+Tarzilla Posted June 15, 2017 Share Posted June 15, 2017 I'm going to do everything I can to make sure something like that doesn't happen. Sent from my Keyboard Component using Jack's Conversational Intelli-talk cassette And you will have a small army standing with you... 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Helmet Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 Retro gaming has lost a treasure. I never met him, but man did I enjoy listening to him on the Intellivisionaries. Seemed like a very warm, kind man who really cared about the golden age of video games. Rest In Peace, sir. You will missed. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 While I never met Keith face to face, I did have the pleasure of speaking with him over the phone earlier this year. I had ordered a pair of Intellivision Flashback controllers from Intellivision Productions and the order had sat for a while. So I called them and to my surprise, Keith answered the phone. He was really nice, handled everything (order was shipped the same day) and took the time to speak with me about games and such. I remember thinking that he treated me like we were friends. How cool was that! Rest In Peace. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntellivisionDude Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 I always enjoyed listening to him tell stories. I could listen for hours. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldjd Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 My wife and I had the pleasure of a business dealing with him many years ago. What struck me was his easy, laid back manor. What a truly good person he was, and certainly a person who will be missed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onmode-ky Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 Upon seeing this topic today, I confirmed the sad news and posted about it at the other gaming forum I frequent, at PSPMinis.com. I had intended for that post to be short, but given that it's not really a retro-gaming forum, I felt a need to elaborate about who Keith was and why his passing is such a blow to the classic gaming community. Thus, the post ended up including all of my feelings about Keith and his legacy, and so I replicate its contents here: This was a shocking bit of news: [link to this thread] Keith Robinson, one of the original Mattel Electronics staff (the Blue Sky Rangers) who developed Intellivision games, and who later bought the Intellivision rights and ran Intellivision Productions for the past two decades, died at age 61 yesterday of kidney failure and cardiac arrest. I've never met him in person before, but I've exchanged e-mails with him several times (including while doing research into the underlying hardware of the 2003 Intellivision plug-n-play systems distributed by Techno Source). At my request, when I ordered a set of Intellivision Flashback Supplemental Overlays in 2015 from Intellivision Productions' online store, he signed the accompanying information sheet for me. My personal interactions with him aside, Keith Robinson was a huge figure in the modern classic games scene. He is the reason there is any Intellivision mindshare at all these days outside of the homebrew niche; the early (and not very well liked) Intellivision plug-n-play systems, the Intellivision Lives! compilations for PC, Mac, PS2, GameCube, Xbox, and DS, the Intellivision games in PlayStation Home, the Intellivision Flashback, the Intellivision VR projects currently in the works--these have all been products driven by Keith's personal desire to see Intellivision continue onward and not be lost to time. His IntellivisionLives.com website contains a huge amount of information not just about every original Intellivision game but about the making of those games and the people who worked on them. Unlike the guy who currently owns the Coleco brand, Keith was there in the heyday of the Intellivision and maintained a healthy relationship between the brand and its modern community. Of all the pre-crash video game platform companies, Atari very much included, Intellivision has been the most well organized and well managed in its modern incarnation. It honestly helped that every podcast appearance by him and just about every photo of him ever published showed how warm and enthusiastic he was. His passing is a huge loss to the heart of classic gaming. Thank you, Keith, and may you rest in peace. I'm the kind of guy who relishes hearing anecdotes about how things were done in times past. With Keith having been such a great storyteller, I wish I could have had the chance to meet him. onmode-ky 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghsqb Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 (edited) Very sad news. The Intellivision was my introduction to gaming as a child and the reason I began collecting games 25 years ago. Keith is obviously a huge part of that history and has been the driving force in keeping this brand relevant all these years later. Keith was one of the few guys of the original heyday that were still around today to share anecdotes and enthusiasm all these years later. Sadly I never got to meet Keith, but we shared a passion for the Intellivision and I've gladly supported the brand with each new product release. RIP Keith, 61 is far too young. Edited June 16, 2017 by ghsqb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChefPepper Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 Such a shame. I'd hoped to meet him at a future retro convention, but after numerous Intellivisionaries interviews I feel like I knew him a bit already. My condolences to everyone who knew him and to his family. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ValkerieSilk Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 We lost a legend and a really nice guy... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4ever2600 Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 He was the best! I'd like to share my favorite Keith story, we were running CGE 2K14 and I was standing in the expo hall on setup day with my hotel/convention rep discussing how well everyone was following the rules and she was agreeing that this was a break from some of the more chaotic shows they have had. One rule that we had to abide by was no vehicles in the expo hall, the reason being the unions wanted tens of thousands of dollars to lay down protective plastic, over the carpet rated for vehicle travel, if vehicles were in the hall they wanted their windfall of cash. Just as were having this discussion Keith comes in hot right past the guy I posted at the door to make sure vehicles did not come in, he whips right by us on the way to the booth with a load of the Intellivision flashbacks doing like 30Mph indoors with that huge santa claus smile he always had. I look at my rep like I am about to be beheaded and she says, don't worry, this is not a problem. Were gonna miss the big guy! I'm pretty sure I'm the guy you posted at the door... lol. I remember this like it was yesterday. After he flew by me, I caught up to him to tell him id escort him and vehicle to table as I had no idea about the no vehicles rule in the hall. We had done this at a lot of years prior and it wasn't a problem most of the time. Around then I was told by the organizers, no vehicles. So I escorted him back slowly and at one point drove the intellivan backwards through the convention center loading docs and helped him with some carts to get his products to his table. All I have to say is he was and always will be an incredible guy. Thank you Keith for all the years for the great entertainment as a child and adult. God love ya and I hope you're in IntelliHeaven playing Intellivision... