Then why did he launch a $2m indiegogo campaign in his own name falsely claiming to already have a prototype?
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
PR: COLECO to release Chameleon, console that focuses on new cartridge games
- Thread starter Tripon
- Start date
Then why did he launch a $2m indiegogo campaign in his own name falsely claiming to already have a prototype?
Dreamwriter
Member
He didn't, the whole reason he went with IndieGoGo was because he didn't have a prototype. The IndieGoGo campaign didn't claim to have a prototype.
Here's my take: I *would* think it would be trusting too much and ignorance, he seems to be that kinda guy, but let's not forget, this guy ran a website about classic game collectibles and auctions. How does someone with this expertise not recognize a SNES JR back, even if covered in tape?
My mistake.
He did say this though:
Which seems pretty misleading, given subsequent developments.
Freshmaker
I am Korean.
Really it sounds more like he didn't have the funds to pay someone to develop a prototype for him and he was hoping that investors and crowdfunding would make that possible.
Seems more reasonable that he viewed a working prototype as a catch-22 and was just trying to get the funds to make that possible by any means necessary.
You've never heard of "rob Peter to pay Paul"?
If it's true that Mike was a fool who got taken for $10,000 (I got taken for $200 once, feels bad man), and if it's true that he looked online and found that the guy he trusted was previously charged for 7 counts of Felony Grand-Theft, then yeah, he's going to want his $10,000 back, and yeah, he might feel a little concerned that the con artist is more likely going to find that money by scamming somebody's elderly grandmother than he is to put in a thousand hours of overtime to work off the debt.
Mike (allegedly) got taken for $10,000 by a criminal, and you find it suspicious that he expects the worst from that criminal?
NoFaceNico
Member
I find it suspicious when a con-man like Mike claims he's the victim.
I'm calling it right now- it's all bullshit. Mike is a liar and he will do anything to absolve himself of guilt, short of taking responsibility for what he's done. If you want to bet against me go ahead, but so far I've had a near spotless record with my predictions. In fact, the only time I've been wrong is when I thought too much of him and imagined he'd actually have a prototype at the NY Toy Fair.
As long as we're talking about what I find to be suspicious, allow me to ask you something: do you think it's suspicious AT ALL when a guy who chose to abandon ship for over a month while his friends and colleagues took the heat for his console's failure finally reappears with a fantastical high stakes story about getting conned? Does that arouse any suspicion in you at all?? Do you think he was sulking and driven into madness that whole month? (spoiler:
he wasn't and I have the pics to prove it
He's playing you just like he did at the Toy Fair, that's how he operates. But go ahead and believe him, I mean, I'm sure no one is going to come out of the wood work and prove he's full of shit. Yep, that's never gonna happen.
I gave him the benefit of the doubt when people were laughing about the ToyFair prototype being an SNES Mini, because sometimes you have to fudge things to make a live presentation work. I thought the SNES Mini was funny, not damning. Then I saw what people (you included) said about his conflicting statements, and I raised my eyebrow a little. It's good to be a little suspicious. Around this time, I actually warned a real-life friend away from getting too interested in the Chameleon, since red flags were being raised, and there were questions that needed to be answered.
When people figured out the capture card in a Jag shell, I thought that was it for Mike. He was finished. I thought he cashed in whatever retro community credibility he had built up in exchange for a grab at a couple million dollars. Your suspicion was proven right.
Now that he claims he was scammed by his hardware designer, I'm willing to let down my pitchfork arm. He could still be lying, but I'm willing to consider that maybe he's a victim.
As for your question, no, I don't consider it suspicious that he would hide under a rock for a month. Shit got real for me once, and I pulled the battery out of my phone for two weeks. And the Coleco Chameleon is a much bigger disaster than anything I've experienced. If you assume he's innocent, then it's not weird for him to hide under a rock. If you assume he's innocent, then it's not weird for him to expect bad things from his con-artist. I get that you don't believe that he's innocent, but you need to look at things from both angles before you use them as proof of guilty behavior.
If you've got pictures that prove a flaw in his story, that's another matter entirely.
Dreamwriter
Member
I don't think so, I've always believed they had a PCB specced out for the first-gen Retro-VGS, and from what John Carlson has said on his recent tell-all, it sounds like they did. It was just way too frickin' expensive. The first Retro-VGS wasn't a scam, it was more a bunch of mistakes, including a horrible amount of feature-creep and Mike Kennedy listening to nobody, burning bridges and throwing people under the bus.
Yeah we're supposed to believe that someone with MK's experience didn't join the dots when he saw a Nintendo multi-out connector and SNES controllers and that a SD2SNES cart fit in the cart connector and booted without problems that what was in front of him was a SNES Mini inside a Jaguar shell. Also that he didn't look inside to see what he had spent thousands of dollars on and that the requests to hide the back were totally above board.
