason why Activision was able to successfully argue in court that they did not need a license to produce third-party games for the system). Back in the cartridge days the DRM was physical - it was exceedingly expensive to produce your own cartridges and required a lot of technological knowhow. Sure, we didn't call it DRM back then, but that's what it was, and nobody ever complained about it on game consoles. Today, the DRM is software-based, but the concept is the same - you can only play these games on one specific device, and you can't easily copy them. It's the DRM, the stable, predictable hardware platform and the co-branding that attracts developers and publishers, and Infinium understands maybe 2/3 of that. What they don't understand is that without a big name and lots of money to promote both the system and individual games (including third-party games), there's not a compelling reason for a publisher to want to associate themselves with the Phantom.
As to your last statement, I would gather from your comment that you assume Microsoft is the "current leader" in the game console arena. MS is a very distant second to Sony - very distant, and further distant than they were a year ago (MS's sales have dropped year to year, while Sony's have risen). I'm talking a 4 to 1 difference. And they're losing buckets of money on the system. Experience in the PC arena is certainly no guarantee of success in the console arena - they're two different markets, and if you don't understand that difference you will get trounced by the rest of the game industry. Infinium seems to "get" part of it, but I don't see that they have either the will or the way to really get big-name publishers on board with this system, and I don't think they necessarily understand exactly what consumers want, either (the whole broadband download thing).
One significant difference from the 2600 et al (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, this is partly because having overly-difficult-too-copy hardware is different from fairly-easy-to-copy CD/DVDs. The problem is when DRM goes too far, and prevents legal use. Want to use your software at a friend's? Sorry. Want to install it on your sister's so she can play when you're not home? Nope. Tired of it, and want to sell it? Uh-uh - you don't own anything to sell.
So really, we didn't have DRM then. There were ways to copy the ROMs (they're all on line, if you want them). It just wasn't easy. Now that it is easy, DRM makes it impossible - removing legal use as well as illegal use.
Re:Not -that- surprising, I guess. (Score:5, Insightful)
Please show me a computer built for $149.99 + tax that can pump out the same level of graphics detail, texturing, and framerate that my GameCube does. Oh, and you'd have to give people a $50 game and a joypad free to match it at the moment, too.
computers offer a far superior gaming experience
Speak for yourself...I'm guessing you don't actually own a console. I won't go into a huge listing, but there are many, many quality console games out there that beat the hell out of any PC games.
and the current leader in the field got its legs dominating the PC market
They may be leading in sales right now, but I don't think that'll last forever. Seems like a bit of an ominous sign that the XBox has barely been out a year, and yet they've had to cut the selling price almost in half to stay competitive already.
What with Media PCs picking up acceptance, I wouldn't be surprised to see a game/network/PVR combo soon.
Whatever happened to using a game console/device/whatever you call it for games? I don't want an everything-box, thank you.
Not in my home (Score:2, Insightful)
This is just the next step from the Xbox, and I cannot imagine having NO control over something in my own home. The Xbox is bad enough, so I say no thanks to the phantom.
Re:Not in my home (Score:3, Insightful)
A.) It's a GAME MACHINE. Lighten up.
B.) How is this different from the GameCube, XBOX, PS 1&2, GameBoy, GameBoy Advance, Dreamcast (sorta), Saturn, Nintendo 64, 32X, Genesis, SNES, NES, Jaguar, Atari 2600/5200/7800, or Master System? I got news for ya, they w
Re:Not in my home (Score:3, Insightful)
Who on earth thinks that I'll be able to play games on this machine a couple decades after the company goes belly up?
Oh no.... (Score:2, Funny)
that it has no way to get data on or off of it except through a dedicated connection to Infinium Labs' own servers...
So when I get that nice "We had a problem, send email to Microsoft to report the error" dialog there's a good chance they won't receive it? How will they ever know what happened? ;-)
Re:Oh no.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Wow (Score:5, Funny)
I give it 3 weeks before it's completly cracked and reverse engineered. Thanks, Infinium Labs', for giving me (and dozens of other nerds) something to do this semester!
Im glad they incoprtated the "????" step. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Im glad they incoprtated the "????" step. (Score:2)
Re:Im glad they incoprtated the "????" step. (Score:3, Funny)
Cocaine?
NewsForge Question (Score:2, Offtopic)
Usually you see comments like this on CNN.com or in Time Magazine. Where you see them bashing or praising a part of AOL Time Warner and they have an ethical obligation to report that Time/CNN is owned by AOL TW.
GameTab [gametab.com] - game news & reviews. compiled.
Re:NewsForge Question (Score:2)
I don't give two cares that you guys are linking to another part of your own network. You do not need to tell me that.
In fact, it doesn't matter one bit. Give preference to all the OSDN sites, I don't care. If you ignore good stuff on the other sites, Slashdot dies. I don't think that will happen.
