Coleco Is Back With a 21st-Century Cartridge-Based Console

We are slowly moving towards a future where video games will be downloaded entirely off the Web and possibly even streamed on demand as you play, but one company would rather have us go back to the roots of video gaming.

That company is Retro Video Game Systems (RVGS) and it's collaborating with Coleco to launch a modern cartridge-based console in early 2016. In doing so, the company is bringing back an ancient and familiar name in the video gaming industry.

In describing the new console on its website, RVGS says the Chameleon will "eliminate some of the biggest frustrations with modern day gaming". The company is taking a dig at the issues that digital games have brought: from ownership and re-sale to necessary updates that won't let you play.

Calling it a "modern day take on the classic game console", the Coleco Chameleon will be equipped to play 8, 16, and 32-bit games, which the company believes is a growing genre in today's gaming landscape.

"The Coleco Chameleon is a love-letter to all the classic cartridge based gaming systems that came before it," Retro Video Game Systems president Mike Kennedy said in a statement. He thinks the Chameleon harkens back to a time when video gaming was "about nothing but great gameplay and fun factor".

This isn't the first time Kennedy is trying to bring back retro gaming. In September this year, he launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise $1.95 million (approx. Rs. 12.9 crore) for what was a non-Coleco branded piece of hardware with the same purpose of cartridge-run gaming in the 21st century.

Owing to a high asking price of $299 (approx. Rs. 20,000), the campaign ended in a disaster with 241 people contributing to provide just 4 percent of the total required funding. Coleco Chameleon is essentially a renaming of that failed adventure, and it too will be put up for crowdfunding, reports Retro Gamer.

There is no word yet on what games will be made available, but with the company promising better pricing it remains to be seen if the Coleco Chameleon can generate higher interest this time around.