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[emb]

I have no idea why he wanted to get it going again so quickly, but I still imagine promising to be at the Toy Fair was decided early, and setup as a goal, with the internal expectation that the RVGS team would rise to meet the challenge or something. Then when it didn't work out by the deadline they just tried to push out whatever to cover-up, then felt pressured to put something else out to cover-up the Toy Fair cover-up.

 

[Bboy AJ]

Who is this mysterious RVGS team? Why don't they tell Mike Kennedy he's acting like a scammer?

 

[CoolZombie360]

Who is this mysterious RVGS team? Why don't they tell Mike Kennedy he's acting like a scammer?

Maybe one of them will throw Kennedy under the bus the way he did with Carlsen after the original indiegogo failure. Either that or maybe they are in on the scams he's attempted...

 

[Vipershark]

Maybe one of them will throw Kennedy under the bus the way he did with Carlsen after the original indiegogo failure. Either that or maybe they are in on the scams he's attempted...

Speaking of John Carlsen...
http://retrogamingroundup.com/blog/?p=1233

edit for content- according to this, the first "prototype" in John's kitchen was in fact a legitimate VGS "prototype", but it was essentially a week's worth of work as Mike and Steve effectively forced him to change the entire hardware layout completely just a few days before the video aired.
It turns out that John wasn't actually the bad guy here (as Mike eventually painted him to be) and Mike really was causing as much trouble as we all thought.

Supposedly we'll hear from Steve Woita soon...
I'm interested to see his side of things. He's been the oddly quiet one thus far.

 

[Krejlooc]

I imagine he did okay with the shells but there are only so many Jag fans out there and an even smaller number looking to modify their original hardware.

I bought one. I made myself an all white Atari Jaguar. Paired it with a white Atari Falcon gamepad. I hope to one day have a clear Battlesphere cartridge for it, and make it the crown jewel of my Atari collection.

It's speculation either way, but to me his claims that he paid for the molds simply through the sale of some clear shells raises red flags and I think one of the reasons that he might have been pushing that storyline so hard is that it would give him some credibility with potential backers and investors that there weren't going to be a lot of additional start up costs for the Retro VGS/Chameleon. As Mike kept claiming, just having the shell mold saved potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars (which I think we all realize is BS) and that was most of the battle in Mike's convoluted thinking.

I'm also skeptical that the previous owner of the molds let them go for pennies on the dollar. I recall seeing the auction on Ebay repeatedly for months and I also recall collectors on various forums saying they tried to negotiate with the seller and he was not reasonable or open to anything less than his full asking price. My recollection is that the seller claimed at one point that he had invested tens of thousands of dollars in the molds at auction and that he wanted to recoup that investment. Maybe Mike worked his now legendary powers of persuasion, but I don't think the molds story is uncontroversial given all that has transpired in the last few months and weeks in particular.

The atari jaguar homebrew scene is vibrant enough that none of these figures sound weird. I don't doubt at all that he made his money back.

 

[Takao]

SNES Mini in a Jag at Toyfair kind of made sense to me when I was still giving them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they really needed to launch the Kickstarter by late February and the hardware just wasn't finished yet? Mike shows up at Toyfair with a SNES Mini in a Jag so that he can "prove" that a hardware prototype exists to fulfill Kickstarter's requirements. When the KS goes live and the inevitable complaints pore in, Mike can just brush them off as trolls because he's got video and independent press coverage of it running at a major trade show.

But they've lost the benefit of the doubt. My speculation: The Retro VGS "team" has 0 hardware engineers at the moment. No one worth their salt is going to Google that project and want to work with them. Mike was banking on the Kickstarter being a success so it would entice some new engineers ... but there's a problem: Kickstarter needs proof of a hardware prototype. His solution? Demo something in a Jaguar shell. It needs to be in a public venue so that when Atari Age calls out his bluff, he can say, "You can believe them, or you can believe the coverage we received at New York Toyfair." Why Toyfair? River West was already going to be there promoting Coleco stuff and Mike could just take part of their booth.

