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

[Emperor Megas]

Pshhhhh! And you guys wanted to lock this topic. :popcorn:

[celerystalker]

Pshhhhh! And you guys wanted to lock this topic. :popcorn:

Well, when I'm wrong, I'm wrong!

[Arasoi]

Sean Robinson is unfortunately a real person, and has caused a lot of trouble and pissed off a lot of people up here in the Pacific Northwest (and now apparently down south, too). Like some of the folks posting there on AA I have met him, though thankfully haven't done any business with him directly.

As for Mike being an innocent party, who knows.

[Berserker]

Deceiving yourself does not absolve you of also attempting to deceive others. If you go out there onto the public stage time and time again with some shady shit, telling everyone it's something it's not just because you WANT to believe so badly that it is, YOU are the one who bears the responsibility when people uncover the truth of said shady shit. If you fail to do the basic due diligence required to ensure that what you're offering to people is in fact what you say it is, that's not some other guy's fault. That's your fault.

If Mike was dealing with this guy 1-to-1 in private trying to get something concrete made before revealing anything publicly I think I'd feel differently. He'd just be letting himself be fooled by this guy and it'd all be kind of sad and unfortunate. But the moment you involve the public, you take on a new responsibility. Fooling yourself now means you're also fooling others.

So my feeling is that even if everything Mike said there is true, he's still completely and solely responsible for this entire debacle. The whole thing could have been avoided had he only given greater-than-zero fucks about the ACTUAL THING he was trying to sell to people, rather than being consumed with the idea of being able to wring a bunch of money out of the classic gaming community.

[Greg2600]

Apparently there is AA confirmation that Sean worked with Mike in some fashion in fall 2014, but since Mike couldn't properly define the specs, it basically broke down. There's yet to be confirmation this relationship actually continued in 2016. Sean has ripped tons of people off lately, so much so that he's likely in complete hiding. The perfect patsy?

[Gentlegamer]

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

http://oi63.tinypic.com/optx03.jpg

[Tanooki]

Apparently there is AA confirmation that Sean worked with Mike in some fashion in fall 2014, but since Mike couldn't properly define the specs, it basically broke down. There's yet to be confirmation this relationship actually continued in 2016. Sean has ripped tons of people off lately, so much so that he's likely in complete hiding. The perfect patsy?

That had crossed my mind, if Mike isn't still being on the level and trying to throw an easy target with known visual ties to him on the internet under the bus since he's done so much fraud and other garbage it would just fit too cozy into the pattern it would make an excellent deflection point.

[TonyTheTiger]

Even if I try hard to take this explanation at 100% face value, it at minimum just confirms that even if everything had gone smoothly there was no way Mike Kennedy would have been capable of seeing the project through to completion, let alone making it a success. His explanation is that he was willing to repeatedly drop thousands in the lap of a mystery man who was actively scamming the shit out of him with insulting transparency. What was going to happen to the Indiegogo or Kickstarter money? We'd end up with a Jaguar shell full of magic beans.

[stardust4ever]

Even if I try hard to take this explanation at 100% face value, it at minimum just confirms that even if everything had gone smoothly there was no way Mike Kennedy would have been capable of seeing the project through to completion, let alone making it a success. His explanation is that he was willing to repeatedly drop thousands in the lap of a mystery man who was actively scamming the shit out of him with insulting transparency. What was going to happen to the Indiegogo or Kickstarter money? We'd end up with a Jaguar shell full of magic beans.
Mike obviously had the attitude that if you throw enough money at a problem, it will solve itself or just disappear. Kinda like big government spending. X_x

The IndieGoGo / KS money would be gone before long anything tangible ever appeared.

[portnoyd]

The SoCalMike post on AA has officially turned this whole thing into Schadenfreude Porn. It's dangerously delicious. I can't even begin to wrap my brain around that post.

Arrogance? Naivety? Delusional? All three? I don't even know. This is seriously going beyond lulz and getting into dark comedy. Almost uncomfortable to follow now.

