Coleco strong-arming homebrew publishers and fan sites

[+5-11under]

I could say a lot more, but here's the bare essentials:

 

Chris C., you seem very unprofessional to me. I would have loved to do some business with Coleco (games, hardware, whatever), but that will never happen, unfortunately.

 

You say you want to work this out, but you haven't done anything about actually doing that, that I've seen. Talk is cheap.

 

There's a reason we don't want anything to do with Fred, and it's not just because he made some bootlegs and profited from other people's work. Apparently you haven't seen it yet. Best of luck with that , and goodbye.

 

Coleco^TM is dead to me.

[+5-11under]

Ok, so what you are all saying is that despite suggesting that we work through this, no one wishes to actually work things out

Correct.

but rather attempt to disparage myself, company, partners, vendors, etc as much as possible?

 

Incorrect.

 

/speaking for myself.

[enoofu]

Ok, so what you are all saying is that despite suggesting that we work through this, no one wishes to actually work things out, but rather attempt to disparage myself, company, partners, vendors, etc as much as possible?

Personally a lot of forums and other media have did this a lot better then us

Especially Harmony Gold, River West Brands, and Black Major

 

For example Harmony Gold

Edited June 4, 2017 by enoofu

[opcode]

LOL, like i said. There was NEVER any desire for the main guys here to resolve any concern. Never was. Never will be. Ed was at least willing to hear things out. Let me know if the REST of the community wishes to resolve this as a group, bc it woulds like the rest of us had this thing resolved about a week ago. Lmk if anyone is on board.

You don't want to resolve anything, who do you think you are fooling? You want us to accept your terms, nothing else was suggested.

Yes, I was willing to hear and even wasted my time replying and giving you good advise. You don't even care to answer because you didn't get the answer you wanted from me.

You have no skills, no knowledge, no experience, no competence, no support, no rights for the ColecoVision other than the name.

But you have Fred. To each his own.

[enoofu]

I was kinda laughing when he wanted TPR to drop everything in his life to take a plane ride from Florida to New Jersey to meet Chris in a mystery office

Edited June 4, 2017 by enoofu

[mgman]

Ok, so what you are all saying is that despite suggesting that we work through this, no one wishes to actually work things out, but rather attempt to disparage myself, company, partners, vendors, etc as much as possible?

The bold part implies a mutual agreement and an understanding between both sides. So far, you've shown a firm refusal of the former and a complete lack of the latter on this issue with TPR. I don't know if you're just trolling at this point, or you actually believe anything you've done so far is an attempt at resolving the situation.

[cardo1]

 

There is no physical threat here, this is me just being sick and tired of your game and it's going to end RIGHT NOW.

I am a RetroGaming "fan." I came into this community because I love games, classic games, and mostly ColecoVision games.

I did not sign up to receive abuse from you, .

Saw a quote today that perfectly characterizes this:

 

I THINK THE SADDEST PART OF THE STORY IS WHERE THE VICTIM BECOMES THE VILLAIN.

 

You have been at me for three - four weeks. Having your posse contact my friends, acquaintances, accuse my company of illicit activities, you have continually posted on your own page, made your page an 'i hate Coleco' page. Promoted people to contact us as well. All this time, all we have done was publicly defend ourselves and stand up to you. Hey, your good at what you do. IF your so tired of the game, stop posting online. Stop provoking people, Stop prodding people. Stop posting things, Stop making accusations. Stop promoting miss-truths. Tell your friends to stop bullying little girls on my page. Stop making posts that people share about Coleco. ALL THIS IS IN YOUR POWER to stop. But you and your team keep going and going. At what point, other than making a statement did we provoke the issue further. We didn't push you, expect to repeal your attack.

And that goes for some of you as well, STOP posting derogatory inaccurate articles. STOP making false claims on public pages.

IF YOU WISH FOR THIS TO STOP, then you need to put the keyboard down brother.

 

I jumped on here one more time to resolve this. It failed yet again.

 

ALL WE HAVE DONE WAS DEFEND OURSELVES

 

STOP BULLYING PEOPLE. You want it to STOP? Then it starts with YOU.

[cardo1]

I was kinda laughing when he wanted TPR to drop everything in his life to take a plane ride from Florida to New Jersey to meet Chris in a mystery office

Not any office - Mr. Lee's office!!!!!! i kid i kid...

[2600 Forever]

Where the hell is Shatner in all this? Has he been censored?

 

I just sold my stock in Coleco.

 

Oh, wait.

[jblenkle]

Best solution for all involved is for "Coleco Holdings" to surrender the name Coleco and ColecoVision to someone who actually cares about the games and system (like Opcode). As it stands now, "Coleco" is a dirty word to this community. I have never seen a business or individual shoot themselves in the foot the way "Coleco Holdings" has.

