Retro VGS Game Console

[Psycho Punch]

Sometimes I wonder if the guy from Piko Interactive is a bored millionaire... buying RETRO Magazine, wtf.

[SignOfZeta]

I've got the disquieting feeling that the alien that was living in Mike Kennedy's body has slipped into a new host.

It sure sounds like it.

[CrackTiger]

At least Piko is actively publishing games and very open about the experience.

[TelcoSurveyor]

Where are the Jaguar molds?

[CrackTiger]

Where are the Jaguar molds?

I doubt Mike would let them go. He's still certain that they're going to make him rich sonehow.

[xcrement5x]

Honestly, I feel like the only injection molds that would really make you money at this point would be those for the original SegaCD/Saturn/PS1 longboxes.  There is a big demand for new cases but the cost of the molds on top of production is just astronomical for anyone to make a profit, you'd really need to be doing it for the community and take a bit of a wash, or sit on a lot of unsold longboxes for a long time. 

[elmer]

Where are the Jaguar molds?

I doubt Mike would let them go. He's still certain that they're going to make him rich sonehow.

They were sold to "Albert",  the guy who runs the AtariAge forum.

[CrackTiger]

Where are the Jaguar molds?

I doubt Mike would let them go. He's still certain that they're going to make him rich sonehow.

They were sold to "Albert",  the guy who runs the AtariAge forum.

Nice to know that they wound up with an Atari fan.

[seieienbu]

Nice to know that they wound up with an Atari fan.

Yeah, I'm sure they'll eventually be useful to the community. 

My favorite part of the whole debacle was "Well we already have the molds for the shell and that's the hardest part of making a console!"

[LostFlunky]

Where are the Jaguar molds?

I doubt Mike would let them go. He's still certain that they're going to make him rich sonehow.

They were sold to "Albert",  the guy who runs the AtariAge forum.

Heh, no need for "quotes", his name really is "Albert". lol

[NightWolve]

I've got the disquieting feeling that the alien that was living in Mike Kennedy's body has slipped into a new host.

HahahahhahHahhhaha.

THIS! 

So I wandered on PCEFX after some absence, and lo and behold the greatest thread evar was updated... Didn't see that coming, heh-heh!!

My thoughts are in line with everyone else, who in their right mind would want to buy that magazine from Mike in the aftermath of all that happened with the serious belief he could turn the "brand," what's left of it, around ?? Incredible...

I kinda feel sorry for Mike there and him having to escape with bankruptcy, much like a certain bankrupt cocky cock-flasher did, but he clearly made his own bed with the magnitude of this debacle...

[elmer]

My thoughts are in line with everyone else, who in their right mind would want to buy that magazine from Mike in the aftermath of all that happened with the serious belief he could turn the "brand," what's left of it, around ?? Incredible...

Not just the Retro magazine, Piko also bought the failed GameGavel auction site from Mike too.

Truly like something from The Hidden.

I kinda feel sorry for Mike there and him having to escape with bankruptcy, much like a certain bankrupt cocky cock-flasher did, but he clearly made his own bed with the magnitude of this debacle...

I wouldn't feel too sorry for him ... I imagine that he bankrupted the companies to get out of debts, and not himself personally.

[esteban]

I received an email yesterday:

To: ehh stay' bahn
 
Subject: Hello! From the New Ownership Team!

Hello!

This is Eli Galindo, and I just wanted to reach out to the full list of subscribers, backers, members, etc of the Magazine to give you a quick update of what is happening.

First off, we are slowly building relationships with new and previous writers. As I have told every one of them, the new RETRO Magazine will be very open to any professional writer that wants to come in and pitch articles of topics that they are passionate about (within the Retro Gaming spectrum). I hope that this way it will not feel like a shore, or topics will not be forced to writers and they would enjoy writing for the Magazine.

