Retro VGS Game Console

[o.pwuaioc]

I'm doing myself a flavor and not clicking on this.

Sweet or savory?

[jlued686]

And...Coleco is out!

http://www.engadget.com/2016/03/08/coleco-pulls-support-from-chameleon/

[NecroPhile]

They've pulled the plug on retrovgs.com too.

[CrackTiger]

Mike Kennedy's next business venture will likely be suing various emulation based "retro" consoles for stealing his ideas.

[jlued686]

They've pulled the plug on retrovgs.com too.

Engadget has updated their story with this:

Update: RetroVGS has deleted its Facebook page and its website is unavailable.

Well...that appears to be that.

[Medic_wheat]

And with that this thread is now dead.


The system will not be the next Phoenix risk from these ashes.

[SignOfZeta]

Update 2: Todd Shallbetter, COO of Atari, contacted us with the following statement:

"Atari does not have, and never has had an agreement with RetroVGS to release Atari 2600 games on their product."

Ok...I'm not aware of anyone asking but...any press is good press when you're in charge of whatever "Atari" is in 2016, I suppose.

[elmer]

Update 2: Todd Shallbetter, COO of Atari, contacted us with the following statement:

"Atari does not have, and never has had an agreement with RetroVGS to release Atari 2600 games on their product."

Ok...I'm not aware of anyone asking but...any press is good press when you're in charge of whatever "Atari" is in 2016, I suppose.

Engadget had reported that the Coleco Chameleon guys had licensed over 300 Atari 2600 games ...

http://www.engadget.com/2016/02/18/coleco-chameleon-atari-2600/

[elmer]

Finally, peace came to RetroLand, and good, honest folk could return to more productive hobbies than just pressing "F5" on AtariAge.

The peace was only broken by quiet chuckling of those old-enough to have visions of Monty Python's Dead Parrot(head) Sketch running through their minds.

(FYI "ParrotHead" is Mike Kennedy's username on AtariAge.)

[esteban]

MIKE KENNEDY: pining for the fjords...

[Gentlegamer]

MIKE KENNEDY: pining for the fjords...

I understood that reference.

[HailingTheThings]

Anyone else think Mike Kennedy will pull a Bruce Caitlyn Jenner and then get into politics?

[SignOfZeta]

Anyone else think Mike Kennedy will pull a Bruce Caitlyn Jenner and then get into politics?

Nah, I think he'll consider suicide for a while and if that doesn't work he'll manage a BestBuy or something.

MIKE KENNEDY: pining for the fjords...

I understood that reference.

Holy shit! Gamers who follow more than one nerdy thing? I'm floored! We've got to get together some time and quote shit.

[elmer]

Holy shit! Gamers who follow more than one nerdy thing? I'm floored! We've got to get together some time and quote shit.

Here you go ...

Well, o'course it was taped-down! If I hadn't taped that console down, it would have nuzzled up to that box, pried it open with its sharp ports, and VOOM! Feeweeweewee!

"VOOM"?!? Mate, this console wouldn't "voom" if you put four million volts through it! It's bleedin' demised!

[o.pwuaioc]

We all came here for an argument, but Zeta's in abuse.

[DeshDildo]

Dang it!  I can't believe it's finally over.  Actually shutting everything down without a peep is the smartest thing Mike Kennedy has done in this whole fiasco.  I can't believe he's actually keeping his mouth shut.

[Mathius]

Dang it!  I can't believe it's finally over.  Actually shutting everything down without a peep is the smartest thing Mike Kennedy has done in this whole fiasco.  I can't believe he's actually keeping his mouth shut.

Smart move likely.

As this thread took on a life of it's own killing it now would probably be considered murder, or I would at least get a nasty email from a conservation group. I'll let it waller in its own muck in the bowels of the forum.

[SignOfZeta]

We all came here for an argument, but Zeta's in abuse.

I founded the department.

[SephirothTNH]

Wow.  I'm kind of shocked to see this finally come to an end.  Maybe shocked is the wrong word.  I feel kind of unfulfilled in the ending of the once great RetroVGS with hard drive cartridges and the ability to play everything.