Sorry. It just irritated me too.
Re:NewsForge Question (Score:2)
"Warning: contains nuts"
Re:NewsForge Question (Score:2)
>>"Warning: contains nuts"
I'm more worried when they're marked:
Warning: MAY contain nuts
How long... (Score:2)
Making a Beowulf cluster of these
Hacking them until they become Linux terminals
That MS will buy them up/out or do the same thing
Can't see much use for this (Score:4, Insightful)
Maybe in high-end gaming establishments - arcades, etc. But then, why use a PC-like platform?
I could see this working something line the NTN game consoles that are in bars, where everyone across multiple locations can compete all at once. Still, setting up completely dedicated connections without using public networks makes this a huge undertaking and probably not worth the cost.
And if it did use public networks - well who would want this, why not just buy a PC?
Cable, DSL... (Score:3, Informative)
Why Windows? (Score:3, Interesting)
The only real plus I can see would be DirectX. That said, Linux has OpenGL, OpenAL, SDL, Allego, SVGAlib, and anything else you want. I would expect the company would make a DevKit anyway that had their OWN video/audio/network APIs. So I ask again, why Windows?
Re:Why Windows? (Score:3, Informative)
The point of this box is to play games.
How many games are available for Windows? How many games are available for Linux?
Geez...
Re:Why Windows? (Score:3, Insightful)
If for no other reason, just imagine that MS could pull the plug on the licenses at any moment if they think it's cutting into Xbox sales, which it likely
Re:Why Windows? (Score:5, Insightful)
Anything else, except DirectX that is.
Now that we've gotten that out of the way, count how many modern games are written for OpenGL, OpenAL, SDL, Allego, or SVGAlib. Now count how many are written for DirectX.
Now if you want people to port to your platform, which is the safer bet?
Sure, you can (and probably will) release your own SDK, but you still have to deal with reality. Game makers have 4 primary platforms right now - PCs, PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube. Xbox gets to leverage PC development since they're not too far off from one another -- you need to change things certainly, but the core engine can remain the same. Mostly. If you're creating a new platform then you may as well either leverage off one of the established platforms, or have one helluva lot of capital behind you to create a new one and lure developers over. Since you'll be going up against Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo, I really hope you have a lot of capital.
Since two of the four platforms are completely and utterly closed - Nintendo and PS2 - you only have one option to leverage. DirectX. Done right you can actually do better leveraging than the Xbox... although it's not sounding like they're doing this.
Oh, and before you flame me as a Windows bigot, I'm not. Yeah, I use it. I also use Redhat and code for Unix. I prefer Unix. But that doesn't mean I put blinders on and whine about how the world should work instead of understanding how it actually does.
Phantom price? TV? (Score:3, Interesting)
Another hobbled PC console... (Score:5, Insightful)
If development for it is exactly the same as the PC, why develop games for this console?
PCs number in the hundreds of millions. Nobody in their right minds would develop a game exclusively for it - maybe a port after a PC release, but this will never be a primary platform.
The XBox is similar, although noteably different in one respect - Microsoft is a huge games publisher and owns quite a few development houses as well.
I predict a quick, merciless death due to the following reasons:
1) Lack of good, exclusive content results in lackluster hardware sales, which results in lack of good content...
2) There is another company trying the same approach. That company controls DirectX. Does anyone really think Microsoft will sit still while some upstart to beats down the XBox? Expect Microsoft to hit back. Their weapon of choice would be DirectX.
3) Lack of differentiation from PC, if most games are available on PC as well. XBox suffers in this regard also, although Microsoft has done an admirable job of making content exclusive. It remains to be seen how long they are willing to throw away money to support XBox; we all know that Halo would have made much more money had the PC version been released by now also.
I'm Sorry (Score:5, Insightful)
First, I'm somebody who likes to play the games. No problem there. I even like to play the PC games (FPS belongs on the PC - why I'm waiting for Halo OS X before playing it).
But I also have a job, two kids, a wife who likes the wild monkey sex at times - and every so often, I have to travel.
So for me, I might take my PS2/Gamecube/GBA on the road (I'd take the Xbox, but it would bring my luggage over the weight limit....), or plug a game into the laptop (my Powerbook plays Max Payne and such pretty surprisingly well).
But I can't imagine paying for a mothly service for a game I don't own, can't touch for myself, maybe sell later like I would a book or a CD. (Agh - RIAA lawyers - run!) I'm odd that way - I need that sense of ownership, that I can go to my little library and just pull it out whenever I want and play, not wait for the downloads/reinstalls (since it may be years until I replay an old classic, like Deus Ex or Wasteland or Fallout - you get the drill).
