Vanta

this whole thing smells a lot like coleco chameleon...

I see someone sniped the old facebook group name to post satire, lol

I am not surprised in the slightest that Mike is back and his only focus is clearing his name and not, you know, apologising. I read the entire sob story and honestly, I don't buy it at all, Mike has thrown others under the bus to save his own skin before I see no reason why he wouldn't do the same again. A couple things really, really bug me about this, too. 1) Lee gave Mike the photos to post, according to Mike, thus it was Mike that pulled the photo once it was shown to be a pci card, it's also Mike who shut down commenters from responding to the news, all the while keeping silent while people were out for blood. 2) Claim of being in a hotel room wondering if he should open it and look inside - again this is bullshit, he would have to disconnect the controllers to set it up in the clear box, and since they were just snes pads he would have needed to open the shell and physically remove the connectors from the snes mini board, there really was no 'SHOULD I OPEN IT' he knew damn well all along, a custom pcb wouldn't have Nintendo printed on it. 3) He mentions that his wife heard part of a convo in their car, how fortunate for him to have such an independent and unbiased party to coroborate his story.. 4) where are the scans of bank statements showing these withdrawals? 5) If I had been made aware that I just got scammed out of close to 10k, I would be in the nearest police station filing a report, here's a list of things I woldnt be doing: * blocking the people that uncovered the fraud from commenting * covering up the reveal of it by deleting posts and images * taking several days to get back to coleco on their request to see the hardware * doubling down and deleting everything when coleco make an announcement about pulling out * jumping in to my trailer home and taking a month long vacation. I would however do the above if I was guilty as sin and wanted to try my best to hide the truth and keep coleco onboard, then hide everything to do damage control once shit had hit the fan, and run off from responsibility with a month long vacation to think of an excuse that paints myself out to be the victim while 'that other guy is to blame' while making it clear I deserve your pitty and forgiveness but I won't actually apologise Color me not in the least bit convinced, and frankly, even if it's true, Mike you are guilty as sin for not only your inaction but your actions during and after each time things we revealed to be faked. You get zero sympathy from me and frankly I hope you pack your bags and leave the retro community for good.

Keep the 300 page dream alive!

I believe Mike really really wanted to make this system, but he also: Didn't want to be the one funding its development Used car-salesmen tactics on those in charge of engineering and development Was FULLY aware that the system was not in a presentable form and outright lied as he didn't want public knowledge of that fact impacting the project Outright lied about support from other companies (Atari being one of them) to upsell the console to potential backers Is likely to try again, especially now that the Kennedy empire is crumbling around him Had many opportunities to come clean and be on a level with the community about things, but chose not to Likely had shill accounts on this and other forums defending the project up until Coleco's announcement this week. I know people say he had good intentions but having good intentions does not, in my opinion, change what actually happens. If you shoplift from a store and get caught, "I fully intended to pay!" won't get you off the hook when you're found to have not even brought your wallet. "I just wanted to talk to him!" won't get you off the hook after you're charged with assault, so people saying he had good intentions doesn't change the fact that he willingly lied to push his project forward in unethical ways. To those doubting if Mike know the prototype was fake or not - There are two shots of the console at NY Toy Fair, one inside the clear plastic case and one outside, in order to get those "hardwired" controllers out, he would have had to have lifted off the top half of the shell and unplugged the SNES controllers first, and I don't care how oblivious someone claims they are, when you see a PCB stamped with "© 1995 Nintendo" all possibility of pretending you thought it was a new FPGA board go out the window with it. He is complicit and likely the mastermind behind the deception.

And imaginary! the chip placement seems done by someone trying to give the impression that the board is complicated, more than the impression that the board is real. Also the mosfet heat sincs aren't actually attached to mosfets.

I'll take that offered sandwhich!

Seems they finally pulled down their twitter page too

Thanks to Phoenixdownita for the idea.

Or even, "Where in the world is Con-man; San Diego?"

Yeah, as i said earlier, i'll give that an hour tops before it's protected/gone

Timings too spot on to be anything other than mike shutting it down in response to the announcement. It was up about 20 minutes before, as i checked it out.

Ah the old "scrub everything and act like it didn't happen, maybe it'll go away" routine. Any bets on how long till they pull down the twitter? : https://twitter.com/RETROVGS Within the hour is my guess. Sites also been pulled - http://retrovgs.com/ Mike, it isn't going to work, to quote the Simpsons for a moment...

