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Phantom Console Put on Hold
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)."
shocking!
will they raise the money by suing slashdot?
just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand!
Are you serious? They spent almost twice as much on "general expenses" as they spent on actual development? If that doesn't prove that the system is vaporware, nothing will.
I am scientifically inaccurate.
It has recently come to my attention that Infinium Labs has accumulated over sixty-two million dollars in debt.
Clearly, there are substantial numbers amidst your ranks who are perfectly willing to part with large sums of money for no good reason whatsoever.
I would ask these investors to send me $100,000 cash, in return for which I will do absolutely nothing. It should be obvious at this point that investing in Infinium Labs is an exercise in futility, humiliation and shame, so I think my offer looks pretty good, on balance. It's also much less expensive.
I eagerly await your reply in the form of crisp, new $100 bills.
Warmest Regards,
AAiP
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
"Nothing for you to see here. Please move along."
;-)
How appropriate!
"Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion." - Democritus
34 months have elapsed for the period these financials are from.
.
That equals to approximately $103,000 a month in development costs, $376,000 a month in consultation fees, $350,000 a month in salaries, and 174,000 a month in administrative fees. Overall losses are 1.84 million dollars per month, December 2002 through September 2005 . .
Two questions: First, How many people do they employee and contract services from? Second, if you're an investor, how does your ass feel right now?
A B A C A B B
But... but... but...
HOW WILL I PLAY DUKE NUKEM FOREVER?!?
*sob*
---
What I really want to know is, what genius thought it would be a good idea to hype the hell out of this thing before development even began in earnest? I mean, 3 mil for development, ~60 mil for other stuff? There's something seriously wrong here. Not to mention that for 3 mil most of us would have had something ready to go out the door.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Wanna know how to make money in this business? Promise a product for years that you have no actual intention of building. Secure funding. Blow funding on employees (friends) as well as some stellar press releases. Hire some "consultants" (hookers) and make a prototype to show off at gaming expos (or just a picture of one, at least). Keep this up until you're sued.
Step 1: Find stupid people to supply venture capital for new console
Step 2: Delay new console indefinately
Step 3: Find more stupid people to get investment money from
Step 4: ???
Step 5: Say the market put too much pressure on your new console, declare bankruptcy, and high-tale it to Cuba
(Step 6: Smoke cigars)
On an unrelated note, can you hold something that doesn't exist (and, from the looks of it, never will)?
Did these guys hire the Boo.com crew for their business plan?
-mkb
In other news, researchers stunned to discover that water is indeed wet.
Han shot first.
That's because it doesn't EXIST! Get over it! You've been duped!
Some say he is made with ascii, others that he is eyeballed daily by millions. All we know is, he is known as the Sig
Is there anyone out there who is surprised by this news? I was under the impression that it was now common knowledge that Infinium Labs is a swirling vortex of waste and misery.
Infinium racked up $62.7 million in losses. Of that, only $3.5 million has been lost to development costs. More of the company's money has been going toward ... salaries ($11.9 million)
What's the difference between development costs and salaries? I could see that the salaries of HR people and accountants should not be counted as development costs, but what about the salaries of the developers? Is the $3.5 million figure just hardware / fabrication costs, or does it also include development salaries?
my blog
Slashdot- news for nerds, stuff that matters?
Sorry, but how is this news?
And how does it matter?
At E3 a few years ago I went by their booth to see mock-ups of the Phantom Console and they were giving away t-shirts that said "I Believe". It always seemed to me to be a mocking acknowledgement of the general consensus that the product would never hit the market. Even at that E3 everyone knew the product was vaporware. It probably still has a release date between Duke Nukem Forever and Team Fortress 2, both of which are tentatively scheduled to be released shortly after the end of the universe (according to a poster I saw at Milliways). "I Believe" indeed. I believe it's the best promotion of vaporware ever. ::Digitac
Was I the only one who assumed this was going to be an article about the Playstation 3?
Don't blame me; I'm never given mod points.
So THAT is why they decided to call it the "Phantom" console.
They gunna have to sell a lot of keyboards to make up that 62 million...
I predict another Ferrari crash coming from an ex Infinium Labs exec... ala Gizmondo (Enzo) style.
Maybe investors are paying to quarantine these guys from the industry at large.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Infinium CEO: "Mirror Mirror on the wall, who has the greatest console of all."
Mirror: "Nintendo, deposit $10 million in my Caymen bank account please!"
Infinium CEO: "No, Mirror Mirror on the wall, who has the GREATEST console of all!"
Mirror: "er, Microsoft? deposit $50 million in my Bermuda account."
Infinium CEO: "No, listen jerk! Mirror Mirror on the wall, who has the f*cking GREATEST console of all f*cking time!!!!"
Mirror: "Yeah, thats Sony! It's going to cost you another $300 million before you figure that out asshole!"
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
Wired will have a more interesting Vapourware top ten list in 2006! Now if DNF comes out/gets canned, we'll have a great list this year because Vista will be out.
:(
On the other hand, no more vapourware jokes about Phantom.
Ghostware is now a new term for everyone to use and enjoy. Enjoy!
The story of this sounds similar to the Amiga. (Sadly?)
Group of people get together to create the world's greatest gamng system. Company finds itself short of cash. Company releases "board" peripheral to make cash. (Amiga Corp produced the Joyboard. Infinium is producing the Lapboard.)
