Keatah Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 ColecoVision was big with me and my buddies back in the day here in the Chicagoland area. Very relevant. We were chasing the latest and greatest consoles, and naturally CV was on our hot list. It didn't disappoint either. It launched with Donkey Kong, an arcade hit at the time. I liked it for the graphics and sound. Not so much the gameplay, climbing games aren't my thing. Zaxxon, Pepper II, Cosmic Avenger, Space Fury, Lady Bug, Looping.. all great games that I really got into. Anyways, I was impressed that they were putting bigger and better stuff into the cartridges and all that. It was a great time. Today I don't know what the fuck they're doing. Nor do I care much. They'll have to impress me all over again. And that doesn't seem likely. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Colecovision is dead. Like Atari, Intellivision, NEC (as far as video game hardware goes), Sega (a bit more relevant at least they still make games and haven't been bought or sold a million times). The only video game company from before 1995 that still makes hardware today is Nintendo. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newsdee Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 The only video game company from before 1995 that still makes hardware today is Nintendo. There's also V-Tech, somehow they still make those "edutainment" consoles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 There's also V-Tech, somehow they still make those "edutainment" consoles Yeah, and those aren't real consoles. Most are plug and play at best. It would he interesting to see someone cram arcade like homebrew video games into one of those units though. I remember once seeing a copycat Wii system at Walgreens or CVS with five built in "sports" games and waggle controllers. The screenshots on the packaging looked 16-bit I kid you not. I felt sorry for the kid who asked for a Wii at Christmas and got that hunk of trash under the tree... Maybe the Switch will be good enough that Chinese copycats will want to knock it off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UKMike Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Because I'm dying to know, who did he run to first? It isn't too hard to work out but it'll be in the book............. They are still a viable company making their own products and didn't have any use to attaching themselves to it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newsdee Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Yeah, and those aren't real consoles. Most are plug and play at best. It would he interesting to see someone cram arcade like homebrew video games into one of those units though.You jest, but they were behind the Creativision in the 80s:https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/VTech_CreatiVision Recently I'm aware of at least two cartridge-based systems (V-Smile and Storio); the games aren't great but that's more a choice of the niche they went into. I found a Vsmile for almost nothing, I love the funky joystick. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Regarding Coleco, last week I read an old Swedish personal computer magazine from 1984 where the reporter had visited CES in January. Among the products he spotted was the ADAM computer, which he proudly explained as manufactured by that doll maker. And yes, ColecoVision was released over here a year earlier but since he came from the PC side of things, apparently it was a product not on his radar. I don't know how Coleco marketed their computer at the trade show, perhaps they were trying to hide that it was based on a video game console. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inky Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 Recently I'm aware of at least two cartridge-based systems (V-Smile and Storio); the games aren't great but that's more a choice of the niche they went into. I found a Vsmile for almost nothing, I love the funky joystick. We had aVSmile. I loved that controller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybercylon Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 Yeah, and those aren't real consoles. Most are plug and play at best. It would he interesting to see someone cram arcade like homebrew video games into one of those units though. I remember once seeing a copycat Wii system at Walgreens or CVS with five built in "sports" games and waggle controllers. The screenshots on the packaging looked 16-bit I kid you not. I felt sorry for the kid who asked for a Wii at Christmas and got that hunk of trash under the tree... Maybe the Switch will be good enough that Chinese copycats will want to knock it off. That is pretty much my thought when I see those rip off system. I'd rather get a bag of marbles or something. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osgeld Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 I remember once seeing a copycat Wii system at Walgreens or CVS with five built in "sports" games and waggle controllers. The screenshots on the packaging looked 16-bit I kid you not. I felt sorry for the kid who asked for a Wii at Christmas and got that hunk of trash under the tree... I found one of those in the dumpster when I was living at the apartment, it was in the box on top so it hadnt been juiced or anything so I brought it in and played it for about an half hour and posted it on the free thread 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+GoldLeader Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 ColecoVision was big with me and my buddies back in the day here in the Chicagoland area. Very relevant. We were chasing the latest and greatest consoles, and naturally CV was on our hot list. It didn't disappoint