Phantom: The Lost Gaming Console from 2004

A PC peripheral is this vaporware console's legacy.

Photos from an id's studio portfolio reveal the Phantom Game Receiver, an ill-fated attempt to penetrate the console-gaming market. Robrady studio boasted that its design helped the company behind the Phantom, then called Infinium Labs, to secure capital through a 2004 IPO. The Phantom was even showcased at the E3 of that year.

The Phantom promised an online content delivery service that would eliminate the need for the user to buy physical game media. Also slated for release with the console was the "lapboard", a swiveling mouse-keyboard combo suggesting a PC-like gaming experience.

A failure to deliver however turned the Game Receiver into an "Industry Punchline". Infinium failed to make any apparent progress despite multiple rounds of financing. CEO Timothy Roberts was accused by the SEC of running a pump and dump scheme back in 2006.

As of this writing, Infinium—now renamed Phantom Entertainment—has only one actual product in its catalog. The $140 Phantom LapBoard has won points as a "couch control system", praised for its "surprisingly comfortable" configuration that encourages "good... hand placement". It's all that remains of a gaming console that competitors have clearly left behind, even if still slated for a market release.