December of last year I posted about a new project, the Coleco Chameleon. It's a retro project that aimed to build a new old styled console that would be hackable by modern developers making new retro titles. Recently there have been a lot of doubt thrown on the project as it has been shown that prototypes used faked hardware.
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/247145-coleco-chameleon-hardware-speculations/page-43
http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/03/coleco_chameleons_future_in_doubt_following_claims_that_snes_hardware_was_used_in_prototype
Whereas there can be a fair amount undone in an early prototype this seems to take the notion a bit too far as many in the retro community have noted. Sad to see this kind of thing happen to a project like this as the community getting a modern retro styled console that anyone can make games for is an absolutely amazing idea in concept.
Our original article is below and I have updated it to reflect this new update. Some people in the retro community have noted that all video game websites that reported about the Coleco Chameleon should apologize for deceiving the community. The charge is that we should have spent time sending people out to events and working to verify that this project was on the level. This is an interesting charge and one I want to address. Cheerful Ghost is a very niche video game site and because of that our resources are extremely limited. Whereas larger sites like Kotaku, IGN and PC Gamer can employ many people on staff we do this all gratis and each year I run Cheerful Ghost at a loss. We report on the stories we find interesting and talk about the awesome moments we have about the games we love.
http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/2743/new-retro-console-coleco-chameleon-to-launch-in-2016
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/247145-coleco-chameleon-hardware-speculations/page-43
http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/03/coleco_chameleons_future_in_doubt_following_claims_that_snes_hardware_was_used_in_prototype
Whereas there can be a fair amount undone in an early prototype this seems to take the notion a bit too far as many in the retro community have noted. Sad to see this kind of thing happen to a project like this as the community getting a modern retro styled console that anyone can make games for is an absolutely amazing idea in concept.
Our original article is below and I have updated it to reflect this new update. Some people in the retro community have noted that all video game websites that reported about the Coleco Chameleon should apologize for deceiving the community. The charge is that we should have spent time sending people out to events and working to verify that this project was on the level. This is an interesting charge and one I want to address. Cheerful Ghost is a very niche video game site and because of that our resources are extremely limited. Whereas larger sites like Kotaku, IGN and PC Gamer can employ many people on staff we do this all gratis and each year I run Cheerful Ghost at a loss. We report on the stories we find interesting and talk about the awesome moments we have about the games we love.
http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/2743/new-retro-console-coleco-chameleon-to-launch-in-2016