I'm sure the deleted Facebook comments weren't him either.
I'm sure the deleted Facebook comments weren't him either.
ElectricThunder
Member
What a garbage dump---so many deflecting words and yet I guess he just plumb ran out of characters to apologize to kevtris?
Zero confidence that this is at all as "rosy" as his framing well after the fact---especially considering all that actually went on with the FB page, statements, the works. This timeline is so convoluted and damning at any sense of understanding tech, money, PR, people, it boggles the mind.
Gotta grind for that Tragic Hero angle when Hapless(Villainous more likely~) Villain sets in moreso.
Zero confidence that this is at all as "rosy" as his framing well after the fact---especially considering all that actually went on with the FB page, statements, the works. This timeline is so convoluted and damning at any sense of understanding tech, money, PR, people, it boggles the mind.
Gotta grind for that Tragic Hero angle when Hapless(Villainous more likely~) Villain sets in moreso.
He already did, according to him
I have nothing but good things to say about the AtariAge shop. I'm sure good things will come out of it, at the very least production of Jaguar homebrew in carts, potentially stuff like Jaguar console recreations (not emulation), like we have seen for multiple consoles and computers already.
I love the part where he openly says he decided not to open the shells back in his hotel room. That's an admission of wanting to keep some plausible deniability for himself. Which he is using in full force now.
PumpkinSpice
Banned
Some serious Name Dropping here.
I don't believe any of it. He's trying to end this (yay) and would rather come across as a bumbling idiot than a scammer.
It's the gift that keeps on giving.
We're also supposed to believe him that he bought the "SNES parts" line and wrote another cheque for $3000 shortly after the toy show, like he is some naive innocent child being milked by a genius grifter, as though MK had never seen a SNES before in his life.
Puh-lease.
NoFaceNico
Member
Which, predictably, is leading to those people coming forward to share their experiences with Mike.
Clay Cowgill just arrived on the AtariAge forum:
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/247145-coleco-chameleon-hardware-speculations/page-320#entry3484565
Well, looks this Sean person is real and he's a huge pathological liar and career scammer. y-bot's big post a few posts after Clay's gives a long list of Sean's known scams.
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/247145-coleco-chameleon-hardware-speculations/?p=3484607
The full read is actually pretty crazy as I've personally never encountered a person like this. I wonder what influenced this guy to turn out such a huge asshole and what motivates him to continue behaving this way.
This begins to paint Mike as someone who indeed got suckered big time and, being too embarrassed or naive to admit, kept up a long charade that everything was going well. In that regard, I think he's still partially culpable for not doing research on this guy before getting involved in a big business venture, not being forthcoming to everyone about what was happening, and blindly continuing to financially support the scammer. He made his share of shitty decisions and can't place the full blame on this Sean character.
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/247145-coleco-chameleon-hardware-speculations/?p=3484607
The full read is actually pretty crazy as I've personally never encountered a person like this. I wonder what influenced this guy to turn out such a huge asshole and what motivates him to continue behaving this way.
This begins to paint Mike as someone who indeed got suckered big time and, being too embarrassed or naive to admit, kept up a long charade that everything was going well. In that regard, I think he's still partially culpable for not doing research on this guy before getting involved in a big business venture, not being forthcoming to everyone about what was happening, and blindly continuing to financially support the scammer. He made his share of shitty decisions and can't place the full blame on this Sean character.
Quadraphonic
Member
It's the difference between an abusive father and the enabling mother.
On second thought, I'm leaning on Mike being fully aware of Sean's reputation and being involved together on a sort of long con where they hoped to pull in talent like Clay, Kevtris, John Carlsen, Piko, Gamester and the Jag Bar video producer to do all the work and not pay them, reap all the rewards and get rich. That backfired as people bailed and they went into full "fake it til you make it mode" hoping crowd funded money would solve everything. OR given Sean's rep for this sort of thing, maybe the true end goal was to scam everyone by waiting a short time before claiming the system was an unsustainable bust and pocketing the remaining IGG/KS money.
I find it very difficult to believe Mike was involved with this guy since 2014!!! and didn't know what he was. They were in on some scheme together with at least Sean being the smarter one and maneuvering so that Mike would pay any expenses and take all the heat if things went south.
I find it very difficult to believe Mike was involved with this guy since 2014!!! and didn't know what he was. They were in on some scheme together with at least Sean being the smarter one and maneuvering so that Mike would pay any expenses and take all the heat if things went south.
