Coleco strong-arming homebrew publishers and fan sites

[Swami]

This guys' second video is even better! Really shows off that there is NOBODY at the expo! Click:

https://www.facebook.com/paul.snearowski/videos/vb.100000128972500/1788563681157914/

I guess the psychic never saw this coming, even though the AA forum did.

[DuggerVideoGames]

This guys' second video is even better! Really shows off that there is NOBODY at the expo! Click:

https://www.facebook.com/paul.snearowski/videos/vb.100000128972500/1788563681157914/

 

100% deserved for all the bullying Cardillo did. I normally do not take joy in others' misfortunes; however, I make an exception for psychopaths like him.

[digress]

Just saying. But look you can rent a decent sized room right in downtown toronto for the day at about $250+hst for the full day

 

http://www.401richmond.com/visit/book-a-space/

 

Looking for a space for your next meeting, workshop, or small event? Studio 303 is a bright and comfortable space on the third floor. It comes equipped with two large tables, chairs, WiFi, a projector, whiteboards, and a conference phone.

Rates: Full Day (9:00 am – 5:00 pm) $250.00 + HST
Half Day (4 hours) $150.00 + HST
Per Hour $75.00 + HST

 

 

Great idea, except the thing about Buffalo. Toronto or Montreal is just fine, and please make it around Xmas time so that I can fly in and attend.

[Ikrananka]

I guess the psychic never saw this coming, even though the AA forum did.

 

Classic What the hell is a psychic doing at a supposedly retro gaming convention anyway??????

 

I don't see how this could have been worse for Cardillo - what an absolute embarrassing train wreck.

Edited August 6, 2017 by Ikrananka

[TPR]

Here's another review from someone who was at the expo....

[Shawn]

 

There was what looked like the game running on a PC yesterday with a Rainbow Brite banner behind it, but I haven't seen anyone post about it today. There was no 'official announcement' made about the game and nothing at all mentioned about the mini-arcades. I wonder if these will become vaporware?

 

So they had a emulator running on a PC and nothing more? I hope I'm dead wrong but you would think if they had even the molds made to go along with the internal electronics for the mini arcades they would have had a mockup sitting there to show off there "new" product. By this point I thought a final product would have been unveiled. Alas, nothing. This is not good news at all.

[DuggerVideoGames]

Here's another review from someone who was at the expo....

Screen Shot 2017-08-06 at 19.51.42.png

 

Cardillo is a psychopath, so for anybody to go out of their way to kiss his butt is simply atrocious. People are either blind idiots who support him through everything, or they are simply oblivious to what went on between Cardillo and the community (which means they pretty much weren't a part of the community to begin with). The other option is cognitive dissonance; they may merely be refusing to believe that something could be so bad and they try to rationalize things in order to try to make sense and not feel guilt.

 

No matter what the explanation, facts are facts: the psychopath deserved this embarrassment/failure.

[Shawn]

This guys' second video is even better! Really shows off that there is NOBODY at the expo! Click:

https://www.facebook.com/paul.snearowski/videos/vb.100000128972500/1788563681157914/

 

OMG those videos are gold. Thanks so much for the cheap laughs.

[shawnphase]

hrm, i wonder what the probability of finding a human being who went to both dashcon and this shit would be..a person who could tell us which was the better gathering. i also wonder if theres people out there who are into that, looking up expectedly shit expos and cons and going to them and trying to make em fun or what. slightly off topic, but there was this a few weekends back in an abandoned mall, a majority of the guests like weird al and some others cancelled, while some guests apparently did end up showing up. apparently the people who run this have had a few years of it where it was shit. they probably just have to continue doing em for tax reasons. maybe abp, i dunno.

 

http://www.comicsbeat.com/fandom-fest-comic-con-held-in-an-abandoned-macys-doesnt-go-well/

 

as for this coleco expo, i dunno who i feel worse for, that poor lady in the review for going, or for her kid having to grow up thinking thats what expos and cons are like.

[cybercylon]

 

Poor kid. She doesn't deserve to be part of this bullshit.

 

Based on the photos, it seems like most of the people there have the look of not wanting to be there.

