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Infinium Tries 'Phantom' Name Change

Posted by Zonk on Fri May 26, 2006 08:38 PM
from the must-stop-from-snickering dept.
Entertainment Games
simoniker writes "Former Infinium Phantom 'console' developer and current Lapboard accessory creator Infinium Labs has revealed multiple new details in financial filings, including the fact that it's changing company name to Phantom Entertainment, as long as shareholders approve. But with the SEC prosecuting former CEO Timothy Roberts, 'accumulated losses since inception of $69,331,794', and _another_ former CEO, Kevin Bachus, now suing the company for back pay, will the company ever release a product?"
+ -
story

Related Stories

[+] Phantom Console Put on Hold 93 comments
technoid_ writes "Looks like the Infinium Labs Phantom Game Console is put on hold until they can secure some more funding. Right now the company is focusing on getting its Phantom Lapboard to the market, and may pursue the Phantom Game service later. Interesting note, they have spent almost 4 times as much on Consultants as they have in development costs so far." From the article: "From its inception in December of 2002 through September of last year, Infinium racked up $62.7 million in losses. Of that, only $3.5 million has been lost to development costs. The company has spent more than half that in advertising, even though none of its products or services have been released yet. More of the company's money has been going toward consultants ($12.8 million), salaries ($11.9 million), and general and administrative expenses ($5.9 million)."
[+] Infinium to Infiltrate Gamer Forums 91 comments
Opposable Thumbs, over at Ars Technica, points out something we have have overlooked last week when Infinium Labs opened its books. Besides dropping the Phantom in favour of getting the keyboard to market, one of their business plans calls for the company to "infiltrate best-in-class video game communities with simple, easy to understand message and seeding on tech blogs, gaming sites and on-line player forums with compelling imagery and links to lapboard eye candy." Because that's sure to net them some goodwill and customer loyalty.
[+] Phantom Lapboard Delayed 39 comments
JamesO writes "The unique keyboard and mouse combo finds a manufacturer, but slips from its Q2 release date." From the article: "Infinium Labs' Phantom game service may never see the light of day, but at least something positive will come from the project in the shape of the system's keyboard and mouse combo. What makes the Lapboard interesting is that it features a keyboard that can be angled upwards to reveal a surface on which a mouse can operate. This means the device is perfect for use on your lap (hence the name) and ideal for those who no longer sit at a desk when using their PC."
[+] Phantom Lapboard On Sale August 15th 68 comments
MBraynard writes "No idea when they are launching the actual console, Infinium Labs has announced that in under a month, they will start selling the Phantom Lapboard from their online store. They have even found a partner to help sell the Lapboard in Europe." From the article: "The Company has commissioned Touchwood, a solutions-oriented, technology- based strategic marketing communications firm based in St. Louis, to plan and implement major revisions to the design and content of the [Phantom] website. The website revisions will incorporate direct marketing capabilities including an online merchant store to support business to consumer and business to business transactions with credit card banking services."
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Infinium Tries 'Phantom' Name Change 50 Comments More /

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  • No.

    Next question?

  • WTF? Who are the suckers? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by randyest (589159) on Friday May 26 2006, @08:44PM (#15413952) Homepage
    What I really want is a list of the names of those who loaned that shyster $70 million! Man that'd be a valuable list. :)

    A separate SEC filing released on May 22nd has updated those interested on Infinium's parlous state of accounts: "Our loss from operations for the quarter ended March 31, 2006 was $2,752,327. Our loss from operations for the year ended December 31, 2005 was $29,814,606. At March 31, 2006, we had a working capital deficit of $11,523,869 and accumulated losses since inception of $69,331,794. In their report on our audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2005, our independent auditors expressed substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern."

  • Wow. (Score:5, Informative)

    by MBCook (132727) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Friday May 26 2006, @08:45PM (#15413957) Homepage
    They've spent $70 million dollars. Wow.

    The worst part is the console. I remember a couple of years ago when the phantom was relatively new they showed off the console and some PC ports and the thing seemed at least somewhat real. At this point, they seem to have less of a console than ever. Even if they released the console they originally promised, it would be underpowered. Here are the specs:

    CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2500+
    Video card: nVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 Ultra, with 128MB RAM
    RAM: 256MB
    Hard drive: 80GB "content cache"

    The HDD is good and the RAM is comparable to the 360. The graphics card is very outdated (the Wii is probably more advanced), and the CPU at 1.8 GHz doesn't quite compare with triple 3.2 GHz cores of a 360.

