Gameband updates

[InfoMan]

How long have they been farting around with this gameband?

 

It was due in September. I'm not pleased that they're still talking in terms of "tweaking and expanding it in the months ahead." The "Kickoff" was in July 2016.

[JBerel]

Unless I missed something, they've said nothing of substance and provided zero in the way of a schedule for production. They haven't even established it's even moving forward. Sounds like another con job to keep stringing backers along.

[InfoMan]

Unless I missed something, they've said nothing of substance and provided zero in the way of a schedule for production. They haven't even established it's even moving forward. Sounds like another con job to keep stringing backers along.

 

At this point, I'm not even sure why they'd be stringing people along that have already paid the money and have no recourse. Either they really expect to deliver someday, or they're trying to keep a semblance of reputation long enough to launch another project, I guess. Another Kickstarter project that I backed quit updating months ago after saying they were merging with another company.

[JBerel]

Update #31:

 

We'll be back within 2 weeks or less.

The Gameband Team.

So check my math....are we in another leap week or month?

[JBerel]

 

A really hard update to write coming right up.....

 

Matthew Rhodes 2 days ago

As kindly and as frankly as I can put it... what exactly is going on with this project?

You guys are walking the fine line of breaking the KS terms of service. Changing aspects about the product, not providing updates, no new completion ETA's...

I am frustrated and angry at this point.

 

Andy 2 days ago

I would like a refund @creator. I have DM'd you. The lack of communication/progress updates is beyond frustrating...

 

Marcus 1 day ago

I am about to pull out and request a refund @creator

 

ben middleditch 1 day ago

@creator I guessing we are probably not getting our watches, would you care to explain what's going on?

 

Jennifer Lavato 1 day ago

Hi... just a mom here, hoping for a cool gadget for my kid since sept. No biggie waiting as long as there’s proof of moving forward. The downfall lately is the lacking of communication. In fact, it’s getting worse.

 

Ben Ward about 22 hours ago

Getting a bit worried now been stung once before for a pricey kickstarter, and now it's a hundred quid looking like it's going down the drain. Please can you update everyone @creator - even if refunds are requested I don't foresee many being honoured. Really disappointed with how this one is panning out, and it's slowly breaking the last bit of faith I've got in kickstarter.

 

Jeff Burtch about 19 hours ago

Every time it is mentioned that communication will get better, it gets worse.

Weird.

 

[+Stephen]

Yuo think they could at least make an announcement about when the next announcement would be.

[bmadgames]

I'm one of the idiots that backed the project and I am now pretty much resigned to the fact that nothing is coming. Writing an update or a comment is so easy to do that clearly they are just going to lay low

[Flojomojo]

I just got a refund from GameKid (RaspPi gameboy thingy on Kickstarter) today ... took a while, and probably hurt them to do it, but THAT's how to keep up goodwill and do right by people in crowdfunding.

 

How late is Gameband now?

[JBerel]

Looking even more grim over at GameBand land. Nobody's heard an Easter peep from Feargal in a couple months. (Since his apparent release from any Atari Association) Gotta assume at this point that his ongoing failure to manage the Gameband project cost him any deal with Atari. It sure looks like he's gone underground. I little quick digging shows his outfit has a pretty meager presence in the states at all. Their own linked in account only shows 7 employees total, and five of the seven are out of Barcelona, including his wife. How's that work. Sounds like a good (premeditated) way to dodge legal challenges and claims.

 

https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmtwogame/

 

https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/people/?facetCurrentCompany=%5B%2218251729%22%5D

 

His linked in page looks to be updated for job searching, and his history confirms departure from Atari on the failed launch of the crowd funding. What's interesting is he lists himself as the creator of Ataribox, when most folks are aware that project was underway, and languishing, before he was in the picture. How does this guy operate our of the San Francisco Bay area, NewYork, and Barcelona all at the same time? He must be a real grifter jet setter.

