Lyth

I hope they issue an apology for doing that, as they are advertising their console with your game(s), and are turning a profit (or atleast interest, for now) from it. I wonder if someone can reach out to them about this. Might be better if you do it as well, to protect your asset. Maybe? Damn. :\

Haha, no no no. I'm talking about in general, a lot of these Kickstarter projects are based off of a Pi, and make profit off of it. There's other boards out there, that are more powerful and appropriate for more projects. Just my opinion, as I've seen a lot of botched products.

It's time for some fresh hardware that doesn't primarily run off a Pi.

Ugh, standard Chinese OEM gamepad. These are a dime-a-dozen here. I've seen the types of factories that make these things. Meh. I'm surprised they didn't go with a higher quality gamepad, as many exist on the market. These OEM ones are damn low quality, and usually lack certification (no CE or UL or RohS), or have false markings on them. Doesn't mean this one is going that route, but it's possible. I've lived in China for 4 or 5 years, and have even worked a little bit of time in OEM exporting. Most of this stuff is manufactured without longevity, quality, or customers in mind. I'm curious about the actual specs and console supported list. There's not much reason why they couldn't tell us that, even if it's tentative. Edit: Did they even show off their patent pending(?) hybrid emulation technology or even disc swaps? Or heck, did they even show off them interacting with hardware?

You hit the nail exactly on the head their, my friend. I'm beginning to love this community already! Edit: Darn internet here, being all wonky!

It's possible that it was an honest mistake. However, in any type of business, it is important to give accurate information to your customers, especially during launch. And, especially after the Chameleon bamboozle-ment. Not sure of what to make of this. *sigh* We'll see! Any information regarding their showcase at that convention?

So, some new information has come to light. Retrobox's website claims the "patented hybrid emulation technology", however, the press release claims "patent pending hybrid emulation technology". This is called "false marking", and isn't ethical, and possibly not legal to do. (Mind you, I'm not a patent lawyer. Just going from what Google says. Nonetheless, this isn't good...) I don't mean to point fingers, as this may have been some accidental oversight. However, this is incredibly important to get correct from the get go, to avoid misconception. See below (click the picture), or see for yourself directly on their website (http://retroblox.com/ and http://retroblox.com/press/)

I'd imagine it could be "patent pending", due to the many obstructions related to it in the first place. (Possible infringements on current patents, OEM parts, non exclusive "technology", multiple current products existing which use the same technology, etc) I'm not a patent lawyer, but it's not difficult to foresee the issues with such a claim, and any acts to make such a claim into a reality (ie; patented).

I imagine "hybrid emulation technology" is just a fancy marketing term for "interface that reads cartridges and loads them into an emulator". By all means, that's not a bad thing. But there's no reason to claim its patented, nor patentable, nor that it's "technology". Being ambiguous on purpose, is a bad thing in this case.

Heh, I got your back man, I got your back. Who's got mine?

Totally saved that gif. Why? Because relevance.

You hit the nail on the head there. I'm currently compiling all of my information together, and am awaiting for my new site to be pushed online. After that, you guys shall know my product, inside and out. I aim for as much transparency from day 1 as possible. Mind you, Retroblox shares some of the same market as Lythium (my console), but there are some major differences. Most notably? Projected price. There's no way they can hit our target. I'll explain more in time. I respect you guys here, and the entire retro gaming market as I experienced the whole downfall of Chameleon as well. That give me insight. Additionally, I know you all work hard to preserve retro gaming, and have strong ethics regarding that. :3

My head is still spinning on how they haven't even really shown anything. inb4 you guys tell that to me too. Wait 1 more week. You shall see, my precious.

Throw in some LED spinning rims that play the Super Mario Overworld theme. Bam. Money

Hehe, once our site update gets pushed, I will. Just making sure we have a lot of real things to show you guys, before I "officially" start talking about it, know what I mean? I respect you guys.

Heh, makes me excited for what you guys' will say about my upcoming console. QwQ ~Exciting~

No problem, man! And, I totally agree with you. I don't see Kickstarter as bad, I just see it as a sometimes necessary stepping stone that smaller companies need to take (such as myself). Just since a lot of companies believe they can survive solely from Kickstarter funding, is what gives it all a bad reputation. Thus is why I'm seeking secondary funding and have continuously put a large chunk of change towards my own project to keep it afloat. Transparency. Heh, I have a pretty good hold on these things because I've founded a company that's actually been making a quite similar product (minus CDROM and with a few other desirable twists) for the past 2 years. I've seen the ups and downs and experienced the hurdles that we had to jump through. You should be seeing my work on these forums soon enough, with as much transparency from day 1, as possible. Transparency is the exact reason why, we haven't gone public with our work yet, because we want to have a solid foothold before doing so. It's quite important that we have a strong beginning in order to appease customers properly. By all means, I'm not bitter that these guys are following in my footsteps a bit, as I come from quite humble beginnings. I'm happy to share the space, as there's definitely enough for both of us. However, it irks me and concerns me greatly when a company pops up out of nowhere with only renders and an idea. And of course, I'd love to help anyone get their hands on random chinese gadgets, heh. I've got proper access to Taobao, which comprises of a lot of gadgets that don't make it outside of China. So feel free to ping me anytime and request some help. I also know the Chinese manufacturing/production side quite well and have written a few large posts on Reddit before, detailing the "life of a Chinese factory worker" and such. -Lyth