    And they'd probably have to charge PS3 type prices just to try to stay afloat, and I think we all know how well they'd do with those prices.

    Amazing that some investors are just this stupid. At this point, how could they EVER make that money back? Even if they sold that keyboard for $200 and it was pure profit, they'd have to sell 350,000 of 'em and they'll never do that (especially at that price).

    It's like watching Duke Nukem Forever's development, only more absurd.

    • hell, the Wii over powers the Phantom at this point.

      and the Phantom was supposed to be a Media Center PC that could play PC games.

      I think they realized and just forgot to mention that it would be impossable to do. The system would be out of date within 2 years and they would have to constently re-write firmware to fit with the new cards, ram ect.
      then of course you have the OS for the system, if it's supposed to run PC games they would have to use Windows for full compatability right? cause not to ma
    • GameTap.

      "Ohh look! It can download games over the internet!"

      Uh... just like any other desktop.

      • GameTap.

        "Ohh look! It can download games over the internet!"

        Uh... just like any other desktop.

        I think you don't really understand what the real point behind GameTap is, then... it's not about the internet delivery, it's about the legitimization of emulation. We can now legally play a lot of the games we loved when we were kids, and also some relatively recent games as well. I think it's more than worth the $1/year I paid for it.

        Haven't decided what I'll do after my beta tester almost free year is up.

    • Re:Wow. (Score:2, Insightful)

      by kfg (145172)
      a couple of years ago when the phantom was relatively new they showed off the console and some PC ports and the thing seemed at least somewhat real.

      And demonstrated that they had invested nearly several hundred of those $70 million on something other than coke and hookers.

      You're still talking like the console was ever supposed to be a real product. The object you bring up that was displayed is something called "bait." Myself I prefer to dry fly fish for trout on the surface rather than bait fish for sucker
      • And demonstrated that they had invested nearly several hundred of those $70 million on something other than coke and hookers.

        Shouldn't that be 'Coke and dogs [66.249.93.104]' ?

  • Why they don't just rename the company "Vapor', will save a lot of blog discussions....

  • Infinitum? (Score:4, Funny)

    by WoLpH (699064) <Rick DOT van DOT Hattem AT Fawo DOT nl> on Friday May 26 2006, @09:00PM (#15413998)
    They should change "Infinium" to "Ad infinitum" delay the release till infinity...
  • Although the company name is now illusive, elusive, and delusive ( http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=phantom [reference.com] ), that $69 million of debts is still quite real.
  • "What's in a name? That which we call a phantom
    By any other word would smell as fishy."
  • Anyone else think this is the US verison of this guy: http://www.wreckedexotics.com/special/enzo/ [wreckedexotics.com]
    • You are refering to the Gizmondo, which actually was a product that existed beyond vaporware.

      Wether or not the company was well fitted to bring it to the market in full force is up for debate, but unlike the Phantom the Gizmondo actually existed and units actually were manufactured and shipped.

      It never would have been able to tackle the PSP as a media device, anyway. Not because it wasn't neat, but because they wouldn't have been able to out-market Sony.

      As a game machine, Nintendo wouldn't have come off of

  • Phantom Entertainment (Score:5, Funny)

    by 0racle (667029) on Friday May 26 2006, @09:11PM (#15414038)
    I love it! That is the best laugh I have had all day. Have them buy 3D Realms and it will be the joke of the year.

    March 2006: Scott Miller, CEO of 3D Realms, announced [computeran...ogames.com] that the company intends on developing a sequel to Duke Nukem Forever.

    • Re:Phantom Entertainment (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Jeff DeMaagd (2015) on Friday May 26 2006, @10:12PM (#15414233) Homepage Journal
      The difference is that 3D Realms was a good company with a good product gone horribly wrong. Infinium labs was an inherently corrupt idea from the start.

      Either way, in comparison, NASA, an often misdirected of an agency, was able to make Deep Space One from project concept approval to launch pad in three years. Deep Space One, a project that tested twelve previously untested technologies in space and every one of those technologies succeeded.
      • The difference between Infinium Labs and NASA is that one of them squanders tens of millions of dollars producing something of dubious societal value, blows through capital at an obscene rate, has to get more money by going back to the idiots who funded it in the first place and saying "Well, we don't have much now, but concentrate on the potential!", and is defended only by legions of fanboys... and the other makes video games.