I can't really come up with a decent explanation for the capture card. Maybe he wanted to make sure the KS delay wouldn't come across as though the Chameleon is vaporware? But then, why the transparent case and why a capture card? Maybe there actually is a hardware guy and he's just screwing around with Mike? lol

 

[Krejlooc]

I mean, there are other avenues for entrepreneurs out there. If Mike really believes in this thing and thinks it's a sound investment, why doesn't he go a more traditional route for investing? Or hell, take out a loan from a bank?

Probably because no sane investors would commit to a project that banks on selling cartridge-based software in 2016.

 

[Sanctuary]

This isn't a knock on retrogaming, but I just find this a bit too funny.

a new, modern-day video-game system

 

[emb]

Who is this mysterious RVGS team? Why don't they tell Mike Kennedy he's acting like a scammer?

I honestly only ever hear people talk about Mike these days. I try to say 'the team' anyway just since I don't know for sure. Realistically everyone probably jumped ship before the last days, if there was anyone else.

 

[Tripon]

Daniel Kayser probably needs to explain himself about his comments on the Chameleon kickstarter, as in why he seemed to think this shit was going to work out.

 

[Khaz]

Who is this mysterious RVGS team? Why don't they tell Mike Kennedy he's acting like a scammer?

http://www.retrovgs.com/contact.html

Mike Kennedy, President.
Steve Woita, Hardware Conceptualization and Design.
Paul Wylie, EVP & COO
Phil Adam, VP Business Development
Ben Herman, VP Sales
Steven J. Rosenbaum: Executive Creative Director

Basically a bunch of business people. Apart from Woita (who is a software guy), everybody has their expertise in business, management, and marketing. They all had to be in the loop.

 

[superNESjoe]

The Chameleon's destruction knows no end. Apparently there was some sort of drama going on between Gamester81 and Pat the NES Punk over a video Pat did calling out the Chameleon.

I didn't catch exactly what happened though. It's time to put this whole thing to rest.

 

[TsunamiOfSwagger]

The Chameleon's destruction knows no end. Apparently there was some sort of drama going on between Gamester81 and Pat the NES Punk over a video Pat did calling out the Chameleon.

I didn't catch exactly what happened though. It's time to put this whole thing to rest.

I know, I'm trying to work out what gamester81 has done wrong. Is it promoting a device he was going to publish a game on? Doesn't seem too bad, unless i'm missing something here.
Gamester81 comes across as a likeable person to me.

 

[panda-zebra]

I don't think anyone knows for sure what Mike paid for the molds or how many he sold other than perhaps Mike and he has less than zero credibility at this point time. While it's possible that he made a small profit or broke even, I recall the original Atari Age thread when he sold these special cases and in that thread, it didn't look like hundreds of cases or cartridges were sold. Indeed, in the first ten days of the preorder, he only had commitments to buy a total of 15 shells and slightly more cartridges.

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/233486-translucent-jaguar-console-pre-orders/page-1

Yes, he accepted orders from elsewhere, but Atari Age was the primary market and I find it hard to believe that hundreds of these were sold. Also, he would have had to sell more than 200 to hit $10K, especially when you factor in the plastic and whatever the facility charged him for setting the run up and manufacturing. It's not like this can be done at home. In short, just like every other claim Mike has made recently, I don't believe that his acquisition of the molds was cheap or profitable.

He sold 100s of cart cases to devs and publishers. Not every transaction was public in that thread - far from it.

 

[Spyder_Monkey]

Can anyone give me summery of what is going on. It sounds like a scam.

 

[CartridgeBlower]

The Chameleon's destruction knows no end. Apparently there was some sort of drama going on between Gamester81 and Pat the NES Punk over a video Pat did calling out the Chameleon.