Second, the main concern of buying the magazine assets was all the people that were left hanging with pending subscriptions or issues when the business went burst. So we have been working on ways and coming up with ideas to do right by them. We've been talking with about 300 subscribers that have 1 issue pending to take care first, then we will move up to about 750 subscribers that have 2 or more issues left. We got a pallet full of back issues that some of these subscribers don't have so we'll be offering these plus other goodies.

Once all or most of the pending subscribers are taken care of, the Website and may be a patreon campaign will be open; here we will only charge you when a new issue is ready to print (digital version 100% ready) this way we do not commit the mistakes of the past. We would need a minimum of 1000 subs to make a physical print run.

We will re-launch the campaign with issue 13th which will be the last themed issue there will ever be due that we have to honor some dealings with some third parties. After this issue is available (digital only) we will stop doing themed issues, increase the amount of content pages to 100+ and reduce the magazine issues from quarterly to bi-yearly. This will ensure the magazine has the best content under the Retro Gaming spectrum and not so much filler content.

At the moment I am a bit busy finishing up the Iron Commando IndieGogo campaign and working on the new Wisdom Tree Kickstarter (Shameless plug, check it out if you are interested in new NES games or Sega Genesis games!). But we'll be shipping out all the pending subs issues in the next few weeks and working on the Issue 13th to have a release date of the last week of October.

Is you have any comments or questions, please let me know, I try to answer emails as soon as possible.

Kind regards,
The New RETRO Magazine Team

 
2017 RETRO Video Game Magazine | 110 E Houston St. 7th Floor, San Antonio TX 78205
Web Version   Forward   Unsubscribe 
 
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A GoDaddy company

[SignOfZeta]

The guy sounds like a real professional Kickstater.

[DildoKKKobold]

Oh god, Eli Galindo, aka Piko, is a real piece of work. He's banned from NintendoAge for backdooring a prototype Indiana Jones auction. After his success in the repro (aka ilicit bootlegs) market, he decided to go 'legitimate' which means he claimed to have bought IP, and then went after other repro makers who were selling the same software. In other words, he a massive hypocrite. When asked for a single shred of evidence that he owned these IPs, he'd say he'd only demonstrate them in court.

[esteban]

OH, so now I know a little about Piko. I had seen the name referenced, but knew nothing of his exploits. BASICALLY: He was the perfect person to take the helm of the Titanic as it heaves its final death throes. (I am being generous in granting that the magazine's status is merely *life support* as opposed to *deceased*.



Since I don't really care about this magazine, per se, but I am interested in the niche it occupies.... I am curious to see how this turns out.

CIRCUS CHAMELEON DENSETSU...continues....

[NecroPhile]

Hated by NA and DK?  Maybe this Eli guy isn't as bad as I thought. 

[CrackTiger]

Hated by NA and DK?  Maybe this Eli guy isn't as bad as I thought. 

Isn't NA a haven for bootlegging? Did he out-play his rivals bad enough that they took their ball and went home?

Aren't beaglepuss and MrMark worshipped there? Why is it cool for them to sell the Indianna Jones prototype when the dev threatens legal action,  but not cool for a particular person to buy it?

[crazydean]

He seems to have a decent reputation on AtariAge.

[DildoKKKobold]

Hated by NA and DK?  Maybe this Eli guy isn't as bad as I thought. 

Isn't NA a haven for bootlegging? Did he out-play his rivals bad enough that they took their ball and went home?

Aren't beaglepuss and MrMark worshipped there? Why is it cool for them to sell the Indianna Jones prototype when the dev threatens legal action,  but not cool for a particular person to buy it?

NA has a specific rule against backdooring auctions. MrMark won it, and then Galindo contacted the seller after the auction had completed to offer more money. He claimed he had ins with the devs, and a bunch of bullshit reasons, but he still broke the rules.  I think MrMark is an arrogant asshole, who thinks waving his collection epenis around buys him cred.

Also, calling NA a haven for bootlegging is a little hypocritical, when this forum lost its shit for Bernie's $5 bootlegging specials ala PCE Works. NA has a definitive no "released game" bootlegs policy, something this place doesn't even have.