Creator, GM: Ataribox/Atari VCS Company NameAtari Dates EmployedSep 2017 – Feb 2018 Employment Duration6 mos LocationGreater New York City Area & Barcelona

 

Really makes you wonder how he, or any of the other 6 folks plan to address their responsibilities to their backers on the gameband. (if at all) The backer comments are right on that FMTwo has violated the Kickstarter terms now, and their failure to act, communicate, or respond at this point represents fraud. No reasonable person can conclude that their radio black-out is related to being too busy to update backers. He's shystered another set of backers under his new company name. Now on to the next company name. How does somebody like this get people to fall for his act repeatedly? Is crowdfunding what terminally unemployable people turn to for lack of anything else? Is everyone who vouches for him a crook as well?

 

It's interesting that The Historian chose to drop out of the conversations right when it was announced recently that Feargal was released from Atari, and the radio silence began in earnest over at the GameBand project. It's like he knows enough now to stop talking with the rest of them, or cut his losses and drop any association with the guy. He probably doesn't want to be seen defending the indefensible, but sweeping it under the rug is kinda poor form as well. What's really sad is it looks like nobody in their entire clown car is going to man-up with backers or the rest of the world and explain themselves in any way at all. A lot of these kind of folks like to assume that silence will be kind to them and people will forget. I take the approach that actions speak louder than words and their acts of silence simply confirm the worst assessments of their activities to date. Odds are things are more incompetent and crooked than most folks assumed.

[OscarGungan]

It's weird, I was kind of tempted by this and came close to pulling the trigger on it, a couple of times. However, this little voice in the back of my mind kept telling me not to do it.

[Keatah]

There's really no need to back anything. Just buy it when it comes to retail.

[JBerel]

True that. I've yet to see anything actually make it to production without doing their best to get as many additional orders for the production run as they could possibly muster. Usually at the same price as the original backers, but you don't get a sticker or a shirt. pffft.

[Flojomojo]

Sometimes crowdfunded things release to the general public before the backers get them. I think this happened with some OUYA and GPD Win backers. Derp!

[JBerel]

But.....................What if you really want it to happen?

 

[Keatah]

Just write to the developer telling you want it to happen. It either will or it won't. And "on-the-shelves-now" is everything.

[JBerel]

I wish their backers would file a lawsuit against Feargal and his latest fly-by-night company based on the "Pre-Order Now" button. Funny how the guy disappears right after getting the boot from the Ataribox. The guy's a scammer even if the end result is simply a result of incompetence. You don't take people's money if you have no clue how to deliver. A lawsuit might make other potential scammers or criminally incompetent would-be businesses take notice. Ataribox anyone?

 

Their backers are finally catching on. Unfortunately for them, about a year too late....

 

M about 4 hours ago

I’m pretty sure Feargielicious and his company went out for a pack of smokes on us. Also, no, we won’t see any money back. I’m sure they’ve spent it all and the company will eventually dissolve or be sold off and that’ll be that. In a year or two, they’ll give us time to forget, they’ll be back with another Kickstarter for some other random tech project and it’ll start all over with a new bunch of backers.

Jeff Burtch about 5 hours ago

@Seritheph, nobody is getting any money back, i can pretty much guarantee that.

George McGlauflin about 23 hours ago

I'm pretty sure I lost my money on this project.

Jeff Burtch 2 days ago

I think our line of thinking that “they are hard at work finishing the product” is clearly just wishful thinking.

I mean, how long does it REALLY take to put out an update? 10, maybe 15 minutes? And it literally only takes seconds to pop into the comments section and post a comment.

So yeah, I’m not buying the “they’re too busy” idea any longer, even though I also have held onto that hope for a while now.

Like you guys, at this point I’m just here hoping to at least hear an apology and a reason for why I won’t be getting my watch.

[Collaborator]

About time people see the truth behind this.

 

This is the same team from the original Gameband + Minecraft which si rotting in a lot of warehouses. Original company name was declared bankrupted and took money over to the FMTwhatever company...

 

This is the same team from the Stormfly project, and same team that has been always with FMac (at least the same 4-5 people) who were always getting paid while anyone else they recruited got the boot or 30% salary on promises of a better future.

 

After they drain the last drop of sweat they move on to the next target. These backers will never see a penny, hopefully they will get some sort of product in the end...

