Coleco Chameleon .... hardware speculations?

[jaybird3rd]

What the hell is a jaguar tooling anyway?

Start reading from the beginning of this thread and let us know if you have any more questions.

[Keatah]

The injection mold tooling for making the plastic shells of the console and cartridges. The dies.

[RupanIII]

How's that new adventure game for your BBS coming along?

What the hell is a jaguar tooling anyway?

Edited April 5, 2016 by RupanIII

[sh3-rg]

Sean's actions seem indicative of a drug addict.

 

Nah. Just a regular-arsed conman. And the easiest people in the world to con are the greedy and the ignorant...

 

$10k well spent - these threads have been fucking legendary.

[sh3-rg]

Albert, LIVE broadcast the trip on Twitch or something taking possession of the Jaguar toolings!

 

I doubt there's any value in moving them from where they rest. Pay for their safekeeping, pay to have them put to use, you don't need the things to be in the same country as yourself even, just for their little plastic offspring to arrive at your door when needed.

 

If they were mine, I'd scrap the console moulds, put an end to the curse, and use that money to pay for the storage and maintenance of the useful and needed moulds - the cart shells.

 

Looking forward to a future filled with multi-coloured AtariAge Jaguar game carts!

[Keatah]

 

I doubt there's any value in moving them from where they rest. Pay for their safekeeping, pay to have them put to use, you don't need the things to be in the same country as yourself even, just for their little plastic offspring to arrive at your door when needed.

 

If they were mine, I'd scrap the console moulds, put an end to the curse, and use that money to pay for the storage and maintenance of the useful and needed moulds - the cart shells.

 

Looking forward to a future filled with multi-coloured AtariAge Jaguar game carts!

 

Gosh.. I hope some mystical religious tragedy doesn't befall AA now that those molds are being transfered here. Fire and Brimstone is the only way to get rid of them!

Edited April 5, 2016 by Keatah

[leathco]

Damn it Mike...too many holes in the story. I'd love it if you came clean, but if you had ANY DOUBT about the toy fair machine, why not open it after the fair? And why are you throwing Scott Schreiber under the bus? He gave you advice on the console, hell I'm pretty sure it was discussed on retro gaming roundup!

 

And why did you keep signing checks when there were no returns on the previous ones? That seems like a horrible way of developing anything, instead why not finish one step at a time.

 

And finally, the statement that you were the only one to lose money is an outright fallacy. Anyone who has any stake in gamegavel and retro has taken losses. And what really sucks, is that the community has lost a trusted member, just because he won't come clean. I am begging you, get a hold of UK Mike and Scott, and do a RGR segment and come clean. Its the only way to start the right path.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G530A using Tapatalk

[+xucaen]

Start reading from the beginning of this thread and let us know if you have any more questions.

That's Jaybird: always ready and willing to not answer a question.

 

 

The injection mold tooling for making the plastic shells of the console and cartridges. The dies.

Thanks!

[+xucaen]

How's that new adventure game for your BBS coming along?

 

 

You tell me since you play it so much.

[panamajoe]

well, if the Jaguar-tooling ends up in Alberts house, i would regard that as a good ending to a terrible story

[sh3-rg]

well, if the Jaguar-tooling ends up in Alberts house, i would regard that as a good ending to a terrible story

 

True, it's been said, the moulding would make for a nice (if weighty) coffee table base.

[Clint Thompson]

Al, is this true? Are you taking possession of the Jaguar tooling? I want to believe...

[leods]

 

Hello Everyone,

 

I hate to light this thread up any more but at this time I have made the decision that my reputation is worth protecting

 

 

LOL

 

Seriously. I can't read past this. NOW your reputation is worth something? good luck dude. I'd love to read what you have to say, but after this bombastic start I just can't take you seriously. Well, anyone sane wouldn't anyway. You've done this before multiple times. Remember the "let's forget the past"?

 

Wow. What's wrong with: "I'm sorry, I seriously fucked up, I don't expect people to forget, but I'd like to stick around, because this community means a lot to me."

 

But then again, maybe without the prospect of profit it doesn't. Just saving face to try to keep Gamegavel and the magazine alive? Good luck.

