Smoke and Mirrors: The Rise and Fall of a Serial Antipreneur

by Mike James

Smoke and Mirrors is an official account of events that led to the evolution of GameGavel , RETRO magazine , the RETRO VGS , and the Coleco Chameleon . Written by one of the people in the middle of it all and featuring inside information never previously revealed elsewhere, this is a fascinating and often amazing account of what is considered to be one of the most infamous sagas in retro gaming. This is, of course, a factual account of events. More than that, however, it is a human story of the man behind the GameGavel Network and the Retro VGS / Coleco Chameleon. Ultimately it reveals how one man's dream can quickly turn into everyone's worst nightmare. Author Mike James masterfully walks us through the entire episode, explaining how 'antipreneur' Mike Kennedy started out with good intentions, wanting to produce a video game console... but how somewhere along the way he lost control of his vision, his empire and his livelihood. When things took a downward turn, there were many opportunities to stop the descent into madness, but we learn how Kennedy chose to double down and forge ahead with what some consider to be one of the biggest scams in video games history. Full of incredible, unbelievable and shocking revelations, this is the book that all retro gaming fans MUST read...

396 pages, Paperback

Published September 26, 2022

About the author

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