Coleco Chameleon .... hardware speculations?

[leods]

Religion is funny. You can talk shit about whatever you want, intil you touch on the Religion that Person has and suddenly it's not OK anymore.

 

And the link here is: Mike talked shit of all new gen platforms and developers, about how you get separated from your games, about how new games are Buggy messes, how the Internet is evil. Talked about the failures of the OUYA (even though he backed the project). He even went as far as saying the MIST isn't a consumer ready product.

 

But dare you say anything negative about the Coleco Scameleon and you're immediately out of line. You're a disrespectful hater.

 

You can say the pagans will burn in hell all day Long. That's just your Religion, but saying Jesus isn't a historical figure (aka real) is hate speech. Even though technically it isn't even religion talk, it's science (history)...

[SoulBlazer]

The thing about that is at one time Mike used to be less hostile to modern games and the state of the industry. All three hosts of the RGR are on record as not liking major parts of modern games and what has happened to the industry, and while I agree they have valid points, I also think they haven't played or been exposed to enough of the right games. I recall Scott saying in a recent episode he's spent time in game stores wanting to buy something that appeals to him and came away empty. And that may be the case. But you need to look at the indie game market then. Tons of retro styled games out there, and a lot of good ones also. But then in another episode he shocked me by saying he had played (and enjoyed) Mass Effect 3, which is the last thing I expected him to say.

 

Among other things that has happened to Mike in recent years is that he's gotten even more cynical and disgruntled, it seems.

[leods]

Something barely related:

 

I have a 4yo daughter. She has 2 gaming Systems available. A Game Boy Advance and a WiiU. She'S been playing the GBA more. Yoshi's Island, Kirby and Ratatouille (the latter is not a very good game, but for her it's easy enough and cute).

 

I just find it interesting. I Kind of expected her to be more impressed with the flashier WiiU stuff, but somehow she just keeps going back to that small pixelated Screen. She LOVES yoshi's Island.It's so simple, yet every single small Detail seems to fascinate her.

[Raticon]

Among other things that has happened to Mike in recent years is that he's gotten even more cynical and disgruntled, it seems.

That particular thing you can see among many many people all over the internet with a dream to develop their own games, consoles, controllers, assorted everyday stuff actually that gets the "nope" from their peers.

 

The story is ubiquitous, really. Someone is having an Eureka moment during the morning coffee, starts to draw up plans for, in this case, a console but it could be anything really.

Pitch the ideas to likeminded friends who all believe it's the best thing ever, gain emotional momentum. Start pitching the idea to people with similar interests but without deeper knowledge on some forum and you might still get a decent rah-rah. You all know the story, lots of game and hardware concepts follow this. Many times i have seen ideas like "What about a new cartridge-console?" just being thrown around as an idea but being put to rest after realism sets in.

 

Problems start when people with more knowledge or insight start turning up and question your idea for all the different reasons (feasibility, marketability etc.) and you can't or won't confront these issues. That's the point when you in your head start branding these "nonbelievers" as haters and trolls instead of just critics or people with questions. As the backlog of unaddressed issues, complaints, criticism and question mounts up it translates almost entirely into a big heap of "haters" instead, and the feeling of being worked against by your peers will make you cynical, disgruntled, bitter and hell-bent of proving everyone wrong whatever the cost. Had you taken the criticism to heart or - even better - faced them with probable explanations, solutions and maybe even rework your concept the story might turn out different.

 

There is literally a crapton of stories that follow this recipe. Heck, watching people pitch some stupid business ideas on shows like "Dragons Den" and getting it ripped apart by those investors in the know and watching the dude/dudette who pitch the story get very defensive, angry and sometimes even starting to ridicule the investors in return is a sure sign that these people are more on a quest to get this done and "prove the haters wrong" rather than accept that their idea might just be a little bit on the unfeasible/useless side and just drop it. That "Bob's Game"-fellow fits right in here imo.

 

I don't know MK, but i'm getting a picture of a man fitting this very recipe. He won't quit until it's basically him, his shells and his dream left and all the money, supporters and deals have flown of into the sunset. He's more on a cartridge-crusade to find the holy grail than a business venture and this can't end well if it keeps going like this.

[SumerNivek]

The Place Retro Arcade is one of my favorite places to visit. I saw a post that it is being closed soon which is a bummer, I was trying to work on a charity event for Arcade USA there.

What?! I hadn't heard that. Where did he post it at, as I really don't see mention of it on The Place's Facebook page. I had read on the FB that he wanted to move to a bigger location at some point. Man, I hope he doesn't close for good...such a great place to escape the modern world and really feel like you have been transported to the 1980s!

 

If you decide to do the fundraiser, I will chip in. Cincinnati needs places like this.

 

EDIT: Sorry for going off topic for a sec, fellas.

