Retro VGS Game Console

[esteban]

Random:

I was curious about Kennedy's magazine and since he provided a freebie code ("atariage") at the AtariAge forum...I downloaded all the magazines on my phone. I have only just started looking at the first issue, but it seems decent thus far...

I have read that the quality/direction of the magazine takes a turn at some point.

[Bloufo]

Retro VGS saga has now been immortalized in the form of a short silent film:

[NightWolve]

The thread lives! IT LIVES!!!!!! That is great, thanks for sharing!!!! 

[esteban]

Retro VGS saga has now been immortalized in the form of a short silent film:

That was FANTASTIC!

However, it would be CRIMINAL for the Coleco Chameleon Debacle (CCD) to not receive the same silent film treatment.

I hope that Triumph of the Retro II is created!

Also, do you think that folks recognize that the title is an allusion to the Nazi propaganda film? Even if this technically doesn't qualify under "Godwin's Law"...it is a hilarious hint that evil is lurking in video game land.

[esteban]

Public Service Announcement

THIS DOUBLE POST IS TO TEACH NOOBS WHAT *NOT* TO DO.

Thank you.

The thread lives! IT LIVES!!!!!! That is great, thanks for sharing!!!! 

Agreed, that was so much fun to watch.

Also, I started reading Retro magazine because of this thread (and the one at AtariAge)...so, sadly, I can claim that Kennedy touched me. He touched my life. He touched my funny bone. He touched my soul.

[Bloufo]

Retro VGS saga has now been immortalized in the form of a short silent film:

That was FANTASTIC!

However, it would be CRIMINAL for the Coleco Chameleon Debacle (CCD) to not receive the same silent film treatment.

I hope that Triumph of the Retro II is created!

Oh, no doubt it will happen.
There's so much material from all the comedy of errors, that, as you say, it would be criminal for it not to get made.




/dt98n.jpg

[Gredler]

/dt98n.jpg

OMG THAT IS AWESOME WHERE CAN I GET ONE WHEN WILL IT COME OUT, IS THERE A KICKSTARTER? I WANT TO BACK IT.

[esteban]

/dt98n.jpg

OMG THAT IS AWESOME WHERE CAN I GET ONE WHEN WILL IT COME OUT, IS THERE A KICKSTARTER? I WANT TO BACK IT.

Coleco Chameleon = MODE 7 FX

[NightWolve]

I know a % of people may be tired of this thread, but I ran into this Pat NES Punk video on my SmartTV's YouTube app which definitely deserves inclusion for all time, if not already! Poor Million Dollar Mike...just got duped around at every turn...victim of "The Mysterious Mister Lee..."

And bump with this classic from previous pages:

Poor Million Dollar Mike, he had a dream...a dream to scheme...but another scheming schemer got the better of 'im... Hahaha!

"The winning team" indeed...

[SignOfZeta]

Everywhere you turn, choke jobbers and ball droppers. Is that the crux of it? I'm assuming it is. I haven't heard it.

If that's the case, I sorta have to agree with him. The best way to do something right is to do it yourself. The problem is that if the guy has any skills at all they don't seem to be related in any way to making a console. He's exactly the guy you fire to get rid of the choke jobbers and ball droppers. He's management, marketing, etc. Things that are nothing but dead weight for a company with 0-4 employees.

[esteban]

I will never tire of this thread...but I am curious if Mike has resurfaced? Has he disappeared? Is Retro whatever magazine still around?

[esteban]

I am too lazy to do any of my own research. I am also, apparently, too lazy to edit my precious post.

SUCKLE IT.

[mickcris]

he is still around.  He has finally realized his dream of being able to sell consoles.  you can now buy junk clone consoles at his site (for more money than they cost on ebay)
http://shopreadretro.com/collections/retro-gaming/products/super-retrotrio-console-nes-snes-genesis-3-in-1-system-red-black-retro-bit?variant=21995893380

[Gypsy]

Seems like he is offering many items at above Ebay prices. What a guy.

[Otaking]

I honestly liked the concept of the Retro VGS, just they were completely and utterly the wrong people to take on the idea.

If Nintendo rereleased the Super Famicom/SNES but with a HDMI out and started making new games on cartridges I would be heaven.
Also if SNK rereleased the Neo Geo AES I would absolutely love it.

Who knows, if this NES mini makes Nintendo many millions it could be the start and lead on to full on rereleased consoles.