Some will claim this as an elaborate joke or worse a scam to cheat people.  I feel like Mike truly believed in this thing.  Which has left me dumbfounded.  After all this time and "lessons learned" the only think they accomplished was Jaguar shells.

[SignOfZeta]

I think he believed in it too. The problem is that, like %99 of gamers, he severely underrates what it actually takes to make shit like this. In his particularly ignorant and aparently uneducatable case, he never actually said *what* the thing was, definitively, at any point in time, during the year he was talking about VGS shit. He waited for a millionaire to give him the money he needed to pay other people to do literally every single thing, and they never came. The classic American "fast buck" pipe dream. The same motivation that drives millions of morons to casinos and lotto shacks, having zero interest in reality, not even enough to help it grant fantasies. Perma-dumb.

I don't honestly think he set out to scam anyone, but he's so fucking dumb and mentally ill that, when faced with certain defeat dozens of times, he just kept perpetuating the myth of the Retro VGS and anyone who didn't believe was a hater. It eventually morphed into what was basically a scam by the end.

He probably thinks he's the 21st century Preston Tucker, pulling all sorts of shenanigans to move the project forward...but Tucker actually did have a few good ideas, he had engineers and designers on staff, and did actually crank out a few dozen cars. This guy only ever succeeded in recasting Jag shells, which would have already been done ages earlier if those molds were in China like the molds for PlayStation, Dreamcast, etc.

[HailingTheThings]

Anyone else think Mike Kennedy will pull a Bruce Caitlyn Jenner and then get into politics?

Nah, I think he'll consider suicide for a while and if that doesn't work he'll manage a BestBuy or something.

Implying he's too dumb to pull it off? lol

[NightWolve]

Did he even really have new hardware guys working on something after throwing the John Carlsen guy under the bus and dismissing Kevtris' console idea as a failure from the start ???

I understand what happened, he REALLY wanted to be at the Toy Fair but had no prototype, he had NOTHING, so he faked it with an SNES to get by, but I wonder if someone, ANYONE, was actually putting something together for him in the meantime post-John Carlsen ?

[crazydean]

Did he even really have new hardware guys working on something after throwing the John Carlsen guy under the bus and dismissing Kevtris' console idea as a failure from the start ???

I understand what happened, he REALLY wanted to be at the Toy Fair but had no prototype, he had NOTHING, so he faked it with an SNES to get by, but I wonder if someone, ANYONE, was actually putting something together for him in the meantime post-John Carlsen ?

I've been wondering this as well. I don't think so, though. Otherwise, he wouldn't have tried to cover it up so many times. He was simply waiting for the cash to come in, then he would pay someone to design it.

I suppose he found the molds for the old Jaguar shells and saw the dollar signs. He thought that the console revolved around those damn shells and refused to acknowledge when he was wrong.

If nothing else, this has been quite an interesting experiment. Look at how much this RVGS has affected. There are long threads on many gaming forums, Youtubers are showing their true colors, Coleco and Atari are making appearances. Also, didn't this thing get like $800k worth of backing the first time it came out? Even then it was nothing but promises in an empty shell. I must say, that's a much larger number than I would have expected. Hopefully, this means good things for people like kevtris and will keep them motivated, knowing that there is a market.

[NightWolve]

Even then it was nothing but promises in an empty shell.

Well, a shell with an SNES motherboard inside, and then a DVR capture card later... Not exactly empty, but yes... Ah man, so many lulz, so little time to explore them all.

Like you, I don't believe they were scammers, but definitely dopey and greedy (and capable of lying to not miss marketing opportunities and buy more time, then repeat lying when called on it with fake mockups)... When you don't even know exactly what you're gonna put inside, and thus the building cost per unit, yet the first things you're coming up with are collectard "special edition" gold-colored consoles and $350 pricepoints, f--k you, frankly!!! Never seen such a blatant cart before the horses example such as this... But yeah, it was a "give us money now, we'll build it later" thinking process that started it and having to build something now per Kickstarter's standards was too much of a curve-ball for them after the IndieGoGo failed miserably...

