RIP RetroVGS/Coleco Chameleon: Retro Console Epic Disaster (2015-2016)

[Tanooki]

Not trying to drudge up past bygones, but a number of fairly decent people have been raked through the coals with Nitendoage's ban now and ask questions later approach.

I know, you're fine, I don't mind, and been over it. Truth be told, last year I got tracked down by one of their newer mods for a retrousb cart I own, and he wanted it very badly and had no other leads so I sold him it. In that we got to talking, one thing happened and then another, and I ended up in a chit chat with me, him, and BA for a good hour or so. At first it was pure snark, got around to talking and hashing things out, and what's done is done, things as far as I know are forgiven, but as far as the site goes nothing has changed and while it may one day, it is what it is now. They can do as they like, I just got over lurking sites so I don't visit them if I can't use them as it's pointless. I did that here for a long on/off stretch then eventually registered, just as I made a reddit account awhile back so I could mess with the Gameboy page on there and a few others. I'm not surprised you'd get slammed on the 150in1 cart though, just because if anything it's a new item made now and because it has like 90% of the high dollar desirable $100+ licensed NES games on it which I'm sure a collector would not be amused with at all. I see no harm in a write up though, and as you said, they shelp repros (bootlegs) there which are no different.

I can't speak for Satoshi, but the Piko one I was fully aware of being friends with the guy. All he does for his business is track down prototypes and buys them and buys from the orignal IP holders the rights of distribution or total rights to the entire property for his business. In the case which got him popped he was chasing a prototype. No backdoor would have been involved, he would have gone to the new owner and tried to make a deal. That's the usual, there are cases I imagine where it could go further, say if he owned the IP entirely but didn't have the code due to the prototype being lost/stolen and if he could track it down he could either make a deal with that guy or legally threaten them since he owns it but that would be relatively rare I think.

Az fair enough, but the instances he gave were decent but I get your point. And I think they should have been given leeway because sometimes shit happens bluntly put. But, at this rate given you've had potentially 3 errant fraud console prototypes made so far and a lot of back pedaling, ignoring, NDA threats, and the rest that good will has gone death valley all dried up.

And yes...I'd love to see what comes of Thursday. I don't have a stake in it, but I am curious as all get out as far as the evidence being reviewed and Coleco's verdict on the matters as they I really doubt will be quiet about it as their rep is being soiled.

[stardust4ever]

Sorry for stirring up old shit. I really missed you Tanooki when they axed you. You livened up a lot of topics. I don't do a lot of selling or buying on NintendoAge, mostly I sometimes buy the new homebrew games from vendors when they come out, and since I'm more of a gamer rather than a collector, sometimes I'll downgrade and sell an LE edition to buy the RE, pocket the difference, and buy more homebrews with it. For instance, I sold my RetroUSB Mr Gimmick for $250 and bought an INL repro of the Japan version with the AY sound chip for $52. I came out with some great CIB homebrews from AtariAge, Zippy and Star Castle, and some NES gear. Beer Slinger from Greeting Carts, and Halloween '85. Five homebrews for one, and got a better version of Gimmick. Fair trade market value from a collector's point of view, but as a gamer, it felt like I made out like a bandit!

I think we've gotten OT a bit, and I can't wait to see what happens come Thursday. Either Mike will submit another shoddy prototype, or he'll go into hiding if he hasn't already. It will be funny to see whether he stays in hiding or comes out after Coleco revokes their contract. I actually hope that some money changed hands between mike and Coleco. Karma would be a bitch if Mike gets sued. Also the way he shuffles money back and forth between his own LLCs is borderline money laundering. Put whatever assets are left back into Game Gavel and Retro Mag before his Chameleon sham goes bankrupt. Retro Mag is also likely beyond saving now as most of it's staff have taken off like a bat out of hell. He would also be wise to auction off his Jag/Dental molds on Game Gavel no reserve. Get rid of them because it's toxic. Throw it into the pits of Mordor if you have to.

[buzz_n64]

Engadget.com-

Coleco officially pulls its name from the Chameleon
It's time to abandon ship.

"Last month the Coleco Chameleon showed up at Toy Fair promising a taste of retro-gaming glory. But those promises have come to naught after a non-start to its Kickstarter and numerous accusations regarding faked prototypes. Today the Chameleon suffers another blow as Coleco Holdings, the company with the rights to the Coleco name and properties, has terminated its association with RetroVGS and the Chameleon project.
Coleco partner Chris Cardillo gave Engadget the following statement, which will also appear on Coleco's Facebook page:

"Retro has decided that the work that they have created is not sufficient to demonstrate at this time. Consequently, we can no longer proceed with the project and the Chameleon project will be terminated. This separation is amicable. We wish Retro luck in the future."

This isn't the only blow RetroVGS has suffered in the past week: On Saturday David Giltinan, the managing editor of RetroVGS's RETRO Magazine, announced his departure from the company. He cited the ongoing issues with the Chameleon as the impetus behind his leaving, saying "I have to separate myself from everything associated with it." Though he conceded poor messaging from RetroVGS, he also asserted that there was "no ill intent or maliciousness on the part of the team."

We've reached out to RetroVGS for comment on the future of the project."

http://www.engadget.com/2016/03/08/coleco-pulls-support-from-chameleon/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[Tanooki]

stardust thanks. Never know what will happen down the line right? I don't do much buying anymore either other than GB stuff and Genesis, I've kind of become more choosy so I try and finish stuff and I moved on last year getting pinball machines and LEGO and this year into G1 Transformers as they hold my interest building/transforming them. Funny you bring up Gimmick, a little over a week ago was the first time in years I bought a NES game for myself, the local ma 'n pa got an INL new board, nice shell nice sticker copy of that and I snapped it up for $40. It's not bad, hard, very hard until you're comfy with the star mechanics and the inertia/physics involved as it's way different. It's not to say I don't buy old Nintendo stuff anymore, but call it as you will, if I do it's to flip to get stuff I do want and it's very unstable and unreliable when it pops up so I don't even bother to rely on it or make the effort other than being places it could show up.

Yeah we got off topic. But as buzz just put it, guess Coleco didn't feel like waiting another day -- knife in, twist, and pulled out. Mikey's going to bleed out over this one as they just lost their cash cow, their branding, and if there were any good will or supporters left they'll drop off too with that rug being pulled out. Serves them right for trying to con a business and a crap load of gamers who aren't stupid enough to fall for it. As others have said, you don't pull that crap with an informed group who know how to spot fakes and can use even minimally a soldering gun and other tools to keep old electronic games alive.

