Chuck D. Head Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Let's face it, he will never just go away. We feel like we stepped in a pile of dog shit; we hosed it off our boots and off the front porch steps, but the smell never fully goes away. We occasionally find a few shit stains that somehow got onto the carpet and are constantly reminded of that original pile of dog shit, and perpetually worried that a new pile of dog shit will pop up in our path when we least expect it. Those of us foolhardy enough to originally think the pile of dog shit was tasty chocolate pudding continue to deal with the aftertaste. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godslabrat Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Anyone with half a brain would have packed up their failing magazine, fulfilled their last obligations, said thank you to their subscribers, and closed up shop. Then there's Mike.... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amstari Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Patreon. Is there any other crowd funding sites left that Mike hasn't used yet? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StopDrop&Retro Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Not only earlier this month, but as far back as April. So much for this: Parrothead, on 06 Apr 2016 - 08:26 AM, said: We will be continuing with year #3 but not using crowdfunding to do it. He just can't resist crowdfunding. I don't even think it's a matter of him not being able to afford it out of pocket. He just craves the satisfaction, attention and vindication that his crazy schemes are supported out of someone else's pocket. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schizophretard Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Just when you think he's gone ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Got this in my inbox today. Last issue I'll ever recieve, and only one year behind schedule. Anyway good riddens. ReadRetro, you won't be hearing from me again and I can only hope the same likewise... Hello RETRO Reader. You are receiving this because you are a current subscriber to RETRO Videogame Magazine or your magazine subscription may expire with the release of issue #12. We are excited to finally be printing and shipping our latest issue of RETRO Videogame Magazine #12. This is a very special issue that concludes our second set of issues with nothing but exclusive interviews with some of gamings greatest pioneers. We have queried game developers and programmers, company presidents and executives. See how they got into the industry and learn about where they think the gaming industry is headed. We were also able to get many unseen photographs from their past making this issue a type of scrapbook for you to enjoy and save to read again and again. You can all now go in and download your digital version while you wait for the issue to leave the printers later this month. You can download issue #12 using the discount code "retropioneers" when you check out here. With this issue, it will conclude our first twelve issues of publishing. On behalf of the entire RETRO Team of editors and contributors we want to thank you for your patience. We apologize for the many delays in order to fulfill this commitment. Publishing a magazine is very costly and it has been a big learning curve for all involved. Both Kickstarters were underfunded as unforeseen costs and roadblocks appeared and our last couple issues had to be personally funded to some extent to complete and that is what contributed to the various delays. But after this time, we now know much more than we did when we started. We have lowered our production costs and are very excited to continue moving forward with RETRO Videogame Magazine. Moving forward we are going to continue publishing RETRO and utilize Patreon for our subscriptions. This method will help eliminate your risk in paying for an entire year of RETRO and wondering when and if the next issue will be published. It will allow you to sign up once and we will charge your credit card for each individual issue only after it is complete and ready to print and mail. For those of you whose subscription ended with RETRO #12, you can wait until after you receive this issue via mail BEFORE renewing your subscription through the Patreon link. If you have more issues still remaining on your current subscription then you will continue to receive your issues when they are available and won't need to renew your subscription via Patreon until your current subscription runs its course. And we will alert you when that happens so you won't miss an issue. We hope you will continue to subscribe to RETRO Videogame Magazine on Patreon. Our team is committed to continue producing high quality content that celebrates this great past time, for years to come. Thanks again to all of you for helping to make print videogame magazines a thing of the future, and not a thing of the past. -Team RETRO 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steverobotnik Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Hey Scott, care to elaborate on that comment on Jason Scott's Facebook about him being involved in documenting the history of the Coleco Chameleon fiasco? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macdude22 Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 I basically found you guys after trying to figure out where the issues were are few months ago. Been bringing myself up to speed and lurking over the past few months. Is there any thought that we will actually get #12 if the patreon doesn't succeed? I'm not giving it any money but my OCD side will be sad if I never get #12. