Phantom still en route as Infinium files trademark, hires content experts

The much-delayed Phantom Game Service and PC hardware based Phantom Game Receiver are still in the works despite the recent silence from would-be platform holder Infinium Labs.

The first news from the company in several months has emerged over the past few weeks, with Infinium announcing that it has appointed The Mauretania Import Export Company (TMIEC), a firm specialising in developing multimedia brands for games, film and TV, to expand its content acquisition efforts.

Infinium will be working directly with TMIEC CEO Anthony Jacobson, who will be working to expand the firm's reach in the development and publishing community as the Phantom heads towards launch.

As to when that launch will be, sources close to the company have indicated that a new round of funding is being closed at the moment, with a view to bringing the console to market - finally - in early 2006.

One step on the way to that goal is the firm's recent acquisition of a trademark for the Phantom Game Service in North America, which was reported by games news website Joystiq earlier this week.

Less positive news for Infinium, however, came as the company's stock hit investment headlines this week for being linked to a scam that has seen the Securities and Exchange Commission charging three men for around $600,000 of fraudulent actions.

While Infinium Labs itself and its executives are in no way implicated in the scam, the company's name was used on faxes sent out to over a million recipients advising them to purchase Infinium stock - which promptly rose in value, netting a significant cash haul for the sender of the faxes who had previously invested in the stock.