 

But this guy is just trouble.

 

"we are a San francisco and barcelona based company" - dude you have an apartment with investors money and travel to US every now and then... that´s not an established company.

 

Eventually people will see through the bullcrap.

 

Fun fact: go here and click on "support" http://www.nowcomputing.com/

Edited April 13, 2018 by Collaborator

[JBerel]

Latest from the desert landfill of Gameband. Just oy.

 

 

Loki about 6 hours ago

I took someone else's advice on here and contacted Atari and Terraria. I wasn't rude, just explained that we haven't had any update in a month and a half and that wasn't the norm. I haven't received anything from Atari yet but a person from Terraria's company did reply and it's not very encouraging....

 

Loki about 2 hours ago

Terraria email said:

"I would say that we share your concerns - and we have heard from a few folks this week about this product. I imagine Atari has as well. I have been and am in the process of tracking the folks behind this down with the same questions that you have. Obviously our role here was more just allowing them to use our licensed IP (to be clear, we have not made a dime off of any Kickstarter funds) - actually, several of our team were backers as well on this. That said, this is clearly unacceptable - I will share what I can about what I find out.

Apologies for this situation. Stay tuned and I’ll let you know what I hear back. Happy to answer any questions."

 

Seritheph 8 minutes ago

Sooo sounds like abandonment in general.

[roland p]

update 32

 

Hello Everyone,

 

The challenges of running a Kickstarter can become overwhelming. In our case there has certainly been a lot of that feeling in the last months. While thats not an excuse for silence on our side, we have been working through a number of issues and challenges to find a path forward, and apologize this update has taken time to get out. We really appreciate your support and patience as we work things through.

 

We've had knock-backs on several fronts. Personal, technical, financial, staffing, and more. Youll recall our USB connector issues, which brought additional costs and delays we were not expecting. That delay led in turn to discussions with our supplier on what the initial production run will be (beyond just Kickstarter volumes) that we have been negotiating, to finally move beyond the DVT phase, which has proved more challenging that we expected. We had a great run through EVT and software development, until getting bogged down with issues in the past few months. We are doing everything we can to agree a new plan with our partners to bring us forward.

 

We need more time while we figure this out and revise our overall plan. We know this isn't what you want to hear. We know you've taken a chance and invested in Gameband, and in us as a company, and we do not take that support lightly. We will give more details as soon as we can. In the meantime be assured we are here, working every angle 100%, and we will continue to do everything we can to keep moving forward.

 

Thanks as always for your support.

 

The Gameband Team.

[Keatah]

Not my problem.

[Flojomojo]

Not my circus, not my monkey!

[JBerel]

Sounds just like....."So sorry for our radio silence."

 

"We have been working through a number of issues and challenges to find a path forward. ...until getting bogged down with issues in the past few months. We are doing everything we can to agree a new plan with our partners to bring us forward."

 

Talk about flim-flam and non-specific double talk...and their Nigerian prince needs your kickstarter funds wired to his address as soon as possible. This pretty well confirms their backers have lost their money. That's as close as they're going to come to admitting it. These ass clowns are having a Chinese factory make them slightly altered smart watches at factories that assemble smart watches, and they act like it's the frickin' moon landing. The only reason someone took 30 seconds to post that is because the backers are uniting to file formal complaints with kickstarter and hassling thier IP partners who have become just as pissed with them. Their just buyin' more time to launder funds and setup FMTwo for bankruptcy. Idiots.

[JBerel]

For any Gameband backers still holding out hope, Atari today just confirmed they have revoked their license with Gameband. No Atari logo, and presumably, no Atari licensed games.

File that under: More information FMTwo will not tell you.

 

[InfoMan]

Well that really sucks. The Atari connection was the only reason I gave them any money.

[JBerel]

You should share that with the other backers in their comments section. Feargal's accomplices are still blowing smoke and sunshine up backer's butts about a newer processor and other great things while FMTwo refuses to tell them anything. The reality is the thing is three kinds of dead, and they all just paid Fergal's rent for his San Francisco apartment for the last year or more. He's probably skipped back to Barcelona.