either. It launched with Donkey Kong, an arcade hit at the time. I liked it for the graphics and sound. Not so much the gameplay, climbing games aren't my thing. Zaxxon, Pepper II, Cosmic Avenger, Space Fury, Lady Bug, Looping.. all great games that I really got into. Anyways, I was impressed that they were putting bigger and better stuff into the cartridges and all that. It was a great time. Today I don't know what the fuck they're doing. Nor do I care much. They'll have to impress me all over again. And that doesn't seem likely. My story is a lot more like yours....BITD if you liked video games you knew about ColecoVision! We'd followed it since they showed the prototype in magazines. And we were all hard at work convincing our parents we needed one. Because back then a new console was also a new idea. We all had Ataris,...I only knew one kid who had an Odyssey II and even though they were around, nobody I knew had an Intellivision. We all pretty much took offense to those commercials claiming Intellivision was so much better than Atari. We collectively felt like Mattel was calling us stupid to our faces so we had no interest in their machine. Then along came Coleco bringing the Arcade home which was what we'd been wanting all along! When my mom hit me with the argument that I already had an Atari, I agreed to give my aunt my Atari when I bought the expansion Module #1. To this day, give or take some later duplicates, It was the only console I ever got rid of... At any rate, Coleco blew our collective minds and we loved it! I still have my original ColecoVision (now with A/V mod) and my Coleco ADAM (now with A/V cable)... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osgeld Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 colecovision was my introduction to console gaming and it got a ton of use until I got a genesis 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 I misread Osgeld's response about the Vii as "I brought it in and played it for about an half hour and put it back into the dumpster". 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 I found one of those in the dumpster when I was living at the apartment, it was in the box on top so it hadnt been juiced or anything so I brought it in and played it for about an half hour and posted it on the free thread How was the gameplay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 I misread Osgeld's response about the Vii as "I brought it in and played it for about an half hour and put it back into the dumpster". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osgeld Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 How was the gameplay? very poor 16 bit ish games that all used some form of shaking the controller to jump or dodge, honestly thought I was playing with a VR system Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+GoldLeader Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 I remember I saw one of those fake Wii looking systems in this mail order catalog, I'm assuming there are more than one type out there, and I bought it (I'm thinking it was $40 or less) . When it arrived I gave it a spin and it was mostly terrible. It had a lot of games and they all looked 16 bit style but were just kind of pick up and play kind of deals; Most had one level that sped up until the game ended....It was very casual and mostly awful (But some were kind of fun), with very cheap, chintzy controllers (they were like very cut rate Genesis controllers)....I honestly preferred Chinese famiclone controllers over these! I didn't know what to do with it and I didn't want to sell it on ebay because I thought it was awful, so I packed it up (like new because I only played it once) and I took it to work and put it in the bin for toys for underprivileged children, which comes out every year at Christmas. I kept thinking maybe a young kid might actually like it, before getting a real system...But I was also worried that a kid might see the box and get his/her hopes up it was a Wii...At least it would maybe get some use, I figured... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulBlazer Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 For the amusement and curiosity of anyone, I just got a Kickstarter update e-mail about RETRO magazine from yours truly: Hello RETRO Backers! I wanted to come in here and let everyone know that RETRO #12 is hot off the presses and mailing on Monday. FINALLY! I also wanted to apologize to you all for the delays that have plagued this second year campaign. It was fraught with lots of challenges, the greatest of which was the under-funding of the campaign followed closely with my supreme idiocy with a derailed side project. Because of some changes inside the RETRO team early on in this campaign, the cost to produce the magazine increased after the campaign completed. And that led to the last two issues of RETRO being self funded by myself to finish out the obligations set in motion from this campaign. So the delays were caused mostly by me waiting for the personal funds required to finish out the issues and the campaign. In the end, all six magazines were produced and I hope you enjoyed them all despite the inconsistent releases. I do have a couple dozen shirts and posters that still need to be sent out and if you backed at those levels, and are still waiting you will get what you paid for. It is just that I focused all my attention on making sure the magazines all were published first and foremost. The other awards took a backseat to finishing out the magazine. Moving forward, I hope you decide to continue reading RETRO Magazine and I have made an effort to change how our future subscriptions are handled so it will eliminate any risk for our readers. I realize that many of