 

Ok, so what you are all saying is that despite suggesting that we work through this, no one wishes to actually work things out, but rather attempt to disparage myself, company, partners, vendors, etc as much as possible?

[TPR]

I would also like to address this as I missed it getting caught up on other posts. If everyone can please read the following as I think it is probably the closest we may come to any sort of "agreement" here...

 

Under this scenario, is the community and CVF page under agreement that games which feature lewd or suggesting content not to be created or promoted on CVF, as well as games that are unlicensed with recognizable games form a third party? Is that what everyone is saying? SOUL BLAZER --- awesome write up! We retract the violations with these terms to FB and you folks delete the several threads relating to this concern? That's the jist?

 

No. Sorry. Just no. I cannot agree to these terms. And let me explain why and offer terms that I feel are reasonable....

 

I have more of an issue with the "unlicensed games" part. First of all, it is not up to Coleco to dictate what can be published on a 35 year old system that the patents have expired on. Especially if the homebrew publishers agree to not include the ColecoVision logos on the box. Part of the fun of homebrews is to make games you wish you had when you were growing up.

 

I'll give you a perfect example... Mappy. I was a HUGE fan of that arcade game as a kid and I would have *LOVED* to have that arcade game on my ColecoVision when I was 12 years old. It never came out. Fast Forward 30 something years and a homebrew was developed. I was *THRILLED* to have that game on the ColecoVision, and just for a moment, unboxing it and putting into my system is was like I had never aged. And there I was sitting there playing Mappy on my ColecoVision as though I was still 12 years old again. This right here pretty much encompasses with the majority of what this homebrew community it all about.

 

I'm sorry, Chris, you aren't taking that away from me or anyone else in this community. You're just going to have to live with that fact and be "okay" with it.

 

Now let's talk about the *cough* "porno" *cough* games. Look, I get it. You don't want your system associated with boobs. Fine. Then let CollectorVision re-publish those games WITHOUT the ColecoVision logo on the box. I didn't actually have an issue with you being concerned about those games using the Coleco logos, I had an issue with the fact that you considered Daniel's 8-bit boobies to be hardcore porn and you made it out like me posting a *PICTURE OF THE BOX* that included no nudity or pronography whatsoever was like me handing underage children copies of Ron Jeremy's greatest hits. I was not ok with how you handled that situation.

 

Having said that, did you see the "Rape a dude" game that someone homebrewed for the ColecoVision? Now *THAT* was hardcore porn!!! And THAT I could see you taking serious issue with even if it didn't have any logos on it. But even still, that was just a rom posted. That wasn't even a real release. You know, when you think about it, you should be HAPPY to know that people wanted to make adult games for your system! Haven't you seen Avenue Q? The internet was made for porn! When someone makes an adult game for your system that's a sign of popularity. You've "made it!"

 

Seriously though. Daniel's strip poker and breakout games are not "porn." I will agree to not posting the box with the ColecoVision logo again, but if our Coleco or Retrogaming fan site wants to do a feature on "adult games" you can bet I'll include Daniel's games along with Space Cunt, Beat 'Em and Eat 'Em, and Stroker 64 along with others, and there isn't anything you can do about it and there is no way in hell I'm agreeing to not talk about something from a journalistic standpoint. It's ridiculous that you would even ask that. You cannot censor me and I will not agree to that.

 

So here are the conditions I propose:

 

1. You retract those claims from the ColecoVision Fan page. ALL OF THEM. I already gave you a compromise that you refused so that offer is off the table now.

 

2. Homebrewers will not use the Coleco or the ColecoVision logos on any unlicensed arcade games that they want to produce for the ColecoVision. Coleco will also not try to stop those games from being developed and if a third party rights holder wants to come in and tell the homebrew they cannot make that game, that is between the rights holder and the homebrewer and ONLY between them. If there are any specific games you feel more strongly about than others, you can *request* from the homebrew publishers that those games are sold "under the table" and not sold on a public website or webstore. (And no that is not an invitation for you to come in and request that ALL games like that are sold privately)

 

3. If a homebrewer wants to use the original Coleco and ColecoVision logos on original games and hardware they will work with Coleco directly for approvals, but Coleco will have no say or control in the content of said hardware or software made for the classic ColecoVision other than just giving it an overall "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" for the logos to appear on the box.

 

4. Any additional agreements would be directly between the homebrewer and Coleco.

 

5. And please don't take this personally Chris, as it's really not meant to be personal, but please... please TRY to have a better understanding of the homebrew community and don't talk down to us and give the community the respect they deserve since they are the ones who have kept the classic ColecoVision system alive for the past 30 years.