Definitely, I'd like to see Mike Kennedy's playbook in areas of marketing/promotion/etc. I dunno how a guy who seems so "dumb" pulled this off... He's not dumb in all areas is the thing. Somehow, he had the right email addresses to contact, he traveled when necessary, shook hands, made the right pitches that were just appealing enough, etc. to get a pretty powerful marketing blitz going in gaming news media for something that was so specious from the start... On the way down it made it to my Facebook trending list, so not exactly the "making it big" he was envisioning, but I am impressed how he and a few of his "beer buddies" pulled this off!!!

I think they'll be writing about this for years, how did this f--king guy pull this off to have even gotten as far as he did ?? That's kind of fascinating to me...

[DeshDildo]

I just want a full on Barbara Walters interview with Mike Kennedy so we can get a timeline breakdown and find out 100% what was going on and why he did what he did.  It would be interesting to hear his take on why each lie was told and why he seriously thought any of the "prototypes" were believable.

[o.pwuaioc]

I just want a full on Barbara Walters interview with Mike Kennedy so we can get a timeline breakdown and find out 100% what was going on and why he did what he did.  It would be interesting to hear his take on why each lie was told and why he seriously thought any of the "prototypes" were believable.

Or we could just forget about the guy and he'll go away. 

[Bloufo]

I don't know the man but from what I've heard it doesn't quite sound as if he's the type to just go away.

Just when you think he's done, he resurfaces with another crazy venture.

All the while taunting the detractors.



BAM! IN YOUR FACE



 

[jlued686]

The moment I saw this guy show up with his Jag shells, I smelled bullshit. I wasn't completely opposed to the concept of the project. Sure, it was flawed, but whatever. But him trying to sell the Jag shells as a good idea just immediately struck me as half-assed nonsense. And, as it turned out, that was just the tip of the iceberg.

[CGQuarterly]

I just want a full on Barbara Walters interview with Mike Kennedy so we can get a timeline breakdown and find out 100% what was going on and why he did what he did.  It would be interesting to hear his take on why each lie was told and why he seriously thought any of the "prototypes" were believable.

Or we could just forget about the guy and he'll go away. 

I'd be fine with that.  He got his 15 minutes.  Time for him to go back to a life of obscurity as a shelf salesman.

[LostFlunky]

I just want a full on Barbara Walters interview with Mike Kennedy so we can get a timeline breakdown and find out 100% what was going on and why he did what he did.  It would be interesting to hear his take on why each lie was told and why he seriously thought any of the "prototypes" were believable.

Or we could just forget about the guy and he'll go away. 

I'd be fine with that.  He got his 15 minutes.  Time for him to go back to a life of obscurity as a shelf salesman.

So that is his angle - getting people to fill up their shelves with COLLECTIBLE games so that he can swoop in and take care of that too.... lol

[jlued686]

A few more details:

http://www.polygon.com/2016/3/8/11180670/coleco-chameleon-terminated-retrovgs-closed-down

In an update posted on Facebook, Coleco's ownership noted that it had separated from the retro gaming system's maker, RetroVGS. "Retro VGS has decided that the work that they have created is not sufficient to demonstrate at this time," the post stated. "Consequently, we can no longer proceed with the project and the Chameleon project will be terminated."

The Coleco brand, well known for the ColecoVision console and ADAM computer system of the early 1980s, is now owned by River West Brands of Chicago.

"It just wasn't what we had thought it would be," Mark Thomann, River West's CEO and Coleco's owner, told Polygon. "We thought it would be an originally developed console, and the indications were that it just wasn't."

Thomann said engineers contacted by a River West representative examined the console "and we weren't satisfied with it."

But, "We're going to continue looking for someone who can develop a unique, original console that is the real deal" Thomann said.

And then there's this:

Todd Shallbetter, COO of Atari, contacted us with the following statement:

"Atari does not have, and never has had an agreement with RetroVGS to release Atari 2600 games on their product."

[xcrement5x]

I hope that if Mark Thomann really wants a console like this to market he decides to talk with kevtris about it.

[NightWolve]

Also, didn't this thing get like $800k worth of backing the first time it came out?