you lost faith in the magazine due to the delays. So, to remedy that risk I have made the switch to Patreon for all future issue sales. The benefit to you is that you can sign up there and only pay for one issue at a time, and only after it is complete and ready to mail. This will eliminate the risk associated with paying for an entire run of issues up front. And Patreon is the perfect mechanism for this model. I have seen how successful Nintendo Force has become using Patreon and Lucas (the Head Honcho at NF) has been a great help in explaining to me the benefits of this service for us indie magazine publishers. So, if you have enjoyed RETRO over the past couple years, please consider CLICKING TO OUR PATREON PAGE and continuing on the journey with us to keep print video game magazines a thing of the future. My team and I really enjoy working on RETRO and are depending on our readers to keep us going. If we can reach our goal on Patreon, then we will be able to produce RETRO on schedule, bi-monthly. All of you can help us get to that goal. Now for the fun stuff! As indicated RETRO #12 is mailing on Monday and it's filled with what I hope you will find to be very interesting interviews with a smattering of great gaming pioneers. It was so exciting to work with our interviewees and find out more about their life in the industry. We all have them to thank for the great memories we all share! This issue of RETRO is our shortest print run to date, with only 2,500 printed issues. And, then we dice it up with three randomly distributed separate cover variations featuring the Atari 2600, Intellivision and Colecovision. If you don't get the cover you want, we will have a decent supply of them for sale on ShopReadRetro.com beginning mid February. And, if you haven't aleady, you can download the digital version of RETRO #12 using discount code, "retropioneers" when you CHECKOUT HERE. And if you want to get any of the other digital back issues from our first twelve issues you can use code "retrodigital" when you checkout on ShopReadRetro.com. You can download up to three issues at a time. It was because of all of you, these twelve issues were made. I want to personally thank you all for your support with this campaign and hopefully your continued support moving forward with our third year of RETRO Video Game Magazine over on Patreon. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Mike Kennedy 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eltigro Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 Pat Contri talking about the NY Toy Fair game... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toiletunes Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 That feeling you get when dealing with Parrothead 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 As of this instant, he's got 182 backers, $943 (out of the desired $9500!) collected for next issue. Not that he or anyone else cares what I think, but if it were me, I'd pack in the "business" aspect and focus on blogging good content online, for free, out of love and respect for the subject matter. But then again I'm not an "entrepreneur through and through," and have less than zero interest in "cornering the market" on retro gaming or anything else. "Simple as that." I just saw a potential new "hardware guy" in the event they want to take another run at the RetroVGS. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 Not that he or anyone else cares what I think, but if it were me, I'd pack in the "business" aspect and focus on blogging good content online, for free, out of love and respect for the subject matter. If you were to say that to Mike in person, I suspect his reaction would be something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-oZed8aSEE When "RetroVGS: The Movie" is made, I think John Lithgow should play Mike Kennedy. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj_convoy Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 supreme idiocy supreme idiocy supreme idiocy supreme idiocy hey, neat! We finally agree on something! As of this instant, he's got 182 backers I'm legitimately stunned that nearly 200 people would want to keep buying this mag. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 For the amusement and curiosity of anyone, I just got a Kickstarter update e-mail about RETRO magazine from yours truly: Hello RETRO Backers! I wanted to come in here and let everyone know that RETRO #12 is hot off the presses and mailing on Monday. FINALLY! I also wanted to apologize to you all for the delays that have plagued this second year campaign. It was fraught with lots of challenges, the greatest of which was the under-funding of the campaign followed closely with my supreme idiocy with a derailed side project. Because of some changes inside the RETRO team early on in this campaign, the cost to produce the magazine increased after the campaign completed. And that led to the last two issues of RETRO being self funded by myself to finish out the obligations set in motion from this campaign. So the delays were caused mostly by me waiting for the personal funds required to finish out the issues and the campaign. In the end, all six magazines were produced and I hope you enjoyed them all despite the inconsistent releases. I do have a couple dozen shirts and posters that still need to be sent out and if you backed at those levels, and are still waiting you will get what you paid for. It is just that I focused all my attention on making sure the magazines all were published first and foremost. The other awards took a backseat to finishing out the magazine. Moving forward, I hope you decide to continue reading RETRO Magazine and I have made an effort to change how our future subscriptions are handled