technology Coleco is back. Cartridge based console

[ArDee 101]

This makes me really wonder something...Why based your console off of one of the worst consoles in history? XD

 

Because the case molds were cheap.

 

...Yes, really:

 

Sporting a plastic shell made from the actual original Atari Jaguar molds

Edited December 23, 2015 by ArDee

[Malinter 3,064]

Many proponents argue that game cartridges are faster than discs and harder to pirate it.

 

 

Nope. Bootleg cartridges were a thing even back in the heyday of the SNES and the Sega MegaDrive. Some were literally copies, some were even reskinned games sold as a different game. All of them were awful, rage inducing things to play... assuming they even worked at all XD

[Guest]

I've been playing games since the SNES days and I even played the NES for a bit, so naturally there is a retro gamer in me. Someone who yearns to play my classic favorites and I do quite regularly. Catch me at 5 different times of the week at least one of them I'll be emulating a SNES on my phone or TV, but I have to say: investing in hardware to play old school "feeling" games is gimmicky. I hate how every other game that comes out has "8/16 bit inspired graphics!" as if that's a holy grail that makes the game better. There are a handful of modern games that capture the feeling of retro quite well, but a lot of them are just gimmicky.

 

Not to mention these days even us retro people that are all about "the original game feeling" have better options than buying more hardware. Get yourself a Wii, softmod it and get a classic controller. It feels just like the SNES and NES controller and it's close enough to where you get the same feeling playing, and it's on a Nintendo console and can be played on the TV, making emulation almost as good of an option as physical media.

 

At the end of the day, this just seems like a gimmick to target those who are so desperate to avoid digital media that they will inconvenience themselves further and further. At the end of the day, digital is not inherently bad, nor is DRM. Used properly both can create a superior experience, but used incorrectly they can create a nightmare. Digital gives us the benefit of being able to move on the go and move our games from platform to platform with ease, we can back up our saves so we will never lose our progress and we don't need to worry about the cartridge being lost or broken.

[Limeblossom 482]

Nope. Bootleg cartridges were a thing even back in the heyday of the SNES and the Sega MegaDrive. Some were literally copies, some were even reskinned games sold as a different game. All of them were awful, rage inducing things to play... assuming they even worked at all XD

Just like those in one of the JonTron episodes? Most of them completely flopped.

[-Nobody- 534]

AVGN reviews Coleco when?

[Discordian 6,017]

Dat controller. We've breached the point where they're trying to be different but not too different to the point that they've officially reached the worst possible configuration of sticks to face buttons. Never in my life have I ever seen a controller that looks so unwieldy and uncomfortable.

 

I won't dismiss the console offhand but if they even remotely plan to jump into the console race they need basic online features at the very least. If not multiplayer at least a way to patch games. It's a necessity in today's gaming world.

[Fhaolan 4,491]

This is a product of a failed Indiegogo campaign called 'Retro VGS'. They barely scratched the surface of their goal, and were left with a design and no funding. Along comes the notorious Brand Pirate company of River West Brands. River West Brands makes it's money off of reviving 'dead' brands by claiming they're abandoned by the original owners, and then putting out products with no connection to the original company other than the name. They've done this to a coffee brand (Brim), a drug brand (Nuprin), hair dye (Salon Selectives), so on and so forth. And Coleco. They're not a game company, or even a toy company. They don't even buy the brand, they just wait for one to die and they use the US trademark law to claim ownership.

 

For those wanting to know why this should concern MLP fans: These are the exact people Hasbro has to defend their trademarks against. In this specific case, a long time ago Hasbro bought up a good chunk of the assets of Coleco when that company went seriously bankrupt. The rest went to company called SLM Action Sports Inc. But neither really did anything with the stuff they bought, nor did they defend the trademark when people made fan-based stuff resembling Coleco games. Which opened the door for River West Brands to claim that Coleco was an abandoned trademark, and start producing stuff under that name without needing to ask Hasbro or SLM for anything. In fact once they started doing this, they can now claim that if Hasbro or SLM tries to release actual Coleco stuff from their vaults, *they* will be the ones violating trademark. They've done that before with other brand they've 'acquired'.

 

These aren't going to be actual Coleco games, ported to this retro platform. They're going to be newly created games (with all the inherent problems of modern-made games) that are made to simulate Coleco-style games. River West Brands doesn't have access to the original sourcecode of the games, but they do have the ability to use the look-and-feel and branding of the original games published under the Coleco brand as well as any other games that are now in public domain.

[Kafooku 156]

Dat controller. We've breached the point where they're trying to be different but not too different to the point that they've officially reached the worst possible configuration of sticks to face buttons. Never in my life have I ever seen a controller that looks so unwieldy and uncomfortable.

 

Oh, thank god I'm not the only one noticing that. 

[cmarston1 5,962]

I am pretty sure that this isn't going to do very well.

[Megas 28,002]

Dat controller. We've breached the point where they're trying to be different but not too different to the point that they've officially reached the worst possible configuration of sticks to face buttons. Never in my life have I ever seen a controller that looks so unwieldy and uncomfortable.

 

I won't dismiss the console offhand but if they even remotely plan to jump into the console race they need basic online features at the very least. If not multiplayer at least a way to patch games. It's a necessity in today's gaming world.

Oh, thank god I'm not the only one noticing that. 

 

I dunno, all things considered it looks similar to the Wii U Pro Controller, which was a lot more comfortable than it looked.

 

Can't judge it until we actually get to hold it in our hands

[Discordian 6,017]

I dunno, all things considered it looks similar to the Wii U Pro Controller, which was a lot more comfortable than it looked.

 

Can't judge it until we actually get to hold it in our hands

If that controller has the right stick that high up there and the face buttons way down low than it shares in the discomfort.

[Megas 28,002]

If that controller has the right stick that high up there and the face buttons way down low than it shares in the discomfort.

Have you ever held the controller in your hands? A mass majority of people who've actually used the controller have said it was very comfortable

 

At worst, the right thumbstick was a minor inconvenience 

Edited December 27, 2015 by Megas75

[Discordian 6,017]

Have you ever held the controller in your hands? A mass majority of people who've actually used the controller have said it was very comfortable

 

At worst, the right thumbstick was a minor inconvenience

No. And I would undoubtedly get used to it if I did. But I still prefer my face buttons to be on top.