[xcrement5x]

That Indiana Jones auction was a shitstorm anyway, it will basically never get released now that the game has a trail of known owners due to all the press.  If someone had just bought it and dumped it silently the world would be better off because you know Disney will never allow a legit release of it. 

[NightWolve]

While patching some images, clicking around, eventually being led to AtariAge, I realized our PCEFX thread on this "RetroVGS Coleco Chameleon" scam/fool's-dream never really got official closure, like where is Mike NOT-THAT-Kennedy nowadays, and did he ever apologize, acknowledge/face the debacle he led, level with the public or just disappear as I had thought ??

So yeah, as far as I knew, Kennedy had just disappeared, went dark and wasn't seen/heard from again, if at all. That's how I thought the story had ended, but having wandered over at AtariAge today, I learned that he showed up there with a "Parrothead" account which is STILL active today and addressed the issue in some detail after heated confrontation...

Let's take a look at these posts so this thread/chapter finally gets closure here, shall we ?? 

https://forums.atariage.com/topic/274244-pac-man-suit-kohls-25-clearance/
I know you all hate my guts but I cant help but share this. $25 Clearance Pac-Man Suits at Kohls. Normally $120. Find one if you can! I found one tonight. Google Pac-Man Oppo Suits to see what it looks like. Includes Sport Coat, Slacks and Tie. Super high quality. Good luck!

Some were willing to forgive/forget and participated in his thread as if Mike was an average/regular member. Others not-so-much.

I know you all hate my guts

Mike, this is the first time in many years I've seen you speak about gamey things in a way that wasn't trying to sell something. It's a good look for you, please keep it up.

Welcome back to the human race.

I think you will find forgiveness in the community if you can demonstrate that you've given up the get-rich-quick schemes, and always speak the truth. If you don't know something, say so or STFU. No one wants to hear any more lies.

	I'm not buying that tickytack suit, because I'm not The Riddler, nor am I Billy Mitchell. But seriously, it's nice to see you above ground again.

You have a lot to answer for, Mike. If you're going to want to join the social circles of the hobby, you'll need to answer a lot of questions you don't really want to answer.

I appreciate the comments and don't take them for granted. Believe me, no one wants to forget the past more than I. And you can be assured I won't be attempting any more gaming ventures. I woefully mismanaged things the past few years and paid the price, in more ways I can count. And, it will take a few more years for me to recover from that debacle financially. It's true that turning your hobby into even a part-time profession is a sure-fire way to enjoy your hobby less and stress yourself half to death. Especially, when you make the mistakes I did. I nearly lost all my love for gaming and regrettably did lose a handful of great friends in the hobby.

Over the past year, I have played more video games than I have played probably in the past 9 years. I've rebuilt a small collection of consoles that are all out and playable including an Atari 2600, 7800, PS1, Timex Sinclair 1000, Apple IIc and Commodore 64 -- oh, and my original Sega Genesis I had growing up and all my original games (I gave it to my cousin way back when, he kept it and recently found it and shipped it back to me).

In any event, I'll take what I can get but don't expect anything when it comes to being completely forgiven for what I put everyone through the past few years.

I can't speak for everyone, but I do think getting some full and honest answers to what happened might go a long way toward bringing your credibility out of the negative range. Over the past few years, you've been characterized as ducking any question you don't feel like answering. Now that you're not selling anything, you don't owe anyone any answers... but if you're wanting to be on good terms with the community, you will need to offer SOMETHING up. The truth, and I mean the ACTUAL truth, not the "Whatever makes me look better" spin, would be something of value you could extend.

I don't hate you, Mike. But you've hurt a lot of my friends, and I do not take that lightly. Some of these people I know by reputation only, some I have literally broken bread with. Your lies and screwups affected them, and so I'm going to suggest the truth would go a long way toward building that bridge.