[DuggerVideoGames]

One has to wonder how many agents are unemployed after getting their clients to appear as guests at this farce.

[+Tarzilla]

Lol! That's one handsome guy talking to Al.

All those games around and the handsome guy is playing pocket pool...

[cybercylon]

I couldn't tell in one of the videos, but as the guy was paying to get in, the flashed a boxed game in his face. I assume that is the Sydney Hunter game? So it is know if they even had a console set up to play the demo or a PC running an emulator and a rom file?

[Shawn]

I couldn't tell in one of the videos, but as the guy was paying to get in, the flashed a boxed game in his face. I assume that is the Sydney Hunter game? So it is know if they even had a console set up to play the demo or a PC running an emulator and a rom file?

 

They had it set up on a PC running an emulator from what I've gathered.

[PlaysWithWolves]

Big fail on the product announcements. They should have been all over the interwebs by now--or at least on their Twitter account.

 

I couldn't tell in one of the videos, but as the guy was paying to get in, the flashed a boxed game in his face. I assume that is the Sydney Hunter game? So it is know if they even had a console set up to play the demo or a PC running an emulator and a rom file?

Yep, Sydney Hunter: https://www.colecoexpo.com/coleco-expo-store.html

I don't know about any demos.

 

Box art:

 

Edited August 7, 2017 by PlaysWithWolves

[Flojomojo]

Another happy customer: https://twitter.com/StingerNLG/status/894245984812838913

Screen Shot 2017-08-06 at 13.22.29.png

Oof. Time much better spent for a Maryland gamer would be the American Art Museum in Washington DC, which had an arcade, retro, and indie game meetup this weekend. http://americanart.si.edu/calendar/saam-arcade/index.cfm

[Inky]

I guess the psychic never saw this coming, even though the AA forum did.

"psychic" and "con" just go together.

[enoofu]

Kinda wondered why Coleco went with Robotech: The Macross Saga by TDK Mediactive in their mini, as its a average shooter on GBA, but very poor when compared outside the system

 

Instead of one of the Macross titles such as Super Spacefortress Macross by Banpresto

that probably could be edited to Robotech quickly

 

Its these cheap idiotic decisions.........

Also Wasn't there CEO suppose to talk at the Expo?

[Jaymiester]

Winters here Cardillo!!!!

[Andromeda Stardust]

What's he playing with in his pocket?

Spare change?

Sometimes you just gotta play a quick round of pocket pool when nobody's looking. Oh, wait!

 

All those games around and the handsome guy is playing pocket pool...

Dang it; somebody beat me to the pun...

[2600 Forever]

Winters here Cardillo!!!!

 

[Andromeda Stardust]

Big fail on the product announcements. They should have been all over the interwebs by now--or at least on their Twitter account.

 

 

Yep, Sydney Hunter: https://www.colecoexpo.com/coleco-expo-store.html

I don't know about any demos.

 

Box art:

 

sydney-hunter-con-min-800x11031.jpg

They can sit on it. If I order anything, it will be from Collectorvision. OT, but did they ever finish the SNES port?

 

Did I miss out, or was this ever available for sale?

http://collectorvision.com/shop/snes/sydney-hunter-and-the-caverns-of-death/

[Shantai]

Review from a Vendor. (I AM NOT SIDING FOR NOR AGAINST The promoters. This is a non biased TRUE report of the Expo)

I only recently learned of the debacle with Chris and the fanbase/Homebrewers on THURSDAY!. But alas I had already paid for 2 booths. ($120 per booth)

 

Anyway here goes my report:

I was one of the Vendors that did Coleco Expo. Overall the sales weren't as bad as some would think especially for the LOW attendance. (I would say 1 in 3 people bought from me, maybe even 2 outta 3 at points.) A LOT of NES games sold, but this seems to be the usual. But some stuff sold that SHOCKED me and my friend. Boxed games, COMMON kids games that collected dust for months sold en masse. Even sold some uncommon Atari games! (Perhaps it was the 5-15% below PC/eBay pricing?)

