carlsson Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 So the printed copy of RETRO only costs $4 more to ship worldwide than within the US? I don't know how much of the original $5.99 are postage costs, but it seems to me that unless the magazine will be thin as a leaflet, Mike might lose additional money if a huge number of subscribers from Europe, Asia etc would pick up his offer. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawnphase Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 That article, while interesting, is to me, an almost textbook example of internet journalism... There's way too many unanswered questions for it to be taken at face value... For example: The comments suggest that the band's fans already knew all about the Patreon connection and that the artist as a CEO was taking no money from that position...I have no idea if that is true or not. It simply raises more questions. And there's even a comment suggesting all this fuss is over a cover band...No idea of it's true because I'm not familiar with the band, and maybe it's only a side note, but one worth mentioning...And if he is a CEO, why would he not be getting a salary from it? I'm not forming an opinion here because I definitely don't have all the facts... if you do feel like doing the legwork to uncover it on your own, you'll see how duplicitous that whole thing is. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 OK, color me educated, but not necessarily convinced either way about this particular crowd funding apparatus. I like Pomplamoose, but not in a "throw money at them" kind of way, and I did not know that Jack Conte owned half of Patreon. That does change the "starving artist" equation a bit. Then I dug a little deeper and learned that Patreon took venture capital, which looks like a lot of money, but it goes into the business, not Conte's pocket. Then I see that they only take a 5% commission, which IMHO seems very fair, especially when you consider that eBay takes 10%, and online music stores take 30%. 5% overhead/profit is like the amount that a well-run charity foundation would take in, and most operate with a lot more than that. I'm still more likely than not to use Patreon to tip people whose work I like. Those of us "playing at home" will always have trouble appreciating the costs that go into entertainment ventures. That said! Back to The Father of Coleco Chameleon! This thread is still relevant and topical, after all. I noticed that RETRO has TWO goals, and I'm not sure if they were both there from the start. Goal 2 is the magazine, and they're at 95 people, $506 total (of of the $9500 goal) as I write this. But Goal 1 is new to me. Was that there all along? Our first goal is an easy one. $1 (we had to choose at least $1). This is because RETRO Videogame Magazine Issue #12 is complete already and going to the printers this week in December. We wanted to kick off our Patreon page with an INSTANT SHIP for new subscribers. If you are not already a subscriber of RETRO and want in on this special interview issue, then sign up now via Patreon to start your subscription and your first issue will be mailing the first week of January 2017. I wonder what everyone thinks about the free downloads on offer. They're "free with bullshit" because you still have to enter a payment method and a shipping address. For those of you new to RETRO Videogame Magazine you can download a couple of our issues free of charge to learn what we are all about. Use the links below, add to your cart and checkout free. Then you will get a link to download the issues immediately. Keep in mind RETRO is great to read digitally, but it really shines in print form. The dead-tree nostalgia is really something. Get the latest issue of RETRO Videogame Magazine delivered conveniently in print to your home mailbox. And, get a digital version too! We think there is nothing better than sitting down to flip through real paper pages just like the good old days. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj_convoy Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 No, "Goal 1" is new. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godslabrat Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 Mike is determined to get people to pay for a magazine he literally can't give away for free. How many boxes of Retro are in your garage, Kennedy? 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClassyGamer Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 Another great chapter in the continuing retro adventures of Mike "Chameleon" Kennedy. The Father of 'Fee to pay nostalgia' brings us another exciting new innovative business model, 'Pay to loose'. Next up we're going to see a new process where as he has a way to copyright nostalgic gaming related memories. Remember when games came on cartridges? No! Well now you can for only $4.99. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enoofu Posted December 28, 2016 Share Posted December 28, 2016 I seen Retro Gamer being sold at B&N in Flordia so I'm guessing Retro Gamer wrestled off Kennedy mag from the retailer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagnaRyuu Posted December 28, 2016 Share Posted December 28, 2016 I'm confused I thought Patreon was only for Artists, Musicians and Video Creators Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted December 28, 2016 Share Posted December 28, 2016 I'm confused I thought Patreon was only for Artists, Musicians and Video Creators Well, I think we can all agree that Mike Kennedy is an exquisite b***s*** artist. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted December 29, 2016 Share Posted December 29, 2016 That article, while interesting, is to me, an almost textbook example of internet journalism... There's way too many unanswered questions for it to be taken at face value... For example: The comments suggest that the band's fans already knew all about the Patreon connection and that the artist as a CEO was taking no money from that position...I have no idea if that is true or not. It simply raises more questions. And there's even a comment suggesting all this fuss is over a cover band...No idea of it's true because I'm not familiar with the band, and maybe it's only a side note, but one worth mentioning...And if he is a CEO, why would he not be getting a salary from it? I'm not forming an opinion here because I definitely don't have all the facts... Sorry but I can't seem to fathom why the creators or Patreon would need to set up a Patreon account to get funding. They just get 100% instead of 5%. That just sounds scummy to me, borderline money laundering. It ranks right up there with channeling one's own assets into a Super Backer account in the eleventh hour to ensure campaign success on a Kickstarter. I've seen it before. Add up all the tiers and the number of backers per tier. If the grand total of the campaign is twice (or greater) than the predicted result, a shill super backer account may explain this discrepancy... But if the guys behind Patreon are creating shill Patreon accounts, it shows they have very low morals. It would not surprise me if there are legal repercussions to this outside of bad press... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted December 29, 2016 Share Posted December 29, 2016 So the printed copy of RETRO only costs $4 more to ship worldwide than within the US? I don't know how much of the original $5.99 are postage costs, but it seems to me that unless the magazine will be thin as a leaflet, Mike might lose additional money if a huge number of subscribers from Europe, Asia etc would pick up his offer. Companies get volume discounts. Those ad flyers you get in the mail daily actually cost less than a 49 cent postage stamp or whatever the forever rate is now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+FujiSkunk Posted December 29, 2016 Share Posted December 29, 2016 Sorry but I can't seem to fathom why the creators or Patreon would need to set up a Patreon account to get funding. They just get 100% instead of 5%. That just sounds scummy to me, borderline money laundering. It ranks right up there with channeling one's own assets into a Super Backer account in the eleventh hour to ensure campaign success on a Kickstarter. I've seen it before. Add up all the tiers and the number of backers per tier. If the grand total of the campaign is twice (or greater) than the predicted result, a shill super backer account may explain this discrepancy... But if the guys behind Patreon are creating shill Patreon accounts, it shows they have very low morals. It would not surprise me if there are legal repercussions to this outside of bad press... Well, if it's true that Patreon was funded with venture capital, and if it's true Conte takes only a straight salary for his involvement in the company -- or even no salary, as some fans have suggested -- then Conte himself is not getting rich off of Patreon. Now that doesn't necessarily mean he isn't sitting pretty; if he is drawing a salary, then it's probably a comfortable salary, and I'm sure the company itself is shaping up to be worth a pretty penny, especially if they're planning for an IPO. But it also doesn't mean Conte is getting a piece of every donation that goes through Patreon. What I figure it ultimately means is, Conte has a nice day job that allows him a little more luxury than the average indie band would have. Some may think that's controversial enough, but hey, why do those of us who didn't win the talent-and-connections lottery have day jobs, if not to better fund our passions (among lesser important things, like food and shelter)? And nobody, not even the article author, suggested Conte was setting up shill accounts. Pomplamoose has a Patreon account, which they use to solicit funds for the band, but unless somebody has an article saying otherwise, I haven't seen anyone accusing Conte or the band of having multiple Patreon accounts, either for Pomplamoose or for Patreon itself. The controversy is whether Conte should be more upfront about his connection to Patreon when he mentions Patreon and Pomplamoose in the same breath. Whenever someone visits Patreon, Conte benefits, at least indirectly, whether or not that person donates to the band. I agreed Conte could be a little more open about his connection to Patreon, based on the press release the original article was harping on, but beyond that I haven't seen evidence of anything downright unethical. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck D. Head Posted December 29, 2016 Share Posted December 29, 2016 So the printed copy of RETRO only costs $4 more to ship worldwide than within the US? I don't know how much of the original $5.99 are postage costs, but it seems to me that unless the magazine will be thin as a leaflet, Mike might lose additional money if a huge number of subscribers from Europe, Asia etc would pick up his offer. Of course, this potential loss assumes that the magazine actually does ship..... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted December 29, 2016 Share Posted December 29, 2016 Of course, this potential loss assumes that the magazine actually does ship.....Yep. It doesn't look likely to happen anytime soon ... they people have spoken, and they're very very quiet (and not many of them showed up with money). I grudgingly admit that this new scheme is better for what few backers they have left. MK on the RR FB (you can tell it's him from the "moving forward" cliche and "ready mail" typo): Moving forward, RETRO subscriptions are now available on Patreon. Pay for only our latest issues one at a time AND only after it is complete and ready to mail. With Patreon you only pay after an issue is completed and ready mail. With our past delays this should be a good model for buyers." I admire his tenacity and would participate in a take-no-funds, just-for-fun online endeavor if and when he ever gives up "cornering the market." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 2016 vaporware wall of shame https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/241781-vaporware-2016s-wall-shame 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 2016 vaporware wall of shame https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/241781-vaporware-2016s-wall-shame I'm glad to see that the RVGS/Chameleon made the top of the list! Unfortunately, we're still getting incomplete reporting from the press: we see Frank Cifaldi's tweets once again, but no mention of all the work done by the people right here on AtariAge to expose Mike's lies. So, any journalists out there who care enough to look for the whole story: start by searching this very thread for posts by kevtris, Pipercub, UKMike, Albert, and btbfilms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toiletunes Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 Unfortunately, the journalists that don't go here for information won't go here to read your post. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 Are they even journalists? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 Okay, maybe I was being generous. They're not so much "journalists" as staff writers working on what are probably very tight deadlines. I just figured that bumping this thread with a link to the original article might help it show up in someone's search results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClassyGamer Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 Okay, maybe I was being generous. They're not so much "journalists" as staff writers working on what are probably very tight deadlines. I just figured that bumping this thread with a link to the original article might help it show up in someone's search results. I wouldn't call them staff writers, more like staff plagiarizers, staff googlers and staff copy'n pasters. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 2016 vaporware wall of shame https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/241781-vaporware-2016s-wall-shame Funny they put the Chameleon at the top of the list with more practical and serious ambitions below it. Pity the EM drive didn't work. I was hoping to equip my DeLorian with one. Speaking of BTTF, 2015 came and went, and not a flying car or hoverboard in sight... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toiletunes Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 Don't give MK ideas... On second thought, go ahead. 2017 could use a few laughs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 I think it is mostly about who's getting the most widespread coverage; someone on Twitter with X number of followers, or a reasonably large forum with one monster thread hidden in the middle of it. While AtariAge contributors definitely were the first to expose shortcomings, anyone on the outside who tweets about it is the primary news source as it is where even bigger news sources will find it, and generally those don't put much effort into looking up from where the twittrer got his information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.E.R.O. Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 I love how the Chameleon is long dead but a year later the thread is still chugging along strong. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godslabrat Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 I love how the Chameleon is long dead but a year later the thread is still chugging along strong. Mike's been involved in two or three scams since then. We really should rename this thread "Mike Kennedy's Failure Tracker." NORAD tracks Santa, we can track terrible ideas from a real-life Biff Tannen. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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