VectorGamer Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 I hope eventually someone writes a book about all this. I think it would see well in our scene. Oh please no. I've done enough reading about this topic already. I would like to see a documentary about this topic as there are plenty of stories to be told. I'd back a Kickstarter for that. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob_ocelot Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 From the Colecovision FB page bout a half hour ago: __________ Chameleon Product: We are thankful to have a large group of passionate engineers and retro game enthusiasts who follow Coleco and other product lines. It has come to our attention that the community has certain concerns over the prototypes involving the Retro VGS model. The team at Retro remains confident that their product is developed to the extent as describe; HOWEVER, in order to confirm or debase these concerns, Coleco has demanded to inspect the prototype units within a seven day time frame. At which time, independent engineers will review their findings and determine if those units are up to our standards. We will report some or all of those findings to the community so as long as they do not interfere with proprietary information. We remain hopeful that the community's concerns are merely speculations, but if there is merit to the concerns, then we have no choice but to abandon the project rather than release a sub-par product. During this time, we ask that the community allow us time to complete these inspections. Time extensions will only be granted if requested by the independent engineer. Time extensions and results will be posted here. Wow. Shit just got real. Mike better have his homework done and not cribbed from elsewhere. Guess River west Brands does care if their hard-purchased IP is dragged through the mud. Who knew? 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamnotagoomba Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 If anyone needs a link to the Facebook post it is at https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1696447897298841&id=1616402778636687 (I guess replace the m. for a www. if you're not on a mobile device!) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atm94404 Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 From the Colecovision FB page bout a half hour ago: __________ Chameleon Product: We are thankful to have a large group of passionate engineers and retro game enthusiasts who follow Coleco and other product lines. It has come to our attention that the community has certain concerns over the prototypes involving the Retro VGS model. The team at Retro remains confident that their product is developed to the extent as describe; HOWEVER, in order to confirm or debase these concerns, Coleco has demanded to inspect the prototype units within a seven day time frame. At which time, independent engineers will review their findings and determine if those units are up to our standards. We will report some or all of those findings to the community so as long as they do not interfere with proprietary information. We remain hopeful that the community's concerns are merely speculations, but if there is merit to the concerns, then we have no choice but to abandon the project rather than release a sub-par product. During this time, we ask that the community allow us time to complete these inspections. Time extensions will only be granted if requested by the independent engineer. Time extensions and results will be posted here. Except there are only two possibilities. 1) The holders of the name "Coleco" were in on the scam, and we can't trust what they say. 2) They weren't in on the scam and they had an SNES in Jag shell in their own booth for many days and they didn't think anything was fishy. Think about this. They saw it set up, they saw the SD2SNES cart menu screens, they saw them putting SNES games into it. They might even have seen the case open to fiddle with the controller connections. They certainly read the Facebook posts after the first day that said "it's a SNES!" and they didn't give it a closer look. If they are that gullible, why would you trust what they say now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
galax Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 Yes, I followed that whole years-long saga on Pinside, along with the Predator pinball thing(which I actually played for a bit at Pinball Expo). It was John Popadauik for Magic Girl/RAZA/Alice in Wonderland. That whole thing was 100 times worse than this. Money changed hands. No kickstarter or Indiegogo. Thousands of dollars were prepaid(that's the pinball way) and nothing came out of it. Hate Mike all you want, at least he didn't do that. The links I've seen don't explain what people think caused this to happen. Did he just enjoy spending the money and do no work at all? Did he lack the technical skills to build the machines? Was he just incompetent at running a business? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 Whatever doubts we may have about them, I'm delighted that River West seems to be following through in a serious way. In a reply posted about 50 minutes ago, they said "It is important that we respect the folks who are working on the project before we jump to conclusions. They should have an opportunity to defend their work." I only hope that whoever is doing the inspections goes in with full knowledge of the history of the project and of what Mike has claimed about it (that they have a "fully-working FPGA core", etc). Otherwise, Mike could simply get desperate and slip them a Jag shell with a Raspberry Pi running off-the-shelf emulators taped to the inside and say "See?! Here's our prototype! It works!!!", and they wouldn't be the wiser. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cimerians Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 Something will be made clear soon, if Coleco Holdings really care for the brand, in a week or two the Coleco Chameleon can be definitely burried for good. If they dont give a crap for the brand like they say they do, the scam lives and will return to strike back Ehhhh........ The engineers are not really independent if River West\Coleco Holdings is hiring them. (They have interest in the product and put their brand on it) but we'll see. Basically I'm on the fence on what they are saying but they HAD to say something. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybermario Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 hahaha, love how this indie developer is arguing with me defending this "journalist" for not making proper digging before she decided to hype the chameleon 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PikoInteractive Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 Except there are only two possibilities. 1) The holders of the name "Coleco" were in on the scam, and we can't trust what they say. 2) They weren't in on the scam and they had an SNES in Jag shell in their own booth for many days and they didn't think anything was fishy. Think about this. They saw it set up, they saw the SD2SNES cart menu screens, they saw them putting SNES games into it. They might even have seen the case open to fiddle with the controller connections. They certainly read the Facebook posts after the first day that said "it's a SNES!" and they didn't give it a closer look. If they are that gullible, why would you trust what they say now? I can tell you for sure that they were in the dark as much as us. We were all waiting for video of a working prototype since the SNES mini circus. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldenegg Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 There's absolutely nothing Coleco can say to defend any of the allegations around the shown 'prototypes'. At best, then can simply say that there is a working prototype which hasn't been shown and it means all their quality requirements. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRedEye Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 hahaha, love how this indie developer is arguing with me defending this "journalist" for not making proper digging before she decided to hype the chameleon Yeah haha what an idiot oh wait that's me 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tep392 Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 I was fully expecting Coleco Holdings to drop the CC after this last fiasco. Looks like it's going to happen soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atm94404 Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 I can tell you for sure that they were in the dark as much as us. We were all waiting for video of a working prototype since the SNES mini circus. I respect that you were in no position to demand Mike open that "prototype" at the Toy Fair, but the Mike was in THEIR booth. If they didn't demand before the show, they certainly could have demanded after the first day when Mike's deception was spotted (using Mike's own video and pictures which is conspicuously deleted). And barring that, they could have demanded Mike open it up after the show. So at the very least, they demonstrated an extreme lack of due diligence and poor judgement with regards to the flagship product to resurrect the Coleco name. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
galax Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 Except there are only two possibilities. 1) The holders of the name "Coleco" were in on the scam, and we can't trust what they say. 2) They weren't in on the scam and they had an SNES in Jag shell in their own booth for many days and they didn't think anything was fishy. Think about this. They saw it set up, they saw the SD2SNES cart menu screens, they saw them putting SNES games into it. They might even have seen the case open to fiddle with the controller connections. They certainly read the Facebook posts after the first day that said "it's a SNES!" and they didn't give it a closer look. If they are that gullible, why would you trust what they say now? The head of River West/Colecovision and spends his spare time making music and movies. I could hang out with girls like these making my own movies all day I wouldn't be following Facebook and AtariAge too closely either. Edit: I was a bit mean when I posted this, I've revised it to be a bit more neutral. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godslabrat Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 Ehhhh........ The engineers are not really independent if River West\Coleco Holdings is hiring them. (They have interest in the product and put their brand on it) but we'll see. Basically I'm on the fence on what they are saying but they HAD to say something. RW/CH has at least one vested interest in the outcome: the ability to make money on the ColecoVision name. If they're planning on getting a per-unit royalty on every Chameleon sold, they'd have to be plain stupid to think that was still in the cards. This project is never seeing the light of day, so they have to ask themselves: do we stand to make more money from Mike today, or if we protect our brand, can we make money licensing the name to some non-Scuzzbag in the future? How much that question influenced the engineers remains to be seen, but that's the bottom line for RW. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybermario Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 Ehhhh........ The engineers are not really independent if River West\Coleco Holdings is hiring them. (They have interest in the product and put their brand on it) but we'll see. Basically I'm on the fence on what they are saying but they HAD to say something. yes, my point is, this will show if they truly care for the brand, or just want money even from scams. Cant say some of their products are that great, so i wont swallow their "we dont want a subpar product" when most of what they do re subpar products right now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cimerians Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 yes, my point is, this will show if they truly care for the brand, or just want money even from scams. Cant say some of their products are that great, so i wont swallow their "we dont want a subpar product" when most of what they do re subpar products right now I shot them a tweet telling them a lot of people dont have trust in MK to invest in future crowdfunding (regardless of what you find) They shot back: @cimerians they deserve an opportunity to show their work to an impartial professional. We shall see. I think I like that answer. