Infinium Labs Nets $5 Million Funding Commitment

Next Generation is running the almost unimaginable news that Infinium Labs has a $5 Million funding commitment from Golden Labs Investors. From the article: "The funding, which comes in the form of a convertible debenture and warrant, and allows for an initial funding payment of $625,000, with an eventual exercising of up to $5M in convertible debt. will allow Infinium to start manufacturing and marketing its PC Lapboard peripheral. The PC peripheral, which is being billed by Infinium as 'the first device to allow gamers to comfortably use a mouse and keyboard from their couch', rotates for left and right-handed users and also inclines on a 90-degree angle, with a hard surface below for the Phantom Mouse."

A Personal Note to the Fine People at Golden Labs

[Da Stylin' Rastan]

Suckers!

-DSR

Re:A Personal Note to the Fine People at Golden La

[WinnipegDragon]

I would like to offer the good people at Golden Labs the opportunity to 'invest' in the Golden Gate Bridge...

Re:A Personal Note to the Fine People at Golden La

[panic911]

Haha, I clicked the comment link with the intent to say the same exact thing. Well I'll say it anyway - SUCKERS!

Re:A Personal Note to the Fine People at Golden La

[Alsee]

There appears to be a typo in the story summary. The correct text should read:

Next Generation is running the almost unimaginable news that Infinium Labs has a $5 Million funding commitment from Golden Fleeced Investors.

-

So Lonely...

[theRhinoceros]

Nice keyboard. Now if there was only something to plug it into, say a gaming console...

Mac mini

[tepples]

Nice keyboard. Now if there was only something to plug it into, say a gaming console...

You mean a $520 set-top Mac that's half the size of a GameCube [apple.com]?

Re:Mac mini

[KDR_11k]

I think he said "gaming".

WOOSH

[Winckle]

That was the sound of disapearing money.

Suckers!

[CharAznable]

We're always in danger of another unsustainable bubble unless we get rid of the plague that are brainless venture capitalists. Oh well, at least it's not my money.

Re:Suckers!

[jbrader]

Perhaps that's Infinium's true purpose. They'll suck all the money from brainless venture capitalists and then we'll be left with only the smart and responsible ones. Thank you, Infinium.

Paydirt!

[MBraynard]

I invested in this company's stock when (and it still is) in the tank. I did this because I knew two things might happen:

1) Someone foolish enough to try and enter the console business - a Mitsubishi or GE or Emerson or whomever - might buy them.

2) They could at least sell that lapboard thing they developed as it actually looked pretty cool at the E3 thing.

We will see what happens now, but it's nice to see this thing may come to fruition.

Re:Paydirt!

[Eightyford]

I invested in this company's stock when (and it still is) in the tank.

That makes more sense, to me, then investing in Google right now.

$5 Million?

[oahazmatt]

They invested $5 million in a "tray table"?

Re:$5 Million?

[kevin.fowler]

I invested $10 in one at Ikea. Very useful to eat order out food on while in the living room. Quite stackable. And delightfully Swedish.

Re:$5 Million?

[stonecypher]

But, the keys don't have that satisfying XT click.

Re:$5 Million?

[F_Scentura]

That Infinium didn't even design. Dear sweet Jesus, Tim Roberts must be the most charismatic man on earth, have some pact with Satan, or have a knack for finding the most gullible investors out there.

So very sad

[faloi]

As many companies as have already been suckered into investing in Infinium Labs, and as much bad press as they've gotten, you'd think VCs would be keeping away. I thought we learned something five years ago. I mean besides VCs will fall for anything.

Amazing reversal.

[Orrin Bloquy]

They have a platform that only exists in their imagination and they gold-farm in real life.

Infinium web

[secolactico]

Looks like infinium's web site went south, so I can't checkout the keyboard.

*Insert joke about it being hosted on a phantom gaming console here*

$5M?

[taskforce]

Does it really take $5M in startup capital to produce a keyboard and mouse? Especially one which is bound to have such... "ethereal" properties?

Re:$5M?

[sexyrexy]

No, but it takes $5M to pay for Timothy Roberts' fourth mansion while the Infinium engineers (aka a receptionist in an empty building) work through more Technical Difficulties.

Hmmm....

[alexjohns]

Methinks someone is looking for a tax writeoff.

Re:Hmmm....

[Crimsane]

shhhhhhh!

if you say that too loud Uwe Boll might try getting into the console business :(

Best scam ever!

[Nos9]

I got to hand it to the boys at Infinium, they sure now how to sell people a non existant product. If it hadn't been done before in a movie this would have made a great original plot!

Perfect naming...

[JofCoRe]

The irony of the console's name and it's inability to ever "materialize" always gives me a chuckle. It's almost like they intended to never bring it to market, and thought... hmm, what would be a good name for a product like that..?

Awh common don't be so hard on them

[SmallFurryCreature]

They do try but it is hard to get a PC like console out with a mere 50 million so naturally you blow it all on expenses and then are reduced to paying a few tens of thousands to some unheard of company to actually develop the hardware. Or you would pay them a few tens of thousands if you still had any money.

You make licensing deals that cost you money wich you don't have to release games on a hardware platform that is still being designed.