[TonyTheTiger]

Good. Maybe now we can close the book on this circus and everyone involved can move on with their lives.

[jperryss]

Looks like they deleted their FB page too.

[Koa Zo]

I would rather see the Chameleon be born as to play ColecoVision (the only console worthy of Coleco's name to date), Sega SG1000, MSX and Creativision games than to play Sega Genesis or Super NES games.


An MSX, Colecovision, SG-1000 retro console would be something I'd get behind.
The couple MSX custom consoles that have been made in recent years seemed to sell out fast and continue to demand a high price tag.
If someone were to make an updated retro console with compatibility for those 8-bit system, but also add expanded sound, memory, and sprite capabilities for new homebrew it could turn out to be an awesome new retro platform.

[fultonbot]

So I guess the "unfriend" was just the first step in scorched-earth strategy.
No schadenfreude here though. I wish the guy well, but I think he needs to focus on something else now.

[Steven]

In spite of Mike bringing most of this upon him, I feel sympathy toward him and hope this doesn't affect him adversely too much. I hope he bounces back and finds his niche in life after this. I wish him well.

[stardust4ever]

Honestly I'm kind of glad the smoke has cleared this horrible train wreck. A 21 gun salute, as Train Chameleon RIP...

:rockets::rockets::rockets::rockets::rockets::rock ets::rockets:
:rockets::rockets::rockets::rockets::rockets::rock ets::rockets:
:rockets::rockets::rockets::rockets::rockets::rock ets:

EDIT: crap, limit of 20 emotes/images...

[shawnphase]

In spite of Mike bringing most of this upon him, I feel sympathy toward him and hope this doesn't affect him adversely too much. I hope he bounces back and finds his niche in life after this. I wish him well.

i cant tell you what to feel by any means, and sympathy is appropriate for sure. as for myself, i cant help but pity him for the sling his ego and mismanagement got him in. when you factor in the lies/mistruth, which is really the most damning part of it... well, theres no telling how he must feel, he probably feels like he let people down beyond anything else, as hes still just a guy. really, the best thing he could do would be to come forward and make a statement to clear the air and to simply apologize. i think its safe to say that even the 'haters' were holding out a shred of hope that it would come together. as time passed, it became more and more clear that mike wasnt the guy to be able to make this kind of task possible.

[portnoyd]

None of this would have ever happened if the dingdongs who backed the magazine didn't actually back the magazine. This emboldened SoCalMike to actually do this, you know.

I mean, did no one see what a floating corpse GameGavel is? And they still gave him money? Would you have given him money for the magazine knowing that this would be the result? (We'll ignore the possibility that the magazine is now dead and everyone waiting for paid-for issues is now left holding their pud).

Let this be a lesson to look more critically at where you're placing your money.

In other news, I will be launching VBENDERGAMES.COCKSZ.COM in the near future! Sign up for the latest and greatest in HTML5 virtual reality cockgobbling excitement... at only $19.99 per month. WHATTADEAL! Sign up now and prepay for 10 years for only $199.99! That's a savings! Of monies! Because this endeavor will certainly not fold within 3 days of opening. No way, Jose!

[stardust4ever]

None of this would have ever happened if the dingdongs who backed the magazine didn't actually back the magazine. This emboldened SoCalMike to actually do this, you know.Okay, I'm a ding Dong then. But for the record, no one knew it would turn into such a crap storm and blow up catastrophically the way it did. But the good thing about print media, is you can't delete it.

From the next to last page of issue ten:
8603

[Pikointeractive]

Not trying to drudge up past bygones, but a number of fairly decent people have been raked through the coals with Nitendoage's ban now and ask questions later approach. A number of good guys on here at Digit Press are past NA forum members who for whatever reason had one little fuck up with the mods or screwed up with one deal gone south, and are permanently banned or HOS. You mouthed off once; I think Satoshi Matrix had a deal go south, and Piko contacted an eBay seller regarding a prototype he sold, and was accused of backdooring and insta-banned. All three people whom I have good respect for, and I tried to defend Piko by linking to a podcast he did regarding his involvement with Mike Kennedy / RVGS, and quickly got corrected by the naysayers.
http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?StartRow=201&catid=22&threadid=141995

I also got chastised publicly a couple months back for sharing my detailed text review of the 150-in-1 NES cart I picked up on Aliexpress like I'm some sort of pirate or bootlegger while they openly sell repros in the community. Bunch of hypocrites.
http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=157123

Honestly I spend a lot more time on AtariAge lately, but I mainly use Nintendoage to keep posted on new products and homebrews related to the NES scene and post replies in relevant threads. I'm not as hardcore collector and I tire sometimes of searching NA by latest post to see what's going on and see page after page of people trying to sell me their shit.

Regardless, I need to browse DP more often. Take care Tanooki and sorry if I'm OT...

There isn't much to discuss until at least Thursday or thereafter when Coleco either publishes the results of Mike Kennedy's "prototype inspection" or revokes the license to use their brand. Honestly I'm kind of glad. The AA thread has been moving way too rapidly and a guy's gotta sleep and live their life sometime.

It is so weird the response Khan gave you. HE bought a NES game from my site like 2 weeks ago. That is puzzling. Anyways; Thanks for sticking out for me Stardust :D Really appreciate it. :D

I wouldn't come back to NA even if they asked me too. But I've seen mods and guys on the top levels of NA come to purchase on the site. Business as usual.

[portnoyd]

But for the record, no one knew it would turn into such a crap storm and blow up catastrophically the way it did. ]

Oh really? (http://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?172407-RETRO-Magazine-Year-Two-Kickstarter-LIVE&p=2010534&viewfull=1#post2010534)

P.S. I guess, yes, he is trying to break the record, lol.

[Flamdini]

Well, you guys got me. It was beginning to look more and more likely.
I just don't like it when people jump to conclusions.

[Flamdini]

Y'know...if you want to kill the speculation you could just simply say who you are. I'm betting 99.9% of the members in here would gladly say their real name without hesitating. It's hardly the Justice League in here.
I was hoping it wouldn't matter.
19 year old goober, passionate about retro gaming and gaming at large, planning to start a YouTube channel at some point. This thing would've been hype, especially for my channel. I guess my interest in it took priority over my head. I always had reservations but I always, always give people the benefit of the doubt. God knows I've needed it more than I got it.
I don't want to drop my powerword because I have a stalker of sorts. One of those "lolcow" e-sleuth guys.