[esadajr]

... If Nintendo rereleased the Super Famicom/SNES but with a HDMI out and started making new games on cartridges I would be heaven...

Couldn't agree more with that. Only they can sell you nostalgia.

[Otaking]

[Psycho Punch]

[NightWolve]

Ha!

[jlued686]

Mike's back with his hand out. This time he's trying to fund more issues of his RETRO magazine:
https://www.patreon.com/readretro

The best part is your credit card will ONLY be charged when the latest magazine is completed, published, printed and ready to mail.

The guy's gotta realize his reputation is completely wrecked, right?

[NecroPhile]

I don't know why anyone would want to read such a magazine now, let alone pay for it.  I'd assume anything in it is incorrect, plagiarized, or straight up horseshit.

[SignOfZeta]

"Getting their money" is always the first step of any endever for him.

[NightWolve]

Uh-oh, Punch isn't gonna be happy about this, team #retrovgs is back in the news again. ;) A 2017 status update on Mike Not-That-Kennedy, who would've thought, heh...

[Psycho Punch]

I think the RETRO Videogame Mag patreon is a great idea.  I've bought retro magazines of classic game consoles for the past 3 years, as well as a fanzine.  I love buying old Famitsu and PCE Fan mags that never got an English translation and then finding new life in a fanzine complete with shrinkwrap, dumb made up fan mail, and poster fully in English.  I believe the RETRO Magazine will be more than just an ad pamphlet for indie titles.  It could be a home for old classics receiving full page Reviews, a breath of fresh air for budding game developers to achieve their dream of being reviewed by a classic magazine like Game Fan, EGM, C&VG or even Nintendo Power, and you can even write new article formats that take advantage of the full capabilities of the RETRO Magazine.

Just imagine Square Enix, Konami, and Capcom jumping on board to review their classic Secret of Mana & Final Fantasy titles, Castlevania, or even Mega Man?  If they find the 15-page retrospectives working out, maybe they will even develop original content.

Frankly, I'm tired of the "digital revolution," where everything is downloadable to your hard drive.  Sure, it's convenient.  But I WANT a physical magazine, collectible maps & posters, and decent artwork on the cover.  Mike Kennedy knows his RETRO business because he is developing a magazine that is striving to stay away from the digital world (no internet connection for new releases and such).  20 years from now, I want the RETRO Magazine to still be readable without needing a computer and a monitor for the PDF reader, unlike the newer mags where you need to connect to the Internet for every little thing.  I can't even read about Killer Instinct on Xbox One without it saying, "Please connect the power cord and recharge your battery"  You can't even read the PDF without electricity?!?

I haven't heard anything about the mag's price yet until the Patreon next week.  I wouldn't judge its price just yet until the official announcement.  Please support the RETRO Magazine if you can.  I think it will make a statement to the mainstream magazine editors. 

[CrackTiger]

This "Retro" mag is pretty bad. I skimmed a couple issues at a book store and it's like a collection of the worst kind of articles posted online. "Youtube Comments Compendium Monthly" would be a much more appropriate title.

[esteban]

This "Retro" mag is pretty bad. I skimmed a couple issues at a book store and it's like a collection of the worst kind of articles posted online. "Youtube Comments Compendium Monthly" would be a much more appropriate title.

During the VGS fiasco, there was a brief period where Mr. Mike gave out a code for free digital downloads of most (all?) issues of Retro Gamer.

Naturally, I downloaded all of them, because I was curious to see what it was like.

Naturally, I after reading an issue or two, I got distracted with other things and forgot I even had them on my phone.

NOW I WILL GO BACK AND READ THEM.

Thank you.

This is the thread that keeps on giving.

[mickcris]

I think he has yet to try "Go Fund Me".  That will probably be next.

[Otaking]

During the VGS fiasco, there was a brief period where Mr. Mike gave out a code for free digital downloads of most (all?) issues of Retro Gamer.

Mr Mike's mag is called "Retro".
Retro Gamer is the excellent British games mag that's been around along time.

I have a couple issues of Mr Mike's Retro mag which I bought before the whole Retro VGS thing kicked off, the magazine is shit. I've been meaning to dig them out and bin them for ages now.

What I want to know is what happened to the mysterious Mr Lee???

[ToyMachine78]

This states that Kennedy didn't know how to manage his mag business either

[Psycho Punch]

Never read his magazine or I don't remember if I did, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's really as bad as people are saying here given his track record.