The system must also require a bandwidth connection, and while I'm sure they won't download the entire game to the hard drive (which, seeing as more games (aka [sarcasm]Baldur's Gate III: 20 CD's and counting[/sarcasm]....)), they'll still have to stream it. And I have other things I can be doing with my bandwidth.
I'm not saying it's a horrible idea for everybody - just not for me. For others, I could be wrong.
Re:I'm Sorry (Score:4, Funny)
Whoa there fella, this is Slashdot, you might want to simplify that terminology into something a little more geek specific. Suggestions would include:
a wife who likes a hot, throbbing beowulf in the zeitgeist
a wife who likes a little "CowboyNeal" first thing in the morning
according to NetCraft our sex life is dying
I "SCO" her at times and she always comes back for more
Re:I'm Sorry (Score:3, Funny)
But I also have a job, two kids, a wife who likes the wild monkey sex at times - and every so often, I have to travel.
I am fine with the whole wife thing...but do you have to involve your work and kids in the monkey sex too?
Called it! (Score:4, Funny)
*gloat gloat gloat*
Nice quote: (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, sign me up!
Uh oh... (Score:2)
The Best Part of the Story (Score:5, Insightful)
The first question is why would I want this when there are PS2's and Xbox's to be had for less money. Especially when you consider that this is going to retail for around $400 plus a $9.95 per month subscription fee and some games will have a seperate charge not included in the subscription (so I gathered, I wasn't certain if the 9.95 subscription was for a service or a lease). All told the cost of this device is going to be steep.
Now on to my next biggest concern. Downloading games over the internet is all well and good for some games, but you're still going to have to wait a long time for it to download. This becomes even more evident to those users who have substandard broadband providers like I do.
Don't get me wrong, I think software delivery over the web is the wave of the future. In fact, I download a large number of the software I use (legally), but some titles are just too damn big.
Yet another hacking challenge (Score:5, Funny)
Been there, did that... (Score:2)
Re:Been there, did that... (Score:2)
To refresh those who don't know/remember: It was a lot like DSS pay-per-view. The DivX player connected to a phone line, and you would buy a movie disc and be authorized to view it for a certain period of time. Afterward you could buy more time or throw the disc away.
Thankfully it flopped big-time. Mainly because you could buy a DVD and own yo
VIRTUAL ARCADE! (Score:5, Interesting)
It would be fantastic if they could strike up a deal with the proper-owners of arcade boards and titles to set up a system where the Phantom runs a modified version of MAME, and Inifinium Labs' networks provide on-request ROMs to subscribers. Every time you hit "insert quarter", you get charged a nickel. Two cents go to the holder of the copyright, two to Infinium Labs, and one cent to PETA (I just threw that last one in for fun).
It'd be like having an infinitely large arcade in your home, and you wouldn't be doing it illegally. The people who wrote the software will be reimbursed, possibly even twenty five years after they stopped producing that game.
Also, imagine if they implemented something along the lines of Kaillera [kaillera.com]. You could team up with your kid brother from a thousand miles away to play NARC [www.mame.dk] together, just like you did in high school, at the corner arcade.
Re:VIRTUAL ARCADE! (Score:3, Insightful)
Sure, and while we're at it, let's download MP3s instead of paying for them.
I think perhaps a subscription-based service would be nicer, or better yet the choice: the people who don't play as often won't be charged as much, and the fiends who would play every game every day (....myself O:-) can pay a nice flat rate.
No CD? (Score:5, Insightful)
If I buy this console, and a friend buys it too, we can't trade games?
Do I even "own" the games I pay for?
What happens when the console breaks down and I want to replace it? Did all my games vanish with it? Phantom, indeed!
Considering the amount of games available for my non-phantom computers, why would I ever want to bother with it? I wanted to be able to root for the underdog here, but there's just no way.
Jigga, pleaze (Score:3, Insightful)
And from the sounds of it, game licensing seem pretty exclusive to Infinium Labs for new games. Will they be offering any assistance to third-party developers, or will they be reaping the benefits for themselves?
I'm pretty sure these ideas have already been thought of, but I'm just tossing them back onto the table. *shrug*
Can't be! (Score:2, Funny)
Offtopic but I genuinly am interested.... (Score:2)
As for the Phantom Machine - I don't think it matters how proprietary this box is (considering all Consoles ARE very proprietary anyway) it's gonna come down to WHO has licensing rights to make games for it and WHAT games will be available on it.
It could be the best hardware ever designed in a console, but if it only plays Super Mighty Duck 3D - its
Ummm .... (Score:2)
How do you - like - load games on it?
Re:Ummm .... (Score:2)
Answer the question?
What To Do If They Go Bankrupt (Score:4, Insightful)
Sounds Familiar (Score:4, Insightful)
"As one industry observer pointed out when he first heard the Infinium Labs story, "You buy the console. You buy the games. Then you pay to play the games you bought on the console you bought. It's sort of like buying an arcade game but still having to put quarters in. And ads!"