[Tanooki]

Stardust in my boredom since you poked about it I went and read that thread you did on the 150in1. I don't see them attacking you, but attacking the product in general, but specifically the slipper slope of its existence. Rcoroporon though said it best, people need to dial that crap back a bit. The fact is it's not some new slippery slope those in there are trying to make it out to be...oh look, expensive games in 1, oh let's do megaman only (they have for years now), oh let's just do Bonk. It has already been done, for years, longer years in famicom shells. It doesn't take a rocket surgeon on ebay to figure out if you search up famiclones or just multicarts how far back you can go and find bootlegs of Samson (Lickle), Snow Bros, Bonk, Bubble Bobble 2, and so on, and well into the cheap seats. It's a bit newer on NES sized stuff, but not dramatically, just less seen is all. There's this russian site I always forget the name of but can easily usually find within minutes on google that has a good 10 year old archive of all the illegal crap singles and multicarts out there they write up, dump to share for free, and put pictures of as an archive.

The slope has been slippery well back into the 00s. So yeah, dialing it back a bit would be a good idea. It makes no sense to get hot over it when any peon with a $50 bill could go to the infinite nes lives guys, buy a kazoo reader for $20-30 (for nes, fami, snes) and some boards with chips/batteries on them. Buying in bulk if you have a little capital to start can get you down eventually in the ali-express range almost but with the advantage of being domestic. Though helping someone out a year ago I was able to get a game made for a $20(+4 shipping) expense, and the writer would have been +20 if I paid for it...that's not much. You don't see people doing this in mass, they could, but as of yet no one has. Even if INL cut them off you can get stuff out of asia to do the same work and buy the boards all ready to go stupid cheap in bulk. The damage has already been done and done repeatedly for years. To panic and throw up the oh shit argument now is just silly. It's not killing the hobby, it never has killed or even largely threatened the hobby much too. If it had you would see every single game over about a $30-40 value being opened up on ebay and elsewhere to show the legit board, with very high quality images and people asking lots of questions if not 4 other professional grading services popping up like you get for cards, comics, coins and so on that compete for business even bothering to verify a loose copy of Mega Man 2 of all things.

Oh and for that guy on there pondering what Bonk cost now versus them buying it a few years ago for Famicom -- if you're impatient $30, if you can just watch ebay for a week or two, $20 out of Japan which is what I did after dropping my cart last year for a pinball table. Bubble Bobble 2 though that one is over $50 which sucks, but I don't care to own it that much as I rarely used it. Lickle was like $100-120 a year ago, it's higher now which blows, even the bootlegs are like $30 now I believe much like other expensive ones like the non-FDS Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa and Moon Crystal. The fact is people more and more are paying for copies, dated or modern to avoid biting the bullet as they want to play on real hardware and don't want to deal with a copier cart or an emulator on a pc/tablet/phone.

Also if you go back most multicarts unless you're in the low digits are a crap load of repeats, I own the nearly one solitary exception which is the Supervision 115in1 (NES) cart as 98 games are unique, 1 is a dupe, 1 is broke, and the other 15 are 'pro' speed hacks of black box titles. It's a solidly made cart physically and ROM selection wise too.

[stardust4ever]

It is so weird the response Khan gave you. HE bought a NES game from my site like 2 weeks ago. That is puzzling. Anyways; Thanks for sticking out for me Stardust :D Really appreciate it. :D

I wouldn't come back to NA even if they asked me too. But I've seen mods and guys on the top levels of NA come to purchase on the site. Business as usual.
Good to hear you still get business from loyal NA fans. :)

[stardust4ever]

@Tanooki: Unlike vintage boots ie "999999-in-1" BS, these latest multicarts actually contain the advertised number of games on them. The newer multicarts are MMC3 multicart maper built on 32mbyte flash ROM. They have a good chunk of bankswitched CHR RAM which serve the purpose of CHR-ROM once a game is selected, the CHR data is copies over. Storage is cheap and most mappers can be easily converted to MMC3 by pirates. The 150-in-1, 298-in-1, 340-in-1, amd 400-in-1 all fill the 32mbyte flash chip with games. The lower the number, the larger, quality titles can be included and less filler especially the Taiwanese NROM junk found near the end of the bigger multis. Sure Bonk, BB2, and a few other unicorns are missing from the 150-in-1, but overall less filler junk.

I see the bootleg multicarts as not pretending to be something it's not, ie vintage period release. Nobody's gonna mistaken it for an original or rip collectors off on eBay.

[Gameguy]

Not in the slightest. When it was mark@..... there wasn't anything but some derp involved with that. If they didn't have access to the email, they'd not have been able to verify the username and start posting. He just wasn't expecting us to take a look at it.
I meant he did try to cover it up by using a fake name and fake photo, rather than creating a legitimate account he did try to conceal his identity. Rather than using any other email address which he easily could have as emails are basically disposable, he used his own. Just a stupid oversight, as you said it didn't occur to him that anyone would look at it. He tried to hide his identity but failed horribly.

Reminds me of this.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTa6fWgl7us

[Steven]

Okay, I'm a ding Dong then. But for the record, no one knew it would turn into such a crap storm and blow up catastrophically the way it did. But the good thing about print media, is you can't delete it.

From the next to last page of issue ten:
8603

Someone on AtariAge mocked the ad writing

Remember when, I failed again.

I couldn't help but chuckle at that one!

[Gentlegamer]

I was hoping it wouldn't matter.
19 year old goober, passionate about retro gaming and gaming at large, planning to start a YouTube channel at some point. This thing would've been hype, especially for my channel.

Ah, so you're cancer.

[fultonbot]

None of this would have ever happened if the dingdongs who backed the magazine didn't actually back the magazine. This emboldened SoCalMike to actually do this, you know.


I was a dingdong too. I really knew nothing of Mike or GameGavel at the time, I just thought a USA based Retro magazine would be more interesting to me than Retro Gamer. Don't get me wrong, I love Retro Gamer. I owned an Atari ST and spent many years buying imported European games, so a lot of the magazine is familiar to me, but there is still a huge disconnect over systems, history, etc.

When I saw the Retro Magazine kickstarter, I imagined a mag that would cover my favorite old game companies and programmers. I wanted to read articles on Synapse, SSI, Automated Simulations/Epyx, and Sirius Software just to name a few. I wanted to read about Jordon Mechner and Dan(i) Bunten, and find out why Nasir Gebelli moved to Japan to work on Final Fantasy or my Phantasie IV was never released in the USA.

However, what I got was not really that, although some of it was covered. I'm not sure how to describe Retro Magazine. I liked some of it, but it feels pieced together at random. For example, the RPG issue left me cold when It really should have been a highlight. I don't think it's a terrible magazine, but it's definitely not for me.