I sincerely DO regret how things were handled by me. One thing I'd like to explain is that I ended friendships with some great people in the hobby. I really did this as I didn't want their friendship with me to jeopardize their friendship with others and their reputations. I was (maybe still am) toxic and wanted to remove myself from their equations for that reason. Maybe it came across as I didn't like them anymore, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. I really miss the gaming friends I had prior to that mess. Had some of my best times with them -- they all know who they are And, I will say again, I will not be starting any more gaming businesses personally.

I will not overstay my welcome here but might post occasionally if I come across something cool in the hobby to share.

And now we get to the juicy stuff, @famicommander is not have ANY of it!

What a cop out.

You're a scam artist, no better than a common thief, and you deserve to be treated as such. And worse than that, you still won't even own up to what you did.

Others here may be willing to mince words but I'll call a spade a spade. Or a lying, thieving, scamming scumbag as the case may be.

I can't say the man isn't trying. If you don't have something nice to say...

I can say he isn't trying. It's obvious he isn't, because he's still not admitting what he did. He just tried to slink back into this community as if he didn't attempt to swindle thousands of dollars out of it, all the while lying through his teeth and refusing to accept responsibility for his actions.

I don't have anything nice to say about him because there is nothing nice to be said. He's a scammer. Actually, he's worse. He's a failure at scamming. He's morally bankrupt AND incompetent.

Among a laundry list of other things, he tried to pass off a Super Nintendo crammed into a Jaguar case as a working prototype. And later an off the shelf PC capture card crammed into a Jaguar case.

He tried to get 2 million dollars, and may indeed have if not for the diligent detective work of other members of this forum and the community at large. He raised over $80,000 via crowdfunding. He said he would offer refunds, and may indeed have (I haven't heard either way). But the issue is he accepted people's money after knowingly deceiving them in the first place. Whether he refunded them or not, he knew he was lying to people when he started taking the money. And he has still not admitted this. He lied in his crowd funding pitches and when they failed he started trotting out fake protos.

with all due respect, this is not the time nor place to discuss your grievances with Mike Kennedy. He needs encouragement right now more than anything. You are providing the exact opposite right now.

Why would I care what he needs? He tried to rob us blind and you're telling me to consider his needs?

He did something wrong and has made no effort to correct it. He hasn't even admitted it. He doesn't deserve encouragement.

The "retro Chameleon" provided me with hilarious entertainment for several months. It was always pretty clear that they lacked the competence to deliver on their poorly-conceived dream. It was always fun to watch. No one did it better (worse) than Mike, and we've seen several people try.

He didn't say it in the most articulate way, but it's true that Mike himself was hurt a lot more than anyone else, except perhaps the Coleco brand. He lost money, friends, reputation, and dignity. What did we lose? Time spent on a message board? Speaking for myself, that was mine to waste, and a moment enjoyed is not wasted.

I believe in forgiveness. Why should he serve a life sentence for attempted tomfoolery? It's been two years. His reputation is in the toilet and no one with two brain cells to rub together would give him any money. I'd love to see him back in the community so long as he gives up any ideas about trying to make money from us.

We don't need a confession. We all know what he did. Hate the sin, love the sinner.

Then again, maybe he should be forced to wear that ridiculous Pac-Man suit, all the time, wherever he goes, as long as he lives, forever walking the earth as a Shatnerian parody of himself, cornering the market on retro gaming.

Amen brother. Well said. Take away the "businessman" nonsense and he's just another game dork like us. Well, maybe he talks a lot more than some of us, but it takes all kinds.

How many other people on this forum tried to steal from the rest of us and then lied about it and continues to lie about it? I'll wait.

I was refunded by the campaign. Aside from kicking me to the curb, its all water under the bridge now. He did a lot of good before the CC situation. He was not always like he was during the CC situation. I agree with Pipercub, I welcome him back but in a guarded fashion I miss talking with him on our latest retro finds and talking about things like friends did back before the CC situation.

By all accounts, OJ Simpson was a nice guy before he killed those people. And no, I am absolutely not saying that what Mike did was anywhere near as bad as what OJ did. But the point is, the bad things you do in life can't always be eclipsed by whatever nice things you did beforehand. OJ was a great football player and he was in some awesome movies, but so what? All that good will is gone forever.

