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Coleco Chameleon .... hardware speculations?


phoenixdownita

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When I saw the pics of the latest "prototype" I immediately thought that it looked like a PC card thrown under the Jag shell. I wouldn't've been able to determine what board it really was like the detectives here at AA.

 

This whole Retro VGS/Coleco Chameleon debacle has been a tragedy. I don't know that there is anything Mike can say or do to redeem himself at this point. I suppose the only thing he can do is cut the bullshit, roll up the sleeves and release a real console that becomes a success.

 

One of the few reasons I stopped listening to the ColecoVisions podcast was that it became a platform for Mike to promote all his business dealings - y'know this classic gaming empire he was trying to build.

 

I said it before, he only posts on AA when he wants to sell you something. And I'm sure he'll be back to sell us something else. After this debacle, I don't know who his buyers are.

 

If you're interested, I did an interview with Mike for Classic Video Gamer circa 2009 which you can read here.

Well hopefully you will come back to us at the ColecoVisions Podcast. Mike has been gone for some time now, its just Gamester81 and I on there now with guest hosts. Would love to get more guest hosts on the cast talking about our favorite subject Colecovision and Coleco toys!

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Why is it no one slammed Xbox when they added DVR to their xbox one?

Maybe because they didn't add it by opening their spare parts drawer, digging out a DVR capture card that was at least eight years old, and stuffing it into the console case? Or because they didn't try to claim that the DVR card itself, with nothing else inside the case, was the "prototype" for the entire console?

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Gamester81 has shilled for RVGS & Chameleon and since deleted the relevant YouTube videos. Collectorvision was hand-in-hand with RVGS, as one of their titles (The Adventures of Tiny Knight) was to be the RVGS bundled game and RVGS-exclusive for something like six months or a year after release.

 

I wrote a synopsis of some of his RVGS shilling and calling AtariAge members "toxic" in a single podcast alone. If you follow the links, that podcast still can be heard(~1:26:xx). Judge for yourself.

 

While he was certainly more cautious this time around, I think you guys may be letting him off easy when he doesn't deserve it.

 

I've not been shy about stating matter of factly in the past that there are elements in our community (classic videogames and computers) - like any dedicated community - that react negatively first and maybe try to understand the reasoning behind something later (and not acknowledging the mistake of their initial reaction). That's unfortunate, but unavoidable. With that said, it's clear that while the general reaction here (and elsewhere) as it specifically applies to the Retro VGS/Chameleon has been rather extreme, something positive has indeed come out of it. While I would always prefer an "ask questions first, react negatively later" approach in our community, I have to say that in this case, the results speak for themselves. So while the other side can accuse the community of being "toxic" and use any other negative moniker, it's clear that most of the reactions in this particular situation could have easily been stemmed or muted with legitimate transparency. We clearly didn't get that.

 

I also think we shouldn't blame anyone peripherally involved, even if they were defending the project for whatever reason or agenda. We don't know what they were told and I'm sure in most instances they would have no reason to doubt something from a previously trustworthy source (or even a friend). In other words, I'd personally like to see us as a community rise above this all and not turn this into a witch hunt when there's an obvious master source causing the specific issues in question here.

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Well hopefully you will come back to us at the ColecoVisions Podcast. Mike has been gone for some time now, its just Gamester81 and I on there now with guest hosts. Would love to get more guest hosts on the cast talking about our favorite subject Colecovision and Coleco toys!

 

The only other reason I stopped listening was because half the show was off topic. If memory serves the podcast was about an hour in length and the first half of the show was talking about pickups, Mike plugging Retro, GameGavel and RetroVGS etc.

 

When you guys were on topic, I thought it was good. If memory serves you had Ryan Gavigan on the podcast talking BurgerTime which was really good. But man I just had no interest in the first half of the show.

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The only other reason I stopped listening was because half the show was off topic. If memory serves the podcast was about an hour in length and the first half of the show was talking about pickups, Mike plugging Retro, GameGavel and RetroVGS etc.

 

When you guys were on topic, I thought it was good. If memory serves you had Ryan Gavigan on the podcast talking BurgerTime which was really good. But man I just had no interest in the first half of the show.

yep, the format has changed quite a bit. please listen to another one and let me know your thoughts. I want to improve the show so everyone enjoys it :)

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bagoverhead.jpg

How do we know Mike is still in charge???