By the way, I have found a lot of the information I was seeking the Antic Ataic Podcasts and in various books like Jordon Mechner's diaries on Amazon. I'm still wondering about Nasir Gebelli's story, but I'm sure that will surface in time.

[InsaneDavid]

When I saw the Retro Magazine kickstarter, I imagined a mag that would cover my favorite old game companies and programmers. I wanted to read articles on Synapse, SSI, Automated Simulations/Epyx, and Sirius Software just to name a few. I wanted to read about Jordon Mechner and Dan(i) Bunten, and find out why Nasir Gebelli moved to Japan to work on Final Fantasy or my Phantasie IV was never released in the USA.

If that's what you're looking for, then buy some back issues of Scroll: http://scroll.vg/

All this talk about Mike Kennedy but you know, I had the pleasure of being shoved out of the way by him at California Extreme 2009. Not bragging, just saying.

[Flamdini]

Ah, so you're cancer.OK, first of all who even SAYS cancer any more? Secondly, what did I do to inspire such spite in you? Are you like this to everyone? Do you need a nap?
Thirdly, here's the thing. Batman called me last night and he said that he thinks you're lame. And I agreed with him. And we high-fived. Over the phone. So, I guess Batman just thinks that you're not a cool guy, Gentlegamer. And everyone thinks Batman is cool so I guess he probably knows what he's talking about when he says you're not cool, Gentlegamer. So, Oh well. And then, uh, I went over to his house for a slumber party, and he didn't invite you, I guess. Oh well. Oh well. Didn't get invited to Batman's house for a slumber party. Does that hurt your feelings, Gentlegamer? Are your feelings hurt, Gentlegamer? Oh well. Oh well. I guess you shouldn't have been ugly, and, and, uh, gay. Because, then maybe Batman would have invited you over, but I guess not.
Well, I think that you're an idiot, and you're stupid. And nobody likes you.

[fultonbot]

If that's what you're looking for, then buy some back issues of Scroll: http://scroll.vg/

All this talk about Mike Kennedy but you know, I had the pleasure of being shoved out of the way by him at California Extreme 2009. Not bragging, just saying.

Dumb question, but can I load the e-book onto a kindle? If so, i'll buy the whole shebang.

[portnoyd]

All this talk about Mike Kennedy but you know, I had the pleasure of being shoved out of the way by him at California Extreme 2009. Not bragging, just saying.

The most dangerous place in the world is between SoCalMike and:

a)a crowdfunding website
b)a media opportunity
c)someone offering to do the work for him

[bb_hood]

Thirdly, here's the thing. Batman called me last night and he said that he thinks you're lame. And I agreed with him. And we high-fived. Over the phone. So, I guess Batman just thinks that you're not a cool guy, Gentlegamer. And everyone thinks Batman is cool so I guess he probably knows what he's talking about when he says you're not cool, Gentlegamer. So, Oh well. And then, uh, I went over to his house for a slumber party, and he didn't invite you, I guess. Oh well. Oh well. Didn't get invited to Batman's house for a slumber party. Does that hurt your feelings, Gentlegamer? Are your feelings hurt, Gentlegamer? Oh well. Oh well. I guess you shouldn't have been ugly, and, and, uh, gay. Because, then maybe Batman would have invited you over, but I guess not.


First of all, I highly doubt you spoke to the real Batman.. Second, you have a slumber party with a fake batman and you are calling other people gay? Come on..
Third, Wonder Woman called me and said the Flamdini is a loser.

[Flamdini]

First of all, I highly doubt you spoke to the real Batman.. Second, you have a slumber party with a fake batman and you are calling other people gay? Come on..
Third, Wonder Woman called me and said the Flamdini is a loser.
Actually plugging one of my favorite videos of all time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ddj5ig1wKI

[JSoup]

Dumb question, but can I load the e-book onto a kindle? If so, i'll buy the whole shebang.

Yes. Depending on your set up you might need to download a ebook app, but it can be done. According to the site, they offer both PDF and "Ebook versions", which I really hope means EPUB (Edit: Confirmed, EPUB it is.).

[Gentlegamer]

OK, first of all who even SAYS cancer any more? Secondly, what did I do to inspire such spite in you? Are you like this to everyone? Do you need a nap?
Thirdly, here's the thing. Batman called me last night and he said that he thinks you're lame. And I agreed with him. And we high-fived. Over the phone. So, I guess Batman just thinks that you're not a cool guy, Gentlegamer. And everyone thinks Batman is cool so I guess he probably knows what he's talking about when he says you're not cool, Gentlegamer. So, Oh well. And then, uh, I went over to his house for a slumber party, and he didn't invite you, I guess. Oh well. Oh well. Didn't get invited to Batman's house for a slumber party. Does that hurt your feelings, Gentlegamer? Are your feelings hurt, Gentlegamer? Oh well. Oh well. I guess you shouldn't have been ugly, and, and, uh, gay. Because, then maybe Batman would have invited you over, but I guess not.
Well, I think that you're an idiot, and you're stupid. And nobody likes you.

Cancer confirmed.

What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be playing Cawk of Dooty?

[Flamdini]

Cancer confirmed.

What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be playing Cawk of Dooty?Can't handle the bants brah?
I actually don't even own a device on which to play that save a crummy PC. You seem like one of those people who is really pathetic in real life so he has to be an elitist on the internet. But save for my age, I meet every qualification for what a REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAL gamer is so I'm not fazed at all. By the way, there's some food in the third fat roll from the top. Enjoy.

[PapaStu]

STAHP!

This is a thread about many pathetic things, but it shouldn't be one about whatever the hell you guys are devolving it into Flamdini & Gentlegamer.

[Flamdini]

STAHP!

This is a thread about many pathetic things, but it shouldn't be one about whatever the hell you guys are devolving it into Flamdini & Gentlegamer.
Fair enough, I won't waste my time with him any more.

[stardust4ever]

It is so weird the response Khan gave you. HE bought a NES game from my site like 2 weeks ago. That is puzzling. Anyways; Thanks for sticking out for me Stardust :D Really appreciate it. :DWell Khan is technically competition so go figure. I don't have some kind of loyalty complex where I only buy homebrews from one source. I own many of Khan's games and they are quite good.

[stardust4ever]

Yes. Depending on your set up you might need to download a ebook app, but it can be done. According to the site, they offer both PDF and "Ebook versions", which I really hope means EPUB (Edit: Confirmed, EPUB it is.).
Why would you want the eBook version when the PDF is DRM free. Can the Kindle not load PDFs?