Edited February 28, 2016 by SumerNivek

[HOW]

if you guys aren't listening to live retrogamingroundup, you should.

 

Was a regular listener from the very start.

But just found it a bit too long of late.

I know about the "PAUSE BUTTON" @pipercub, I know

May have to return to it

[HOW]

I for one am waiting for that magazine to fold so that I can sell my complete & unread set on eBay for big monies.

Honest opinion from readers/subscribers.

Would you recommend I pick up some digital editions of RETRO?

Or stick with Retro Gamer? (RETRO 'seems' very US-centric).

 

I didn't know Scott & UK had stopped contributing if I'm honest

[godslabrat]

If you put a Jaguar shell to your ear, you can hear the ocean.

[Flojomojo]

Honest opinion from readers/subscribers.

Would you recommend I pick up some digital editions of RETRO?

Or stick with Retro Gamer? (RETRO 'seems' very US-centric).

 

I didn't know Scott & UK had stopped contributing if I'm honest

 

Don't bother with RETRO, it's not nearly as good as Retro Gamer.

[Bryan]

Run its course this thread has.

[AtariLeaf]

Run its course this thread has.

 

Which is what MK is hoping for.

[glazball]

 

It is an amazing coincidence that Eli happened to be at the show with one of his SNES carts (for other reasons) and Mike just happened to be there with the Chameleon prototype whose mysterious black box FPGA was not only configured to play SNES carts, it also sported a SNES cart connector.

 

Eli recounts it like it was a surprise -- and it may very well have been -- but given the fart cloud that had been wafting around since the RVGS IGG failure I don't blame him one bit for keeping a cautious arms length distance from Mike and stating Piko has little to no involvement with that crew.

 

Of course it's entirely possible that Mike tipped Eli off beforehand that he was going to be there with something that was configured to be SNES compatible, so on a whim maybe he brought along a SNES cart to call Mike's bluff. So there's another way it could have been a genuine surprise that it took a SNES cart and played it without glitches.

 

This doesn't make sense to me either.

 

Mike: "Did you happen to bring any other games with you?"

Eli: "Yes, but they are only SNES games on SNES PCBs and will only fit in a SNES cart slot."

Mike: "Oh great, that will work perfectly."

Eli: "OK, here ya go! Huh, that was lucky."

???

[PikoInteractive]

 

This doesn't make sense to me either.

 

Mike: "Did you happen to bring any other games with you?"

Eli: "Yes, but they are only SNES games on SNES PCBs and will only fit in a SNES cart slot."

Mike: "Oh great, that will work perfectly."

Eli: "OK, here ya go! Huh, that was lucky."

???

 

Life is easier when you read.

[Serguei2]

Wait. If Chameleon is released , and it plays 8, 16 and 32 bit games, will it have Colecovision as a 8 bit, a SNES as a 16 bit and which system is for 32 bit?

[Reaperman]

Does anybody really still think there's a 'tech guy.' One who works in the medium of electrical tape and has the magical power of being the only person in mr. kennedy's life who doesn't get thrown under the bus at the end of the day?

I mean, everything else about this project has been a complete lie, what's one more thing?

 

I couldn't choose a favorite below, but I really like to think it's the second one as I picture mike with his roll of 'tech guy':

"let's get the 'tech guy' to clean this up"

 

Edited February 28, 2016 by Reaperman

[phoenixdownita]

....

EDIT: Sorry for going off topic for a sec, fellas.

ROTLF, made my morning, thank you!!!

[phoenixdownita]

If you put a Jaguar shell to your ear, you can hear the ocean.

No no, if you put a Jaguar shell to your ear the fumes will overwhelm you.

[dj_convoy]

Honest opinion from readers/subscribers.

Would you recommend I pick up some digital editions of RETRO?

Or stick with Retro Gamer? (RETRO 'seems' very US-centric).

 

I didn't know Scott & UK had stopped contributing if I'm honest

Retro Gamer is a fantastic magazine; RETRO has poor layouts, rarely talks about actual retro games and has very little content that you would want to revisit. Also, it comes out on no schedule at all where as Retro Gamer is a professionally produced mag that comes out monthly.

[rob_ocelot]

Comic dates from before the Toyfair but it's much more a-pro-pro to the current situation.

 

IMO, there's really no functional difference between the "We're sorry, we'll try harder" pre-ToyFair Chameleon, the interim fauxtotype Chameleon digesting a SNES, and the "Getting better all the time" no-go post Kickstarter coitus Chameleon now with see-thru underwear.

 

Mike will still continue to post vague updates like "Talked again with Toys-R-Us today and I can already smell the ink drying". Mike will still spend more time pruning Facebook and Twitter in his favour rather than get a real working prototype made, because that's hard work.

 

Mike and his Chameleon are back to hiding in plain sight again.