 

edit:

OK, so I did read this bullshit. So Mike is not willing to pay Kevtris a cent upfront for his work, even though he had the system done and highly documented, but he gave some random guy 10k without even looking at any hardware?

 

How about the "I had the choice of opening it up or keep with going with the toy fair".

 

Preparing for a kickstarter campaign, how on earth anyone would consider ethical not opening the console?

 

I don't believe this story. But even if it was true that Mike Kenedy is that stupid, that still doesn't save him. He still chose the greedy dishonest path.

 

And just seconding SD&R, where's the hard proof about these checks and occurances? Without proof this is worth nothing.

 

Not to mention, some months back Mike had spent all his money and couldn't spend another cent to make a prototype. Now he got 10k to give some random hardware guy he doesn't even know the adress from?

Edited April 5, 2016 by leods

[toiletunes]

Atariage Forums: The gift that keeps on giving.

[Rick Dangerous]

Too bad about the whole debacle. A real FPGA based retro console could have been designed with the money this team flushed away on hookers and cocainum.

Edited April 5, 2016 by travistouchdown

[SoulBlazer]

I'll just quote what SD&S had up earlier...."Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in again!"

 

How many pages am I going to have to catch up on when I get home from work?

Edited April 5, 2016 by SoulBlazer

[TwiliteZoner]

 

Gosh.. I hope some mystical religious tragedy doesn't befall AA now that those molds are being transfered here. Fire and Brimstone is the only way to get rid of them!

 

I think they need to be returned to Mount Doom or better yet nuke them from orbit. It's the only way to be sure!!

[Shamus]

What the hell is a jaguar tooling anyway?

 

It is an artifact of great evil, that can only be unmade by casting it into the fires of Mt. Doom from which it was forged.

[PlaysWithWolves]

Was Sean Robinson's name briefly floated as Mr. Lee by someone in a podcast somewhere? Like CUPodcast or RetroGamingRoundup? Or was that someone else? I got deja vu when I saw Kennedy's first link.

[dj_convoy]

Crisis averted, everyone... A REPUTATION HAS BEEN PROTECTED.

 

Meanwhile, Triverse is still a big meanie, amirite?

[dj_convoy]

Ahem .... he was the President of the company, he does deserve all the shame it comes his way.

And in his own words:

 

To paraphrase, should I check and find the truth or should I feign ignorance and keep going? ....

let's see what he chose ..... yeahhhhh really the action of a worthy President no question about it ...

"the show must go on even if we are lying thru our teeth and I kind of suspect it already!!!"

 

This guy is still trying to place blame everywhere but himself ..... exactly like he did the last time around ... nothing new.

 

EDIT: and he does such a poor job at it that his own words incriminate him even more.

Truth to power, right here. A lot of the problem, regardless of if Mike was allegedly being scammed or not, was Mike DOUBLING DOWN every time there was an issue. That Facebook post where Mike (or maybe it was a Facebook "guru") flat out said it was a FPGA running SNES code had to have been after his supposed revelation that there was something amiss with the "prototype."

 

Is there a convention or something coming up? That's the only reason I could even think of for this random lashing out to even appear. "Maybe if I start laying out my sob story now, I can show my face at Video Game Con 2016!"

 

I do hope Albert ends up with the Jag dies and harnesses them for good, not evil.

 

PS: RETRO Magazine is a hot mess. Honestly, it has been since the start. I'm very sorry I backed it (twice)! I guess I'm the fool.

[jaybird3rd]

You've done this before multiple times. Remember the "let's forget the past"?

I certainly do. I've re-quoted this before, but I think it would be a valuable reminder at this particular time to quote it again, so let's revisit what Mike said the last time he was being "sincere," about three months and two fake prototypes ago (emphasis added by me):

 

Hello Everyone.