They cancelled the Kickstarter without a word and even we could tell the photos were faked immediately

Retro Magazine belongs to him right? If he was not in charge anymore, David Giltinan wont be opening his ignorant mouth. oh no, Mike is in charge, he is no innocent.

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Gamester81 has shilled for RVGS & Chameleon and since deleted the relevant YouTube videos. Collectorvision was hand-in-hand with RVGS, as one of their titles (The Adventures of Tiny Knight) was to be the RVGS bundled game and RVGS-exclusive for something like six months or a year after release.

 

I wrote a synopsis of some of his RVGS shilling and calling AtariAge members "toxic" in a single podcast alone. If you follow the links, that podcast still can be heard(~1:26:xx). Judge for yourself.

 

While he was certainly more cautious this time around, I think you guys may be letting him off easy when he doesn't deserve it.

 

Well, from where I stand Gamster81 lost my respect when he made that infomercial. The guy had a stake in the project, does an "Interview" that is at the very best just a soft puff letting MK run the show and spew his nonsense, without addressing any actual concerns about the system at the time. Then gets all butthurt when people didn't like it. I'm sure he wasn't in on any of the RVGS scam stuff, but there were some legitimate concerns being put forward at the time and he actively worked to blow those off as not being a thing. Kind of feels like to me he threw all of us who had been watching him under a bus for the chance at some cash.

 

Also, the way I figure it is that AA saved me from having a chance at loosing 300 on the rvgs and a chance at loosing 150+ on the Chameleon. I figure at this point the least I can do is show my thanks and become a subscriber. That's money well spent.

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It also seems the Retro VGS/Coleco Chameleon/Scam page has been locked or something. I can't "like" it or view comments on it or something. I wonder if I've been blocked?

 

Yes, you've been banned by the page. With a Facebook page it's different to being blocked by a person, just means you can't like or comment. I could still like it if I wanted to with the last of my accounts that hasn't already been banned ;)

post-39360-0-74586600-1456852401_thumb.png

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Well hopefully you will come back to us at the ColecoVisions Podcast. Mike has been gone for some time now, its just Gamester81 and I on there now with guest hosts. Would love to get more guest hosts on the cast talking about our favorite subject Colecovision and Coleco toys!

 

And if you want even more Colecovision content, listen to the Atari 5200 SuperPodcast. It seems like half the episode runtime is dedicated Colecovision talk. ;)

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Yes, you've been banned by the page. With a Facebook page it's different to a person, just means you can't like or comment.

 

 

I would certainly & surely like to know why... I've only shared a few links here and there, I didn't even say anything directly on his page... *sadface*

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Gamester81 has shilled for RVGS & Chameleon and since deleted the relevant YouTube videos. Collectorvision was hand-in-hand with RVGS, as one of their titles (The Adventures of Tiny Knight) was to be the RVGS bundled game and RVGS-exclusive for something like six months or a year after release.

 

I wrote a synopsis of some of his RVGS shilling and calling AtariAge members "toxic" in a single podcast alone. If you follow the links, that podcast still can be heard(~1:26:xx). Judge for yourself.

 

While he was certainly more cautious this time around, I think you guys may be letting him off easy when he doesn't deserve it.

 

The only reason I knew of this system was through Gamester81 and I would've supported. After reading your overview and secondly, doing some research on my own on his old Youtube videos that he has now deleted... I will never support anything that he does unless he comes clean with all of us, as he has quite a bit of a following and I doubt all of them know of this forum and they could've been duped as well.

Edited by jconsolmagno
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I've not been shy about stating matter of factly in the past that there are elements in our community (classic videogames and computers) - like any dedicated community - that react negatively first and maybe try to understand the reasoning behind something later (and not acknowledging the mistake of their initial reaction). That's unfortunate, but unavoidable. With that said, it's clear that while the general reaction here (and elsewhere) as it specifically applies to the Retro VGS/Chameleon has been rather extreme, something positive has indeed come out of it. While I would always prefer an "ask questions first, react negatively later" approach in our community, I have to say that in this case, the results speak for themselves. So while the other side can accuse the community of being "toxic" and use any other negative moniker, it's clear that most of the reactions in this particular situation could have easily been stemmed or muted with legitimate transparency. We clearly didn't get that.