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 Not surprising, but nevertheless very sad news indeed... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LiqMat Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 Very sad. The Intellivision was my first console in 1982. This is so strikingly similar to Jay Miner's death (father of the Commodore Amiga) back in 1994. They almost look like they could be brothers. Both men were passionate about what they designed and changed my childhood for the better. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJChandler Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 SAD, He will be missed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyBoss Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 sad he seems to be a fun guy, watched some youtube videos with him, he explains things really good. May he R.I.P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekMD Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 Sad news. He will be missed. I am glad had the opportunity to meet him at CGE in 2014. May he rest in peace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmtech Posted June 18, 2017 Share Posted June 18, 2017 (edited) This news saddens me. I met him a long number of years ago at E3 I believe. He will always be remembered for his many contributions to the indelible magic of classic video games. Intellivision Lives!!! Edited June 18, 2017 by jmtech Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SumerNivek Posted June 18, 2017 Share Posted June 18, 2017 Dang, I just heard about this today...on Father's Day when I went to AA's home page. RIP Keith. You WILL be missed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug0909 Posted June 19, 2017 Share Posted June 19, 2017 I never met him but I am very saddened by the news. I remember once when a set of overlays I ordered from his site were delayed, he personally emailed me about the problem. He really cared about each and every one of his customers, not something you see often these days... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mos6507 Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 I did an initial sit-down (sans cameras) when I was working on Stella at 20 in relation to M-Network but I never went back to shoot a formal interview once I had the reunion at Nolan's booked. He definitely lived the beachgoer lifestyle. Atari was still locked up in the pocket of Hasbro at the time and you had Activision of course, but what I remember was the grass roots way he was trying to shepherd the INTV rights during what was to become the retrogaming boom. He seemed like a reasonable guy when it came to finding a middle-path on IP/copyright. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LiqMat Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 He seemed like a reasonable guy when it came to finding a middle-path on IP/copyright. Agree. In one of my very few email conversations with him on the aging Intellivision Rocks! collection CD he had such a nice, calm tone about him. At the time of the email I had no idea what an important figure he was in relation to the Intellivision and that shows what a down to earth guy he was. Here was his response when we were discussing if he could update the Intellivision Lives! and Rocks! collections since they did not operate very well on modern machines. Keith Robinson August 8, 2015 "Yes, we do hope to have an updated collection later this year. Unfortunately, Activision will not let us re-license the games on Rocks. Unless we can change their minds, we will only be able to reissue Lives, adding the ECS and Intellivoice games from Rocks. I will check with the programmers if there is a simpler way to get full screen when playing games without manually changing the screen resolution, but as you say, it is showing it’s age." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xSeriesMan Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 Incredibly sad news. I'm pretty shocked. I only met him at CGE 2014, but doing the podcast made me feel "close" to him somehow? I know that's a bit silly, but I admit it's how I felt. I'm going to miss him. Very sad news, he will be missed for sure. Praying for his family and everyone who was close to him. I did not know him but listening to the podcast made me feel like I did. Thanks for sharing Kieth with us clearly he was a great guy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Rolfe Posted June 22, 2017 Share Posted June 22, 2017 I was sad and shocked to hear this. Yes, Keith carried the torch; held the show together. Rest in peace. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1980gamer Posted June 22, 2017 Share Posted June 22, 2017 Hi David, It is very sad. Would it be possible for you to take the torch? You basically made the intellivision. My favorite system and MLB, still my favorite Baseball game. If you cannot honor Kieth's memory (in the Intellivsion sense), no one can. Anyway, It's cool to see you here. RIP Kieth! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Rolfe Posted June 23, 2017 Share Posted June 23, 2017 Thanks, but it's not my torch, and if I were to snatch it up, I'd merely set myself on fire. This is a job for someone with the drive of a businessman, ready to push the goods and press the flesh. I guess whoever is left running the show will have something to say soon enough... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1980gamer Posted June 23, 2017 Share Posted June 23, 2017 David, I get it and it is just more proof of the passion Kieth had for the intellivision and community. I do hope you will be around the forum and share any memories or random thoughts. It's funny how as we grow older, they more we want to hang on to the past. I guess that's why the call them the good old days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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