I didn't catch exactly what happened though. It's time to put this whole thing to rest.

Gamester runs a company that was going to help make the pack-in game for the system. Apparentely Pat basically said Gamerster needs to apologize to the community, and kinda went in on him on a real high and mighty tirade that he sometimes does. Gamester then responded saying he had done nothing wrong, and that Pat overreacted...which is basically correct.

Pat too many times comes off as not having all the facts on things, and I think this is one of them. Happens all the time on his podcast, and it's one of the reasons I stopped listening to him. His vids are still great, though, for sure.

Hope they work it out and squash it.

 

[superNESjoe]

Gamester runs a company that was going to help make the pack-in game for the system. Apparentely Pat basically said Gamerster needs to apologize to the community, and kinda went in on him on a real high and mighty tirade that he sometimes does. Gamester then responded saying he had done nothing wrong, and that Pat overreacted...which is basically correct.

Pat too many times comes off as not having all the facts on things, and I think this is one of them. Happens all the time on his podcast, and it's one of the reasons I stopped listening to him. His vids are still great, though, for sure.

Hope they work it out and squash it.

I saw Pat's video, not Gamester's, and I guess that's where the confusion came from for me. Pat didn't call Gamester out by name, I think he said something along the lines of anyone involved in the Chameleon product needs to stop and apologize or come clean or something. It seems he was calling him out perhaps passively, but not being aware that Gamester was involved in making the pack-in game, I personally didn't make that connection.

That said, yeah, Pat and Ian both (I'm a big fan of the CU Podcast, so I generally see the two of them together) have a big issue fact checking before they have conversations. If they ever talk about anything relatively modern, I generally skip the video.

 

[Mega]

^@CartridgeBlower
I don't think Pat specifically called out Gamester. I don't even think Pat was referring to him, but rather the kind of people blatantly lying like the guy who put up a video saying "there it is, it's real, etc." Gamester was pro RVGS and slipped up with the "haters" remark, but he's been mostly stand up and with the Chameleon he didn't do or say anything wrong. Through all of this I actually thought he was one of the few bright spots: a game dev with real, solid looking 16-bit games ready to go on the new console that MIKE couldn't deliver.

The Chameleon's destruction knows no end. Apparently there was some sort of drama going on between Gamester81 and Pat the NES Punk over a video Pat did calling out the Chameleon.

I didn't catch exactly what happened though. It's time to put this whole thing to rest.

It's in the video I posted on the last page. Basically in Pat's last video he called out anyone who blindly shilled the Chameleon as a legit working console despite the lack of prototype, and who didn't speak out against the RVGS team's scam behavior. Gamester took that as an attack against him especially with people on Twitter and forums calling him out as being Mike's partner in crime. He was actually as much in the dark as anyone else and didn't like that people were calling him a liar, fraud, scammer, etc.

 

[Tripon]

I find it a bit weird that a company is claiming to develop a game for a system that there was no specs on. Let alone a working prototype.

 

[Dreamwriter]

I find it a bit weird that a company is claiming to develop a game for a system that there was no specs on. Let alone a working prototype.

The theory was supposed to be, the system was supposed to play SNES games out of the box, so they didn't need specs - the spec was, make a game that runs on a SNES, and it'll run on a Chameleon. So it's like free money for someone already making a SNES game, if it's not a scam.

 

[CartridgeBlower]

^@CartridgeBlower
I don't think Pat specifically called out Gamester. I don't even think Pat was referring to him, but rather the kind of people blatantly lying like the guy who put up a video saying "there it is, it's real, etc." Gamester was pro RVGS and slipped up with the "haters" remark, but he's been mostly stand up and with the Chameleon he didn't do or say anything wrong. Through all of this I actually thought he was one of the few bright spots: a game dev with real, solid looking 16-bit games ready to go on the new console that MIKE couldn't deliver.

