Phantom (formerly Infinium Labs), developer of the long promoted but never seen Phantom PC gaming console, has apparently given up. The company has removed all references to the planned console from its website, apparently signaling that the project is officially dead. The original plan involved a $199 console designed to download PC games via the internet with a launch in November of 2004. Years of delays and severe financial difficulties didn't stop the company from churning out numerous press-releases, which generally met with vapor-ware cat calls in the gaming press. Phantom's new venture will be adapting the software originally designed to deliver gaming content to the console to operate on typical Windows computers, and releasing their potentially pretty cool (and real!) lapboard for couch based PC gaming. We'll be waiting with baited breath, as it'll be a special moment when a real box with Phantom written on the side really arrives at the office. Source: IGN
Their former CEO, Tim Roberts, screwed the pooch for Infinium/Phantom. They sued doubters rather than produce a product. They must have some very stupid or very forgiving investors. Hopefully, since Roberts is gone, they might be able to get away from the laughing stock of gaming like Duke Nukem Forever and STALKER.
To be honest it's good they pulled the plug, I can almost guarentee they'd loose a lot of money of this console if released. It's just a really hard time to introduce a new player when you've got 3 big names battling it out.
um thats kinda wierd because, a lot of places already have games you can buy from the internet and download, Steam, Direct2Drive, and a few others
Well, you have to understand that Infinium Labs/Phantom had a grandiose plan, but could never produce the details, like the specifics of getting the downloads to everybody. The details they never put much info out on. [H]ard|OCP was one of two sites (and I forget the other one) that IL sued. The [H] had a lot of questions, and while they got some info wrong, they did correct it. Unfortunately, some of the information IL wanted 'corrected', Kyle Bennett ([H] owner) didn't. It looked bad for IL, and they simply didn't like that. Tim Roberts history has been questionable at best. The supposed HQ of IL had an address that was a UPS store in Florida. Stuff didn't add up. Kyle Bennett can be a complete asshole, but if presented with verifiable facts or at least a competent answer, he will STFU. If I remember, Kyle fought back and the judge sided with him. I don't know how much was spent, but I'm pretty sure he's still ticked off about it. Without that crook Roberts in there, IL might be able to come up with something other than bull shit and lawsuits. I just have to wonder at how long the company will last without releasing any products. Like I said, the investors are either very stupid or very forgiving.