From the Coleco FB page just now Reads to me like they tried to stall Coleco with "uh uh.. we um.. we need more time to get things as good as possible!" and Coleco were just like "yeah, no, screw this" https://www.facebook.com/Colecovision-1616402778636687/ I guess the takeaway here is that we now, without a single doubt, that we have been absolutely spot on with our findings and theories, and while some may feel Mike was somewhat innocent and oblivious to the goings on, the way he likes to be front man and the only real centerpiece to PR, makes it virtually impossible for me to believe that he wasn't fully aware of the situation all along. But alas, he has paid the price, even the projects of his that weren't faked are now mere crumbled shadows of their former self because everyone wants to abandon ship.

You know, I really hope Coleco come in and publicly post their findings, clearly they didn't need the full week to come to a descision.

Deadline is Thursday

Nah he should leave it, but reply to himself with "The first thing you need is the actual prototype"

Not going to make this long winded, but honestly, I think we all need to take a step back for a few days, let Coleco conduct their investigation and post the results, and (hopefully) see the reaction/announcement from Mike, because ultimately how he deals with everything when we do next hear from him should be the deciding factor for how the community interacts with him in future. I'd rather things not turn in to a bloodbath, at least until we have the entire situation laid out. And Mike, if you're reading this, my suggestion is come clean, scrap the idea and sell some shells, you'll have an immensely long way to go for forgiveness, and many people may not even be able to forgive you, but that doesn't mean you don't owe it to everyone to try.

My money's on janus

Someone should just make a multipurpose mainboard that has two cart slots, one for games and one for cartridge based cores, then youre only paying for the cores for systems you want to use.

It would actually be possible to restore them to their original state using insert blocks that are cloned from the original paneling, providing the edges were crisp and free of contaminates it would work well with minimal flash

My worry comes from the (as i understand it) situation that his injection molding factory has the molds in their possession, it takes just one slip up to cause carnage. Eg, if he calls them and they say "we can do that, it'll cost $xxx, or we can do this and it'll be cheaper" without stating specifically "but your molds will be forever different", he could, just being a PR guy and not an engineer, give the go ahead not even realizing whats going to happen.

No worries, colecting a list twice at least insures there is less chance we missed something. Albert if you read this, give the years sub to SD&R, i'm already subbed! So I want to address something that I thought about while creating my own list above. When you do modifications to an existing design that require significant "addition" to the plastics, the other side of the mold requires significant removal, likewise when you require significant removal of plastics, the other side requires significant addition, all of this is generally (when people are using existing production molds) done by having NEW molds created, sometimes it's possible to modify existing molds and only go new for a mold half instead, it drastically cuts the cost of mold production but permanently alters the original mold. I hope to f*#king god Mike doesn't, in his pursuit of a day dream, cut corners and have some factory modify the Jaguar molds, because if they do the original molds for the Jaguar will be lost forever.

