Well that didn\’t take long. If you\’ve been following along, one of the news nuggets I wrote about in last week\’s Recap was regarding the Coleco Chameleon and it\’s fake prototypes. I also discussed it in our latest podcast episode LAN Party.
With the shameless plugs aside, I can now update you on the situation. Well, it turns out Coleco has smartly decided to drop out from the RetroVGS project and remove it\’s name from the ailing console while wishing the team at Retro good luck.
In an update posted on Facebook, Coleco\’s the company stated: \”Retro VGS has decided that the work that they have created is not sufficient to demonstrate at this time,\” according to the post. \”Consequently, we can no longer proceed with the project and the Chameleon project will be terminated.\”
The Coleco brand, well known for the ColecoVision console and ADAM computer system of the early 1980s, is now owned by River West Brands of Chicago.
\”It just wasn\’t what we had thought it would be,\” Mark Thomann, River West\’s CEO and Coleco\’s owner, told Polygon. \”We thought it would be an originally developed console, and the indications were that it just wasn\’t.\”
Thomann said engineers contacted by a River West representative examined the console \”and we weren\’t satisfied with it.\”
But, \”We\’re going to continue looking for someone who can develop a unique, original console that is the real deal\” Thomann said.
Good luck doesn\’t look like it\’s keeping the doors open for the RetroVGS because both their Facebook page and website have been taken down. That\’s probably for the best. Even if the company had real working prototypes to show, how viable is a system that doesn\’t connect to the internet for software updates and/or downloadable games and patches in such an internet connected age? I admit software updates and patches can be a pain in the ass but they can also fix bugs that crop up. Not only that but cartridges are expensive. It took Nintendo until the GameCube to give it up but what kinds of games would we get on cartridges that we couldn\’t get via a download? It looks like we\’ll never know.
That\’s the way the cookie crumbles.