 

It is the end of a very tumultuous year for me and in the spirit of Christmas and the holidays I wanted to come in here and ask those of you who will listen to let the past be the past as it relates to this (ad)venture. RETRO VGS is the past and COLECO Chameleon is the future. The Chameleon is not just a rebranded Retro VGS. Despite sharing some of the same internal components the hardware has been completely redesigned to lower the cost while maintaining much of its ability to play a wide variety of games in a variety of ways. To boil this all down to its essence we just want to produce a product that is different, affordable and will bring joy to people’s lives. The market will ultimately decide if we are crazy enough to believe a cartridge console can stand its ground in this age of digital delivery. There are clearly lots of people on both sides of this fence and ultimately it will all come down to the games that can be played and if they are compelling enough to vie for peoples hard earned money.

 

The COLECO branding was a business decision I made to bring instant brand recognition to the Chameleon. But I did not enter into this licensing agreement lightly, knowing that if done so, we have a lot to live up to. COLECO made some very influential, high quality and fun video gaming and electronic products during their time and we will try endlessly to carry on that tradition with the Chameleon. The recognition of having the COLECO logo on the system and the (game and console) boxes will make the Chameleon immediately identifiable by millions of people right from the beginning. In the end this is a good thing for all involved including us, our customers, our suppliers and distributors, our contract manufactures, potential retailers and probably most importantly to game developers. Mark and Chris at River West/Coleco Holdings are also very behind this product and will be helping out in a variety of ways, beginning by inviting us into their booth at Toy Fair which is where they want to officially begin rebuilding this brand in more concrete ways.

 

We know we have a mountain to climb and are prepared to do what it takes to plant a flag at the top. I will once again apologize to all of you for at times dissing some individuals and this community but it was hard being criticized by a group of my Atari and classic game lovin’ peers. I let it get to me on occasion and I do regret all of it. I am aware that we gave you all plenty to poke fun at and criticize but in the end, I believe the product will be much better for going through all of this. In my mind, the best way for me to apologize once and for all is to ultimately create a game system that will make most of you turn a 180 and win over your support and positive influence. And given the chance that is what I will do.

 

All I ask is moving forward into the New Year is you try and give the Chameleon a fair chance to stand on its own, and again forget about the past. Let it speak for itself when we reveal it to you all early this New Year. And finally, let’s respect one another and our opinions (some advice I am directing towards myself) and that goes for both believers and non-believers of what we are trying to do. In the end, we all love and are passionate about video games and sometimes this passion causes us to do uncharacteristic things.

 

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and I hope you all have a very Happy New Year!

 

- Mike

[Rick Weis]

I wish I had the time to make a full post here but I've been on the road for the last week and still have 2 more weeks on the road going from Oregon to Oklahome (Super Bitcon) and now on our way to Wisconsin for Midwest Gaming Classic.

 

I will say that this does explain EVERYTHING! for those of you that don't know Sean Robinson, feel lucky! he has left a trail of disaster in most things he has been involved with here in the NorthWest and he has fooled me many times! SO many times I have stuck up him, I really feel even more Fooled, Sick and Angry right now!!!

 

I'm sorry Mike! I can see why he wanted you to keep his name a secret! if I had known, I would have said something to you! in my books you are golden now! just someone that got conned my a great con artist! I'm really sorry this happened!!

 

Rick

[+5-11under]

RETRO Magazine [...] I'm very sorry I backed it (twice)! I guess I'm the fool.

 

At least you didn't give somebody thousands of dollars (twice)!

[Bill Loguidice]

I will say that this does explain EVERYTHING! for those of you that don't know Sean Robinson, feel lucky! he has left a trail of disaster in most things he has been involved with here in the NorthWest and he has fooled me many times! SO many times I have stuck up him, I really feel even more Fooled, Sick and Angry right now!!!

 

I'm sorry Mike! I can see why he wanted you to keep his name a secret! if I had known, I would have said something to you! in my books you are golden now! just someone that got conned my a great con artist! I'm really sorry this happened!!

 

Rick

 

I appreciate the honesty from Mike Kennedy - at least in regards to the post mortem recounting of the events - but I have a hard time feeling sympathetic in any way. It shows a staggering lack of common sense throughout the entire process and would clearly have eventually spelled disaster anyway at some point for the project even if the "hardware guys" did what they were supposed to along the way.