Coleco Chameleon .... hardware speculations?

[shawnphase]

those boutique pdf's are hella collectable. guess it makes sense to pay above the retail on em.

[S1500]

those boutique pdf's are hella collectable. guess it makes sense to pay above the retail on em.

 

Are they limited edition PDFs?

[Flojomojo]

If these magazines were so great, people would be pirating the PDFs. Are people talking about it online anywhere, except for here in the bash-MK thread?

[maiki]

Maybe you can't feel sorry for him, and I can't say that I blame you.

I actually don't care about him, you, and anybody else over here in this thread. The fact is, nobody like him should ever stick his fingers into such a demanding project as that Jaguar look-a-like. Just do not do it please. We are all nerds who know nothing about this stuff and there is simply no excuse to try doing it. There are well educated people, not many, that have spent thousands of hours studying these things, and only this small portion of people are really capable of doing things like new old school hardware... And then there are people who have the money to spend but it is clearly not the case of old school gamers so far...

[enoofu]

Their is probably quite a few people in the world that could developed a retro style console

 

This project was doomed from the start, mostly do the failure of MK being the PR guy and not knowing how to run a technology firm

 

Quite, a few people stated they didn't even have a developed business plan or even defined the scope of the project, and it didn't help with all the bull Mike was talking about

 

Stuffing a SNES into a Jag and not even admitting to it, till after a month later was the Cherry to this disaster

Edited July 6, 2016 by enoofu

[StopDrop&Retro]

Stuffing a SNES into a Jag and not even admitting to it, till after a month later was the Cherry to this disaster

 

Did he ever actually admit to it? I always thought that was pretty funny, during his whole 'come clean' postings he was talking about how he should have listened to us but he never opened the case to show us if we were right. But I sorta took his avoidance of the issue as a tacit admission that our suspicions were correct.

[dj_convoy]

As I recall, he prevaricated and waffled about "thinking something was wrong" in his hotel room during Toy Fair, but never really said. It was all Mr Lee's fault, obv, and he was a dupe/patsy. LAter, he said that the forum "opened his eyes" to the fake prototype, but that was about as far as the admission went.

[toiletunes]

has anyone tried putting a SNEz game in a jag cart? Beating a dead horse and all that, but how obviously fake would it look- The console has been debuffed, obviously, but if someone handed you "prototype game #1" would it look real or not? In other words, if you bought the "I thought the console was real" story, would the game be a smoking gun?

Edited July 6, 2016 by toiletunes

[Flojomojo]

 

Did he ever actually admit to it? I always thought that was pretty funny, during his whole 'come clean' postings he was talking about how he should have listened to us but he never opened the case to show us if we were right. But I sorta took his avoidance of the issue as a tacit admission that our suspicions were correct.

I think the old adage,

"the chump who throws his friends under the bus

is the same guy who tried to fool all of us"

applies here. I always wondered what that ancient saying meant.

[godslabrat]

Mike's last round of postings indicated he "now" realized it was a SNES in a Jag shell, but insists he was just as fooled as everyone else.

 

The fact that literally no one was fooled does not factor into that statement.

[elmer]

We are all nerds who know nothing about this stuff and there is simply no excuse to try doing it.

Errr ... nope.

 

Some folks here have many years of experience in the video game industry, and in video game development, and in the financial aspects and incentives of game development, and saw this as an ego-fueled train-wreck from the start.

 

The major amusement was in just how far Mike Kennedy would lie and pretend in order to try to make his "dream" come true. and in whether people would eventually see through the B.S.

[Schizophretard]

 

Did he ever actually admit to it? I always thought that was pretty funny, during his whole 'come clean' postings he was talking about how he should have listened to us but he never opened the case to show us if we were right. But I sorta took his avoidance of the issue as a tacit admission that our suspicions were correct.

 

He did but with an interesting timeline:

 

1. Mike paid Sean $4,000 for the SNES prototype.

 

2. Mike took it to the Toy Fair and we gave him suspicions that it was an SNES.

 

3. While at the hotel, He decided not to open it to see even though that is exactly what he claimed he wanted to do with it in the Kickstarter video and then he decided to continue with the Toy Fair.

 

4. He went back home, just gave Sean back this $4,000 prototype for free or without a refund that at no point Mike opened, and Sean convinced him that it was an FPGA running an SNES core which Mike believed which makes it even stranger that he gave it back. Why give back a prototype you paid $4,000 for that you believe has an SNES core running in it? At the very least that is a first of its kind collectors item. Is it even possible to be so collectarded that you forget that you are a collectard? As a fellow collectard, I can clearly see that such a prototype has a rarity of 11.

 

5. Mike paid another $3,000 which was to be followed up with another $3,000 60 days later for a production ready prototype.