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybermario Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 STOP THE PRESSES! Exclusive footage of the engineers inspecting the prototype has been found! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawnphase Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 No I don't believe he thought people would recognise the capture card after the snes debacle. He posted that pic the day the Kickstarter was supposed to launch. Which was a week later off the top of my head. After Albert identified the EXACT card, that's when he took the pic down. Judging by post times here it was a maximum of 16 minutes. if i may, it was no more than 2 minutes. i know this for a fact because i was watching the thread (literally f5d right then) when the card was identified, and i went to the fb page immediately to see just how fast the photos would be removed. it was painfully clear that if it wasnt mike reading this thread, that he has someone doing it for him. not only that, theres more evidence that it was mike reading the thread because of the pics being pulled in and of itself. with 1-2 minutes between when a definitive id on the vidcap card and when the pics were pulled, theres basically no timeframe in which whoever saw us identify the board could have somehow contacted mike and said 'well, they figured us out'. all signs point to mike both reading the thread and pulling the pics himself as well. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubxcube Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 (edited) 2) They weren't in on the scam and they had an SNES in Jag shell in their own booth for many days and they didn't think anything was fishy. Think about this. They saw it set up, they saw the SD2SNES cart menu screens, they saw them putting SNES games into it. They might even have seen the case open to fiddle with the controller connections. They certainly read the Facebook posts after the first day that said "it's a SNES!" and they didn't give it a closer look. If they are that gullible, why would you trust what they say now? i think you are giving exhibitors at an industry show too much credit. while there is often people "in the know" at any given booth, they are also many times filled with corporate "suits" that are there to schmooze and booze, and have literally no working knowledge about their product. Ive been an exhibitor at enough industry shows in the construction world to have seen see this first hand many many times Edited March 2, 2016 by dubxcube 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybermario Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 if i may, it was no more than 2 minutes. i know this for a fact because i was watching the thread (literally f5d right then) when the card was identified, and i went to the fb page immediately to see just how fast the photos would be removed. it was painfully clear that if it wasnt mike reading this thread, that he has someone doing it for him. not only that, theres more evidence that it was mike reading the thread because of the pics being pulled in and of itself. with 1-2 minutes between when a definitive id on the vidcap card and when the pics were pulled, theres basically no timeframe in which whoever saw us identify the board could have somehow contacted mike and said 'well, they figured us out'. all signs point to mike both reading the thread and pulling the pics himself as well. i agree , had to be Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawnphase Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 it not being mike would mean that there was another pr person who knew that things werent what they seemed. which would make it much worse. are we to assume lee is not only the hardware guy, but also a pr guy? so much deception in all this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godslabrat Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 i think you are giving exhibitors at an industry show too much credit. while there is often people "in the know" at any given booth, they are also many times filled with corporate "suits" that are there to schmooze and booze, and have literally no working knowledge about their product. Ive been an exhibitor at enough industruy shows in the construction world to have seen see this first hand many may times Seconded. A trade show is not the time or place to be calling someone out, and the people that need to do so aren't likely to be there anyway. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 Seconded. A trade show is not the time or place to be calling someone out, and the people that need to do so aren't likely to be there anyway. Agreed. Probably just some marketing guys, who sell everything you want them to sell . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phillyman Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 I only hope that whoever is doing the inspections goes in with full knowledge of the history of the project and of what Mike has claimed about it (that they have a "fully-working FPGA core", etc). Otherwise, Mike could simply get desperate and slip them a Jag shell with a Raspberry Pi running off-the-shelf emulators taped to the inside and say "See?! Here's our prototype! It works!!!", and they wouldn't be the wiser. I really hope they reached out to Mike and said, we want to see the prototype that was featured in your Facebook promotional images. We need to see that prototype have a cartridge inserted and hooked up to a TV and shown to work. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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