Quadraphonic
Member
People signed up for Paypal even after hearing about all the scamming go on there. "It won't happen to me..." is a common mantra.
You really believe that someone with MK's experience was duped by a SNES Mini inside a Jaguar shell and chose to demo it at the toy show thinking it was legitimate? That having been scammed out of $4000 for that "proto" he gave that guy another $3000 up front with the promise of another $3000 two months later? The same MK who didn't stump up the cash to secure Kevtris' involvement (cancelling a Skype meeting just before it was supposed to happen) when he had a dozen console cores ready to go back when this was the Retro VGS? I suppose it was this Sean character who deleted all the Facebook posts pointing out the deception and made the notorious Retro VGS cardboard prototype too.
Okay, phew.
You've come around!
NoFaceNico
Member
So, did you guys see what just happened?
Mike tried to prove that he did in fact pay Sean (and therefore Sean is real and supposedly ripped off Mike) by posting copies of what he claimed are the checks he sent as payment to Sean.
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/247145-coleco-chameleon-hardware-speculations/page-323#entry3484769
... but then someone noticed he was still paying Sean after 2/29/16, which is after the prototype was revealed to be fake and according to Mike's story, when he found out too.
So what's the appropriate and best form of damage control when you're Mike Kennedy and caught in another lie? Take down the check images, of course!!
I guess we'll have to wait and see what his explanation for this one is, huh?
I told you guys he was full of shit. He's a con-artist who can't even keep his lies together. If you can't see that, then you're beyond help. If you read that wall of text from last night and ate up every word of it, you need to get some sense before someone else comes along and really gets the best of you.
Mike tried to prove that he did in fact pay Sean (and therefore Sean is real and supposedly ripped off Mike) by posting copies of what he claimed are the checks he sent as payment to Sean.
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/247145-coleco-chameleon-hardware-speculations/page-323#entry3484769
... but then someone noticed he was still paying Sean after 2/29/16, which is after the prototype was revealed to be fake and according to Mike's story, when he found out too.
So what's the appropriate and best form of damage control when you're Mike Kennedy and caught in another lie? Take down the check images, of course!!
I guess we'll have to wait and see what his explanation for this one is, huh?
I told you guys he was full of shit. He's a con-artist who can't even keep his lies together. If you can't see that, then you're beyond help. If you read that wall of text from last night and ate up every word of it, you need to get some sense before someone else comes along and really gets the best of you.
Don't worry I wasn't giving Mike a pass. I was initially under the impression he invented Sean "LEE" by digging up a random scammer from years ago and pinning the blamd on him... and maybe paying him to take the fall if anyone asked him questions.
I only started to believe Mike got suckered an hour ago when independent persons came forth to say Sean is a real person involved in RVGS/Chameleon and an actual con artist... but Mike's story still didn't make sense of his behavior these past months. It occurred to me that
1. Mike can't possibly be that incredibly gullible and stupid regardless if Sean is a real scammer.
2. Sean really did get involved to con people, but Mike wasn't one of the victims... They were in on it together the entire time.
NoFaceNico
Member
I couldn't agree more!
This might be the only time we've ever seen a shady console company hire a shady guy for the purposes of making their shady fake prototype.
Seriously, WTF Mike? By this point wouldn't it be easier to just make the fucking thing for real?
Beer Monkey
Member
It doesn't take five weeks to tell the truth.
JasonUresti
Member
Lol, yeah. When the attempted scam starts involving more time, work, and effort than it actually would to start making the real thing? You've lost the plot, bub, time to shut it down.
Risible
Member
It just keeps going. As an uninterested (in the RetroVGS/Coleco Chameleon) outside observer this has been fascinating and entertaining.
I'm of the opinion that Mike is a scammer. To be interested in retro gaming to such a degree and yet completely taken in by a so-called scammer selling him a bag of goods in regards to retro gaming seems like a huge stretch.
This thing with the checks and his subsequent takedown of the images solidifies it, IMO. Honest people don't act like this.
I'm of the opinion that Mike is a scammer. To be interested in retro gaming to such a degree and yet completely taken in by a so-called scammer selling him a bag of goods in regards to retro gaming seems like a huge stretch.
This thing with the checks and his subsequent takedown of the images solidifies it, IMO. Honest people don't act like this.
ultrazilla
Member
Holy shit that's bad man. Damn.
Thanks for pointing this out NoFaceNico! Man, I feel like a twat for having been a cheerleader for the RetroVGS.
How can a person be so bad at proving they were scammed?
Englebert3rd
Unconfirmed Member
I knew the guy was a scammer by the time the RetroVGS failed. I don't know why anyone bought into the whole Coleco thing when it was going to fail just the same.
