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

[stardust4ever]

Same here; I also read that and haven't received anything yet. The whole thing has been horribly mismanaged and honestly, the magazine is marginal at best. It's not what I expected when I pledged to support it on KS. If there even is a third year I am not giving them another penny. It shouldn't take this long to make a 72 page magazine.

Yeah I paid for six issues in year 2, recieved a total of 3 mags in all of 2015. Honestly, I hope they can get something out on paper with all the commotion about RVGS. Should they write an article covering their own Chameleon scandal, it will be exactly the kind of gloating self-praise I would expect from them at this point. A last trophy of good will to their dying fanbase that cannot be posthumously retracted due to it's permanence as print media. And why wouldn't they make out a 2-page spread advertising the Chameleon? Better yet all 72 pages? That's free advertising!

[Steve W]

I'm willing to bet they set their kickstarter amount to something ridiculously low (like $100,000). That will be low enough that enough suckers buy into it and it succeeds. Even pointing out that they basically showed off a SNES inside of a Jaguar shell is not enough to discourage the true believers.

Are there any true believers left? I've never heard of any positive comments from anyone about this machine. People do nothing but crap on it, and for obviously good reasons. I think all of the true believers are people who are actually working on the damn thing. I don't think anybody in their right mind wants to financially back this disaster. Considering that much more flexible and well-rounded machines like the Ouya have tanked, I'd be shocked if this thing ever gets decent funding and even more shocked if it really makes it to market.

[TonyTheTiger]

When the first campaign collapsed I was more than willing to give the benefit of the doubt that the team was just in way over their heads. But to watch this second go-round engage in such shenanigans, it now looks like straight up deliberate deception. It's like the goal now is to lie their way to a successful Kickstarter in order to salvage their reputation. My advice to Mike Kennedy would be to just get out now. Close shop, save as much face as there is to save, and avoid the sunk cost fallacy by accepting that any further pursuit of this project is throwing good money/reputation after bad. I said it before but I'm actually more worried about the crowdfunding campaign succeeding, as unlikely as that is. Right now Mike Kennedy hasn't actually taken a dime from anyone which gives him the opportunity to make a clean break. Once he's actually holding people's money, it gets a lot messier. It seems like the mindset is "if only I had $$$ I could make this come true" but it's become plainly obvious that these guys are not equipped for this undertaking and the ensuing quagmire once money changes hands will only make matters worse. And I don't want to see this get any worse for anyone involved, not backers, not Mike Kennedy, not anyone. There's really no shame in bailing right now. It's the sensible and ethical thing to do.

[Steven]

When the first campaign collapsed I was more than willing to give the benefit of the doubt that the team was just in way over their heads. But to watch this second go-round engage in such shenanigans, it now looks like straight up deliberate deception. It's like the goal now is to lie their way to a successful Kickstarter in order to salvage their reputation. My advice to Mike Kennedy would be to just get out now. Close shop, save as much face as there is to save, and avoid the sunk cost fallacy by accepting that any further pursuit of this project is throwing good money/reputation after bad. I said it before but I'm actually more worried about the crowdfunding campaign succeeding, as unlikely as that is. Right now Mike Kennedy hasn't actually taken a dime from anyone which gives him the opportunity to make a clean break. Once he's actually holding people's money, it gets a lot messier. It seems like the mindset is "if only I had $$$ I could make this come true" but it's become plainly obvious that these guys are not equipped for this undertaking and the ensuing quagmire once money changes hands will only make matters worse. And I don't want to see this get any worse for anyone involved, not backers, not Mike Kennedy, not anyone. There's really no shame in bailing right now. It's the sensible and ethical thing to do.

Agreed. Unfortunately Mike is too caught up and hell bent on seeing this through to the very bitter end. I don't see this ending well for anyone involved. It's a train wreck you can't help but gawk at.

[badinsults]

Are there any true believers left? I've never heard of any positive comments from anyone about this machine. People do nothing but crap on it, and for obviously good reasons. I think all of the true believers are people who are actually working on the damn thing. I don't think anybody in their right mind wants to financially back this disaster. Considering that much more flexible and well-rounded machines like the Ouya have tanked, I'd be shocked if this thing ever gets decent funding and even more shocked if it really makes it to market.

If you go to their Facebook page, there are pleny of people who still believe. Of course, it is very slanted since they have deleted all of the posts that point out that they are showing off a SNES in a Jaguar shell.

[Steven]

If you go to their Facebook page, there are pleny of people who still believe. Of course, it is very slanted since they have deleted all of the posts that point out that they are showing off a SNES in a Jaguar shell.

