Mike James
This is an official account of events that led to the evolution of GameGavel, RETRO magazine, the RETRO VGS, and the Coleco Chameleon written by somebody who was involved and had inside information that has never been published before.
It is a factual account of events, but more than that, it is a human story of the man behind the GameGavel Network and the Retro VGS / Coleco Chameleon and shows how one man's dream can quickly become a nightmare. Mike Kennedy set out with good intentions and wanted to produce a video game console but somewhere along the way he lost control of his vision, his empire, and his livelihood.
At any stage, he could have stopped the descent into madness but he chose to double down and forge ahead.
The result of 23 hours of interviews, 10 years in the making and 2 years of writing, the book is a 676 page journalistic investigation into a $2,000,000 crowd-funding scam and a roller coaster ride through the life of the man behind it, Mike Kennedy. Containing never before released emails, text messages and behind the scenes accounts about Retro Magazine, the Retro VGS and the Coleco Chameleon, this book is the definitive account of the whole story.
Having twice successfully crowd-funded, via Kickstarter, a magazine called “Retro” Mike Kennedy attempted to bring a video game console to market via the same method. Not having the knowledge or the funds to do so, he approached industry professionals to obtain a realistic timescale and cost. Not willing to wait for either, he asked “What can we do with Smoke and Mirrors?”
As respected professionals walked away, he turned to lesser able and less scrupulous engineers to help him defraud his way to $2,000,000 in crowd-funding revenue.
The author had inside knowledge and a variety of first hand sources of business dealings, burned investors and false press announcements and was among those warning the public that all was not as it seemed, yet these warnings went unheard or unheeded. What followed was an endless stream of announcements, 3D renders and multiple fake prototypes, one of them being displayed at the World’s premier Toy industry event, the New York Toy Fair.
After failed crowd-funding attempts and more engineers, fake prototypes were exposed and paid for by siphoning funds from the successfully funded Retro Magazine and from investment by friends and family members, who would go on to lose their investments and any potential claims on the company as new companies were registered.
Magazine writers went unpaid, subscribers went without their magazines and business partners were further defrauded as the empire fell apart, forcing Mike Kennedy to sell his yacht, his home and move to a Motel out of state.
PUBLICATION DETAILS
LANGUAGE | BINDING | EDITION | ISBN | YEAR | PAGES |
English | Paperback | | N/A | 2021 | 666 |
English | Hardcover | | N/A | 2021 | 666 |
English | eBook | | N/A | 2021 | 666 |
TAGS
Authors: #MikeJames
Publishers: #SelfPublished (Self Published)
Languages: #English
Format: #eBook #Hardcover #Paperback
Accessibility: N/A
Year: #Year2021
Genres: #GeneralHistory
Companies:
#Coleco (Coleco)
Public Figures:
N/A
Games:
N/A
Misc:
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