I think a punishment should fit the crime. Does him losing GameGavel, Retro Magazine, the Jag shells, etc. along with our trust with future attempts at similar things fit? Yes. Does him getting a life sentence away from the hobby and community to an extent that he isn't even welcome to discuss a Pac-Man suit fit? No.

He lost all of his businesses because he is incompetent. That wasn't a punishment for his attempted thievery.

Once you try to steal from me or my community, that's it. You only get one chance. I don't care where else he goes or what else he does but if he is going to show his face around here, especially without admitting what he did and sincerely apologizing rather than deflecting blame and changing the subject, then he is going to hear about it. I'm not suggesting we cut the man's hand off or lock him up for the rest of his life. But he doesn't deserve to interact on level ground with members who didn't try to run a million dollar scam.

From my understanding Vaporware is something of a problem here. Not too mention certain modders here who takes people's money and systems. None have been bashed as hard as Mike.

I see way more hate towards someone who wanted to make something happen but could not, then he tried to save face but that was a mistake. At the end of the day it appears he did not actually take anyone's money. However other people on this forum have been promising certain items for years and HAVE taken people's money, yet they don't get hammered nearly as much as Mike.

Nobody gets bashed as hard as Mike because nobody else tried to scam people on one tenth this scale.

He knew when he started his crowdfunding that he was lying. He didn't over promise and then, in good faith, fail to deliver. He made an active effort to deceive people from the outset and then repeatedly lied directly to our faces about. Over and over again for a period of months, until he disappeared entirely because he's a coward.

He knowingly tried to defraud people for large sums of money and to the only reason he didn't suceed is because he was exposed before his scam was complete. And then he continued trying to steal and scam for months after the fact.

Mike DID run a scam. He just failed at it because people on this very forum pointed out what a fraud he was.

And nowhere did I say anyone else should get a free pass for the same behavior.

Some of you really want your pound of flesh out of Mike. He tried to do something, it didn't work, he admits that he made mistakes that he regrets, he is paying a personal and financial price for those mistakes. What more needs to happen? Frankly, the worst thing that he could do is to start trying to explain anything, which by the way none of you are owed unless you were PERSONALLY affected by the CC debacle. Those of you who have already gotten your torches and pitchforks back out of the closet obviously have too much time on your hands.

OK, that's a good enough quote collection to give you an idea, the thread was subsequently locked after @CGQuarterly's chastising of Mike's critics by the admin/owner Albert.

So I'll wind down to my final thoughts. I'll close by listing my favorite quote from Mike which is "And you can be assured I won't be attempting any more gaming ventures." or "And, I will say again, I will not be starting any more gaming businesses personally." I hadn't seen that before. So the experience and community extracted a "promise" by him to never again engage in gaming-related businesses, haha! That's good to know I guess.

Now we'll see if Tommy Tallarico has a similar come-to-Jesus moment with the Incellivision Amico scam which has also cost him his reputation, and now home! Incidentally, there IS a connection between the two situations few would know: Mike Kennedy once launched a reasonable Kickstarter idea to buy the Intellivision IP and port all the games to Windows PC AND Tommy Tallarico actually backed the project! It failed to reach the funding goal, BUT Tommy effectively stole the idea years later, bought the IP himself, and then proceeded to try another RetroVGS console idea (The Amico) only this time JUST with that limited IP of retro games!! CRAZY!!!

Anyway, if Mike's truly sorry/repentant for this disaster, and keeps his vow to never again try to sell gamers on boneheaded "retroland" projects/ideas, then that is a good ending to the saga I guess, haha. Everyone knows not to give him a single penny again, so no worries on that front.

Poor Million Dollar Mike, he had a dream...a dream to scheme...

And with that, one last bit of nostalgia I once named "The Winning Team" to truly say good-bye to this thread. They had such promise, such potential, such...passion, but alas, it ended in miserable failure... Au revoir boys.