Infinium Labs" new president is gunning for Christmas.
That"s when Kevin Bachus hopes to get both the Phantom gaming network and the accompanying console into the hands of eager cyber aficionados.
The reason: a window of opportunity within the gaming world.
Microsoft will unveil the second version of its Xbox in March and Sony is expected to announce PlayStation 3 soon after that. But neither is likely to be available to consumers until 2005.
"The challenge I have given my team ... is we"ve got to be out with a product for this holiday season," Bachus said in his first interview since taking over Infinium six weeks ago. "It is an opportunity to come out in a relatively quiet year and to establish a strong, loyal following."
Bachus should know. Though only 35, he was part of the team that launched the Xbox, and was involved in deciding which games would be played on it. He"s since participated in a couple of companies involved in online game publishing -- WildTangent and Capital Entertainment Group.