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How has this not been posted yet? Retro VGS


racerx

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I have been seeing people mention their dissatisfaction with RETRO not having all that much "retro" content. I published a print magazine that accompanied our website and the PDF is freely available for anyone that is interested in grabbing it. We also still offer the print edition through Magcloud, again, for those interested.

 

http://retrogamingmagazine.com/buy-rgm/

 

If you are on Android we have both issues available there too:

https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Carl_Williams_Retro_Gaming_Magazine_1?id=6Fv1AgAAQBAJ

 

https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Hyper_Focused_Media_Retro_Gaming_Magazine_2_Fan_Tr?id=19t8AwAAQBAJ

 

We are working on relaunching, have agreements to have the print edition in many game stores (and looking to add more) and a much lower price (over what Magcloud charges).

Just wanted to mention this as we are moving forward on this and want to gauge the interest on it.

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I know I am a bit late to the game (real life and stuff), but I have written an article detailing why the Retro VGS failed, and offer some ideas on how it could succeed:

 

http://www.snescentral.com/article.php?id=1085

 

I've been enraptured by this thread, even though I am not an active poster. I think this campaign was the ultimate triumph of hubris over common sense.

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I know I am a bit late to the game (real life and stuff), but I have written an article detailing why the Retro VGS failed, and offer some ideas on how it could succeed:

 

http://www.snescentral.com/article.php?id=1085

 

I've been enraptured by this thread, even though I am not an active poster. I think this campaign was the ultimate triumph of hubris over common sense.

 

That was a great read, you really did your homework! Mike scouting for dev talent on NintendoAge is news to me. A lot of the attempts to get this console off the ground are so frighteningly amateur. It's like if someone decided one day to just start digging a hole in their backyard to try to stike oil, then starts asking the public for $1.85 million to dig a bigger hole.

 

There's a lot in your write up that I agree with but one thing I don't agree with is the effect Kevtris' console had on stalling the campaign. I think the effect was negligible. The FPGA ability to play actual classic games was hyped for about a week or two after a facebook update and then seemingly abandoned once the campaign started. I don't think they really gained or lost any backers from that kerfuffle with Kevtris. Those who weren't going to back it found another reason not to, the superfans who already backed said "meh" and people who stumbled on their page probably didn't know about it because RVGS had a Stalinist ban and whitewash operation to silence any mention of a possible Kevtris console, I even got banned from their Facebook for it. I think the stalling of the campaign came down to two factors. As you said, 1) a big part of it is that the hardcore fans who had the money to spare at the start of the campaign had already pledged and no one else followed because 2) they never had any press coverage and that was the biggest killer for the campaign. You touched on this with the N64 comparison where there was a big lead up to the console so people weren't as enthused when it was finally released, like the N64 the RVGS had a lot of hype in our small little retro gaming universe so by the time the campaign launched the media didn't care. There was no "news" to report because it was no surprise to anyone that a cartridge based console was going to crowdfunding, the RVGS had already shot it's load.

 

I do agree with the idea of turning the RVGS into a Jaguar on a chip, it's one of the first ideas that came to my mind when I heard about the RVGS. I think this also challenges your view that they made a mistake by going with the Jaguar case. The Jag wasn't exactly plentiful or popular so if they could make it possible to use Jaguar carts that would make a backer out of me because I'd know that even after Retro Land becomes a failed state I'd still have a brand new Jaguar with HDMI out.

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....

 

I do agree with the idea of turning the RVGS into a Jaguar on a chip, it's one of the first ideas that came to my mind when I heard about the RVGS.

 

....

Yeah, 'bout that ... resuming a failed console to build it anew as it were can only lead to fail again, let it rest in peace.

It's 2016 and powerful ARM based SoCs are a dime a dozen, as well as FPGAs with hard ARM cpus (just not yet exactly "a dime"), so no need to go into that particular closet and get that particular skeleton out of it.

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I'd rather resurrect a failed console that had a library full of exclusives than an sell overpriced Steam games on a cartridge.

 

Also, I didn't give enough detail. I didn't mean just make another Jag, I meant make his dream console that is also compatible with the Jag. Think how the Atari 7800 could take 2600 games.

 

And how about those Jag exclusives. I'd buy the RVGS if it came with a reproduction Attack of the Mutant Penguins cart. Those are some licensing deals worth chasing.

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I venture that we'll agree to disagree.

 

The Jag exclusives you seem to refer to were an odd bunch to be sure but it's the kind of treasures you'll find at a flea market ... there may well be a gem somewhere in there but usually it is just NOT and even when you think you found one you need an expert to even be sure.