Of course, at this point, the Amiga went on to become the best computer ever made, only to be run to extinction by Commodore.
Last I heard the only employees were the secretary, and the CEO that cashed the checks, and they had rented office space in some stripmall that was empty. It was just a mailbox to collect checks.
I could be wrong. But it doesn't sound like it.
When you want something built, come see me. If you want correct grammar and spelling, get a F*ing liberal arts student.
Nope, that's pretty much correct. I have no idea how they managed to blow that much money though. I guess it's probably hiding off in some offshore account while they report it as "expenses" to the IRS. The demo unit they had at E3 a couple of years ago was a PC inside of a custom built case that probably cost them less than $500 to build.
I read the internet for the articles.
That the GP is "interestint" or that the Parent is "insightful."
Both seemed pretty funny to me.
The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.
When someone keeps dumping money into a project, the only project that is alleged to produce revenue, and the product is not only not in product but it is now "on hold", why does anyone keep investing money in that same company? And how does any investor honestly expect the debts accrued by investments made for a next-gen console to be recovered by a table tray? At this rate I suppose the only way any investor is going to see a return on their investment is with a winning PowerBall ticket.
Those who believe the Internet is private,
find their privates are on the Internet.
will they release the work they have on the console as "open source"?
And more interesting: will SCO sue them for using their IP when they analyse the content?
The console might have been vaporware or even an outright scam. However, some of the things associated with the product were actually very sweet. There is no real technical reason why you couldn't get rid of "game modules" or "game discs" as with the other consoles and move everything to network.
Have you guys tried Steam? I have. Well, it's technically quite lame and not very high quality.. And Valve's handling of IP issues is plain retarded. (It's complicated to re-sell games. Not impossible, but they are really keen on locking things to your general account by default.) But the idea is very sweet indeed. Just couple clicks and within minutes you get the new game. You lose it? No worries, just re-install. Voila. Bandwidth we got in the developed countries and it actually decreases the logistic costs which should bring down the costs of the games - or boost the income of the game companies.
That's the #1 reason I have been interested in Phantom console. At least at some phase the console wasn't even supposed to have any silly disc drives...
How can a company that's blown over $30M on advertising be so unheard of? I've only heard of the Phantom because Penny-Arcade makes fun of it. Are they advertising in Cosmo?
If video games are created by teams of designers and artists, how are they not art??? www.skylarscaling.com
While I understand this might get my nerd quals revoked, I was completely unaware that Infinium even existed until I read this yesterday. Although I have to say, it seems like you're just asking for this sort of thing to happen when you name your console "Phantom."
Which gives me an idea.. any VCs interested in my new VaporStation? It'll be HD-DVD/BluRay compatible, play all the current and next gen console titles (thanks to our special Preverse Engineering), and all parts will be user upgradeable. It will also be HDCP compliant, although an actual HDCP connector will be missing from the final product.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
Jesus Fucking Wiped. (holy shit!!)
These fuckers are more apt to be utterly fucking drummed out of "hardcore" gamer forums and chats. Who the fuck is this marketing fuck trying to lie to? Potential investors?
Which reminds me. Isn't fraud a felony?
(my security word just happens to be "arrests"
Seriously, if people will invest huge chunks of cash in things named Phantom and DNF (as in Did Not Finish), this has got to be a sure thing.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
Was there ever a point at which it was *not* on hold? I guess one of the owners wants a new boat, eh?
They should announce that Duke Nukem Forever will be a launch title. That would make an awesome article on The Onion!
Arguing about vi versus Emacs is like arguing whether it's better to make fire by rubbing sticks or banging rocks.
I hear that Duke Nukem Forever is going to be the flagship game for the Phantom console.
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM
....this is slashdot.
http://www.commaecho.com
This strikes me as being a whole lot like The Producers. Maybe Infinium realized that they could make a bundle by paying themselves big salaries, buying expensive toys, and INTENDING TO FAIL. If they ever produced a real product, they'd have to start being responsible and timely. As it is, they can just soak up venture capital money and live the good life.
Shades of Grayden
The people, who if I were them, would be pissed off the most about this... (aside from english teachers for that phrasing) one of the game developers who was working on a game that would have been great, but the company died for lack of funding.
Imaging the number of student game developers who could have made retail products given a share of that much money.
we could have had a shitload of games ported to Linux and/or Macintosh, if the funds were applied directly to something like Cedega... but instead, not just the money itself is lost, it also makes the game industry as a whole look bad.
I wonder if Jack Thompson is connected to the Phantom?
no text
"Screw Sun, cross-platform will never work. Let's move on and steal the Java language." - Visual J++ Product Manager
you can't "HOLD" it if it NEVER EXISTED. if there was a physical manifestation, then you could hold it, kiss it, love it, buy games for it. Let this be a lesson to all, suing websites is a shoddy way to introduce yourself to your target audience. Whoops, my bad; the target audience was INVESTMENT FIRMS not gamers! Anyone wanna buy a pet rock?
Ya see, on slashdot (and to the geeks at infinium) hookers count as consultants, because the aforementioned are unfamiliar with the acts for which hookers are paid. Get it? Yeah, I didn't think so.
Please respond with inevitable "in Soviet Russia, hookers consult you", "in South Korea, only old people consort with hookers", etc.
Six score characters.
Brevity being wit's soul
I have enough space.