What I want to know is what happened to the mysterious Mr Lee??? 

He went back to his life of massacres, terrorism, blackmailing and smuggling of weapons.

_{► /lastalert/clip3.mp3}

[esteban]

During the VGS fiasco, there was a brief period where Mr. Mike gave out a code for free digital downloads of most (all?) issues of Retro Gamer.

Mr Mike's mag is called "Retro".
Retro Gamer is the excellent British games mag that's been around along time.

I have a couple issues of Mr Mike's Retro mag which I bought before the whole Retro VGS thing kicked off, the magazine is shit. I've been meaning to dig them out and bin them for ages now.

What I want to know is what happened to the mysterious Mr Lee???

Oh, yeah.

I get those mixed up.

I have a bunch of old issues of RETRO GAMER from 2003-2006?

Or am I confusing it with yet another magazine?

Anyway, I loved the interviews with old British developers... but something happened with my subscription.... and that was that.

[ClodBusted]

I tried some English and German retro gaming magazines. What I discovered is that most of the knowledge found inside was nothing new to me, and there are sometimes errors (not only typos) creeping in here and there. It's only the interviews with developers that are interesting to me.

So I decided that I won't spent more money on them. Even though these mags are directed at nostalgic persons, I think they do a better job to new people still unaware of most of the videogame history. Than teaching me a thing or two.

[elmer]

More chuckles ....

[esteban]

Yes, the premise of that game is hilarious.

I have only managed to acquire 3-4 of the items in the game, but, for folks who take the time, there are a lot of humorous little statements in most of the text descriptions.

[jlued686]

Oof...brutal.

Am I wrong for wishing the game dev hadn't used real names?

[elmer]

Am I wrong for wishing the game dev hadn't used real names?

Nope, it seems like an unnecessary thing to do, and I suspect that someone will file a complaint and get it removed from the App Store.

It's still funny, though, and now that it's out-there, it'll never disappear altogether.

The guy that wrote it has a personal history with Mike Kennedy.

The tale of the people that were thrown-under-the-bus, and the long term personal grudges that have been created, is just another piece of the RVGS disaster.

There's apparently a book being written about the whole affair.

[elmer]

Just for the amusement of hearing more of the behind-the-scenes history of the RVGS, Kevtris posted this today (in reference to the other-console Cartridge Adapters that he's doing for the Analogue Nt Mini) ...

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/242970-fpga-based-videogame-system/page-70#entry3711509

It's pretty funny to me because I was pitching basically this same idea to them (well with a different form factor on the connector for cart adapters) but his engineer basically poopooed everything I said.  And it was even funnier when I described the Zimba 3000 to them, and showed them the PCB and shared my specs and plans, only to see their system basically clone everything.  The only difference was having an ARM SOC on it vs. the PIC before the kitchen sinking started and it ended up using some hot new TI chip under NDA (wonder what chip that ended up being?) and a $300 BOM.
 
I am not sorry to be part of the disaster and to be honest I was only sticking around in a minimal capacity (basically joining in on skype calls and I didn't actually do any real work) just in case it ever came to pass, but I knew after the second call it'd never ever come to fruition because they couldn't nail down any system specs, and each call the costs kept going up and up and it'd run more and more things.   Then they started talking about the lunacy of no updates and carts that HAD to work 50 years later (lol).   I hated to pop their bubble and tell them that most of the chips they were using had flash inside them such as the power supply chips which use it to trim output voltages and stuff.
 
Interestingly, I never did see any PCB design that John did, and he claimed to have been working on it for 'months'.  The only design I saw was with everyone else when they printed the cardboard PCB and glued parts to it.   Still trying to figure out what the purpose of those giant heatsinks and heat pipes were.  The FPGAs don't get very hot, at least the ones they were using.
 
Wonder where they are now, and what happened to any/all of the RVGS/Coleco Chameleon specs and design documents if they existed?
 
In any event, the Core Store(tm) is going great guns and thanks to everyone for their support and kind words!

[SignOfZeta]

How can a guy that smart be so naive as to think that RVGS design docs of any kind existed?

[elmer]

How can a guy that smart be so naive as to think that RVGS design docs of any kind existed? 

Which part of his "if they existed" are you having trouble with?   

kevtris just doesn't seem to like to use the same kind of dismissive sarcasm that a lot of folks here (including myself) sprinkle our posts with.