First, I'd like to say, I watch your Youtube series. Solid work, man. I see that you cover some Chinese stuff sometimes. Well, I live in HK/China, and I'd love to connect with you in regards to that type of stuff. I might be able to help you get your hands on things that aren't readily available on Aliexpress and such. Most people here use Taobao, it's more closed off. Secondly, you are correct. A lot of hardware companies that go on kickstarter end up not delivering on their promise. It's a cruel world. This is why, I think "kickstarter based companies" need to start showing off more of their company itself, rather than just the product. Give people some actual credible information about the staff and such, you know? -Lyth Edit: Double posted. My apologies.

I'll add my two cents regarding this, from my perspective. I personally find that there is 2 types of companies raise money through kickstarter. 1) Companies with just an idea, and want money to make it reality. (Not feasible) 2) Companies that have a prototype, and need money to mass produce it, and then build up from there. (Feasible) Personally, my console (Lythium), falls under the second column. We have a few different working prototype revisions, and are needing that glorious kickstarter cash for mass producing and marketing. Some companies don't need kickstarter and that's most likely because they have capital, or some sort of investment through a seed or angel group. Kickstarter is seen as an alternative to that, as it is micro investments from multiple people. Yet most companies don't realize that Kickstarter money is usually not enough for them to stay afloat or even release the product, as we've seen before. Thus is why secondary funding through a seed or startup group is good to get additionally to kickstarter. Multiple rounds of funding through different sources is quite normal, at least in the part of the world where I am in. What concerns me about RetroBlox is neither of the 2 staff members (don't even get me started on how 2 people would have a rough time to achieve this), are software experts. I don't see any hardware experience in their bio's.

Regardless of what you wish, people will speculate until they are provided with clear, concise, and honest information about the product. Even then, they will continue to speculate until they have the product in hand. Even after that, they will continue to speculate about the future of the product. This is human nature, as it stems from curiosity and a need to "fill in the blanks". If they don't want people to "jump to conclusions", then they shouldn't seemingly be following the same path of previous disasters. Super ambitious, it definitely us. Just hope they can share some real information, pictures, specifications, videos and more, soon. All in all, I'm excited to see a some-what direct competitor to my product, even though they're a bit behind on the race. We need more quality hardware in this market, for sure. (Some others on these forums have made absolutely splendid products, which is lovely and heartwarming to this market. Keep it up!) With that said, it's time for me to sleep. It's 3:23AM in Hong Kong. Night!

From working with this stuff, I would reckon "patented hybrid emulation technology" is simply just "cartridges + emulator", as it's a mix of emu + rom and console + cart. However, some things I'll share. 1) This most likely isn't patent-able, as a utility, function, feature, etc. Without going into much detail, there's three sides to consider. The legality side, OEM side, and existing products side. In a nutshell, there's most likely already official and unofficial products that use said "technology" and/or pieces that exists within it. Plus, a lot of the parts are made by various manufacturers (due to OEM prevalence in China). Lastly, lots of big brand companies such as Nintendo, hold patents over some pretty cool things. 2) Using a blanket marketing term "technology" is incredibly horrible to do. It pretty much just says "we have something to hide". and/or "this is nothing more than just words". Ever see those health products that say "Featuring ActiveX Health Technology"? These "technologies" allow them to put pretty much anything inside, for all you know, it could be just water. (See? Just fancy words) My suggestion to them would be to drop all the BS marketing speak, and talk real specs, real data, and show the real product. Of course, I'm not a patent lawyer or anything, but it doesn't take glasses to see through the smoke here.

Should be fun. Batter up!

As with all good ideas, it's only a matter of time before you realize that someone is doing the same thing. However, by all means, you do you! Don't fret. See the market, find a niche, fill that niche. That's business! In regards to RetroBlox's CD support; my brain just keeps coming to the conclusion that it's an ARM or Intel based box with a USB DVD reader. Mind you, that's not always a bad thing, just something they should clarify and explain what their strengths are. Lastly, I completely agree with your statement about the chameleon. Another debacle of that sort, would even more hurt the credibility of the "kickstarter funded game console" marketing area, among other things. However, it'd made for a pretty nifty read, here on AA .