 

 

tl:dr - There are going to be unlicensed games made for the classic ColecoVision and Coleco is just going to have to deal with it. Any other games if the publisher wants to use the official ColecoVision logos, they work with Coleco. If not, then drop the logos and everything is fair game.

[Jinks]

I had a three paragraph intelligent message but I deleted it and just have to say.

Close this discussion of dick!

[Flojomojo]

Fair enough, I have tried my best to mitigate your concerns here.

Perhaps your best isn't good enough.

 

ALL you had to do was retract your copyright takedown on the CV fan page.

 

You understand that well enough, BUT NO you also want to attempt to control the narrative, by asking/demanding that discussion threads that are critical of your behavior are deleted.

 

Tit for tat, quid pro quo. You won't just do the right thing, instead you expect something in return.

 

Then you act like you've been wronged and the community is being unreasonable.

 

Even if all the "slander" about you were erased, people remember stuff, and they talk amongst yourselves. There are stories in circulation about this dispute.

 

Just do the thing you've been asked to do, the right thing, and you can earn back a shred of respect from this group.

 

Maybe.

 

Saying "let's work this out in private" and "I'll send you a plane ticket" is cowardly and dishonorable, it's too late for that. JUST DO THE THING, it isn't difficult to understand.

[+grips03]

I don't think one person can speak for a group of people. TPR you can only agree to what you can agree to. I highly recommend no agreement, it is not worth it.

[TPR]

I don't think one person can speak for a group of people. TPR you can only agree to what you can agree to. I highly recommend no agreement, it is not worth it.

I 100% agree with this, actually. I'm just trying to offer some sort of reasonable suggestions here. I'm not saying they are right and they could be totally wrong. I just don't want to see Coleco think they can control what someone makes because I think the majority of us would rather see lots of cool old arcade games ported to the system instead of Rainbow Brite games that nobody asked for and nobody wants.

[opcode]

I don't want any agreement. Why should I. Coleco has no saying on whatever I do. Can go find another victim.

[TPR]

I don't want any agreement. Why should I. Coleco has no saying on whatever I do. Can go find another victim.

 

And that's exactly what I mean by this:

 

tl:dr - Any other games if the publisher wants to use the official ColecoVision logos, they work with Coleco. If not, then drop the logos and everything is fair game.

 

If all the homebrewers decide they no longer care about using the Coleco or ColecoVision logos on their box, then they can go and publish whatever they want and Coleco cannot do anything about it.

 

[enoofu]

Don't even get why he posted when 1/3 of the posts he did were in a angry tone, 1/3 were in a joking tone, 1/3 were in a normal tone

 

All that does is present a lack of empathy and wilds more people up

[Flojomojo]

I was kinda laughing when he wanted TPR to drop everything in his life to take a plane ride from Florida to New Jersey to meet Chris in a mystery office

THAT seems more like a physical threat than anything TPR ever said.

[opcode]

Can we just go back to games and fun as suggested before. Coleco will go away and starve to death If they can't find anyone else to hire for free.

[shawnphase]

Don't even get why he posted when 1/3 of the posts he did were in a angry tone, 1/3 were in a joking tone, 1/3 were in a normal tone

 

All that does is present a lack of empathy and wilds more people up

 

 

i dont know why he hasnt been banned, jesus christ. why are guys like him and mk allowed to have accounts here when they do shit like this to the community?

[+Andrew Davie]

Running out of popcorn over here. I have never communicated with any of the main parties involved. I was, however, "victim" of a company claiming copyright/trademark over my own fan page. As a veteran of the retro gaming community with similar experience, the issue is of interest to me. I know how it feels to put your heart and soul into something you love and then be attacked out of the blue, and seemingly unfairly. In my case, it even made the news. So I do have some relevant experience - I feel enough to offer my opinion. Chris, you badly overstepped with your original action. With your subsequent posts to this forum, you seem to be your own worst enemy. I would very much respect someone who had the balls to admit they were wrong in the first place, retract and apologise. That's the only way out that I see. All other paths end in misery for everyone, yourself included. The interweb is forever, and it's not pretty reading.

[+grips03]

Ban seems to be a good idea. Same for MK. Fraud is not right.

[TPR]

i dont know why he hasnt been banned, jesus christ. why are guys like him and mk allowed to have accounts here when they do shit like this to the community?

 

Personally, I think it's important for him to have a "voice" as it's the only real direct communication Coleco has with the community. How he chooses to use that voice and how his words impact the community is up to him. If nothing else, this entire thread has certainly given us all a pretty good "idea" of what Coleco is like.

[Omega-TI]

It's gratifying to see the realization within the community that an old logo and anything currently connected to it is essentially irrelevant for new products. With that in mind, the logo, and everything associated with it can simply be ignored as if it does not exist. The result will be a more pleasant life and gaming experience for all... without the needless drama.

 

(Click)