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Infinium Tries 'Phantom' Name Change
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?"
Who's been bankrolling these ... bottom feeders, because I got a couple of bridges and transmission towers to sell.
No.
Next question?
Cue The Sun...
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."
everything in moderation
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 The graphics card is very outdated (the Wii is probably more advanced), and the CPU at 1.8 GHz doesn't quite compare with triple 3.2 GHz cores of a 360.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.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
No.
Why they don't just rename the company "Vapor', will save a lot of blog discussions....
They should change "Infinium" to "Ad infinitum" delay the release till infinity...
Everyone, hold onto what you're doing for a second, I have a joke to make, and I daresay I don't think anyone else's going to think of it - I'm just that clever.
"The answer is no, the company won't release a product"
twitter.com/gravitronic
I remeber these guys selling Phantom t-shirts a few years back, any idea if they are still available?
Lets get their names! Anybody who funded this deserves only one name, "Moron."
$69 mill. from Morons. Oh, jeez, let me think what I can come up with, how about perpetual motion, cold fusion in your kitchen!
Anybody who funded this, anybody who bought into some VC who funded this, should be tearing their clothes with shame. Or maybe not. You bought it, you eat it. Enjoy.
Although the company name is now illusive, elusive, and delusive ( http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=phantom ), 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."
Circumcision is child abuse.
Anyone else think this is the US verison of this guy: http://www.wreckedexotics.com/special/enzo/
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 that the company intends on developing a sequel to Duke Nukem Forever.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
Vijay, the world's most desperate venture capitalist.
-- n
I think it was this guy's cousin
I love my sig.
GameTap.
"Ohh look! It can download games over the internet!"
Uh... just like any other desktop.
It will produce a lot of lawsuits with a defendant with an stupid name.
Isn't it common knowledge that Infinium have poured all available resources into development of the CowboyNealBox3?
Software Freedom Day!.
I just looked at a few of the related stories and got myself a good laugh.
"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.
Don't trust a bull's horn, a doberman's tooth, a runaway horse or me.
Let's be fair to the people who invested the first few mill. It did seem like a good idea even if it was a long shot.
But as for the later investors, you guys are total suckers.
"When the atomic bomb goes off there's devastation...but when the atomic bong goes off there's celebraaaaation!"
He's insulting the Phantom, not Gametap.
"When the atomic bomb goes off there's devastation...but when the atomic bong goes off there's celebraaaaation!"
This is vaporware.
Is there even one person left that still cares?
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, 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 -__-.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
So if they started in 2002, they've been going for 4 years. 4 years at 70 million dollars is 17.5 million dollars per year.
Assuming a 50% marketing, promotion, and etc cost, that leaves 8.75 million for staff and development. Assuming a generous 100,000 per year compensation package and 100,000 in per-employee support costs (office space, etc), that's a full-time staff of 44 developers.
44 developers, working full time, for 4 years. With a full marketing budget for a product that doesn't exist. Assume a 50/50 split between hardware and software, that's 22 people making the console and 22 people programming the interface, including artists.
70 million really should have been enough. Can you say "scam?"
The ______ Agenda
You, sir, have won the Internet.
I'll be honest, we're throwing science against the wall to see what sticks. -Cave Johnson
Am I really the only one who knows? I think I'm the only one who's willing to tell.
Mmm, bit later.
Dear Investors:
I would like to offer you the opportunity of a lifetime. In exchange for a mere $50,000 a year, I will produce NOTHING. Compared to Infinium/Phantom, this will provide a savings to you of nearly 35,000% ANNUALLY with IDENTICAL results, INSTANTLY! This is an offer you CAN NOT refuse. Please let me know when you are ready to sign the dotted line,
Sure Thing Inc.
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?
The $70 million that they've spent and lost is dwarfed by the $182 million that investors have taken out of the company by selling stock. Look at the insider
trading reported on the yahoo finance link here: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/it?s=IFLB.OB
Add all of the estimated proceeds of the insider
stock sales, and you get $182 million. The real total might be larger or smaller than this -- the proceeds reported are estimated, but the total cash realized by insiders trading in IFLB stock is easily more than 100 million dollars.
And that ain't chump change.
What better way for the Russian mob to make their money look clean? Connections have been pointed out in the past. Many, many times. But heck, what don't they have their fingers in? They've got a piece of Starforce for crying out loud... then again we've all seen how terribly effective that is.
They started in Sarasota and hosed quite a few local investers, then moved. So we follow the tale of these crooks.
e ?AID=/20060517/BUSINESS/605170595/-1/GOOGLE01
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl
Or are the shareholders phantom too?
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.)
