Phantom unveiling planned for CES tomorrow

Florida-based start-up company Infinium Labs has stated that it is to show its Phantom games "console" in public for the first time at the Consumer Electronics Show tomorrow in Las Vegas.

The company has taken its time over showing its system in public; the original proposed public showing of the console was scheduled for the Ultimate Gamers Expo in Los Angeles last August, but was cancelled when the show was put on hold.

Instead, Infinium released a short trailer video online, which confirmed that the box would be built from standard PC components and would run the Windows XP operating system, but posed as many questions as it answered - and fuelled long-running speculation that the system was nothing more than an elaborate hoax.

The showing tomorrow at CES will be held on the Windows Embedded Device Showcase stand, and will include a demo session, with Infinium CEO Timothy Roberts describing himself as "very excited" to be showing off the system at last.

Although serious question marks remain over Infinium Labs as a company - with several investigations throwing up irregularities such as unoccupied offices or tiny rented spaces where the company allegedly claimed to have a facility holding hundreds of prototype Phantom consoles - it seems increasingly unlikely that the Phantom is a hoax.

However, even with the system moving out of the realms of vapourware, it seems highly unlikely that it will achieve any serious headway in the marketplace, given the lack of software support and likely high price point of the device. At present we are also unaware of any plans to launch it outside North America, although more may be revealed on this topic at the CES showcase.