Almost forgot, but no, the IndieGoGo campaign failed miserably at $60,000 before the plug was pulled... People were starting to see these guys as clowns with the embarrassing "prototype" video their first hardware guy put together best summarized as "power goes in, video goes out" which they later deleted. After that failure is when they went back to the drawing board and decided on capturing the Coleco brand and going at it for another round, but they didn't get very far after their Toy Fair stunt of faking a demo using a SNES which finally brought this to a conclusion...

In short, this experiment was a miserable failure from start to finish unless you count their success of capturing the Atari Jaguar molds and selling some cases they made with them to generate working money or at least return on investment - who knows if Mike even made all his money back for what he paid for them. For his sake, I hope he did, but it's all hilarious to me either way.

[Medic_wheat]

I hope that if Mark Thomann really wants a console like this to market he decides to talk with kevtris about it.

He did. Then he burnt his bridge by acting like a cunt to him and the. Threw him under the bus publicly.

Kev's response was pretty much "whatever" and left it at that.

[SephirothTNH]

I hope that if Mark Thomann really wants a console like this to market he decides to talk with kevtris about it.

He did. Then he burnt his bridge by acting like a cunt to him and the. Threw him under the bus publicly.

Kev's response was pretty much "whatever" and left it at that.

Mark Thomann wasn't even in the picture then.

[Medic_wheat]

I hope that if Mark Thomann really wants a console like this to market he decides to talk with kevtris about it.

He did. Then he burnt his bridge by acting like a cunt to him and the. Threw him under the bus publicly.

Kev's response was pretty much "whatever" and left it at that.

Mark Thomann wasn't even in the picture then.

Oh sorry I didnt realize it was Mark they where talking about. Lol

[NightWolve]

I hope that if Mark Thomann really wants a console like this to market he decides to talk with kevtris about it.

He did. Then he burnt his bridge by acting like a cunt to him and the. Threw him under the bus publicly.

Kev's response was pretty much "whatever" and left it at that.

That was Mike Kennedy, future Coleco Clown, that is, until Coleco/Mark pulled the rug out from under him. Mark Thomann is the owner of the Coleco name. I guess "Coleco" is a bit more than what was thought though, that it was just held by some non-tech company that licenses out the name for use by others.

http://www.polygon.com/2016/3/8/11180670/coleco-chameleon-terminated-retrovgs-closed-down

But to xcrement5x's point, it does appear Mark would be interested in talking with someone like Kevtris to make a console, but this is only if Kevtris sees any marketing benefit in using the Coleco name... He doesn't really need it, it would cost him a license fee and cause an unwanted association with this embarrassment, temporary as it was...

I suspect you can license the Coleco name for much cheaper now (I certainly would refer to this debacle to haggle down), but yeah, why not decide on your own name and save on licensing fees...? All depends on how helpful you think using the Coleco name in your product could be minus the damage Mike Kennedy caused the brand with his temporary association with it...

[Otaking]

Two new Pat Nes Punk Coleco Chameleon videos.

[NecroPhile]

I'm not going to listen to 50 minutes of those two blowhards talk about nothing.

[CrackTiger]

Two new Pat Nes Punk Coleco Chameleon videos.

Shamelessly milking it to and well beyond the end.

[esteban]

Ok, I listened to the podcast (second video) and Mike Kennedy allegedly claimed that *MR LEE* was developing the hardware for the chameleon.

Mr. Lee.

Mysterious Mr. Lee.

No contact info.

No credentials.

Nothing but absurd, vague references to a mysterious "Mr. Lee" who was the new hardware dude.

Can someone else elaborate?

Or is this simply heresay (sourced from Pat)?


MIKE KENNEDY: DADAIST

[Otaking]

I can reveal the mysterious Mr Lee who was helping Mike Kennedy.
That's where Mr Lee has been hiding all these years, developing a retro cartridge based games console.

[Groover]

This has been entertaining to watch this train wreak.

[Otaking]

Update! News just in the Mr Lee in question was actually this one.
That might look like a lightsaber but it is actually his soldering iron he is about to use on his FPGA circuit board/capture card.

img.musiquemag.fr/datas/divers/r/i/rip/xl/rip-photo-557983600bfc5.jpg

[SuperGrafx]

I'm not going to listen to 50 minutes of those two blowhards talk about nothing.

