Colecovision -- Coming Soon?!?!

[+else]

Just for fun tonight, I tried going to

 

http://www.coleco.com

 

Now for the last several years (actually as long I can remember), this took you to a web site that sold swimming pools -- probably the last remnants of the original Coleco company. But tonight to my suprise I found that they web site says "Stay Tuned", and at the bottom of the page it says "Coleco and Colecovison are properties of River West Brands". A little more digging and I found their web site:

 

http://www.riverwestbrands.com/

 

It seems this company's mission is to revive dormant brands. It seems like they have aquired the rights to all the Colecovision stuff from Telegames. I wonder how recently this took place?

 

So what does this all mean?!?! Does this mean we're going to start seeing "best of" Colecovision collections for modern systems?!?!

 

-Derek

[figgler]

If we're lucky.

[christianscott27]

a colecovision controller that played the 6 most popular games, like the jakks pacifics, would be very cool. i'd probably play those games more if the console wasnt such a pain in the butt.

 

maybe a reissue of the pac man tabletop?

 

no doubt where theres money to be made of an old license somebody will find a way to bring it out.

[cimerians]

Colecovision besides the Atari 2600 and C64 is my 3rd favorite system. I will be keeping an eye on this. Thanks.

 

It would REALLY cool if Coleco games came out on a collection CD for todays systems. A Jakks controller would be great too.

[Xot]

The problem I foresee is pretty much all of the best CV games were licensed, thus doubling the fees and paperwork. I mean, how many truly original CV games were there? Even the non-arcade games had what are sure to still be expensive licensing tie-ins, Smurf, Tarzan, War Games....

[christianscott27]

quite true about the licensing, that thought hit me after i posted, i was thinking what would be the top 6 or 10 CV games i'd like to see again.

 

donkey kong- no way nintendo would do that, heck they're out there selling it on the GBA,

 

donkey kong jr.- ditto above

 

zaxxon- is this a sega property?

 

smurfs, tarzan, wargames, 2001, buck rogers...all licenses

 

space fury, gorf, ladybug and venture might be up for grabs though

[Albert]

Interesting, I wonder how long that site's been sitting there like that...?

 

..Al

[Kenwood]

That would be awesome news.

 

First the Atari Joystick and now Paddle controller games, the Activison, C-64 and now possibly ColecoVision. I just hope maybe an authozied NES someday too.

[Rocko]

I just hope maybe an authozied NES someday too.

 

That might happen a LOOONG time from now. Nintendo is still using the NES and will be squeazing money out of it for a long time.

[Nateo]

Say, do you remeber that Ken Love fella talking about somethin called a Coleco Bulldog? Maybe this has something to do with what he was talking about...

[HawgWyld]

a colecovision controller that played the 6 most popular games, like the jakks pacifics, would be very cool. i'd probably play those games more if the console wasnt such a pain in the butt.

 

Not that I'd know anything about this ( ), but there's a darn good ColecoVision emulator for the Dreamcast floating around out there. You can find all the info over at http://www.dcemulation.com.

 

I hate emulation, but rumor has it that one's pretty good -- you don't have to fool with those blasted ColecoVision controllers, and the emulator runs most of the games available (there are some problems, of course, with games using driving or super controllers).

[Stingray]

It looks to me like this company bought the brand name and registered the URL in hopes of selling the rights to use them to someone else. I doubt this River West outfit has any plans to do anything with Coleco or Colecovision themselves, they look to me like a brand name broker and nothing more.

 

I'd be as happy as everyone else if it turns out I'm wrong about this, or if someone with the means to do something neat with Coleco ends up with the rights. I'm a big time CV fan myself.

 

-S

[+opcode]

Hmmm... They bought the ColecoVision name too. Just try www.colecovision.com....

I really don't know if it's good or bad news...

But I suppose Ken knows something we don't.

 

Eduardo

[+opcode]

The problem I foresee is pretty much all of the best CV games were  licensed, thus doubling the fees and paperwork. I mean, how many truly original CV games were there? Even the non-arcade games had what are sure to still be expensive licensing tie-ins, Smurf, Tarzan, War Games....