Yeah, I don't think he used Gamester by name, but when Pat's twitter followers saw that vid, they started to assume Gamester, and then when asked, Pat didn't really deny that, adding to the fire. At least that's how I think it went down, could be wrong.

 

[bmcphail2008]

He sold 100s of cart cases to devs and publishers. Not every transaction was public in that thread - far from it.

Proof? I'm pretty active in the Atari Jaguar scene and I have yet to see any significant dev or publisher support for the cart shells out there. Which specific games have been or will be released using these shells? Even if your information is accurate and he sold hundreds of them, without knowing what he really paid for the molds and what it cost to manufacture and ship the shells, you have no idea if he made a profit, broke even or lost a bundle. I really don't understand why people are just accepting that the mold story is accurate given all of the other misrepresentations it appears he has made recently and the incentive he would have had to misrepresent the real startup costs for Retro VGS/Chameleon to backers and investors.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

I know, I'm trying to work out what gamester81 has done wrong. Is it promoting a device he was going to publish a game on? Doesn't seem too bad, unless i'm missing something here.
Gamester81 comes across as a likeable person to me.

Gamester81 seems like a good guy. Pat Contri has always come across to me as a pretty unfriendly person but maybe I'm wrong about that. His videos about this whole ordeal have been pretty good though.

 

[xDUMPWEEDx]

Speaking of John Carlsen...
http://retrogamingroundup.com/blog/?p=1233

edit for content- according to this, the first "prototype" in John's kitchen was in fact a legitimate VGS "prototype", but it was essentially a week's worth of work as Mike and Steve effectively forced him to change the entire hardware layout completely just a few days before the video aired.
It turns out that John wasn't actually the bad guy here (as Mike eventually painted him to be) and Mike really was causing as much trouble as we all thought.

Thanks for posting that interview, it was a good read. This is pretty much what we all expected though as to what happened to John. He was given an impossible task considering the microscopic budget he had, the tiny time frame, and the sheer amount of work all on his shoulders.

Mike and Steve also kept screwing him over by constantly changing the requirements of the system. Mike then tells John to release that infamous prototype video and once that video backfired Mike then blames it all on John and denies he knew anything about it.

Honestly, Mike is a lying piece of shit. He puts on a good public facade, but behind the scenes and out of public view his true colors show.

 

[panda-zebra]

Proof? I'm pretty active in the Atari Jaguar scene and I have yet to see any significant dev or publisher support for the cart shells out there. Which specific games have been or will be released using these shells? Even if your information is accurate and he sold hundreds of them, without knowing what he really paid for the molds and what it cost to manufacture and ship the shells, you have no idea if he made a profit, broke even or lost a bundle. I really don't understand why people are just accepting that the mold story is accurate given all of the other misrepresentations it appears he has made recently and the incentive he would have had to misrepresent the real startup costs for Retro VGS/Chameleon to backers and investors.

I'm also active in the Jaguar scene - check my avatar.

I never said he made a profit, broke even or lost a bundle. I said he sold 100s of cart shells, something I know from a number of people who bought in bulk.

Mike himself has said he's made back more than his costs with the tooling via plastics - check the AA thread. RGR guys have said similar.

 

[NoFaceNico]

Can anyone give me summery of what is going on. It sounds like a scam.

Here's a post that has all the events in chronological order with links to see what happened. That should give you a good perspective on everything that went down.

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/247145-coleco-chameleon-hardware-speculations/?p=3459630

But long story short: guy buys the old tooling to the Atari Jaguar, wants to make his own game console, can't keep promises, never has a prototype, is always a PR disaster, asks for $2,000,000 and doesn't get it, then gets COLECO's name on board, latest prototypes are unmasked as fakes, now the guy goes into hiding.

 

[Like the hat?]

What I don't understand is why didn't they just put a raspberry pi or something in the thing with a fake cartridge for the toy fair.

 

[Khaz]

What I don't understand is why didn't they just put a raspberry pi or something in the thing with a fake cartridge for the toy fair.