Relevant posts for those catching up: Mike announces cartidge adapter (For RetroVGS) - [here] Initial statement from Mike regarding the inception of Coleco Chameleon - [here] "Launch titles will start to be announced in January and lead up until Toy Fair" - [here] "Once the prototype is complete we'll reveal what's inside, it wont be much longer" - [here] Triverse interview Mark Thomann RE: Coleco licensing and the Chameleon, & his feelings on criticism - [here] Piko comments on initial contact with Mike for releasing software on the Chameleon - [here] Jan 15th post points out no games have been announced yet - [here] as they were said to be [here] Jan 22nd post lists the lack of announcements and the silence across RVGS social networks - [here] CUPodcast covers announcement of RVGS Coleco Chameleon - [here] RVGS facebook post hints at $150 retail price for console - [here] RVGS facebook post states launch console will have variety of games - [here] RVGS twitter account says "still coming" to january game announcements, Jan 30th - [here] RVGS releases "Early launch titles" video montage, montage is just of retro games - [here] Full list of games shown off in video montage - [here] and [here] CUPpodcast follow up on RVGSmove towards chameleon and indiegogo campaign - [here] Post covering RVGS facebook announcement first mention of kickstarter plans, Feb 1st - [here] RVGS show off clothing and decal application, looks ropey as shit - [here] Analysis of RVGS team page with linkedin profile overview - [here] Mike talking shit about the Ouya (becomes a habbit) - [here] RVGS "Retro VGS first quick demo" video - [here] Coleco/Chameleon booth information for Toy Fair - [here] Coleco/Chameleon Toy Fair brochure - [here] Mike addresses media response and Coleco Licensing / Coleco association confusion - [here] New RVGS homepage goes up, empty system specifications page - [here] Fake Chameleon twitter announces project will use FPGA and be priced at $150 - [here] Mike chimes in on fake accounts - [here] RVGS shows console running "Sydney Hunter" (Snes) - Implies same unit will be at toy fair, No power light - [here] - [full image] Ars Technica article covers the removal of standard ports among other things - [here] Post covering the deletion of content by RVGS - [here] RVGS announce date of kickstarter for Chameleon on FB - [here] Initial analysis of Toy Fair footage - No power light, Hardwired snes controllers - [here] Theory that the multi-cart shown at Toy Fair is a Snes2SD - [here] First theory stating the contents of the Toy Fair prototype is likely just a SNES - [here] (Image deleted by RVGS) Shot of the back of the unit gets analysis - [here] More speculation regarding the content being a SNES - [here] - [here] - [here] RVGS state they will show pictures of the PCB for the kickstarter launch, and that it will be FPGA Arm - [here] RVGS address the suggestions that the contents is just a Snes Jr (watching the thread much?) - [here] Kevtris chimes on on the reality that it's likely a SNES inside a Jaguar shell - [here] RVGS claim they have written a SNES FPGA - [here] Poster re-creates the "Prototype" using Snes JR and Jaguar shell - Get's perfect match - [here] Poster compares the above image to the "Prototype" - [here] Poster posts the photo RVGS posted to quiet the "show the connections" requests - [here] Mike covers the topic of purchasing the Jaguar molds - [here] PikoInteractive's website quoted after interacting with coleco and asking Mike to debunk SNES mini rumors - [here] Youtuber covers the growing speculation towards Snes Mini/Jr fakery - [here] and [here] Poster compares the rear connections of Snes mini to the "prototype" directly - [here] Interview with Mike at the toy fair - [here] Pictures from the booth - Controller is Interworks Pro Controller U - [here] Vanta note! - they simply drilled out a hole in the IR panel and threw in a USB cable) Poster covers discrepency regarding "hardwired" claims - [here] CUPodcast covers the latest findings regarding the kickstarter and prototype - [here] RVGS banning users on FB for bringing up the Snes Mini speculation - [here] Various excuses by Mike regarding the shell and protrusions of the Snes Mini - [here] Vanta note! - Changing the tooling to accommodate such changes would require a new mold to be made, of the modification of existing molds to save cost, thus, if he went ahead with modification of the existing molds, the original Jaguar molds would be lost forever. Email from someone that hates ReviewTechUSA getting his video of the Chameleon fiasco pulled - [here] and [here] ReviewTechUSA's video regarding the Chameleon - [here] Another interview with Mike at the Toy Fair - [here] SD&R's overview ofthe interview - [here] More information from Kevtris stating he won't touch CC with a barge pole - [here] Poster makes a replica of the prototype - [here] RVGS states they will make an announcement soon regarding SNES speculation - [here] Mike again claims their "Software" was running the games, not a SNES - [here] Chameleon On//Off and Light pipe toolings - [here] Recap of FB posts by RVGS team in correct order - [here] RVGS posts update with Clear console pictures - the start of Mikes true downfall - [here] Note that the image linked in this post was the one that Mike deleted once it was found to be faked - [here] All images, including the deleted one can be found - [here] Poster identifies some chips and the board type used in the transparent "prototype" - [here] Posters identify the correct board used in the now confirmed fake "prototype" - [here] and [here] Comparison of "prototype" along side the actual board placed inside to fake it - [here] Coleco addresses the concerns and assigns RVGS 7 days to turn over a working prototype - [here] - Due date should be March 10th. SD&R's overview of the timeline that brought us here can be found via this link, too. Since this is an active story and an active thread, consider this post to be a *work in progress* if you have any links I should add, inbox me them and i'll add.

I lost a shittone of respect for Gamester81 after watching that video. Flip flopping to the extreme, hitting contradictions left and right, trying to appease both sides while twisting the knife at the same time. I found the bringing up the things he's done for Pat to be especially jarring, and the constant feeling that he was defending Mike more-so than understanding why Pat was so pissed off. Gamester81, dude, you f'ed up, you'd have been better off not making a video at all than posting this. Going full christmas time commercial donation begging level guilt tripping over the ISIS and staving kids thing was the nail in the coffin for me.