[NightWolve]

How can a guy that smart be so naive as to think that RVGS design docs of any kind existed? 

Which part of his "if they existed" are you having trouble with?   

kevtris just doesn't seem to like to use the same kind of dismissive sarcasm that a lot of folks here (including myself) sprinkle our posts with.

Well whaddya know, the #RetroVGS topic lives again!

[elmer]

The official AtariAge Hater Brigade have sadly had to put the RVGS to rest in its crypt, and have moved on to the RetroBlox (or whatever they're going to call it now that the name is changing). 

[Groover]

I got excited to see this topic updated. I was going to go grab some popcorn.

[GaijinD]

Since Mike's magazine was discussed in this thread, I thought folks might be amused by this e-mail I received the other day:

The Future of RETRO Magazine and Resolving Pending Issues.

Hello Guys,

This is Eli Galindo, some of you may have heard of me as I am the founder of Piko Interactive, (as well as running Wisdom Tree).

I am reaching you now because about a month or so ago Mike Kennedy's business went bankrupt and I bought most the assets. In the sale, I got gamegavel.com, RETRO websites, RETRO trademarks, the back catalog of the magazines as well as content and artwork for the Retro Magazine.

Mike mentioned that he was not going to be able to honor refunds or new issues to people that had pending ones, as his business was broke and will be shut down. Money earned by the sale of the assets would be used to pay writers, creditors, etc that he owed money, until it runs out. However, In an effort of re-launching the magazine in good faith, I am working in ways to make up for what was not given to you.

I have a list of people that have 1 issue pending and another list of people that have 3-4 issues pending. I am brainstorming ideas to do right by you as I'd love to keep you as members and subscribers of the magazine.

One of the things that I am working on to get you to make up for your loss is issues to other magazines. I am friends with the guys that run Megavisions, they are a great and professional team and are growing their magazine successfully. So I am working out a deal with them (that I will pay out of my pocket) to get you download keys for their Megavisions Magazine editions. You will get your pending RETRO issues in Megavisions digital download keys. Their issues are special as they are animated an interactive! They are not just a PDF download.

In addition, I am planning to re-launch RETRO magazine with issue 13 (hopefully to come out digitally in October). You will get this digital download for free as well. Other things I am brainstorming is digital downloads, may be steam games as well as coupon codes to other retro stores; you know, something that really makes up for any loss you may have.

We are planning a lot of great things, a new fresh take on the magazine and what a retro gaming magazine should be. A lot of writers and staff will stay and some people that had left during the Coleco Chameleon charade will come back. Also, I plan to bring new faces to inject new life to the magazine.

Also, I'd like to make very clear that Mike Kennedy is NOT and will NEVER be in any way related or involved with the magazine or gamegavel moving forward. I am 100% owner of these properties now and plan to turn them around and make them successful the right way.

I hope you guys understand, and I can make up for whatever you may have lost in the shutdown of Mike's business.

There are a lot of great things that will be done differently from now on.

If you have comments or questions, please reach out to me over this email address. I hope we can keep this conversation between us for now until the Magazine is ready to be re-launched.

Cheers!

Kind regards,
The New RETRO Magazine Team

[Mathius]

I wonder if the relaunched magazine will be in print? The last issue had a good concept with it being 100% interviews but Mike didn't personalize his questions between each interviewee. They were just copy/pasted. Kinda gave the issue an amaturist vibe. Hopefully it can be turned around.

[o.pwuaioc]

Kinda gave the issue an amaturist vibe. Hopefully it can be turned around.

You're way too optimistic.

[Mathius]

Kinda gave the issue an amaturist vibe. Hopefully it can be turned around.

You're way too optimistic.

I've been called worse things. 

[Groover]

I was excited to see this thread pop back up. Not surprised filed for bankruptcy. I can't say I'm excited for the return of Retro magazine. We will see if it will be run professionally and release on time regularly. I think that is a challenge for them.

[ccovell]

I've got the disquieting feeling that the alien that was living in Mike Kennedy's body has slipped into a new host.

[esteban]

I've got the disquieting feeling that the alien that was living in Mike Kennedy's body has slipped into a new host.

HahahahhahHahhhaha.

[NecroPhile]

Heh, kennedy is such a twat; I hope he gets out of the game biz and fucks off.  He should stick to selling used cars, extended warranties, etc.