Friday night: Set up was a BREEZE as the place was mostly empty/already set up.
After setting up, My friend and I "browsed" the few vendors still there setting up. There was some truly RARE 8/16 bit titles for sale from PC/eBay pricing to nearly 50% MORE than PC/eBay. I decided I better get one of those homebrews from Chris in cast the show is a success and I kick myself for not getting one and Sat they sell out. Heck, I even scored a semi-scarce NES game from Chris for a great price. Chris was VERY nice to my friend and I, as well as the woman (Wife?) They answered every question I had, including the print run of the Expo Exclusive Homebrew (150). Off to Harold's Deli for dinner (WOW) and then the hotel.

Saturday: I arrived at the Expo at around 8:25am? And my friend was already waiting for me. And what can I say? MANY VENDOR BOOTHS were still EMPTY. (up to 20%!) Now mind you this show was 1.5 hours from opening. Most cons/shows I do, 2 HOURS before and the place is fully set up and the vendors are buzzing around looking for mispriced product, variants and personal wants. NOTHING. I walked around and saw some crazy stuff. but only TWO vendors had Pre-Crash ColecoVision games Some Atari here and there. I saw MANY MANY vendors from previous NJGamerCons set up. So that was a joy to see some friends. Then there were the bigger STORE setups with some pretty AMAZING games/Comic Books/Pop!s for sale. Some games even close to $1,000 ea. Pricing of stuff was from great/decent to wtf WAY over eBay pricing. (But hey, when did you last see a HUGE selection of super rare games at a con besides the massive ones like TMG/PRGE/AVGC?) By 9:30ish the vendors were mostly ready. The Artists seemed to still be awol till 10.

10 am comes and goes like nothing happened. FEW people streamed in and browsed. The sound system began to "wake up" throughout the day. By Lunch there was a crowd, but not anything spectacular. People browsed and bought. This is where I was truly shocked. Most would pick up a game or two and chat among st each other about it and actually BUY the game(s). Tirekickers were few and far between. The food area was quiet, but man was the soda EXPENSIVE! $3 for a coke... What is this, Great Adventure??? The Fries were good tho for the $4.50. Many times the other vendors would walk around and shoot the shit as the crowd died out. Some points got so bad you could walk away from your booth and go peek at the Arcade and panels (Which ranged from a somewhat packed arcade to a ghosttown. It seemed that as the day progressed, the crowd got bigger. I can't say that is was packed (I never had more than 10+ people at my booth at one time), but at times it seemed like the attendence was set to explode. Alas that did NOT happen. Then IT happened. Around 3-4pm, the sound system got LOUD. So loud, I saw poor little KIDS running out of the vendor room to avoid the loud noise. Another vendor even left for the day early due to the sound. The CosPlay was not bad for the small attendance. And yes that pic you saw was probably about 70% of the total cosplayers that showed up. Around 4-5ish the place got quiet again (Attendance) so around 6 My friend pointed out to me a TEST NES box! I went back and forth and worked out a deal that made me VERY happy. Then my friend and I covered the stuff and off to the hotel.
I saw many of my friends attend from previous shows on Saturday. As for the people there, most of them were VERY friendly, not a bad word was spoken or ill feelings.

Sunday: I got to the Expo at around 8:30 and actually had the chance to sort ALL my inventory with no interruptions. Kinda sad. BUT on the bright side, I was able to get some bagels and make a good trade with a fellow vendor, helping him on his TG-16 collection. What really saddened me was outside at 930ish. NOONE was waiting to be let in. As 10 rolled around you were LUCKY to see a FEW and I mean A FEW people walking around. But this is usually normal with church and what not. After finally sorting all my extra stuff for AVGC (God I needed that!) I decided to browse again. Not like anyone was gonna steal. The security was actually good there. Found some goodies, browsed the vacant arcade and saw a few people in the panel room awaiting a speaker. So back to my booth to enjoy my bagel and $3 root beer... My friend showed up with stuff for us to put in the inventory. He walked around hunting Sega saturn and deals. Around 1ish (I wasn't really paying attention) the "crowd" started to trickle in. Few times it DID feel like it was a good crowd. Stuff sold ok with NES again being the main focus. Saw a BUNCH of NEW attendees as well throughout the day. (Early on the lights went half out lol) Even had a customer from when I FIRST did retro game sales show up! By 5ish it was nearly DEAD though. So we packed up around 530ish and off tho home with another convention done.