You get investigated by the sec because the best way to sell your s

Re:Awh common don't be so hard on them

[jackbarnett]

Now another 5 million dollar loan. Loans you have to pay back. VC is ussually in exchange for a stake of the company. You ussually don't have to pay back VC money, just give them a certain percentage of the companies stock so that when the company becomes [theoretically] successful they can sell of the stock and make their money back [and theoretically] plus some.

Re:Awh common don't be so hard on them

[Babbster]

I can't speak to the details of this deal, nor would I personally have any faith in this particular company which has so far taken a lot of money, made a lot of promises and sold exactly nothing.

That said, the idea of a "living room" gaming device for a PC that retains the functionality of a mouse/keyboard combination is a good one. With the increasing proliferation of high-definition television sets, it's looking better and better for the PC being hooked up to the same display as DVD players, game conso

Check your protractors

[HTH NE1]

also inclines on a 90-degree angle, with a hard surface below for the Phantom Mouse."

90 degrees is a bit excessive. I have yet to see an image of the keyboard with the board and pad perpendicular; most places have it titled only slightly upwards. Perhaps they meant a 45-degree angle.

Re:Check your protractors

[La Camiseta]

No, they're just measuring 90degrees from a -45deg. angle (off the horizontal). That's all. Don't you remember your geometry? ;)

They'rrrrre back!

[HunterZ]

This is what happens when Netcraft doesn't confirm it in time... When are these guys going to get sent to prison and/or go bankrupt?

There's a penny arcade somewhere...

[Strell]

That has Gabe asking business tycoons to consider his wang a valid investment, saying it has "massive growth potential."

But PA's archival comic search is broken, and if you keep hitting the "back" button, sometimes it doesn't go to the previous comic, so I gave up on looking for it.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:There's a penny arcade somewhere...

[Strell]

Ahh, very good. I was in 2002 and hitting back, it would have taken me a while to eventually get to the 2000s. I commend you, good sir!

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Laundering?

[SloppyElvis]

Come on, this is just ridiculous. I have a wireless keyboard and mouse from a real company, Logitech, that I comfortably use from my couch daily. If I want a little lap desk, there's a steel/plastic slidin' thing 4 sale on TV for $19.99. It even inclines to boot. But, I've never needed anything like that, because my knees can also support a keyboard and incline.

This must be some sort of Laundering scam.

Wow!

[sc0ttyb]

Just imagine how much more money they would have had if they hadn't sued HardOCP for telling the truth about them! Then I'm sure they could have done much more than just make a keyboard, like, oh say, release a console.

Re:Wow!

[damsa]

They didn't sue HardOCP, HardOCP sued them first. Infinium was threatening suit, HardOCP sued first so they would get choice of venue favorable to them.

The Duke

[DPJohnny Canuck]

I hear Duke Nukem Forever is a release title for the console.

Re:The Duke

[SkyWalk423]

What console?? The article is about a company that is going to make a lap-mounted mousepad. Where is all this talk about some phantom console coming from??!?

Doin A Favor

[blueZhift]

With all of the bad press, I can only guess that someone owes someone else a favor for which $5M is a small price. I can't imagine what, since I don't run with that kind of crowd, but nothing else makes any sense. If they can get the lapboard to work with the game consoles for FPS games like SOCOM and Halo, then they might make a little money or at least save some face.

Oh yeah, almost forgot... Suckers!!!!!!

Sorry, I really couldn't resist that one.

Mighty expensive keyboard

[IpsissimusMarr]

$5 Million for a KEYBOARD?! How in the hell do you talk Investors into spending $5 Million on a damned keyboard? I mean, its not new technology, its not particularly inovative. Hell, does it have a Patent that it deserves this type of attention? And from the creators of Vaporware, I mean, "The Phantom", a Second eternal hole to sink investors cashflow into.

Someone didn't even take the time to google search

[nelsonal]

[me] HA HA [/me]
Now you see why they sued HardOCP when they fully exposed the actual business model and modus operandi of the company. Dumb investors get exactly what they deserve.

Make it for the Xbox 360

[cabra771]

Make it compatible (hell, go all the way with a 'made for' logo) with my Xbox 360 and price it properly, I'd most likely bite on that keyboard tray. But only if it's wireless, dammit.

Man, I actually feel dirty admitting that.

Why not Qonos?

[Xypheri]

Man. why can't investors back a product that is "feature complete" and is only awaiting funding to begin production? but insted throw all their money at some system that is doomed to fail, and will most likey be ready for launch when Duke Nukem Forever hits the shelfs.

--
Hydrix: home of project QoNoS [hydrix.com]

Not quite what they promissed

[mwvdlee]

So the first piece of equipment from Infinium Labs is going to be a piece of ply-wood?

Picture

[RealErmine]

At Infinium's E3 booth in 2003, I thought that the lapboard [wordhole.net] was, by far, the most interesting part of their system. They should forget the console altogether.

THIS is the BEST lapboard ever!

[Kancept]

Even though they have been bought out, this was the best lapboard ever made... who uses a mouse anymore?

http://fingerworks.com/ [fingerworks.com]