 

6. Soon after Sean sent him pictures of the completed prototype that he paid for from #5 that had a PC DVR capture card in it and the reason it had a clear shell is because Mike admitted that it was to combat the criticisms of the Toy Fair unit. I'm not exactly sure why you would give back a $4,000 prototype that you believe has an SNES core running on an FPGA and at the same meeting also give him a clear shell for a production ready prototype to combat the criticisms of the Toy Fair prototype with a $3,000 check. I mean, in one hand Mike is holding a $4,000 prototype that he believes has an SNES core running on an FPGA, in the other hand he has a clear shell for a future prototype to combat the criticisms of the prototype in the other hand, a $3,000 check in his pocket, and then he gives them all to Sean. Maybe I just lack Retroland logic but couldn't you combat the criticisms with what you already have in both hands and faster by taking the one out of the black shell and moving it to the clear one? Especially since you already admitted that it was your intentions for the Kickstater video to physically open it up. Anyway, whatever. My brain hurts.

 

7. Mike posted the pictures of the PC DVR capture card prototype but already decided to delay the Kickstarter because he admitted at some point before that he learned that the Toy Fair prototype was an SNES duck taped in his console but he never discovered that it was really electrical tape.(Note: this entire timeline was happening in about a week) I'm not exactly sure how this worked because I don't know if reptilians are messing up the space-time continuum but somehow Mike handed Sean an unopened prototype that he believed had an SNES core running on an FPGA with a $3,000 check that soon after resulted in pictures of the PC DVR capture card prototype on Facebook and in between there somewhere he discovered it was just an SNES which caused him to delay the Kickstarter. Maybe in the email from Sean that included the pictures of the PC DVR capture card prototype before the pictures it said,"It was really an SNES! Burn! But these are pictures of a production ready prototype! Really! I'm not lying this time! I swear!"? I don't know cuz... umm... logic. To this day he never saw electrical tape on the prototype but just duct tape and specifically the Duck Tape brand.

 

8. Mike decided to withdraw from a Kickstarter campaign altogether when he discovered that the production ready prototype was just a PC DVR capture card. This is the most confusing part of the timeline because it was clearly shown exactly which capture card it was and therefore it is hard to see how Mike figured it out because the more clear and obvious we make things the more he sees exactly what he wants to.

 

9. Mike then posted all of this something like a month later to protect his perfect reputation against drunken haters like yourself and if this timeline still doesn't make sense to you then that is even more evidence that you are still drunk. Alcohol goes in and drunken hater comes out. Simple as that, bitch.

[F1MidBoss]

Mike Kennedy posted eBay listings on the SC3 FB group. I wonder if he actually owns the stuff.

[toiletunes]

...and THAT'S why he won't answer any more questions.

[jaybird3rd]

...and THAT'S why he won't answer any more questions.

... FOR THE RECORD!

 

[toiletunes]

simple as that

[Flojomojo]

[SoulBlazer]

... FOR THE RECORD!

 

 

What's funny about that is that Mike's stats indicate not only is he still browsing this forum openly, he's still posting in other areas of AA. Just he refuses to come in here to answer any more questions cause he's feel it's not worth it. And you know what? Given his history and track record, he's probably right. Would you really want to talk more about this or answer more questions if no one is going to believe you, even if it's your own damn fault?

 

He's probably hoping we all forget about it, but you can't undo damage like this.

[godslabrat]

 

What's funny about that is that Mike's stats indicate not only is he still browsing this forum openly, he's still posting in other areas of AA. Just he refuses to come in here to answer any more questions cause he's feel it's not worth it. And you know what? Given his history and track record, he's probably right. Would you really want to talk more about this or answer more questions if no one is going to believe you, even if it's your own damn fault?

 

He's probably hoping we all forget about it, but you can't undo damage like this.

 

I can't speak for everyone, but I'd at least appreciate having him tell the truth. Unfortunately for Mike, the truth is going to make him look really bad, and it seems that's the one line he's not willing to cross-- he can't actually say that his venture was poorly conceived at the start and outright dishonest at the end. Every time Mike has tried to "clear the air", it's been about tossing someone else under the bus, painting himself as the victim, and opening up an avenue for rattling his can at some future time. Now that he's finally convinced our wallets are no longer within reach, Mike "won't bother" with us.

 

So no, I don't think Mike is beyond believability... just that the believable part is the part he can't actually bring himself to talk about.

[atm94404]

... I can only say what I 'knew' of Mike, and I thought Mike was a good guy. I'd been listening...

 

Then things changes, as others have alluded to. This whole RetroVGS project was like a cancer. Once it got into him...

....

 

Maybe you can't feel sorry for him, and I can't say that I blame you. But I do, at least a little bit. Call me a softy, call me too kind, call me stupid. But it didn't need to turn out like this. And we should all be sad in the end that it did so, for everyone involved.