It's one thing to like and comment on FB, it's another to plop down 150 bucks or so. We'll see what kind of true support they have in two weeks.

[JSoup]

If you go to their Facebook page, there are pleny of people who still believe.

Facebook?
You mean that place where millions of people click like on anything and everything and then forget about it the next second?

[Tanooki]

I like your retort. >:]

[triverse]

I am new as far as posting here but I have been a member for a fair bit and a lurker from time to time. I am one the first people to call B.S. on the RETRO Video Game System/Coleco Chameleon (going back to February of 2015). I cover this thing on my site, Retro Gaming Magazine. I wish it was a tale of happiness and great fulfilled promises but all it has been so far is a trail of broken promises and swerves at every opportunity.

All they had to do was be honest. Now one full year into covering this thing and they are still incapable of just telling the truth.

[stardust4ever]

I am new as far as posting here but I have been a member for a fair bit and a lurker from time to time. I am one the first people to call B.S. on the RETRO Video Game System/Coleco Chameleon (going back to February of 2015). I cover this thing on my site, Retro Gaming Magazine. I wish it was a tale of happiness and great fulfilled promises but all it has been so far is a trail of broken promises and swerves at every opportunity.

All they had to do was be honest. Now one full year into covering this thing and they are still incapable of just telling the truth.

Thanks Triverse. This was discussed over at Atariage, but it appears to me they are releasing a proprietary SNES clone with custom form factor. There is also talk of "16-bit ports" of the Colecovision ad Intellivision games. It's telling. If they do simply release a proprietary SNES clone, for $150 retail, well that is highway robbery. It would be trivial to port any games over to SNES, and $150 for a clone, it had better be HD or give us something extra to make it worth the purchase price. If it's just like a Super Retro Trio or Retro Duo or something with custom cart port, that would be sad.

Feel free to join the party at AA. 250 combined pages and growing. Bring your own

Chameleon thread [current]:
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/247...-speculations/

RVGS thread [locked]:
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/235...yet-retro-vgs/

[Tanooki]

It wouldn't be sad it would be flipping hilarious after all the lies and blown smoke if they just didn't even bother to re-invent the wheel, just stole it off the mobile home out back they took up shop in to act like players.

RGM familiar with that site and you have been kind of the open minded at least in news posts and fair with these clowns. I've long wanted to give some benefit of the doubt but the more stupid crap they show and dodge talking about it's basically impossible to be fair anymore unless you're just blind, naive, or like being robbed for sport.

Also a post on your site by a mod off a story recently from the show said something like it would be great to see all these spread out stories put into one article to expose the mess, AA has it all in that set of threads linked above, but it would take time to read. The thing is it's an old school forum like this, but that also means it has the most competent old school types into this who can sniff out a rat and not just that, but prove or likely prove the lie too with their own tech expertise. From what i read there, off and on in bursts, I can't see why or how Coleco has got wrangled into this crap let alone continue to support it as it would damage their label if anything.

[triverse]

Thank you, Stardust, for the links. I am aware of the threads on AtariAge, I am "triverse" there too (in fact, most forums if you see "triverse" posting, it is me). I am the guy that was the recipient of one of Mike's longest posts, around 1,000 words, in that locked thread. After he posted that, I did rib him a bit with some replies but I basically stopped writing about his console effort for a bit since he was obviously taking my criticism personally.

For those that missed it, here is the massive comment:

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/235...6#entry3399140

I would like to stress one simple fact. In all of the content I have made available about the RVGS/Coleco Chameleon, Mike Kennedy has requested one single edit which was in my first article (removing mention of Konami, Capcom, Sega, Bandai Namco and John Romero "working on games" for the RVGS). I mean, in the interview I did with them (over 14,000 words total- I spent over 20 hours transcribing it) Mike requested many things removed (things that are still not public and I won't make them public because I was asked not to).

I don't wish ill will on anyone. I am not on a witch hunt, just a hunt for the truth here.

[Tanooki]

The truth is out there. (X-Files) . **queue music**

[stardust4ever]

Thank you, Stardust, for the links. I am aware of the threads on AtariAge, I am "triverse" there too (in fact, most forums if you see "triverse" posting, it is me). I am the guy that was the recipient of one of Mike's longest posts, around 1,000 words, in that locked thread. After he posted that, I did rib him a bit with some replies but I basically stopped writing about his console effort for a bit since he was obviously taking my criticism personally.