 

I also think we shouldn't blame anyone peripherally involved, even if they were defending the project for whatever reason or agenda. We don't know what they were told and I'm sure in most instances they would have no reason to doubt something from a previously trustworthy source (or even a friend). In other words, I'd personally like to see us as a community rise above this all and not turn this into a witch hunt when there's an obvious master source causing the specific issues in question here.

i forgot about the infomercial, yeah that was terrible! I liked his star wars videos and honestly he seemed to be an ok guy from the few chats we had in the past, but all that support and defense of Mike and the Retro VGS, made me lost all respect i had for him.

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I got nothing new to add that's not already been stated.

 

BUT...

 

Even if they do finalize hardware (highly unlikely they will not) I highly doubt many people will buy into it at this point with all the smoke and mirrors games Mike and associates have played with everyone

 

They should just take those jaguar shells and repurpose them into cool clocks or something and sell them on etsy because that's as good as it's going to get for them.

 

RIP Coleco Chameleon 2016-2016 "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times..... Not going to happen."

Edited by Shinju
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This must be one of Mike's motivational videos, and part of his employee training program:

 

I used to be involved in scambaiting, and I remember this video coming to my attention years ago.

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I also think we shouldn't blame anyone peripherally involved, even if they were defending the project for whatever reason or agenda. We don't know what they were told and I'm sure in most instances they would have no reason to doubt something from a previously trustworthy source (or even a friend). In other words, I'd personally like to see us as a community rise above this all and not turn this into a witch hunt when there's an obvious master source causing the specific issues in question here.

 

After listening to that podcast again, I think Gamester81 deserves any distrust he may receive. But that was RVGS and not Chameleon, so whether or not the two should be separate I'll leave up to those who watch his videos or buy his products.

I do understand what you're saying, though.

 

 

The only reason I knew of this system was through Gamester81 and I would've supported. After reading your overview and secondly, doing some research on my own on his old Youtube videos that he has now deleted... I will never support anything that he does unless he comes clean with all of us, as he has quite a bit of a following and I doubt all of them know of this forum and they could've been duped as well.

 

Sh3 also wrote down some good quotes from that same podcast. Whether or not Gamester81 deserves a second chance just a few mere months from IGG is up to you guys; I'm neither fan nor customer. Nothing wrong with forgiveness if its deserved, and coming clean would go a long way.

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Well, look at sales of XBO vs PS4... yes, they got slammed.

 

All their initial bullhockey about being a living room appliance, movies and netflix and hulu (but no 4K, lol)... oh, and your games are shrinkwrap license like PC now, and you can't loan your friend a game, and if you want to trade games in, you'll have to log into your XBL account AT GAMESTOP at a Kiosk to relenquish your license to the game, and oh, the leak that they were selling access to your living room through shadow camera access and recordings of your room during playtime to use object recognition to see banners, posters, signs and objects you own in your house to figure out what ads to send to you...

Yeah... then SONY released a video of their NA and JP managers showing 'How to Share a Game on PS4' and left their bigfoot sized boots up XBO's tailpipe. Sales, Sales is how they got smacked, lol.

 

Why is it no one slammed Xbox when they added DVR to their xbox one? Just wait until the Chameleon comes out - then you can pass judgement.

 

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MST3K fans might appreciate this:

 

"As if a switch had been turned, as if an eye had been blinked, as if some phantom force in the universe had made a move eons beyond our comprehension ... suddenly, there was no trail! There was no hardware, no prototype, no "thing" called the Coleco Chameleon to be followed. There was no one on the AtariAge Forums but the puzzled men of courage, who suddenly found themselves alone with shadows and darkness!"

 

(Here is the reference.)

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Yeah Im pretty convinced now of this.

 

So who are these people you spoke to on the phone? Any idea of whether they were in the US, China, etc.? I understand if you can't say, but taking the deceit to that level, if that's what Mike has done, is quite astonishing.

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I will say this, and this is not a defense of CollectorVision or anyone else, but when you have a very small fledgling business and have very little experience you are way more likely to be taken in by this kind of stuff. I guarantee you 9 years ago when I started SAG that if someone would have come in sell me some magic beans I would have been much more likely to fall for it. Part of it is just ignorance of the business and part of it is this desire to be at the ground floor of something possibly big. This can really blind you to reality sometimes because you are so desperate to succeed. Its so powerful in fact that it can drive what seem to be honest people to do dishonest things. It may be too late for Mike to redeem himself, but I don't feel its too late for everyone associated with this project. However, some humility may be required.

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