 

Completely right!

[Inky]

Remember this thread: http://www.atariage.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=45011

 

 

Klove mention the new Coleco BUlldog system...

[Inky]

And this thread: http://www.atariage.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=42649

[Cootster]

The Coleco Bulldog was a joke, right?

 

If not . . . Why wasn't it at E3 and such?

 

But a Jakks-style controller (Telegames actually made/licensed one at one point, BTW, they're just pretty hard to find, and I was broke the only time I've ever seen one) is a definite possibility. . . IIRC, that one had Lady Bug, Mouse Trap, Pepper II, all the Activision titles, Meteoric Shower, Tapper, Looping, Zaxxon, and some others . . .

 

Of course, a steering wheel with Turbo/Dukes/Pit Stop/Spy Hunter/any other games that used it that I'm forgetting would rock even more . . .

[Inky]

The Coleco Bulldog was a joke, right?. .

 

AFAIK, Klove, our loyal Activision contact, has always been 100% right on everything he's 'teased' us whith, and I have no reason to doubt him here.

[Cootster]

The Coleco Bulldog was a joke, right?. .

 

AFAIK, Klove, our loyal Activision contact, has always been 100% right on everything he's 'teased' us whith, and I have no reason to doubt him here.

 

Well, the first mention was surrounded by references to porting Anthology to the Spectrum and TI994/A . . .

 

I figured he was playing w/ the theme and just referencing some early Coleco product.

 

OTOH, less than 6 months ago, www.colecovision.com was just a redirect for ecoleco. . . So something is going on, and knowing the financial interest people have in cashing in on retrogaming, I'm sure products will come from it . . .

 

But a new handheld in a super-glutted market? Perhaps if it's just a rebranded Gizmondo or (more likely, since it hasn't been officially released here) GP32, it makes sense . . .

 

And I'll buy any of it . . .

[Cootster]

Ranger Industries, Inc. (the one that was formerly Coleco Industries, Inc. until its assets were forfeited in the early 90s) lists a Morton Handel as its listed agent. Handel's non-profit foundation was incorporated from the old Coleco HQ building in West Hartford, CT.

 

However, their current address is listed in Bloomfield, CT.

 

Their business is listed simply as "MANUFACTURERS". Although they only have one employee, they sold $44,000 worth of product in 2003.

 

The only other companies incorporated under the name are NJ and PA-based units of the ink company with a site at http://www.rangerink.com/ . They're not connected to them, as far as I can tell.

 

Neither are they connected to the Maine-based Coleco Family Pool Centers, who owned the domain www.coleco.com before River West Brands bought it and are now at www.colecopools.com. The CEO of that company is named Armand Desrochers.

 

Do either of those names crop up in connection w/ the Coleco of the early eighties? (The pool company was apparently spun off in 1971, before they had any video game involvement).

 

But as far as their electronic products go, Telegames seems to be the only licenseholder . . . And they are still selling carts (are those new or NOS?).

 

Hasbro owns the trademark/logo (or did before River West.)

 

So the waters are muddy and I am not sure who would legally be able to market new hardware under the name . . .

[SS]

So has anyone tried calling the phone number that's listed on the page?

 

telephone 312.327.4430

[Cootster]

So has anyone tried calling the phone number that's listed on the page?  

 

telephone 312.327.4430

 

No, although I've emailed River West Brands wondering what was up. . .

 

I will call it Monday during regular business hours.

[+opcode]

I will call it Monday during  regular business hours.

 

Did you get any reply?

 

Looks like they are going to release something...

Just check www.colecovision.com

 

Eduardo

[Cootster]

Eh, the "Coming Soon" page seems to hint at nothing more than a re-issue of the same PC versions Telegames already sells . . . That's a non-starter, IMO.

 

But, OTOH, I did receive an email response from someone at RWB who admitted that "Bulldog" was the WIP name of something . . . But wouldn't talk further.

 

And they'll apparently be at CGE, so I guess we'll see what they're planning there . . .

[Zeus]

That's a really ugly website. Sounds like a big disappointment to me.