[stardust4ever]

OK, first of all who even SAYS cancer any more? Secondly, what did I do to inspire such spite in you? Are you like this to everyone? Do you need a nap?
Thirdly, here's the thing. Batman called me last night and he said that he thinks you're lame. And I agreed with him. And we high-fived. Over the phone. So, I guess Batman just thinks that you're not a cool guy, Gentlegamer. And everyone thinks Batman is cool so I guess he probably knows what he's talking about when he says you're not cool, Gentlegamer. So, Oh well. And then, uh, I went over to his house for a slumber party, and he didn't invite you, I guess. Oh well. Oh well. Didn't get invited to Batman's house for a slumber party. Does that hurt your feelings, Gentlegamer? Are your feelings hurt, Gentlegamer? Oh well. Oh well. I guess you shouldn't have been ugly, and, and, uh, gay. Because, then maybe Batman would have invited you over, but I guess not.
Well, I think that you're an idiot, and you're stupid. And nobody likes you.

Can't handle the bants brah?
I actually don't even own a device on which to play that save a crummy PC. You seem like one of those people who is really pathetic in real life so he has to be an elitist on the internet. But save for my age, I meet every qualification for what a REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAL gamer is so I'm not fazed at all. By the way, there's some food in the third fat roll from the top. Enjoy.Seriously Flamdini, who made you captain of the trolls?


First of all, I highly doubt you spoke to the real Batman.. Second, you have a slumber party with a fake batman and you are calling other people gay? Come on..
Third, Wonder Woman called me and said the Flamdini is a loser.Hahaha!!!LOL

[Tanooki]

Why would you want the eBook version when the PDF is DRM free. Can the Kindle not load PDFs?

Loads them just fine. I've converted a few things to PDF on my Paperwhite. I've got my Zelda manga from NIntendo from the early 90s on there, the entire 3" thick BONE paperback with every chapter on there, and I've got I think a few other bits as well and have had others in the past as well. As long as the conversion isn't crap it displays phenomenally very well. I've had cases of a scan that had the print really tiny, and even if it was a pain to read, it still was legible even if the font was probably like size 2-4...horribly small but still legible.

[JSoup]

STAHP!

This is a thread about many pathetic things, but it shouldn't be one about whatever the hell you guys are devolving it into Flamdini & Gentlegamer.

Why don't you just ban Flamdini and save us all the hassle of having to deal with him? Every post has been trolling so far.


Why would you want the eBook version when the PDF is DRM free. Can the Kindle not load PDFs?

No clue, but probably. I have a Nook and I find EPUB to be easier to use and adjust if needs be than PDF. That, and I don't use the default reader, I use one I downloaded off GooglePlay, so the DRM isn't an issue.

[Az]

Dumb question, but can I load the e-book onto a kindle? If so, i'll buy the whole shebang.

I have all the Scroll issues on my Kindle and use the default PDF viewer that comes installed with it, no problems at all.

[dra600n]

Yes. Depending on your set up you might need to download a ebook app, but it can be done. According to the site, they offer both PDF and "Ebook versions", which I really hope means EPUB (Edit: Confirmed, EPUB it is.).

What's the difference between Ebook and EPUB? Is it just the format and which e-reader/software can view the document/book?

[fultonbot]

Why would you want the eBook version when the PDF is DRM free. Can the Kindle not load PDFs?

I can load them, but they are very large in comparison to eBooks and the pagination in not always right in Kindle. I have a bunch of EG issues on my Kindle, and they work just okay. I might try both to see which works best.

[Flamdini]

Why don't you just ban Flamdini and save us all the hassle of having to deal with him? Every post has been trolling so far.

Seriously Flamdini, who made you captain of the trolls?
Yeah, apparently bantering and disagreeing is "trolling".
I'm rude, sassy and speak my mind, but I'm no troll.

[celerystalker]

Yeah, apparently bantering and disagreeing is "trolling".
I'm rude, sassy and speak my mind, but I'm no troll.

Just take some time and read 30 random threads on the site. You'll be hard pressed to stumble across anybody behaving that way in most other threads. Calling people "gay" is not banter. I know you didn't start this one, but this isn't banter, it's just trading insults. Nothing clever or a battle of wits is happening here.

[Tanooki]

How about everyone grow up, and start over. If it happens again, boot meet arse. End of story. No reason to drag this out.

The real enemy here was the lies wrapped in lies, and that crap got shut down hard. Be happy people communally worked in many locations to expose a crook and made a complete ass out of every rebuttal at every turn until there was nowhere left to run with the name and funding pulled out from under them.

[bangtango]

If that's what you're looking for, then buy some back issues of Scroll: http://scroll.vg/

All this talk about Mike Kennedy but you know, I had the pleasure of being shoved out of the way by him at California Extreme 2009. Not bragging, just saying.

I had the pleasure of using the same bathroom stall in a McDonalds immediately after him one time in 2011. We said "sup" to each other.

[JSoup]

What's the difference between Ebook and EPUB? Is it just the format and which e-reader/software can view the document/book?

EBook just means it's in a format for reading on an ebook, like the Nook or Kindle.
In the past, that meant all of these:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_e-book_formats

These days, it pretty much means PDF, EPUB and CBR, all of which most readers can deal with easily.

[stardust4ever]

How about everyone grow up, and start over. If it happens again, boot meet arse. End of story. No reason to drag this out.This. Nobody respond to anything they say, and they'll eventually give up and stop.:onfire:

[Arasoi]

What a debacle. I met Socal Mike at CAX 2009 and he seemed OK to me. That was back when gamegavel was just chase the chuck wagon IIRC. I wouldn't have expected a circus like this at the time, but one can never tell I guess.

[Bratwurst]

SoCal Mike I believe in you

[Niku-Sama]

I move to nominate this thread be locked or, at the very least, moved to the Classic Discussion section for "posterity".

Any one second this motion?

[celerystalker]

I move to nominate this thread be locked or, at the very least, moved to the Classic Discussion section for "posterity".

Any one second this motion?

I do. Barring some insane new news where they try to revive this yet again, everything has been said on the subject, and it's devolved quickly.

[stardust4ever]

I do. Barring some insane new news where they try to revive this yet again, everything has been said on the subject, and it's devolved quickly.

This. Thread has run it's course.
http://www.backgroundsy.com/file/locked-in-chains.jpg

[Gentlegamer]

In b4 the lock!

http://i.imgur.com/C0EEjNz.gif

[Emperor Megas]

I don't really get why half of the topics that people ask to be locked are, honestly. Why not just not participate if things have gotten stale?

Besides, I'm sure there's going to be relevant ripples and drama for weeks to come worth commenting on here.