 

[Great Hierophant]

Retro Gamer is produced in the U.K., so it tends to be a bit more U.K.-tailored with discussions about video games for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC and other PC games popular in the UK but were never released in the US. Even so, I have seen it on the magazine racks in the U.S. It has 152 published issues and has been around since 2004. It has survived through some tough times on a subscription model.

 

I cannot say the same for RETRO magazine. It has about nine issues from 2013-2015. It has not shown so far that it is a sustainable magazine on subscriptions alone. Judging by the kickstarter numbers, $75K vs $50K for "Year One" and "Year Two", respectively, funding a "Year Three" is not looking great.

[Cybermario]

That particular thing you can see among many many people all over the internet with a dream to develop their own games, consoles, controllers, assorted everyday stuff actually that gets the "nope" from their peers.

 

The story is ubiquitous, really. Someone is having an Eureka moment during the morning coffee, starts to draw up plans for, in this case, a console but it could be anything really.

Pitch the ideas to likeminded friends who all believe it's the best thing ever, gain emotional momentum. Start pitching the idea to people with similar interests but without deeper knowledge on some forum and you might still get a decent rah-rah. You all know the story, lots of game and hardware concepts follow this. Many times i have seen ideas like "What about a new cartridge-console?" just being thrown around as an idea but being put to rest after realism sets in.

 

Problems start when people with more knowledge or insight start turning up and question your idea for all the different reasons (feasibility, marketability etc.) and you can't or won't confront these issues. That's the point when you in your head start branding these "nonbelievers" as haters and trolls instead of just critics or people with questions. As the backlog of unaddressed issues, complaints, criticism and question mounts up it translates almost entirely into a big heap of "haters" instead, and the feeling of being worked against by your peers will make you cynical, disgruntled, bitter and hell-bent of proving everyone wrong whatever the cost. Had you taken the criticism to heart or - even better - faced them with probable explanations, solutions and maybe even rework your concept the story might turn out different.

 

There is literally a crapton of stories that follow this recipe. Heck, watching people pitch some stupid business ideas on shows like "Dragons Den" and getting it ripped apart by those investors in the know and watching the dude/dudette who pitch the story get very defensive, angry and sometimes even starting to ridicule the investors in return is a sure sign that these people are more on a quest to get this done and "prove the haters wrong" rather than accept that their idea might just be a little bit on the unfeasible/useless side and just drop it. That "Bob's Game"-fellow fits right in here imo.

 

I don't know MK, but i'm getting a picture of a man fitting this very recipe. He won't quit until it's basically him, his shells and his dream left and all the money, supporters and deals have flown of into the sunset. He's more on a cartridge-crusade to find the holy grail than a business venture and this can't end well if it keeps going like this.

I was telling my friend in Facebook the other day, i am Sure Mike loves retro, that much is clear, but a dream as turned into his obsession, cant be denied. Mike is being stubborn and he want to be remembered as the man that brought back cartridge based gaming to the industry. He's having delusional dreams of grandeur to be remembered for such feat, it wont happen even if the console ever comes out.

 

 

This doesn't make sense to me either.

 

Mike: "Did you happen to bring any other games with you?"

Eli: "Yes, but they are only SNES games on SNES PCBs and will only fit in a SNES cart slot."

Mike: "Oh great, that will work perfectly."

Eli: "OK, here ya go! Huh, that was lucky."

???

Yep, pretty much what i was trying to say, quite funny how a console that they created would be able to play a SNES PCB w/o previous testing, look pins match perfectly, what an awesome coincidence. Could as well grab my Supermario World SNES cart and i bet it was going to be compatible (we know why)

[toiletunes]

Meanwhile, at Retroland HQ...

[Gentlegamer]

 

 

I for one am waiting for that magazine to fold so that I can sell my complete & unread set on eBay for big monies.

 

Mike would want it that way.

[Keatah]

And the link here is: Mike talked shit of all new gen platforms and developers, about how you get separated from your games, about how new games are Buggy messes, how the Internet is evil. Talked about the failures of the OUYA (even though he backed the project). He even went as far as saying the MIST isn't a consumer ready product.

 

He's basically right. New games are buggy messes, evidenced by zero-day patches 100MB+ in size.

 

He's basically right. The internet has been perverted from a research and advanced communication tool into a way to sell shoddy products. A way to stuff your face with useless advertising. A way to waste time and a method for corporations to extract more money from people. Not to mention a method of media control, both legal and illegal. Once idiot salespeople got wind of the internet it went downhill. I despise all salespeople because they basically feed you bullshit at every opportunity.

 

And MiST is not a consumer-ready product. Do you think my idiot sister would know what do with one of those? Can you buy one at Target? I thought so..

[Shawn]

it's science (history)...

 

Coolest thing about Science? It doesn't give a shit what you believe in.