Gamasutra is reporting that Timothy Roberts, the former founder and CEO of
Infinium Labs now Phantom Entertainment has resigned.
I can hear you asking "Who?". Let me explain.
In 2002, there was a lot of hype regarding a system that would allow PC games to be played on your TV via a broadband connected online service. The system was dubbed the
Phantom. The system would basically be a computer configured to play popular PC titles by automatically installing and
configuring them.
This sounded like a good idea. There are hundreds of PC games available versus the few hundred available console games across the several systems available at the time.
But there was a small problem. All they had was an idea. And promises were being made left and right surrounding that idea.
In fact it took two years to get a prototype built. And even then they didn't have the licenses for the games or the technology built to deliver them.
In 2004, the former head of the
Xbox team Kevin
Bachus joined the company. While this provided some hope that
the system would finally see the light of day, he left the company in November 2005 unable to deliver the system.
In August 2006 the company pulled the plug on the system. Although the system is no more, the lapboard (a keyboard and mouse that sits in your lap) that was introduced was manufactured and is available for order from their site.
Gamers and reporters had a field day with
these events. It turns out that the CEO had a history of building companies that were
unbelievably unsuccessful. Several times the system won awards for
best vaporware. Across the board the company was
ridiculed and
derided.
Timothy Roberts resigned his post to pursue other opportunities. I can hardly wait to see what vaporware he comes out with next.
Since my wife has her hands full with the triplets, it's my job to get my daughter ready to go to daycare.