While I don't believe this was a TERRIBLE show (I've had worse MUCH worse in the past.) It was no home run or even a double. But for the small (Possibly 400-700 people??) attendance, it was not bad sales wise. Just at points VERY VERY VERY BORING especially when you've already hit every vendor booth like 5X and hit the arcades a few times. The attendees IMHO were VERY VERY polite and friendly. Some vendors seemed dissapointed (I do not blame them) and borderline pissed off. I actually enjoyed the Staff, who were very friendly.

It's a REAL shame that this whole thing happened between the promoters/Owners and the fanbase/Homebrew community. This show could have been a SMASHING success and had the fanbase and homebrewers not been alienated and shunned been invited to attend and display all things Coleco old and new, and not let bad business get involved, we may be talking amazing things about the 1st Coleco Expo. Instead things happened that were bad whether for business reasons/greed/god knows what. So now this Expo will go down as a poorly attended/handled event.

I seriously doubt there will be a CRGE 2018 after all that transpired.

[TPR]

Thanks for the honest vendor report! That was a great read. A few things...

 

While I don't believe this was a TERRIBLE show It was no home run or even a double. Some vendors seemed disappointed (I do not blame them) and borderline pissed off.

 

I think while you're probably right, the difference here is that the Coleco would want you to believe this show was through the roof amazing based on their posts and the lead-in to it. I'm not even sure they would admit that it wasn't a huge success and they have a lot of things they need to change or fix before doing the next show, like, I dunno, not totally pissing off hundreds of potential people who would have attended the show either as guests or vendors. But their ego won't allow them to apologize or admit any wrongdoing at all, which is why our copyright claims still have not been retracted on our fan page.

 

 

Chris was VERY nice to my friend and I, as well as the woman (Wife?) They answered every question I had, including the print run of the Expo Exclusive Homebrew (150).

 

I think at this point Chris is smart enough to know that he HAS to be overly super nice to everyone because he wants people to come away from whatever encounter they have with him going "Man, that guy was super nice! I don't know why the AtariAge/ColecoVision Fan people are having such a problem." I know that game he's playing. I've been there myself. It's smart, but I can see right through it. If the guy was really "nice" he would go and fix all of the mess he created. If he was really "smart" he would have sorted things out with the people who could be influential and strengthen his business which would have not only benefited him, but also people like yourself who were vendors at his show.

 

It's a REAL shame that this whole thing happened between the promoters/Owners and the fanbase/Homebrew community. This show could have been a SMASHING success and had the fanbase and homebrewers not been alienated and shunned been invited to attend and display all things Coleco old and new, and not let bad business get involved, we may be talking amazing things about the 1st Coleco Expo. So now this Expo will go down as a poorly attended/handled event.

 

Again, 100% agreed! Had Cardillo and Co. actually made good with all of the community, I'm sure you would have seen several of the homebrew publishers there, podcasts, fan pages, hell we might have even considered it, and PROMOTED the crap out of the show to get people to go. I mean our ColecoVision Fan page has 33,000 people who follow it and our Retro Games Fan page has over 40k compared to less than 10k on the Coleco page. Why would they not only NOT want us to help promote them but on top of it we made damn sure to tell people to consider not going.

 

It's just so stupid, IMO and it all could have been completely avoided. I'm sure Chris Cardillo will try to put some of the blame of the show on people like myself or the AtariAge community, but the reality absolutely is that he's to blame for the relationship going sour.

 

But he will never be able to admit that. And you're right...it is a real shame. We wish you much better luck selling items at your next expo!

 

 

EDIT: Side note.... considering that my "day job" is in the theme park business, this made me legit LOL:

 

but man was the soda EXPENSIVE! $3 for a coke... What is this, Great Adventure???

 

This may shock you but sodas at Six Flags parks are up to $4.26 now!!! And i only know this because I had to buy a soda there last week!

[+frankodragon]

A windows and doors vendor, and Bath Fitters at the con?