The team is only Mike and his business friends. They don't know how to do that.

 

[C-Sword]

I found it funny when they said they wouldn't make a dust flap for the cartridge slot.

Keeping a cartridge in the slot will serve as an effective shield against dust affecting the pins. Any change to the original tooling adds significantly to the cost of the console, so at this point, we’re not inclined to add the extra cost of a dust flap cover.

They're really trying to build it as cheap as possible.

 

[Tempy]

What I don't understand is why didn't they just put a raspberry pi or something in the thing with a fake cartridge for the toy fair.

I'm still unsure who is being tricked, and who is also in on the trickery, but let's assume Piko is innocent. They went to the fair with a cart, and not a ROM, because they probably were told a working prototype was there.

 

[NoFaceNico]

Piko is innocent. In fact, it's a pretty hilarious story about his ride though this whole shit show. I feel sorry for the guy because he's an honest businessman who wanted to give this thing a chance and instead they completely wasted his time! I hope he got a laugh out of it at least.

He went on a podcast recently and told the whole story, link here. It's some crazy shit! You can't make this stuff up!

 

[RomanticHeroX]

I found it funny when they said they wouldn't make a dust flap for the cartridge slot.


They're really trying to build it as cheap as possible.

I would also seriously doubt that they would actually be competent enough to change anything about the molds.

 

[Dubz]

How is Coleco still a thing?

 

[Beer Monkey]

If you're familiar with a Jag, you know that trying to put a dust flap on that existing design would be a nightmare. That's one thing I can't fault him over. You'd basically need to design a new housing and have new moldings made, and at that point there's no reason to use the Jag shape at all.

 

[Krejlooc]

If you're familiar with a Jag, you know that trying to put a dust flap on that existing design would be a nightmare. That's one thing I can't fault him over. You'd basically need to design a new housing and have new moldings made, and at that point there's no reason to use the Jag shape at all.

They could have made removable dust flap. I.E. a dummy cartridge or something to put in it. Something not on a hinge.

 

[Dreamwriter]

I really don't understand why people are just accepting that the mold story is accurate given all of the other misrepresentations it appears he has made recently and the incentive he would have had to misrepresent the real startup costs for Retro VGS/Chameleon to backers and investors.

The thing you have to take note of, though, is that Mike didn't make the statement about the Jaguar tooling being cheap or paying for itself in sales of clear cases recently, but way back before any of the controversy started. He mentioned it in a podcast interview about the Retro VGS (I forget which one) before anyone thought something might be up, before there was any reason to misrepresent anything. He said he got it cheap because the eBay auctions had failed, he went to see the dentist guy face-to-face to make the deal, and didn't buy everything (specifically, he didn't buy the controller molds or the CD molds). He never did give a figure for what he paid, just that it was significantly cheaper than the $6000 the guy originally wanted.

 

[Gunstarheroes]

Piko is innocent. In fact, it's a pretty hilarious story about his ride though this whole shit show. I feel sorry for the guy because he's an honest businessman who wanted to give this thing a chance and instead they completely wasted his time! I hope he got a laugh out of it at least.

He went on a podcast recently and told the whole story, link here. It's some crazy shit! You can't make this stuff up!

Piko isn't perfect (he was banned from NintendoAge for a reason) but clearly is at no fault on this project. Podcast is a good listen

 

[JasonUresti]

The thing you have to take note of, though, is that Mike didn't make the statement about the Jaguar tooling being cheap or paying for itself in sales of clear cases recently, but way back before any of the controversy started. He mentioned it in a podcast interview about the Retro VGS (I forget which one) before anyone thought something might be up, before there was any reason to misrepresent anything. He said he got it cheap because the eBay auctions had failed, he went to see the dentist guy face-to-face to make the deal, and didn't buy everything (specifically, he didn't buy the controller molds or the CD molds). He never did give a figure for what he paid, just that it was significantly cheaper than the $6000 the guy originally wanted.