Sorry if my post wasn't clear. I was directing comment at you in the first half of the post, and directing the rest of Digitpress or anyone who wanted to sift through 6000+ comments in the two massive AA threads in the second half of the post.

For those that missed it, here is the massive comment:

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/235...6#entry3399140

I would like to stress one simple fact. In all of the content I have made available about the RVGS/Coleco Chameleon, Mike Kennedy has requested one single edit which was in my first article (removing mention of Konami, Capcom, Sega, Bandai Namco and John Romero "working on games" for the RVGS). I mean, in the interview I did with them (over 14,000 words total- I spent over 20 hours transcribing it) Mike requested many things removed (things that are still not public and I won't make them public because I was asked not to).

I don't wish ill will on anyone. I am not on a witch hunt, just a hunt for the truth here.

Yeah I remember that post. Classic open-mouth-insert-foot moment for Mike Kennedy as usual. I imagine much of the things he told you were in the midst of public interviews which you conducted with full intention of sharing publicly. Mike spouted some things that harmed his reputation during the "public" interview, then later wished to retract his statements and exact words by requesting they be stricken from the record.

Um, sorry, but the internet does not work that way. Once something is out there, it is out there, and even if you gave into his wishes to remove or edit publicly available content, someone likely would have already saved a local copy to their hard drive (either by text or screenshot) and reposted the content in a forum somewhere. Just like the countless times people have screengrabbed Facebook comments to preserve them before Mike and his posse started hitting the delete key.

Lastly, I am kind of thankful for the AtariAge policy of one hour time limits for editing posts (at least for non-subscribers), or posts such as post #4899 by Parrothead (aka Mike Kennedy) would in all likelyhood be self-censored after he slept on it a bit. Mike name dropped all of those developers like they were on board, when in fact any real agreements or deals, if they existed at such early stage, would likely have an NDA clause signed by both parties.

Triverse, you went to great lengths to conduct unbiased interviews with Mike Kennedy, and much of the exposé incidents that resulted were based on fact checking of words or phrases that came out of his own mouth during the interviews. Journalism should never be censored IMO, unless statements or remarks are a threat to national security or the welfare of persons involved.

[TonyTheTiger]

I don't sense any malice or greed here. This reeks of pure desperation. I wouldn't be surprised if Mike Kennedy had many sleepless nights leading up to the Toy Fair before cramming a Super Nintendo inside his shell and praying nobody called him on it. It's like he's trying to fake it til you make it, figuring that if the crowdfunding succeeds he can then pay people to produce all the shit that he so far pretended already exists. What I hope he realizes soon is that any attempt to play catch up only digs him deeper. If he won't stop then I hope the Kickstarter fails for his benefit because I don't want to see what happens when he's holding a quarter of a million dollars of other people's money.

[badinsults]

If they were smart, they would cancel their kickstarter now to avoid embarrassment. I still think they will proceed, though, hoping there are enough suckers out there that will overlook all the problems they have had during the past year.

[TonyTheTiger]

But what happens then? That's what baffles me. What do they expect to accomplish if by some miracle the Kickstarter funds?

After a year of Three Stooges caliber tomfoolery the best they can do is play Emperor's New Clothes and demo SNES games running on an SNES while expecting us to believe there's a mysterious custom FPGA core doing all the work. This would be silly enough even if we couldn't see the ass end of a Super Nintendo sticking out of the back. Clark Kent puts more effort into his disguise. Even rudimentary modification could have hidden it better which makes me think this was done the night before. Which also makes me think there is no "hardware guy."

Even if he isn't deliberately bamboozling anyone, this is not someone who is capable of managing such a project. So what happens when this funds? The likeliest scenario is Mike Kennedy hires some people to start from scratch and mismanagement plus unforseen challenges ultimately causes the money to dry up halfway through. Does he really think it's all smooth sailing after the Kickstarter?

[stardust4ever]

This Pat and Ian podcast was posted on the AtariAge thread. Anyone in doubt of why contributing to the upcoming kickstarter is a bad idea needs to watch this...

[Tanooki]

Do we really have to watch pat, that guy has far more issues than Mike ever would in his head. I'm sure we could get an abridged version that isn't a half hour of self aggrandizing blathering.

[stardust4ever]

Do we really have to watch pat, that guy has far more issues than Mike ever would in his head. I'm sure we could get an abridged version that isn't a half hour of self aggrandizing blathering.

No, you and I already knew the truth. I just watched it for the popcorn.

But if this podcast convinces someone from not buying into this sham, more power to them. I am saving up for a RetroUSB AVS, personally.