[Gameguy]

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.
If he's been collecting games for years he should have known exactly what he was given with these prototypes, you would think seeing the thing requiring Nintendo inputs would make him curious or suspicious about it. At the very least you would expect him to open the case and inspect the circuit board of the prototype he paid to have made as he was in charge of the whole thing as it was his project, especially before showing it off publically. You're showing off a new product of yours to the public and you know nothing about it or how it works? The way he explains it he wanted to design a new console with new specifications yet knew nothing about how it should work or how it should be designed or constructed, or how to hire people who could work on or complete the project successfully. He's either lying, an idiot, or most likely both.


The Mike Kennedy defense;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbaPQSoYbEw&t=0m10s

[Gentlegamer]

The SoCalMike post on AA has officially turned this whole thing into Schadenfreude Porn. It's dangerously delicious. I can't even begin to wrap my brain around that post.

Arrogance? Naivety? Delusional? All three? I don't even know. This is seriously going beyond lulz and getting into dark comedy. Almost uncomfortable to follow now.

Who banned port and why?

[Cornelius]

Who banned port and why?

Looks like it was for the VGH Museum thread (https://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?174860-The-Videogame-History-Museum-is-Finally-Open). Pretty incredible that port got banned for *that*.

[bb_hood]

If he's been collecting games for years he should have known exactly what he was given with these prototypes, you would think seeing the thing requiring Nintendo inputs would make him curious or suspicious about it. At the very least you would expect him to open the case and inspect the circuit board of the prototype he paid to have made as he was in charge of the whole thing as it was his project, especially before showing it off publically. You're showing off a new product of yours to the public and you know nothing about it or how it works? The way he explains it he wanted to design a new console with new specifications yet knew nothing about how it should work or how it should be designed or constructed, or how to hire people who could work on or complete the project successfully. He's either lying, an idiot, or most likely both.


The Mike Kennedy defense;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbaPQSoYbEw&t=0m10s

I would really like to know what Mike has to say about the cartrige he had with the SNES prototype. Like what did he think it was? Was it a flash cart, and if so how could he have not noticed? The demo/proto cart did not function with the initial 3rd party ac adapter they had the system hooked up to, which led them scrambling to find another ac adapter. If he knew the cart was a snes flash cart, he must have known the prototype was simply a snes.

[Aussie2B]

While I have nothing against Port myself, the guy for years now only pops on this forum to spew vitriol and be antagonistic, almost as if he just wants to stir the pot on a forum he's made clear that he no longer likes. I'm honestly surprised that he wasn't banned sooner. I'm not saying all the targets of his ire are undeserving of criticism, but when all someone is bringing to the board is negativity, they're bound to get the boot eventually.

[TonyTheTiger]

The constant use of the ostrich defense opens up its own question. With everyone else involved in the project apparently busy lying or otherwise not fulfilling their obligations to the RVGS/Chameleon, and with Mike Kennedy being removed enough from all of this that he was genuinely surprised each and every time, what was...ya know...his job? How far removed from your own project do you have to be to know so little about it?


https://youtu.be/2SoWNMNKNeM

[fluid_matrix]

Like what did he think it was? Was it a flash cart, and if so how could he have not noticed?

By God, it's an FPGA Arm-based system! https://youtu.be/lIlUbLyPMiA

[bb_hood]

By God, it's an FPGA Arm-based system! https://youtu.be/lIlUbLyPMiA

That video is hilarious.
His explaination for the super nintendo controllers is that its just easier to hardwire 'snez' controllers than to use coleco controllers, because the analog controllers wont work on super nintendo games and that would just confuse everybody.

At 0:55 he calls them 'snez' controllers.

[portnoyd2]

While I have nothing against Port myself, the guy for years now only pops on this forum to spew vitriol and be antagonistic, almost as if he just wants to stir the pot on a forum he's made clear that he no longer likes. I'm honestly surprised that he wasn't banned sooner. I'm not saying all the targets of his ire are undeserving of criticism, but when all someone is bringing to the board is negativity, they're bound to get the boot eventually.

Hard to argue with that, lol.

The problem is people link me threads here (aforementioned museum thread) and I can't look away. I try my damnedest to keep my eyes forward when passing accidents on the roadway and I guess I'm compensating by doing it online. Especially when they're coated with inanity and bullshit.

The RetroVGSameleon was an exception. You guys dropped the ball on that one, so I made the thread. AA couldn't be the only gawkers to partake.