At this point I dont think it matters when or where Mike Kennedy said something in regards to video games, consoles, software or hardware for it to be viewed dubiously.

Mike's word is worthless at this time.

 

[AtariAge]

Here's a post that has all the events in chronological order with links to see what happened. That should give you a good perspective on everything that went down.

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/247145-coleco-chameleon-hardware-speculations/?p=3459630

Here's another great post that has a pretty thorough index of events:

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/247145-coleco-chameleon-hardware-speculations/?p=3459555

I've added both of these lists to the first post in the thread to help people not have to read 6,000 posts, unless they want to. And that doesn't include the previous long thread about the Retro VGS.

 

[Tripon]

I still don't understand the plan to get the Chameleon somehow into places like Walmart. The people behind the Chameleon couldn't produce a working prototype, let alone the ability to manufacture thousands of units to hit any sort of buying season.

 

[POWERSPHERE]

I was excited for a second there till I saw this was a RVGS

 

[bmcphail2008]

I'm also active in the Jaguar scene - check my avatar.

I never said he made a profit, broke even or lost a bundle. I said he sold 100s of cart shells, something I know from a number of people who bought in bulk.

Mike himself has said he's made back more than his costs with the tooling via plastics - check the AA thread. RGR guys have said similar.

Yes and I explained why Mike's statements may be dubious given what we know now and why he had an incentive to claim that the molds had already paid for themselves. If you have a source other than Mike and people who got their information from Mike, please share it. Otherwise, you have no basis to know whether or not his representations about making back his costs were accurate or not.

 

[bmcphail2008]

The thing you have to take note of, though, is that Mike didn't make the statement about the Jaguar tooling being cheap or paying for itself in sales of clear cases recently, but way back before any of the controversy started. He mentioned it in a podcast interview about the Retro VGS (I forget which one) before anyone thought something might be up, before there was any reason to misrepresent anything. He said he got it cheap because the eBay auctions had failed, he went to see the dentist guy face-to-face to make the deal, and didn't buy everything (specifically, he didn't buy the controller molds or the CD molds). He never did give a figure for what he paid, just that it was significantly cheaper than the $6000 the guy originally wanted.

So what? Weren't you the one in this very thread that claimed Mike planned to release a console all along? What makes you think he just started lying in the past few weeks and hasn't been lying all along?

 

[Mega]

Wow, this interview with Steve Tom Sawyer, who collaborated with Mike Kennedy for years (up until Retro Magazine, where he says he was screwed over by Mike and promptly left) is pretty crazy.

It's not really about the Retro VGS and the Coleco Chameleon (because he left before that was started), but if you want to hear his tale on how Mike Kennedy handled the Magazine, you should listen to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl754JuG1vw

Yeah, if even half the stuff from this interview is true, then Mike is an unscrupulous salesman with no problem using and dumping people as it suits him. In a nutshell:

-He drove out the original magazine founder and barely paid him for his work

-Sold favorable coverage to devs

-Lowering the quality of the magazine's print materials

-Sold ad space and subscriptions, and started a second Kickstarter, which is bad because...

-He stiffed and shortchanged the writers of their pay despite the Kickstarter getting $20k over the $50k goal + all of the above. Most of the top writers bailed.

-Steve implies Mike used KS money for the Jag moulds. Whatever the case, how was he paying several thousand for moulds but not paying his team?

 

[Vinland]

Gamester81 seems like a good guy. Pat Contri has always come across to me as a pretty unfriendly person but maybe I'm wrong about that. His videos about this whole ordeal have been pretty good though.

Pat is a pretty decent guy. Gamester81 is also a really genuine person. In fact Mike Kennedy up until now has had a good reputation and that is the only reason why Gamester gave them the benefit of the doubt so long. Edit: unless the magazine KS scandal is true then Kennedy may have turned heal to get this console off the ground.

