Anyone have good experiences with things like RetroEngine Sigma?

Keatah · November 27, 2017

Anyone have good experiences with things like RetroEngine Sigma in terms of easy plug-n-play? Been watching some vids, on it and it seems it could take up to 2 days to figure everything out to point of even playing 1 single game. That's a far cry from the 15-minute setup for a VCS or most any other vintage console hardware.

Seems to be a trend with all these $100 RetroPi and OrangePi consoles. And even worse, the after-sale support. Probably typical of all indiegogo stuff.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/retroengine-sigma-mini-video-game-console-cool#/comments

..and people are complaining that indiegogo is doing nothing to make the situation right. Well why should they? They're getting paid. And they're not going to actively fight to enforce refunds (except in the worst cases) because they'd lose money and tarnish their image further.

If you don't get something as described, or not at all, it's not a big deal. You knew the risk. And yet people treat these kickeegogo crowdfunding as retail. THEY ARE NOT RETAIL LIKE BRICK AND MORTAR OR AMAZON.

And people think these are real companies they're dealing with. They're not. They're just experimenters and wannabee's working out of the house or a rented office the size of a bathroom.

Edited November 27, 2017 by Keatah

JamesD · November 27, 2017

Indiegogo sucks. Once you agree to support something, your money is gone, even if the end date of the funding effort hasn't passed yet.
And if anything goes wrong they pretty much say don't blame us and refer you to the same email address that isn't responding to you already.
You don't even need a working prototype to start a campaign, most of the crap involves a rendered image or a 3D printed case that doesn't even have functional electronics in it.

Has anyone made a RaspberryPi case that looks like a retro console? I think that would be the best option for something like this.

Osgeld · November 27, 2017

Lots of 3d printer files for retro inspired pi cases on thingaverse and the likes

Keatah · November 27, 2017

Can you imagine how the brick and mortars would be frustrated with selling this product? How many real returns they'd have to get when mom'n'pop don't know that it could take 10 hours to do the initial setup? Provided you can get your smartphone connected.. And if mom'n'pop aren't the buyer's, then little junior, how impatient he'd be.

Seems the only ones willing to even remotely put up with the bullshit generated by this are the middle-agers just getting into nostalgia and playing these old games.

+wongojack · November 27, 2017

Wow, that page is full of complaints.

Every time I look into something like this, I see the problems and just think "Why would I not just use the computer I already have?" Is having a little tiny box THAT important?

Keatah · November 27, 2017

I think some of the "wants" and "needs" to repackage and emulate games on these Pi consoles is a subtle sign of fatigue in the ecosphere of classic gaming. There seems to be this need to repackage the electronics (which run emulators) into something resembling something classic. Hobbyists are wanting to do more. Sometimes just to do it.

There is nothing wrong with running emulators downloaded directly from the developer right on your own PC. The experience will be much better. But no one wants to take a little time and learn how to set them up, let alone use a computer.

--OR--

The situation isn't like that at all. Instead it's some kids seeing $$$. And all they have to do is repackage and "configure" existing things. Mooch off of GPL2 generosity, do some renders, buy some cheap hardware, and mark it all up to get profit. It's all wrong. Not because of those things, but because of the lack of care involved in such products.

I used to have high hopes that this class of product would usher in a new era of emulation. But it seems to be generating frustration and disappointment everywhere.

Naively and generously offering the benefit-of-the-doubt I used to think (but that's all I did, thank god) that these things would be good. Instead it seems a customer needs to go through hoops and circus dances to get them even remotely near working. So much for plug-n-play. Maybe this class of product will evolve. Maybe not.

It seriously bothers me that that the naive consumer blindly drops hundreds on these things. And the sellers are getting millions! Literally!

---

Things like AtGames' products don't really fit in here. They (to my knowledge) didn't have their roots in crowdfunding. And they sell retail. Zero risk to me. So I bought some in the past as door prizes. And will likely do so again. These are what these are. And they were as easy to set-up as our original vintage consoles. Possibly a step easier because no switchbox.

I got to watching a setup video on RetroEngine Sigma and you had to go through like 20 steps to even begin configuring if. Cfg it took hours. And what was to just get the system powered on and booted. THEN you had to do romz!

It's weird. It's like you're paying someone to possibly make a product for you that is going to teach you how to do something you could learn to do better on your own.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=retroengine+sigma

Edited November 27, 2017 by Keatah