Infinium nearing release of . . not the Phantom
Posted by inpheaux on December 28th, 2005 at 6:30 pm
Oh, Infinium Labs.
As what appears to be a desperate last-ditch effort, Infinium Labs announced today that after years upon years of "development" [which largely consisted of shamelessly mooching off of their investors], they are finally nearing the relase of a product. Said product, however, is not their Phantom Gaming Internet On-Demand Cable Distribution Console Platform from the Future. No, the product is the Phantom Lapboard, arguably the only thing Infinium have ever actually made, and also arguably something that might actually have a remote chance of making some money.
The Phantom Lapboard is a wireless keyboard targeted at the slice of the market Infinium wished they had, PC gamers doing their gaming on a set-top PC. The device is just a nice wireless usb keyboard with a hinge on the side and a flat surface underneath which you can use for mousing. In retrospect, this doesn't really sound like that great of an idea anymore. Perhaps we were just grasping at anything tangible, at which to go "ooh, neat".
Here's a choice quote from the press-release:
"The required $ USD 2 million round of funding for the Phantom Lapboard is a necessary step to deliver our vision for our products and services quickly into the market, positioned for both consumer and OEM segments, and book revenues by June 2006," said Greg Koler.
Aw Greg, did you just beg for even more investment cash in the middle of a press release? Don't tell me you guys got this far and just realized you don't have enough cash left to even squeeze out some keyboards.
Infinium Labs is convinced they might be able to ship these lapboards by June 2006, but I wouldn't hold your breath. Personally, I just hope this means they might show up at E3, so I can personally thank them for providing me something to laugh at for so many years now. I'd also like to ask them how they can say the Phantom is going to be the first "on demand gaming service" when we've already got Xbox Live Arcade and GameTap. I suspect they would respond to such inquiries by cupping their hands over their ears and informing me that they aren't listening.
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