Haha yeah.
"YouTube Celebrities"... ffs

[mickcris]

Ok, I listened to the podcast (second video) and Mike Kennedy allegedly claimed that *MR LEE* was developing the hardware for the chameleon.

Mr. Lee.

Mysterious Mr. Lee.

No contact info.

No credentials.

Nothing but absurd, vague references to a mysterious "Mr. Lee" who was the new hardware dude.

Can someone else elaborate?

Or is this simply heresay (sourced from Pat)?


MIKE KENNEDY: DADAIST

you can hear more about Lee from an interview with Eli from Piko Interactive.  Its long and his enlish is not the best, but its pretty crazy some of the stuff "Lee" was telling him

http://www.retrogamingroundup.com/shownotes/2016/roundup099_2016.03.php

you can start around 53 minutes in if you dont want to listen to the rest

[esteban]

Ok, I listened to the podcast (second video) and Mike Kennedy allegedly claimed that *MR LEE* was developing the hardware for the chameleon.

Mr. Lee.

Mysterious Mr. Lee.

No contact info.

No credentials.

Nothing but absurd, vague references to a mysterious "Mr. Lee" who was the new hardware dude.

Can someone else elaborate?

Or is this simply heresay (sourced from Pat)?


MIKE KENNEDY: DADAIST

you can hear more about Lee from an interview with Eli from Piko Interactive.  Its long and his enlish is not the best, but its pretty crazy some of the stuff "Lee" was telling him

http://www.retrogamingroundup.com/shownotes/2016/roundup099_2016.03.php

you can start around 53 minutes in if you dont want to listen to the rest

Thank you!

I will listen to this on my commute home.

[Psycho Punch]

I think the RETRO VGS is a great idea.  I've bought reproduction carts of classic games for the past 3 years, as well as homebrew games.  I love buying old NES, SNES, or Sega Genesis games that never got an English translation and then finding new life in a repro cart complete with box, manual, and poster fully in English.  I believe the RETRO VGS will be more than just a system for indie titles.  It could be a home for old classics receiving HD Remasters, a breath of fresh air for budding game developers to achieve their dream of developing for a classic system like the SNES, Genesis, or even the Neo Geo, and you can even develop new games that take advantage of the full capabilities of the RETRO VGS.

Just imagine Square Enix, Konami, and Capcom jumping on board to revive their classic Secret of Mana & Final Fantasy titles, Castlevania, or even Mega Man?  If they find the HD Remasters working out, maybe they will even develop original content.

Frankly, I'm tired of the "digital revolution," where everything is downloadable to your hard drive.  Sure, it's convenient.  But I WANT a physical instruction manual, collectible maps & posters, and decent artwork on my game box.  Mike Kennedy knows his RETRO business because he is developing a console that is striving to stay away from the digital world (no internet connection for updates and such).  20 years from now, I want the RETRO VGS to still function without needing some patch from the Internet, unlike the Xbox One where it tries to connect to the Internet for every little thing.  I can't even play Killer Instinct on Xbox One without it saying, "The Console needs to go online for a game update."  You can't even save the game without the update?!?

I haven't heard anything about the system's price yet until the Kickstarter next week.  I wouldn't judge its price just yet until the official announcement.  Please support the RETRO VGS if you can.  I think it will make a statement to the mainstream console manufacturers. 

[CrackTiger]

It's all about the collectible maps and posters.

[NightWolve]

Damn it Punch! I feel you somewhat steal or mock my material at times, so in honor of this thread, I was gonna steal your material by reposting ctophil's thoughts again as you've been doing. ;) Alas, you beat me to it... I too felt it was time to see his post again as the end of this ride has been reached and it's a fitting way to close out the thread.

So, will ctophil walk back any of that per NES Punk's criticism that if you acted as a blind supportive PR mouthpiece, you should also now spend some time "correcting the record," that is, correcting, editing, walking back any promotional work you did in the past on behalf of these clowns, etc. ?? Has he even paid attention to this thread in the affermath ??

RetroVGS = "A breath of fresh air"

Revision: more like hot air...

* Just looked at his account for login date, he hasn't been around since January.