Gamester and his software partners are good people and their games are interesting. Hopefully Pat can take a deep breath and not care as much. I mean, there is literally no reason to be this upset.

I think Kennedy needs to get that case to raspberry pi builders and recoup the cost he spent. There IS a market for that unlike a non update able cartridge system in 2016.

 

[CartridgeBlower]

Pat's anger in his latest video is coming off a little bit like a guy who thinks he just uncovered a global conspiracy and MUST TELL THE WORLD NOW!!!

...when in reality, this project has been DOA the entire time because the community properly recognized it was garbage from day 1.

 

[Dreamwriter]

So what? Weren't you the one in this very thread that claimed Mike planned to release a console all along? What makes you think he just started lying in the past few weeks and hasn't been lying all along?

We know he planned to release a game console, and hasn't been lying all along. Just read the recent interview with the original tech guy, or Kevtris' statements about it - Mike really was trying to release a game console, he really did make a business deal to have multiple FPGA cores licensed and written for the Retro VGS, and he was even up front and honest about the tech they were trying to use (a bit too honest - his biggest problem in the early days of the Retro VGS was over-communication, talking about ideas that hadn't been decided upon yet or that were supposed to be secret). Mike Kennedy, a guy who made a magazine about retro games, who runs a site about auctions for classic game console memorabilia, is a dreamer who had a vision of a new retro console that would bring back the days of his youth. He just wasn't a very good business guy, made some pretty big mistakes, didn't listen to people, burnt bridges, and tried to cover up the problems.

Anybody who thinks this all has been nothing but a scam and all lies from the beginning without ever having wanted to release a real product, just hasn't done any research at all and is jumping on the hate bandwagon.

 

[Dee Dah Dave]

Is there even a market for this?

 

[Khaz]

Is there even a market for this?

For what? Mike Kennedy has never been able to give us the final specs of his console, no one could honestly say if they wanted it or not and at what price.

The Ouya had a very good start, it broke every records with its kickstarter, many people were enthusiast about it. It failed as a product because it was a poorly designed box with a shit controller and very buggy software, but the concept was attractive to many people.

The RetroVGS had a somewhat less enthusiastic reception upon its initial announcement, but it was because it was an indefinite mess, the enthusiasm for a retro or indie console was quickly washed out by uncertainty about the whole thing.

The RetroN5 and other cheap clone hardware definitely sell, you can expect more of them over the following years.

The Mist, FPGAArcade, and the future Kevtris Machine have a lot of followers too. It's a niche product but people know what it does and wants it for it. These products are rooted into the reality of what people want from it.

 

[bmcphail2008]

We know he planned to release a game console, and hasn't been lying all along. Just read the recent interview with the original tech guy, or Kevtris' statements about it - Mike really was trying to release a game console, he really did make a business deal to have multiple FPGA cores licensed and written for the Retro VGS, and he was even up front and honest about the tech they were trying to use (a bit too honest - his biggest problem in the early days of the Retro VGS was over-communication, talking about ideas that hadn't been decided upon yet or that were supposed to be secret). Mike Kennedy, a guy who made a magazine about retro games, who runs a site about auctions for classic game console memorabilia, is a dreamer who had a vision of a new retro console that would bring back the days of his youth. He just wasn't a very good business guy, made some pretty big mistakes, didn't listen to people, burnt bridges, and tried to cover up the problems.

Anybody who thinks this all has been nothing but a scam and all lies from the beginning without ever having wanted to release a real product, just hasn't done any research at all and is jumping on the hate bandwagon.

Actually, we don't know any of what you're stating to be a fact. The only one who knows for sure what Mike's intentions, thoughts, beliefs, dreams, etc...are or were is Mike. As such, your opinions are just that, opinions and frankly, given your previous blind and aggressive advocacy for this project, I don't think you have much credibility with the people here.