This is not news. It's demise was predicted 3 years ago at HardOCP. http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NTEy
I do feel bad for the investors. However I can't understand how they didn't see the warning signs.
then when the OS is mature and they have a bunch of free games they could pimp the games distro DVD with free stuff.
then who cares about the machine. make some money first.
it would have been like loki, but instead of porting games, make spiffy games engine.
$8.75 million a year for development? Try less than half that. Total. Such a scam.
Source:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6144631.html
Bloggy Goodness
according to their own SEC filings, they've spent about 10% or so of their budget on R&D (on a new console here, mind thee), and about 70%+ on 'consulting fees'. Scam? Yes.
This is where I get my recommended daily allowance of "Foot in Mouth."
I always find it amazing that investors are willing to throw their money in the trash like this. This company has failed to demonstrate anything, for all the previous investment. It has failed to ship anything, it has repeatedly failed to deliver on schedule, and has shown signs of having criminals on the board manipulating share prices for their own gain. Why don't the investors just just go and invest in SCO (the failed UNIX company that has been perpetrating what appears to be a crude fraud to boost share prices) They might even make some money on that - if they dump before SCO is swatted like a bothersome fly around the anal cavity of an angry donkey.
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 guns are finished. Most of the creatures are finished. And as I said, we're just basically pulling it all together and trying to make it fun. We've kind of got all these disassociated elements that make up a game, and you put them together and things happen. And then you just tweak it and polish it until it's fun, and that's kind of the phase we're in now, just trying to make something that is really fun to play and interesting.
Duke Nukem Forever
* March: Scott Miller, CEO of 3D Realms, announced that the company intends on developing a sequel to Duke Nukem Forever. [16]
* April: In an interview with Computer Game Magazine George Broussard made the following statement.
Duke Nukem Forever
The problem is that when we show it, people are going to be like, 'Yeah, whatever'. Honestly, at this point we just want to finish it.
Duke Nukem Forever
Broussard also demonstrated samples of the game, including an early level, a vehicle sequence, and a few test rooms [17]
So apparently they are working on it, and actually theres a strong humor it could be released THIS xmas. (check the www.gamasutra.com article)
Go ahead MOD my day!
More opinions here
The problem is that when we show it, people are going to be like, 'Yeah, whatever'. Honestly, at this point we just want to finish it.
At this point, they could just change the title splash of Daikatana and release it, and we'll all be surprised enough by the release alone to soil our shorts.
Hmph.
Given a month, some parts, and a soldering iron, *I* can design a 'next gen' console. These guys have scammed nearly $70 billion and, aside from their CEO, I'd be completely nonplussed to find out they have dodged out to the caymans somewhere, where they 'telecommute' by responding to emails from venture capitalists.
110100 1101000 1101000 1100110 0 1101111 1101000 1100011 1
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
"Our opponent is an alien starship packed with atomic bombs. We have a protractor."
LOL... whoever investing $70 million, I'd love to have that list... funny. The $69 million loss isn't too surprising--almost every starteup operates at a loss. That's normal. Moving along this far and already having stock-scam lawsuits AND no product... that's not. But this is my favorite... "The Board of Directors believes that the name change (to Phantom whatever) would be in the best interests of the Company because the new name better reflects the long-term growth strategy of the Company." Translation: Our strategy is that we're banking everything on this Phantom gizmo, because it's all we've got. We're renaming the company to demonstrate this. We reeeeeally hope someone down the road inveted time-travel and brings something cool and Pahntom-like back to us." And then this... "Our Board of Directors has unanimously approved, subject to stockholder approval, an amendment to our Certificate of Incorporation to increase the number of authorized shares of Common Stock from 600,000,000 to 1,200,000,000... (WHAT?! You're DOUBLING your stocks in the middle of all this? #1, that move should have been tried before your auditors announced to the world that you're screwed. #2, that could completely rearrange ownership of the company--current stockholders get first crack at new shares, but I'm guessing NO ONE WANTS ANY MORE, which means anyone with a lot of money and some wild scheme could take over. Which I doubt wil happen, since YOU HAVE NO PRODUCT) The Board believes that the increase in authorized common shares would provide the Company greater flexibility with respect to the Company's capital structure (translation: the board believes that if people buy more stock, we'll have more money) for such purposes as additional equity financing (for such purposes...? Wait, you're saying you want to get more money through equity... so you can get more money through equity? This reads like "We're going to sell off more shares of the company... so that we can, then, sell more shares after that." Maybe the Board wants people to buy more shares so that they can sell their shares... except that's, well, legally risky at best.), and stock based acquisitions, (we're praying someone out there has a product that they will sell to us for stock)." I'm no stock broker, but... i'll list this one as a 'sell'...