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gentlegamer Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Moving forward we are going to continue publishing RETRO and utilize Patreon for our subscriptions. This method will help eliminate your risk in paying for an entire year of RETRO and wondering when and if the next issue will be published. It will allow you to sign up once and we will charge your credit card for each individual issue only after it is complete and ready to print and mail. Fair enough, I guess. If RETRO had been a great little independent magazine that had some production issues causing delay, this would be a fair way to win back confidence and continue publication. But RETRO is terrible and I'm not doing business with Mike Kennedy ever again. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macdude22 Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Fair enough, I guess. If RETRO had been a great little independent magazine that had some production issues causing delay, this would be a fair way to win back confidence and continue publication. But RETRO is terrible and I'm not doing business with Mike Kennedy ever again. Nintendo Force publishes via patreon but they print on a pretty consistent schedule and don't appear to be run by car salesmen so I don't mind. RETRO, oy I have learned my lesson. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tep392 Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Speaking of MK, I was going thru the back catalog of Intellivisionaries Podcast since I picked up an Inty earlier this year. These episodes go back to when MK was just starting up the magazine. Knowing all that has gone down since then, I just couldn't stomach listening to his interview about the magazine. It was so annoying that I had to fast forward through it and any other mention of MK in following episodes.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godslabrat Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Like most MK ventures, Retro Magazine actually isn't a toxic idea at its core. It's the constant MK need to turn a buck, corner the market, etc. that brings about the bad decisions. In a hobby, some things need to either be a labor of love, or not happen at all. That's just the way it is. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+GoldLeader Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Like most MK ventures, Retro Magazine actually isn't a toxic idea at its core. It's the constant MK need to turn a buck, corner the market, etc. that brings about the bad decisions. In a hobby, some things need to either be a labor of love, or not happen at all. That's just the way it is. I think your last couple of sentences seem to be dead on. I could be wrong, but didn't the idea for Retro spring from what started as game reviews on Gamegavel?...I doubt there was any money changing hands for those... And from there the idea to have a glossy, full-color magazine, like in the old days sprang to life. Myself, I like the idea...I've liked video game magazines with a retro flair in the past (For example Video Game Collector), but then MK started seeing dollar signs and what was once a few people reviewing games online became this big venture he thought he had to monetize... You all know what happened next... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj_convoy Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Frankly, when Retro Gamer exists, the idea of putting a out a retro mag seems kind of ... I dunno, superfluous, maybe. Not that it shouldn't be tried or anything like that... it's just a big standard to live up to. If you aren't going to bring your A-game, what's the point? There's already a terrific magazine out there that does a great job. That's yet another case of Mike whinging on about the good old days and how they don't exist anymore... it's like, yeah print and video game cartridges and records and etc. DO still exist if you know where to find them, chief. Mike wanted to be some kind of Pied Piper of retro, bringing back things from the past, but, as always, didn't seem to know that we could do those things for ourselves. The first couple of issues of RETRO, I tried really, really hard not to punish the magazine for not being Retro Gamer... but it soon became obvious that it just wasn't very good. At one point, around the third or fourth issue, I actually compiled a fairly extensive list of notes, design tweaks and topics to actually send on to the magazine/Mike with the hope that they could turn it around, but my interest in trying to maybe help out just sort of evaporated... and then, of course the RVGS debacle happened. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Given how large retro gaming is - even Nintendo finally realizing they need a share of it - there should be a market for 2 or 3 magazines worldwide covering the entire scene from reviews, comparisons, walkthroughs and nostalgic articles about old games, interviews with people behind the scenes, coverage of various expos, all the new homebrew releases, and much more. Certainly a lot of information is scattered about on websites, forums and social media around the world, and not everyone in the retro gaming community are equally interested of everything there is to write on the different subjects so perhaps a bit of narrowing is good, like I presume the mentioned Nintendo Force does. Now that isn't the same thing as saying anyone could setup a such magazine and be successful about it, which I believe already has been proven. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godslabrat Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Frankly, when Retro Gamer exists, the idea of putting a out a retro mag seems kind of ... I dunno, superfluous, maybe. Not that it shouldn't be tried or anything like that... it's just a big standard to live up to. If you aren't going to bring your A-game, what's the point? There's already a terrific magazine out there that does a great job. That's yet another case of Mike whinging on about the good old days and how they don't exist anymore... it's like, yeah print and video game cartridges and records and etc. DO still exist if you know where to find them, chief. Mike wanted to be some kind of Pied Piper of retro, bringing back things from the past, but, as always, didn't seem to know that we could do those things for ourselves. The first couple of issues of RETRO, I tried really, really hard not to punish the magazine for not being Retro Gamer... but it soon became obvious that it just wasn't very good. At one point, around the third or fourth issue, I actually compiled a fairly extensive list of notes, design tweaks and topics to actually send on to the magazine/Mike with the hope that they could turn it around, but my interest in trying to maybe help out just sort of evaporated... and then, of course the RVGS debacle happened. Indeed. The thing is, I could sit here at my desk and come up with a really cool concept for a 21st-century print magazine for retro games. I could come up with content, participants, distribution, publicity... the whole nine yards. And if I bounced ideas off you guys, I guarantee we could make it ten times better than that, by the end of the afternoon. But, it'll never turn a dime in profit, and we all know that going in. Which isn't a sign that it shouldn't be done, just that maybe our efforts are better focused elsewhere. And that's okay. Mike's flaw isn't just that he wants to bring back dead concepts, it's that he sees himself as the paywall. Want a cartridge-based gaming system and a fun magazine? Well, you gotta get it from Mike! The thing is... no, you don't. There are a dozen vintage cartridge systems on the market, and even more brand-new ones. Video game magazines still exist, but so do youtube videos, podcasts, blogs, websites, and facebook groups. People today have everything they had in the 80s, but a dozen options more. Mike refuses to understand this. Mike refuses to see that he's not offering anything that doesn't already exist, in a better and more convenient form. He literally wants you to pay him for what we already have. When Mike goes to the beach, he sets up a stand selling sand and water. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+GoldLeader Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 When Mike goes to the beach, he sets up a stand selling sand and water OK, when I read that I laughed so hard I hurt my voice! 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pipercub Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 (edited) The spin is always interesting, as quoted here MK said the mag was a healthy growing product that would not need crowdfunding, yet there he is on Patreon spinning it as a subscription management service. And on Patreon because he can't dare show up on Kickstarter or Indigogo, and his name and picture are not present anywhere on the Patreon page, and with his passion for self promotion knowing he is toxic to his own project and not plastering his name and face on it has to be level 10 heartburn. Then you have the removal from being sold in B&N, it was spun as what, that they were going to a larger distributor, I guess that was Patreon? Edited December 21, 2016 by Pipercub 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 When Mike goes to the beach, he sets up a stand selling sand and water. "But this isn't just *ANY* sand and water!!! We've hand-picked every grain, filtered every last drop, to bring you only the highest-quality retro beachgoing experience, just like you remember from when you were a kid! Imagine the feeling of going to the beach instantly, whenever you want, without frustration ... now isn't that worth a measly $1.95M dollars?!" 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillLoguidice Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Given how large retro gaming is - even Nintendo finally realizing they need a share of it - there should be a market for 2 or 3 magazines worldwide covering the entire scene from reviews, comparisons, walkthroughs and nostalgic articles about old games, interviews with people behind the scenes, coverage of various expos, all the new homebrew releases, and much more. Certainly a lot of information is scattered about on websites, forums and social media around the world, and not everyone in the retro gaming community are equally interested of everything there is to write on the different subjects so perhaps a bit of narrowing is good, like I presume the mentioned Nintendo Force does. Now that isn't the same thing as saying anyone could setup a such magazine and be successful about it, which I believe already has been proven. To echo some of what godslabrat said, I don't think there is much of a market for such a magazine. While I realize the magazine market in the UK is thriving (and frankly, features pretty fantastic formats), magazines in the US are pretty much dead as a money maker. Content is now online because that's where readers are and that's where the economics best work out (and even there, we're seeing lots of retraction in staff sizes and scopes). There really is not a big clamor for print (or even digital) magazines outside of a few worldwide territories, including the aforementioned UK one. The challenge with a retro-themed magazine is where do you get your advertisers from? Even back in 2005, at the height of Armchair Arcade's online issues phase when I was pitching it as a print magazine to various magazine publishers, it always came back to that, and I could never provide a satisfactory answer. The magazine market has only gotten worse since then (and it was already weak) and the same question remains. That's exactly why such things go the crowd funding route these days, because there really is no other way to cover costs. Traditional business models in that area are dead for the most part. Frankly, I thought the best chance at success would be partnering with Retro magazine (the only thriving one that we're talking about: http://www.retrogamer.net/(which of course already went through at least one restructure itself in its long run)) to create a more US-centric (and specific) version of the magazine. Basically take their content and Americanize it (as well as publish it in the US, etc.), and have a smattering of new content (and yes, that type of model has gone both ways in the past). Even that, though, is no longer practical, especially given the aforementioned advertiser dilemma (aka, where does the operational funding come from?). And seriously, who buys magazines anymore, especially in that type of category? Magazines are already mostly niche, and that's a niche of a niche. Not a recipe for success. So, with the above in mind, I applaud the magazines that have succeeded through some type of crowd funding. That's at least working with the new reality rather than trying to fight against a reality that can't practically be changed. And if someone asked my advice on starting a magazine, I'd advise strongly against it and instead suggest that those resources go into a differentiated Web presence. That's a high stakes game as well, but one at least with slightly more favorable odds. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 That's why we still need this thread. 33 is already too many. It's up to 70 now. It will be interesting to see where it peaks. I would guess that at least some of them are giving "likes" on the Facebook page. As of this moment, 16 likes, 1 angry face. https://www.facebook.com/ReadRetro/posts/1125647724157584 $9500 would be better spent elsewhere. Why not just get some vanity M&Ms instead? Mike could get 2,267 little tins of them for that amount of money, or fewer if the demand was not there. http://mydesign.io/1hzr38 http://mydesign.io/2q8kfd 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godslabrat Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 (edited) There are some Patreon options where you can pledge your support, knowing they don't charge you until the end of the month, and then retract your support the day before you get charged. The appeal of this (I guess) is that you look like a good guy for supporting the content creator, but never have to part with your money. I don't know if that's what's going on here, but it's not a novel concept in crowdfunding. Edit: He's asking for the money on a per-magazine basis. This means no one pays until Retro makes a new issue. Given the low release rate of the past few years, this might work out well for the backers. Edited December 21, 2016 by godslabrat 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newsdee Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 (edited) Edit: He's asking for the money on a per-magazine basis. This means no one pays until Retro makes a new issue. Given the low release rate of the past few years, this might work out well for the backers. I don't know extremely well how Patreon works, but this sounds like a kind of subscription? i.e. they only produce the mag as long as enough people are willing to pay per issue? Edited December 21, 2016 by Newsdee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godslabrat Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 There's several different ways you can contribute through patreon. You can give by installment, or by month, with variations on each. So yes, it looks like this is set up so that Retro only gets paid after they print an issue. But I bet any money Mike still finds a way to try and chisel someone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 (edited) Given how large retro gaming is - even Nintendo finally realizing they need a share of it - there should be a market for 2 or 3 magazines worldwide covering the entire scene from reviews, comparisons, walkthroughs and nostalgic articles about old games, interviews with people behind the scenes, coverage of various expos, all the new homebrew releases, and much more. No no. There needs to be a magazine covering emulators! It would be a small publication, but there'd be no shortage of content. There's many emulators, and many systems for each emulator! Emulators are always being updated and refined. And each version could warrant a page all its own. There could be discussions about what to emulate next. Peripherals included. How to configure and setup. There could be sections on unusual places emulators are found. Interviews with the developers.Tales from the trenches talking about the trials and tribulations of noobies trying to make it all work in a comedic fashion. Discussion about how an emulator could add virtual hardware to an existing platform in ways not practical in the real world. Discussions on display output devices and setting TV effects. And even a bloopers page that highlights spectacular failures - games that don't work right. Not forgetting sub-columns and filler blips with cheats and hidden easter eggs. There could even be transcribed symposia on how emulators can even better the real-world experience of using real-world hardware. Additional topics could include custom hardware builds, controller set-ups, which store-bought machines work well, a trivia section, a curating and scanning tutorial, reviews of pc-based utilities. Guys! The content list is endless!! Edited December 22, 2016 by Keatah 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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