        Deep Space One cost $150 million dollars. In return, we got technological res

  • Isn't it common knowledge that Infinium have poured all available resources into development of the CowboyNealBox3?
  • I just looked at a few of the related stories and got myself a good laugh.

  • Quote (Score:5, Funny)

    by nEoN nOoDlE (27594) on Friday May 26 2006, @09:41PM (#15414130) Homepage
    "The Board of Directors believes that the name change would be in the best interests of the Company because the new name better reflects the long-term growth strategy of the Company."

    I'll say.
    • I get the feeling that someone is playing an elaborate joke on everyone. I just haven't figured out whether it's the Russians, the Mafia, the Chinese, or the Canadians.

      It must be the Canadians. They've wanted both sides of Niagra Falls for years.

  • Whoa (Score:3, Informative)

    by Parham (892904) on Friday May 26 2006, @11:37PM (#15414492)
    This company definitely needs to be put into the Guinness World Records... $69 million wasted with nothing to show. According to the related wikipedia article [wikipedia.org], they started back in 2002. They had four years to come up with something, anything, and managed to only gain fame through their downfall. They could have bought that for a lot less -__-.
  • it seems that there was more slashdot readers investing in the Phantom than previously thought as.

    The Recent vote between the shareholders proved inconclusive. Actual result :

    1.Yes 2 5%
    2.No 4 10%
    3.New Name: Vapor 5 12.5%
    4.CowboyNeal 29 72.5%
  • They can't be unaware that "Infinium" and "Phantom" have become brand for vaporware "phantom" products that take "infinium" to reach the market.

    Phantom is in fact more popular as a vaporware brand, why would they want to call their company that?

    It's as if they try to rub it on: "we've wasted millions of dollars and still got just phantoms to offer"...

    None of this makes any sense, is the business system so flawed?

  • SEC is also after them. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    They started in Sarasota and hosed quite a few local investers, then moved. So we follow the tale of these crooks.

    http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article ?AID=/20060517/BUSINESS/605170595/-1/GOOGLE01 [heraldtribune.com]

  • Tim Roberts (Score:5, Interesting)

    by mybootorg (975440) on Saturday May 27 2006, @07:18AM (#15415391)
    Having known Tim Roberts and his twin brother Peter since they were suburbian teenagers growing up in West St. Louis County, I can tell you that this console will never happen. (His twin brother Peter died of a drug overdose several years ago). I shouldn't say that it will never happen - that's just my opinion - because there's always the possibility that Tim will somehow manage to sell the company to someone that will ultimately deliver.

    Do some searching on Tim and you'll find that he's started a whole host of companies where investers were coralled and then the money was spent in lavish style. See DBN and Savvis Communications. These companies were sold off early on, and after Tim bowed out, one did rather well. Savvis continues to this day. But as far as I can tell, Tim only excels in bullshitting investors into opening their wallets, then spending and spending and bullshitting some more.

    Do some more searching and you'll find whole web pages devoted to exposing either Tim or his Phantom console as a hoax, scam, pump n' dump scheme etc. Some of them are really entertaining to read through.

    (I knew Tim when he was teenage phone phreak trafficing in Commodore 64 games over a 300 baud... then the screaming fast 1200 baud Hayes modem. Anyone C64 people remember the "Wacko Cracko Brothers"? Hehe. Name that year.)

  • Is a lot more possible for Duke Nukem Forever to show up, BEFORE any release date for the phantom is at hand.

    at least apparently:

    From wikipedia:


    2006

    * February: In an interview Broussard had this to say about Duke Nukem Forever[15]:

    Duke Nukem Forever
    It's definitely going well now. Things are together; we're in full production. We're basically just pulling all the pieces together and making the game out of it. There's a lot that's finished. All the gun
  • Prince John: Such an unusual name, "Latrine." How did your family come by it?
    Latrine: We changed it in the 9th century.
    Prince John: You mean you changed it TO "Latrine"?
    Latrine: Yeah. Used to be "Shithouse."
    Prince John: It's a good change. That's a good change

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