In the last few months there?s been quite a lot of buzz about two newcomers to the console market?the VIA / Apex / DISCovery-built ApeXtreme, and the Infinium Labs Phantom.  While both systems claim to deliver PC games and other exclusive content to the console market, they differ in fundamental ways with how they intended to approach the market.  We?re going to take a look at the two systems, their approaches to the idea of delivering PC game content to the television gaming space, and why, (in my opinion, at least), both are likely to fail. Here?s a hint?its not necessarily for the same reason.  Because the two platforms do face some common hurdles, however, we?ll discuss these first:

There Used to Be a Photo Here
That Photo Went Away
‘Cuz Getting Sued for Screenshots
Just Wouldn’t Make My Day

Apparently the Phantom folks
are just a little shy.
So here’s a poem I wrote instead
To remember them all by.

Round Peg, Square Hole:  The Hurdles of PC Console Gaming:

Hardware Expense:  The Xbox and Sony PS2 are currently tied at $180 each, while the Game Cube is only $99.  Any PC-based console system is going to have to either be heavily subsidized to compete with this or risk simply being priced out of the market.  Based on what we?ve seen so far, PC consoles are running $299 and up?a significant barrier to entry.

No Upgradeability:   With a standard console, users don?t have to worry about upgradeability?games are explicitly tailored for the console?s characteristics and abilities.  Because PC Consoles are designed to play PC games, however, they lack this luxury.  Given the speed of PC game advancement, PC Consoles will have a much shorter lifespan than most.  This would tend to make them attractive only if they maintain backward compatibility (easy) and are cheap (hard).  Upgrading PC Consoles might be possible, but its highly unlikely to be cost-effective and / or covered under warranty.

No Programmed Specialization:  Although console hardware tends to be significantly weaker than PC components, consoles make up for this with dedicated programming.  Designers learn quickly how to take full advantage of the Xbox or PS2?s capabilities, and how to exploit them.  PC Consoles running standard PC games using standard PC hardware, however, have no such advantage.  If a given PC (with similar configuration) has trouble running a game, you can bet the console version almost certainly will as well.

Very Different Game Control Systems:  PC games are designed for keyboard / mouse control.  Console games, on the other hand, are designed with a standard controller in mind.  The problem here is, keyboard + mouse combinations don?t work very well at all when you try to use them sitting on your couch or in a chair.  Can keyboard + mouse games be redesigned for a console controller?  Yes.  But I don?t know too many FPS gamers that?d swear by an Xbox or PS2 D-pad.

HDTV Display Technology Years Away from Wide Deployment:  Most PC games (especially the more complicated / less action-oriented titles) depend on the screen to display large amounts of information and text.  This is dramatically harder when working under the constraints of a standard RCA or even interlaced signal.  HDTV and other future signal standards do offer a way out from this problem, but such standards are years away from wide deployment.

next >

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• Common Problems, Cont (1 of 5)
• The Phantom: VaporWare at its Finest (2 of 5)
• Phantom Failure, Cont (3 of 5)
• The ApeXtreme (4 of 5)
• Why the ApeXtreme = DOA cont; Conc. (5 of 5)