so it will eliminate any risk for our readers. I realize that many of you lost faith in the magazine due to the delays. So, to remedy that risk I have made the switch to Patreon for all future issue sales. The benefit to you is that you can sign up there and only pay for one issue at a time, and only after it is complete and ready to mail. This will eliminate the risk associated with paying for an entire run of issues up front. And Patreon is the perfect mechanism for this model. I have seen how successful Nintendo Force has become using Patreon and Lucas (the Head Honcho at NF) has been a great help in explaining to me the benefits of this service for us indie magazine publishers. So, if you have enjoyed RETRO over the past couple years, please consider CLICKING TO OUR PATREON PAGE and continuing on the journey with us to keep print video game magazines a thing of the future. My team and I really enjoy working on RETRO and are depending on our readers to keep us going. If we can reach our goal on Patreon, then we will be able to produce RETRO on schedule, bi-monthly. All of you can help us get to that goal. Now for the fun stuff! As indicated RETRO #12 is mailing on Monday and it's filled with what I hope you will find to be very interesting interviews with a smattering of great gaming pioneers. It was so exciting to work with our interviewees and find out more about their life in the industry. We all have them to thank for the great memories we all share! This issue of RETRO is our shortest print run to date, with only 2,500 printed issues. And, then we dice it up with three randomly distributed separate cover variations featuring the Atari 2600, Intellivision and Colecovision. If you don't get the cover you want, we will have a decent supply of them for sale on ShopReadRetro.com beginning mid February. And, if you haven't aleady, you can download the digital version of RETRO #12 using discount code, "retropioneers" when you CHECKOUT HERE. And if you want to get any of the other digital back issues from our first twelve issues you can use code "retrodigital" when you checkout on ShopReadRetro.com. You can download up to three issues at a time. It was because of all of you, these twelve issues were made. I want to personally thank you all for your support with this campaign and hopefully your continued support moving forward with our third year of RETRO Video Game Magazine over on Patreon. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Mike Kennedy I would suggest that these would make nice fireplace kindling to warm the home in the winter months, but it's probably unwise as those glossy pages are likely full of Creosote. And they make terrible toilet paper too... MK, just send me my last mag and we'll never speak of this again... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pipercub Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 I also wanted to apologize to you all for the delays that have plagued this second year campaign. It was fraught with lots of challenges, the greatest of which was the under-funding of the campaign followed closely with my supreme idiocy with a derailed side project. Underfunded? Funny because the Patreon cost per mag dollars/copies is within a few cents of the kickstarters, so repeating the same mistake twice? Like with fake prototypes. Because of some changes inside the RETRO team early on in this campaign, the cost to produce the magazine increased after the campaign completed. And that led to the last two issues of RETRO being self funded by myself to finish out the obligations set in motion from this campaign. So the delays were caused mostly by me waiting for the personal funds required to finish out the issues and the campaign. In the end, all six magazines were produced and I hope you enjoyed them all despite the inconsistent releases. You mean like hiring Daniel Kaiser giving him a bunch of cash and stock only to have him ride away like Shaggy and Scooby Doo on their invisible motorcycle? And draining the business funds for the fake consoles didn't help matters. I do have a couple dozen shirts and posters that still need to be sent out and if you backed at those levels, and are still waiting you will get what you paid for. It is just that I focused all my attention on making sure the magazines all were published first and foremost. The other awards took a backseat to finishing out the magazine. Technically everything is dozens, there are a couple of dozen mosquitoes in the world by that math. Moving forward, I think this phrase is built in at a genetic level. I have seen how successful Nintendo Force has become using Patreon and Lucas (the Head Honcho at NF) has been a great help in explaining to me the benefits of this service for us indie magazine publishers. So, if you have enjoyed RETRO over the past couple years, please consider CLICKING TO OUR PATREON PAGE and continuing on the journey with us to keep print video game magazines a thing of the future. My team and I really enjoy working on RETRO and are depending on our readers to keep us going. If we can reach our goal on Patreon, then we will be able to produce RETRO on schedule, bi-monthly. All of you can help us get to that goal. Monkey see, monkey do = PROFITS!!!!! This issue of RETRO is our shortest print run to date, with only 2,500 printed issues. Way to sell decline as collect-ability. I want to personally thank you all for your support with this campaign and hopefully your continued support moving forward with our third year of RETRO Video Game Magazine over on Patreon. Thank you, thank you, thank you! And thus ends RETRO mag, not with a bang but with a whimper. 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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