[celerystalker]

I'm more of the move it to Classic Discussions. I don't think the weird stuff coming from some folks is likely to follow it there. I doubt Flamdini has looked at any other thread on the site.

[Steven]

I don't really get why half of the topics that people ask to be locked are, honestly. Why not just not participate if things have gotten stale?

Besides, I'm sure there's going to be relevant ripples and drama for weeks to come worth commenting on here.

Agreed. Leave it open for possible discussion down the road. This topic is a useful resource and shouldn't be locked so quickly.

[Gameguy]

SoCal Mike I believe in you

http://i63.tinypic.com/2n84y1k.png

[shawnphase]

leave the thread open for the announcement of his handheld, the uromastyx..he's going to buy the gamate shells, but try and put the wonderswan guts in there. maybe i shouldnt give him any ideas.

[OldSchoolGamer]

;) For all that doubted the Coleco Chameleon dream!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKR1XNsHKeU

[Niku-Sama]

Wow a lot of work went into that video for a spoof

[Gameguy]

Wow a lot of work went into that video for a spoof
Actually more than what went into the real prototype. It's a bit sad when you think about it.

[Emperor Megas]

;) For all that doubted the Coleco Chameleon dream!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKR1XNsHKeU"A copy of RETRO Magazine. When we see who's writing for him [Pat Contri] *scoffs*, no thank you..."

That was pretty funny.

[InsaneDavid]

SoCal Mike I believe in you

This is the funniest thing I've read on these forums in years. I think I've got some decomposing Meseta around here somewhere for you...

[Daria]

;) For all that doubted the Coleco Chameleon dream!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKR1XNsHKeU

OMG I love the chiptune RickRoll playing in the background

[Greg2600]

So uh........Mike's back! All I can say is WOW. Just WOW. You can't make this stuff up. He ought to write for crazy comedies like The League, Always Sunny, or You're the Worst on FXX.

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/247145-coleco-chameleon-hardware-speculations/page-315#entry3484040


Hello Everyone,

I hate to light this thread up any more but at this time I have made the decision that my reputation is worth protecting and wanted to come in here and break my silence and fill in some holes and answer some questions about the hardware “team” (term used loosely) behind the Coleco Chameleon.
This long winded response will explain:


There were only (4) engineers (or people) EVER working on this project with Steve Woita and myself ( and in the beginning there were two working together) despite what Scott Schreiber has been spewing. And none were EVER working simultaneously on the project. And Scott had nothing to do with much of anything and was never considered to be “working” on this project. Has he ever produced and shown anything he was working on? Nope!
It will for the first time reveal who the hardware person was that took over after the “John Carlsen” era. And it will show that I paid him considerable amounts of money for what was essentially two fake prototypes. One that I saw (Toy Fair unit) and one that I never saw in person (clear PC card unit). I was not building that crap in my garage.
It will also reveal the shady background of said hardware person so that he can be stopped and hopefully save anyone here from dealing with this guy in the future.
And as a side note, Carl Williams IS NOT taking over RETRO Magazine nor has he ever talked with me about it. And I am not selling it or giving it to ANYONE! Carl? Explanation?

To understand how this ended, I want to direct your attention back to the early times of this venture, early to middle 2014. At this time, my first choice to design the system, Curt Vendel (who Scott Schreiber helped introduce me to thus ending his minimal involvement in the venture) decided he wouldn’t have the time to devote to this venture and opted out soon and never got started. At this time I researched others that could step in and bring this product to fruition and that lead me to Clay Cowgill. Clay really took this project under his wing from Nov 2014 to January 2015 and helped us (me and Steve Woita) define the hardware and its capabilities – this is when we were considering, at Clay’s recommendation, architecting something in-line with the Beaglebone Black.

It was also at this time, that another person entered into the mix, Sean “LEE” Robinson. Sean was a “acquaintance or colleague” of Clay’s and it just so happened that he had moved from Washington (state) back to Southern California. He had heard that I was working with Clay on this project and offered to help. Since he and Clay were colleagues, and the fact he was local and very close to me, it seemed like a good idea to have them partner up on the project, which they did to some extent. Supposedly, Sean had a working prototype ( that I NEVER saw) playing Neo Geo games in Jan 2015. This prototype was later used again when he rejoined the project explaining how we supposedly had a prototype so fast AFTER Carlsen left. Read further . . . . .

In late January 2015, Clay alerted us that he was contracted by SONY and that he would be leaving the project. At this time, Sean also decided to leave as well. Enter in the John Carlsen/Steve Woita FPGA “era”. Now I am not going to go into this part of the timeline because we know how all this worked out. Fast forward to John Carlsen leaving the failed RETRO VGS project.

At the time of John’s leaving in September 2015, Sean “LEE” Robinson re-entered the picture and reached out to Steve and I. He indicated he wanted to help us get this project back on track, but his condition was that he remained “behind the curtain” (his words) due to the mess he was inheriting from Carlsen. At this time I agreed to that condition and also agreed to let him and Steve work together on this without my interference. While I thought I had a competent hardware “team” working on this, and was being told early on by Sean we had games running on our hardware/software prototype and that our costs had dropped considerably, I felt confident to go ahead and continue building this venture, bringing a “go-to-market” team together and making the decision to launch this under the Coleco brand. Things seemed to be coming together. Chris from Coleco invited us to demonstrate a prototype at Toy Fair. This did pose a challenge to Sean as it expedited the process a bit to try and make the show deadline.

This is where things started to take a big bad turn. In mid-January, I had a lunch meeting with Sean and point blank asked him what he needs from me to spend the next 30 days working on the prototype full-time to get it prepared for the Toy Fair. We agreed on $4,000, which I quickly got to him via a check that he cashed with me at my bank. It was then a day before I was traveling to the show that he came over to my house with the Toy Fair “Prototype”, with his instructions to NOT SHOW the back of the unit no matter what. But without any specific information as to why I shouldn’t show it, other than it used an aftermarket connector that was composite-out and that was used because he didn’t have the HD stable enough to get us through the show. I believed him and went to the show with that unit. My biggest concern at the time was getting this conglomeration through the TSA and on the plane.