 

No amount of AOTMP, Baldies, Cybermorph, Blue Lightning, Checkered Flag, Club Drive, Highlander, I-War, Kasumi Ninja, SuperCross 3D, Trevor McFur, Troy Aikman and WMCJ can save it.

For such a small gamebase the amount of dogs in the Jag library is truly embarrassing, no matter whose fault that was.

Edited by phoenixdownita
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I'd rather resurrect a failed console that had a library full of exclusives than an sell overpriced Steam games on a cartridge.

 

Also, I didn't give enough detail. I didn't mean just make another Jag, I meant make his dream console that is also compatible with the Jag. Think how the Atari 7800 could take 2600 games.

 

And how about those Jag exclusives. I'd buy the RVGS if it came with a reproduction Attack of the Mutant Penguins cart. Those are some licensing deals worth chasing.

For whatever it's worth, I was thinking along similar lines when I (half-jokingly) suggested earlier in this thread that they should revive Atari's unfinished prototype for the Jaguar 2:

 

... I'm starting to wonder if it would have been a better strategy for the RVGS to bring Atari's unfinished "Jaguar 2" to fruition: a new Jaguar with updated specs and better graphics, but backward-compatible with the original. To fill out the starting library, negotiate a reissue of the best original Jaguar titles (the ones that are now selling at used car prices), hire a small team of developers to port popular games from other platforms in much the same way that Imagitec Design did for Atari, and work with established publishers like Songbird to produce new exclusive titles. Hey, it's not as if it could have turned out any worse!

Bill Rehbock discussed the Jaguar 2 at CGE years ago, and although I don't remember the details, he mentioned that Atari had it working to the point where it could run original Jaguar games at a higher resolution and with bilinear filtering. Another possibility would be to integrate and expand the COJAG enhancements, such as the hard drive interface (now useful for an SSD), more RAM, faster processor, etc.

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For such a small gamebase the amount of dogs in the Jag library is truly embarrassing, no matter whose fault that was.

True, the gems in the Jaguar library are few and far between. But nobody ever said that the bad games had to be brought back: just pick and choose from among the best that the Jag has to offer, and you'll still have a more impressive starting library than the Retro VGS.
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You touched on this with the N64 comparison where there was a big lead up to the console so people weren't as enthused when it was finally released, like the N64 the RVGS had a lot of hype in our small little retro gaming universe so by the time the campaign launched the media didn't care. There was no "news" to report because it was no surprise to anyone that a cartridge based console was going to crowdfunding, the RVGS had already shot it's load.

Guys, are we seriously comparing the RetroVGS to the N64?

 

N64 actually exists [!] was released by a company with a prooven track record in the console business, was moderately successful selling 32 million units worldwide and turning a tidy profit, and had great first party games and exclusives. The simularities end with the fact both allegedly support carts.

 

RetroVGS is pretty much vaporware at this point. Even comparisons to the Jaguar are a bit pie-in-the-sky at this point, because it too actually existed [!] despite tanking hard and leading it's parent company to financial ruin.

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I know I am a bit late to the game (real life and stuff), but I have written an article detailing why the Retro VGS failed, and offer some ideas on how it could succeed:

 

http://www.snescentral.com/article.php?id=1085

 

I've been enraptured by this thread, even though I am not an active poster. I think this campaign was the ultimate triumph of hubris over common sense.

Good article; I much enjoyed the read. :cool:

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I know I am a bit late to the game (real life and stuff), but I have written an article detailing why the Retro VGS failed, and offer some ideas on how it could succeed:

 

http://www.snescentral.com/article.php?id=1085

 

I've been enraptured by this thread, even though I am not an active poster. I think this campaign was the ultimate triumph of hubris over common sense.

 

A great read, thanks!

 

I had no idea that people are making games for the Jaguar. Wow. But that is ultra-low niche. Hard to build a Retro VGS/Jag around :)

 

/Nicholas

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I know I am a bit late to the game (real life and stuff), but I have written an article detailing why the Retro VGS failed, and offer some ideas on how it could succeed:

 

http://www.snescentral.com/article.php?id=1085

 

I've been enraptured by this thread, even though I am not an active poster. I think this campaign was the ultimate triumph of hubris over common sense.

Nice writeup! Great site too, visited it many times over the last several years.

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Say, when is the RGR-'special' regarding all this coming? or did I miss something?

 

Thanks!

You didnt miss anything.

 

We did a pre-campaign show and we will do a post-campaign show.

 

It will have to wait until the campaign ends.

 

The next show will likely be a regular monthly show.

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