 

I think there is plenty of evidence that Mike's turn to the dark didn't start with the RVGS. We've heard from many people involved with Retro magazine that have said they weren't paid for services rendered and/or were badly treated by Mike. They bring up the question that since no one seemed to be getting paid for Retro magazine and the magazine was fully funded by Kickstarter, why did Mike need to raise additonal funds to complete his Kickstarter obligations? Where did all the money go since it didn't go to paying his writers? Then there is Game Gavel which has seen multiple issues ranging from Mike trying to cheat his partners out of their share to people selling rare items on Game Gavel only to have Mike buy them (possibly using inside information to tweak his own bid) up and then flip them for profit on eBay.

 

It's very easy in this age of social media to think you know someone based on an online persona, but you are seeing a composed and edited performance (for lack of a better word) that may have no correlation to that person's real identity. Pardon this crude analogy, but if you grew up in the 80s, you may have thought you "knew" who Bill Cosby was based on the hundreds of hours you've seen of him on television. After the revelations of the last few years, was there anything in his "tv dad" persona that would have made you think he had such a dark side (allegedly)?

Edited July 7, 2016 by atm94404

[Flojomojo]

The dude is a salesman, he's focused on closing the deal, and taking your money. Product or service delivery is someone else's problem, and certainly not his strength.

 

A funny quote from a thing called "Your Top Sales People Are Probably Psychopaths,"

 

.... exhibited what we would all agree are psychopathic traits: shameless self promotion, shameless stealing of other peoples leads and candidates, a relentless desire to earn the biggest bonus, total indignation/outrage at the slightest barrier between him and his number, an inability to play with others and a total charming effect on women...here he was, a narcissistic individual who had a way with the ladies whilst earning the most money and rewards! The leadership despised him but were in awe of his revenue making abilities and in fear of him taking these skills elsewhere!

[toiletunes]

it's even odds Kennedy believes himself, for the most part. I'm 100% certain he believes any potential untruths are justified, excusable, and preferable.

 

What's wrong with you drunken haters? Why can't you just accept the Kennedy version of events??

[carlsson]

has anyone tried putting a SNEz game in a jag cart?

A SNES cartridge has the following external dimensions, as per Internet search results so there may be some error margin:

 

USA: 135 x 85 x 20 mm (sorry, can't bother converting to inches)

Japan: 126 x 86 x 20 mm

Europe: 126 x 86 x 19 mm

 

Hmm.. are US SNES carts up to a centimeter wider than European and Japanese ones? I know they have a different look/shape. Perhaps the measurement was taken at the outer edge.

 

A Jaguar cartridge then has these dimensions: 105 x 88 x 20 mm

 

Of course the circuit board inside doesn't fill up the entire shell, but without looking closer I think the SNES cartridge port might be wider than a Jaguar cartridge port so it could be a tight squeeze. Perhaps some of the pins on either side of the SNES cartridge port are not required so a game could cut away some pins, but then you need to position the cartridge right and the plastic shell must not have "lips" that will hit the connector.

 

For reference, a Genesis cartridge is said to be about 108 x 68 x 16 mm, so physically it might be a better fit to put a Genesis cartridge board into a Jaguar cartridge shell, but then again the SNES Mini would not play Genesis games. Perhaps there are cartridge based Genesis clones as well that Mr Lee could've used instead of a SNES one. The list of games available at launch involved both SNES and Genesis games, IIRC.

 

By the way, typical dimensions of cartridges is a piece of information that I find is very hard to locate on the Internet. At best it is scattered around, often there is no information at all. Here is a honorable user in Australia who took the time and two rulers to make accurate measurements of the cartridges at hand and posting those.

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=915276

Edited July 8, 2016 by carlsson

[Schizophretard]

USA: 135 x 85 x 20 mm (sorry, can't bother converting to inches)

Whoa, whoa, whoa, and whoa! WTF? This thread is dedicated to bringing back MADE IN AMERICA consoles like the good ol' days! You will be converting to inches and the only mm's you will be talking about are M&M's! *cough* hater *cough*

[carlsson]

Did you know that "m&m" recently got kicked out of the market in Sweden? Another manufacturer has produced similar candy since the 1950's under the name "m" and the court decided that "m&m" is too similar and a trademark infringement. Never mind the other manufacturer copied m&m in the first place, because it was so long ago.

 

Anyway, since this is a thread about a retro console and inches truly are a sign of retro, here are the same numbers in new old world measurements:

 

SNES USA: 5.315" x 3.346" x 0.787"

SNES Japan: 4.961" x 3.386" x 0.787"

SNES Europe: 4.961" x 3.386" x 0.748"

Jaguar: 4.134" x 3.464" x 0.787"

Genesis: 4.252" x 2.677" x 0.630"

 

Lots of decimals, and still there probably are plenty of error margins hidden in those numbers, but those should be good enough for exhibiting at a toy fair.