During the show we were accused of not having that system even plugged in so I made the decision to take a photo of the back of the unit showing it was clearly plugged in. If that was true about using the composite connector, I really felt people would understand why it was used and decided to show the pics. I didn’t feel we had anything to hide. Then all hell broke loose and it was identified that SNES mini parts or the whole PCB from an SNES mini was inside the console shell. I was left in a terrible spot at this point and I had a decision to make that evening at the hotel. Do I take this thing apart and see what was in it and quit the show or continue on with the show, demoing the games that were going to be on the system, and then address this issue with Sean when we got back from New York. Right or wrong, I continued on with Toy Fair and it continued to impress people and the games were very favorably liked (Thanks Eli! For stepping in with his SNES multicart in place of Sean’s glitching out SD card driven demo cartridge). When I returned back home, I met Sean again and gave him the “prototype” back and he was still swearing that despite the SNES “parts” he used, the games were still running on the SNES FPGA software that he had constructed in a few short months. Again, I believed him and we moved forward. And he told me that during the Toy Fair he was preparing the next “prototype” board so I gave him the clear shells with explicit instructions from me to show “our” PCB inside the shell. This was going to be used to show the “real” prototype.

Then in a move to extract more money from me he indicated that for $3,000 paid now (2/29/16), and $3,000 paid in 60 days he could wrap this up and have a production ready prototype completed. So, again, I wrote him out a check he promptly cashed with me at my bank. Soon after this he emailed me the images of the clear unit with the PC DVR capture card in it. But, when he first emailed me the images, he indicated this was our prototype 100%. I made a comment that it looked great (in the photos) and he responded by saying something like “this is what we can do when given the proper time.” Keep in mind, these pictures were to combat the criticism of the “fake” Toy Fair prototype and were given to me by him to post on Facebook to show people the real “prototype”. Sean even joked about how people online were trying to identify the board in our shell, laughing and telling me they won’t find it because it’s our original work. He even made these comments through my car Blue Tooth speaker with my wife in the car and she heard everything. Again, I believed him.

Let’s discuss the Kickstarter for a moment. So, believing I was going to have a working prototype for Toy Fair, I told Sean and Steve I was going to move forward with the Kickstarter campaign and use Toy Fair as a launching point for the campaign. A date was set. Now to Sean’s credit, he played that this was not a good idea and didn’t agree with me scheduling the Kickstarter to begin during the campaign was a good idea. But, at this point, I thought I had a real prototype playing games and was assured by Sean many times that our costs were now hovering around $100, so figured, let’s not wait any longer. After it was learned that we essentially had a SNES duck taped in my console shell I decided to delay the Kickstarter because it was always my intention to show off the prototype completely in the campaign video, open it up and show it running and playing games from at least two different systems. Then once I saw the clear unit was also a “fake” I made the decision to withdraw from a Kickstarter campaign altogether and reevaluate this venture.
Back to the clear shell prototype. Since this all fell apart I have been trying to get Sean to explain to me why he would point blank lie to my face about that being “our board” and passing that two-bit PC board off as our prototype and he can’t give me an explanation that makes any sense, in fact I get no explanation other than that there was more going on in there than people can see. He mentioned we had chips located underneath the board even and assured me that the cartridge was also plugged into our cartridge connector. Something was just not adding up to me and I continued to lose sleep at night wondering how this all could have happened. First, he never showed me anything in person, that he was working on. I never went to his house, nor was ever given an address where he lives or works. He subscribes to my magazine so I looked at the address the magazine is sent to – a UPS store PO Box. I have paid this guy $7,000 and have nothing to show for it. Oh, I also bought two FPGA cores from a “friend” of his (whom I never met in person) whose wife was having medical issues and needed to sell some things and just so happened his friend had made an Intellivision and Amiga FPGA core. Sean told me his friend would sell them to me for $2,500 which I, again agreed to, and wrote Sean out another check which he promptly cashed at my bank and was going to give the cash to his “friend”. Did I ever get any software cores? NOPE! So, in total, with a couple other smaller checks I wrote to him, paid him nearly $10K in January and February 2016. Nothing to show for it except two fake prototypes and NO FPGA CORES! And, he swindled out my Crystal Castles Commodore 64 prototype cartridge as part of a payment as well!!!!!!!

So, trying to make more sense of all this, I started Googling Sean and this is where things get super crazy. I will just post the links that are online for all to see and you can all take it from there. There is even more stuff you can uncover if you want to all look:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.games.video.arcade/bs4zJtfa4oY (https://groups.google.com/forum/#%21topic/rec.games.video.arcade/bs4zJtfa4oY)
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/rec.games.video.arcade/almightyarcade (https://groups.google.com/forum/#%21searchin/rec.games.video.arcade/almightyarcade)
http://www.megalextoria.com/forum2/index.php?t=msg&goto=297838& (http://www.megalextoria.com/forum2/index.php?t=msg&goto=297838&)
http://compgroups.net/comp.sys.cbm/sean-robinson-founder-of-commodorecomputerclub.c/3039131 (http://compgroups.net/comp.sys.cbm/sean-robinson-founder-of-commodorecomputerclub.c/3039131)

In addition, I have confirmed with the Riverside County (CA) Assistant DA, Sean was charged a few years ago for 7 counts of Felony Grand-Theft and served part of a one-year sentence in jail and then got out on probation which he evidently complied with and then he made a plea to have the prior conviction AND his admittance of guilt overturned. A loophole that the DA mentioned drives prosecutors crazy.

At this point I can only hope to recover any of my money paid to him, and can no longer live by my word to keep him “behind the curtain” while his deceit led to my defamation of character and demise of the company and opportunity and also I feel I was intentionally setup to take a fall. Because why else would he give me the clear shell “prototype” photos to hang myself? Seems strange as we both knew these photos would be scrutinized like crazy based on the last “fake” SNES prototype he gave me.

I also hope that you will also wonder why I would go to all this trouble surrounding this venture with guys like Ben Herman (he was a Rockstar at Toy Fair, and had tons of legit retailer interest in this thing) and Phil Adam, Paul Wylie and eventually Steven Rosenbaum. Why would I go out and bring Coleco on board as a licensing partner? All done and then just try and pass off fake prototypes? This is just something that I would not intentionally or knowingly do. I have way more integrity and respect for this hobby to pull that shit. I did remain silent the past few weeks though while I put the pieces of this train wreck together and worked with my attorney to define my moves. And I apologize for the delay. Timed with the release of this statement here on AtariAge I have also emailed Sean a demand letter asking him to make arrangements to pay me back the money he scammed from me as well as a heads up I am going public with his participation in this deceit. But at the same time, I wonder who he might have to take advantage of to get the money to pay me back. That is the shitty part. And I am still working with my attorney and local authorities to find out what my options are.