Sounds like Circuit City's DIVX to me. God knows that went well.
-Chris
Or not. (Score:2, Insightful)
Wow, or I could spend that money making my OWN set top box which could:
proprietary encryption - broken (Score:3, Insightful)
translated:
Some crappy, broken scheme baked up by programmers not professional cryptographers.
I'm glad it is not my venture captial money backing this broken puppy.
Sigh. Snake Oil FAQ [interhack.net] or the Crypto mini FAQ [schlafly.net] and various Cryptogram [counterpane.com] will remind you, proprietary encryption is very bad.
DRM = 1984 Materialized (Score:3, Insightful)
These corporations are yielding more and more power and with their deep pockets they are shaping our future laws. Most people are completely ignorant to what is transpiring and the ramifications as applied to all parts of life. I'm not full of paranoia but the truth is right before our eyes.
I find it beyond frightening when a guy is busted for releasing the new Hulk movie online and is sentenced to a longer jail term than a rapist/robber. That was a very powerful moment to me. It says everything about the type of power behind the DRM movement.
I can see it getting to a point where the DRM is embedded in hardware and people who are anti-drm no longer upgrade because of this. The people who are ambivalent to all of this are in for a world of hurt once DRM starts to permeate through all parts of society and it's products.
As said before our only hope for ridding ourselves of DRM and it's derivatives is to speak with your wallet. The sad thing is we are a minority. The majority has no clue. DRM, disposable DVD's, & game keys are only the beginning if we don't make a strong statement.
I practice what I preach so I hope others do too.
DRM systems = white wall syndrome (Score:3, Insightful)
Let me guess the ways the Phantom PC will phall:
1. Someone will hack the network protocol and find a way to stream those downloaded games to unprotected media.
2. Someone will find a bug in part of the DRM (the loader, maybe) that allows code to be inserted into the stack and WHAM.
3. Someone will make the inevitable mod chip and inevitably be sued.
4. Someone will... heck this is getting boring.
Did no-one learn a lesson from the 1980's? Guys, you CANNOT COPY PROTECT SOFTWARE!!! Jeez. It's like the movie where the bad guy says to the cop: "to stay alive, you have to have a good day, every day. If I (the crook) have just one good day, you're dead and I win."
Aw, let the games begin!
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't know about this (Score:3, Flamebait)
They don't seem too keen on people actually using their site. When I tried to get to it, it told me I don't have Flash 6 (which I do, unfortunately), and then I clicked "Continue" to go on anyway it came back to tell me again that I don't have Flash. Fucking brilliant. So I decided to see if I could find something else, just for the heck of it. (after this, too, for some reason, the rest of the site worked) I went to
> YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED!
> AND WILL BE REPORTED TO THE PROPER AUTHORITIES!
> Your are attempting to illegally login into a secure server and may be breaking the electronic wire fraud laws.
> We monitor all login attempts and report any violations to the FBI we find suspicious.
> We will not tolerate any hacker attempts to this server.
> We record your IP address and originating domain and much more information to track you down. We use advanced intrusion detection software that reports to our security department in real-time and will allow them to see any intrusion attempts.
> Please be advised that we take this very seriously! We will take the full course of action in any occurrence!
> To report anything contact:
> security@infiniumlabs.com
I am not authorized? Authorized for what!? And they're going to report me to the authorities for going to the wrong page. Yeah, funny. And I like how they assume I am breaking into their server. Not to mention they'll have a pretty damned hard time trying to track me down. And of course, Going to an images directory = Advanced Cracking techniques, woo. So now I will be at the mercy of these people taking their full course of action against me (which is? Absolutely fucking nothing). *COWER*
That page is so silly that it makes me wonder if one or both of the following 2 are true:
1) Their webmaster is an idiot
2) This is a hoax/vaporware (there's probably a good reason it's called a phantom)
The article claims it isn't vaporware, but they give no reason to actually believe that, or why they say that.
The company currently doesn't seem to sell anything other than hats, mugs, and shirts.
The beta-testing application is pretty badly designed, especially compared to the rest of the site, but I guess that's not really a reason to doubt the existence of its product. Speaking of which, Why the HELL would they want my resume? WTF does that matter? After trying to sign up JFTFOI, the Sign Up button did nothing. Great.
Re:Restrictions (Score:2)
That's one sore spot with me over the whole XBOX hacking project, they validated the need for business to have DRM. You can bet future consoles will have it too.
Re:Restrictions (Score:2)
so don't buy it. (Score:2)
whoa (Score:5, Funny)
When was the last time you checked? Been away for a while?
Re:Who would want this? (Score:3, Insightful)
I do not care how big your library is, I like to have my games in my hands. How am I supposed to loan my buddy my Metroid Prime or GTA3? I cannot with this business model.
The