It really comes down to this: is it a hoax, or are the forces involved in making this system absolutely inept? I'd call that six of one or a half dozen of the other.
Anybody tried to actually submit ther information on the pre-registration screen? It's not a button, it's just a sort vestigial nub with no function.
An interesting mail from Josh Parker, Private Eye:
In my amazing boredom, I researched the status of these trademarks on , but could find no record of either being trademarked. I tried various search methods, never did I see the slogan or the name Phantom trademarked by Infium Labs.
Uh, yeah. Might want to get one of them trademark things.
Steve from HardOCP dropped the following science on me yesterday:
We had a reader go by Infinium Labs and take pictures of their "facility" ( that's when we found out it was a strip mall in the Florida Keys ) only to find out it was a single desk in a 100 x 100ft room with two phones and no furniture. That was about 4 months ago.
I talked to the Tim Roberts guy on the phone when he returned my call ( 22 days after I left a message ) and when I asked him about all this...he HUNG UP ON ME. I asked him if he was looking for investors, he said "We are actively recruiting investors". I asked him if they had any consoles on hand, he said "We have several hundred prototype models here in the office". So then I asked him where the prototypes were made, he said "right here in our facility". Then I told him I had seen his 100ft x 100ft office space conveinently located next to Missing Link Art Gallery in the strip mall ( located at 5380 Gulf of Mexico Dr. Longboat Key, Fl 34228 ) and he went NUTS!!! "WHO THE FUCK IS THIS!?!?! BLAH BLAH I'LL SUE YOU".
Then you have articles like this one on Newsforge that make the whole thing seem sensible! Goddammit, I'm trying to dismiss something here! Stupid journalists.
(CW)TB