I want to apologize to all of you for the past few months. The John Carlsen era was an honest to goodness list of I mistakes. But there was never any intention to deceive or pull the wool over any of your eyes. These past few months with these fake prototypes was inexcusable and I hope you can all understand a bit more about how this all happened and why I have remained silent the past few weeks. It is not in my nature to trick people into anything. My end game has always been to give back to this hobby that I love and respect and to make and do things that people will enjoy. I’ve never taken one penny from anyone that wasn’t genuinely earned!

You will all be glad to hear that I am officially tabling the console venture for good. I have negotiated with Albert (AtariAge) to take over the Jaguar tooling so we can all be assured it’s in good hands and won’t get destroyed or lost to time. And I am sure Albert will do some very cool things with the console and cartridge shells.

I want to ask you all for some level of forgiveness and I hope you all understand that I would have never gone to Kickstarter with a blatant rip-off of a prototype. That was never my intention. And please, don’t let this mess carry over to the magazine. I have a great team of people working on it. We are pouring a lot of heart and soul and sweat equity into keeping the magazine going and it’s only getting better.

And, I want to thank those on AtariAge (and other public forums) for opening my eyes to the craziness of all this happening right under my eyes. The fact that Sean indicated he wrote this SNES FPGA software in such a short time was questioned here and that opened my eyes. Of course, the uncovering of the fake prototypes has opened my eyes. You guys really go above and beyond to protect the hobby and it wasn’t until I have had the time to reflect back on this fiasco that I saw how you all came together and your alerts spread like wildfire across the internet. Again it was never the intention of myself or those legitimate guys on my team to deceive or potentially defraud anyone. In the end, I am the only one that has lost anything, money, potential opportunity and my reputation in this hobby.
Mike

[celerystalker]

It's wild how the entire focus of that diatribe keeps drifting to how he was swindled. It's very much a "I got screwed, too! Don't hate me, guys! My money's all tied up in video game ventures! Like me!"

At any point, stopping and examining a project of which you are a principal backer and architect would have prevented the prototype embarrassments, and I can't believe that any businessman with a lick of sense wouldn't have fully examined and tested a prototype unit to be publicly displayed in order to be able to best present and speak to it. This is all asinine.

[stardust4ever]

It's wild how the entire focus of that diatribe keeps drifting to how he was swindled. It's very much a "I got screwed, too! Don't hate me, guys! My money's all tied up in video game ventures! Like me!"

At any point, stopping and examining a project of which you are a principal backer and architect would have prevented the prototype embarrassments, and I can't believe that any businessman with a lick of sense wouldn't have fully examined and tested a prototype unit to be publicly displayed in order to be able to best present and speak to it. This is all asinine.

Nobody ever said Mike Kennedy wasn't gullible. Last I checked, that wasn't a crime. :monkey:

I'm not suggesting ignorance as a defense, but if the allegations against "Mr Lee" are true, then he is guilty of outright fraud, and with the amounts involved being upwards of ten thousand, it is a very serious felony at that.

[celerystalker]

Nobody ever said Mike Kennedy wasn't gullible. Last I checked, that wasn't a crime. :monkey:

I'm not suggesting ignorance as a defense, but if the allegations against "Mr Lee" are true, then he is guilty of outright fraud, and with the amounts involved being upwards of ten thousand, it is a very serious felony at that.

Well, ignorance as a defense is exactly what's being used here. Yes, if true, those allegations are very serious, but if that level of ignorance is truly at play, I would stay far away from any business ventures from this group in the future.

[Flashback2012]

http://i63.tinypic.com/2n84y1k.png

Nice! LOL

[Tanooki]

Look I don't know Mike. I didn't greatly follow this after it fell apart the first time as the VGS, but all that said I've talked to him a couple times before I think it was over at NA years back around his game gavel venture which I found interesting and he seemed nice and straight forward enough.

Giving some benefit of the doubt here for the sake of argument alone, lets assume he's being 100% honest here. I actually feel bad for the dude. Publicly embarrassed more than once in a years time, shamed repeatedly, made to look like some laughing stock moron trying to troll and steal from people. And in the end, he was the one being trolled, screwed with, and robbed effectively of $10000. All of it was wisely by the thief kept on the up and up right down to going to the bank to cash checks in person so Mike would stupidly feel the cash went to where it belonged, and it did, just not the intended output of it though. I am surprised though he would not being local ever demand to see production not once, and would not have put a boot down after the SNES debacle either demanding proof. He's a trusting fool if what he's writing is true.

The convenience of it though he can be easily absolved of it all but being a chump with time and much of that rep and trust other than being a fool to others cleaned up too. He says he's talking with the DA, he's working with the cops and an attorney. There should be plenty enough public documentation online of the scam works that jerk pulled off, bank records for the cash going out, and more. If he's being straight here, it takes time but charges can and would be filed even if he did return the cash given the opportunity, because he committed felony fraud with intent to deceive. Given the guys past rap sheet for semi-related in a way shenanigans again which were felonious it shouldn't be hard to throw the book at the dude and put him away for a good stretch of time. Right now it is best for him to play it out, maybe he can get some back (even if the dude steals again to get it) which sucks too but it would add more time to the crimes.

If this is up and up with the explanation thanks, I was curious what happened and hope you get your cash back.

[bb_hood]

So Mike thought he could get a working prototype for $10,000... then he got fooled both times when he is is given 2 fake prototypes. If this is really what happened then he got scammed and he is a naive moron for letting it happen and get so far. He should have known the first proto was a snes.

[Emperor Megas]

I'm not suggesting ignorance as a defense, but if the allegations against "Mr Lee" are true, then he is guilty of outright fraud

https://shortcut-test2.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/role_template_image/attachment/69804/default_mr-lee-6a96e080-1918-401a-8f14-11704b9423ec.jpg

The whole 'ties to the Hong Kong Mafia' thing should have been the first red flag.

[celerystalker]

So Mike thought he could get a working prototype for $10,000... then he got fooled both times when he is is given 2 fake prototypes. If this is really what happened then he got scammed and he is a naive moron for letting it happen and get so far. He should have known the first proto was a snes.

That's exactly what I think about the situation. I've never wanted anything personally bad to happen to Mike Kennedy, but the entire approach to this project was either deceitful or ignorant and negligent. Either way, it was unfit to continue, and if it was Mike being naïve, it sucks for him, but he should take away the lesson of humility to acknowledge that he got in wayover his head, and that he might not be the right guy to trust with investment dollars.

Also, remember that it wasn't just the prototypes. The Jag Bar script issue was rather poignant, there was the shuffling of money between Game Gavel, Retro Magazine, and RetroVGS, the Facebook editing and blocking, the fake forum accounts by people associated with the projects... there was a lot more wrong here than just the hardware stuff.