Freshmaker
I am Korean.
Calling it the Chameleon on top of all that.
Oh, there are more follow up posts too. Notably this one, where he claims that Sean was also an admin on ReadRetro and that's why the pics of the check went down:
Images still don't seem to work though.
And this other one, with a bunch of Q&A: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/247145-coleco-chameleon-hardware-speculations/page-328#entry3485204
Images still don't seem to work though.
And this other one, with a bunch of Q&A: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/247145-coleco-chameleon-hardware-speculations/page-328#entry3485204
Friend of Sonic
Member
He weasled his way into being an admin on the site.
Lololololol
Mike Kennedy is quite a character
Lololololol
Mike Kennedy is quite a character
Pellegri Testament
Member
The more he talks, the worse he looks. Dude seriously just needs to accept his well deserved L at this point.
OrbitalBeard
Member
Why would ANYONE ever do business with this guy again? He's just going to throw you under the bus if things don't work out.
What a piece of work. I can't stand this type of person....it's always someone else's fault. Take some damn responsibility.
What a piece of work. I can't stand this type of person....it's always someone else's fault. Take some damn responsibility.
Kawika
Member
Dear Mike,
I read that post at first leaning toward forgiveness. This is my nature but as you know people will point out things that also make sense. To be conned sucks for sure. But who knows if you weren't in fact part of the con. Its your word vs everyone else who has a bone to pick with you. I am leaning on the side that you want to be forgiven but also don't want to take any of the blame.
This is probably all that needs to be said. "I screwed up, I thought my team could make this work and mistakes were made. I am done with the console business please understand."
Throwing people under the bus is one of my least favorite pastimes. Good luck with your life Mike, I am going to let my sub to Retro Magazine laps. I won't be doing business with you anymore and I wish you well.
-Kawika
I read that post at first leaning toward forgiveness. This is my nature but as you know people will point out things that also make sense. To be conned sucks for sure. But who knows if you weren't in fact part of the con. Its your word vs everyone else who has a bone to pick with you. I am leaning on the side that you want to be forgiven but also don't want to take any of the blame.
This is probably all that needs to be said. "I screwed up, I thought my team could make this work and mistakes were made. I am done with the console business please understand."
Throwing people under the bus is one of my least favorite pastimes. Good luck with your life Mike, I am going to let my sub to Retro Magazine laps. I won't be doing business with you anymore and I wish you well.
-Kawika
I was just at Midwest Gaming Classic and one of the vendors set up a Coleco Chameleon, with a hand-written sign that said "Coleco Chameleon devkit*, only $12k! *parody". It was a clear Jaguar shell with the same PCI capture card, complete with oddly placed LED, basically a perfect replica... except they hid a Raspberry Pi under it, so it actually worked.
On a side note, that was a really good convention. They had the Nintendo Playstation there too, sadly I had to leave before they turned it on.
On a side note, that was a really good convention. They had the Nintendo Playstation there too, sadly I had to leave before they turned it on.
NoFaceNico
Member
Yep, there's some pics of that floating around! It's an amazingly accurate replica. Then again- we already know all the parts needed to make one.
Thanks for that info! I didn't know it actually had a Pi underneath so it could work! In that sense it's even better than the original and I can't believe that with Mike being so deceptive he didn't think of doing that. He conceivably could have launched the Kickstarter as planned if he did it.
And as for the Nintendo Playstation, don't worry, you didn't miss out on anything. According to Jeremy Parish, who moderated the panel for it, it wouldn't read games when they turned it on.
http://www.usgamer.net/articles/some-thoughts-about-the-nintendo-playstation
It's unclear if it was just acting up that day or if it's permanently busted, but I hope not.
Thanks for that info! I didn't know it actually had a Pi underneath so it could work! In that sense it's even better than the original and I can't believe that with Mike being so deceptive he didn't think of doing that. He conceivably could have launched the Kickstarter as planned if he did it.
And as for the Nintendo Playstation, don't worry, you didn't miss out on anything. According to Jeremy Parish, who moderated the panel for it, it wouldn't read games when they turned it on.
http://www.usgamer.net/articles/some-thoughts-about-the-nintendo-playstation
It's unclear if it was just acting up that day or if it's permanently busted, but I hope not.
That's weird. There was video of the PlayStation running SNES Street Fighter II. Skip to the 2:25 mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9ThTxiqx30
Did they break it?!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9ThTxiqx30
Did they break it?!
"Mike Kennedy - WHO EXUDES VOMIT FROM EVERY PORES"
ahahahahaha
summary: Someone called Willie loaned him three Coleco tabletop games and expressely told him to not sell them.
Mike Kennedy sold them