The Smach Z Scandal | Crazy Crowdfunding Documentary

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The Smach Z Scandal | Crazy Crowdfunding Documentary

Рет қаралды 117,858

Ай бұрын

The complete breakdown of Kickstarter & IndieGoGo's terrible handheld SCAM the Smach Z! | Click my trainwell (formerly CoPilot) link go.trainwell.n... to get 14 days FREE with your own personal trainer!
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You think you know the full story of Kickstarter's biggest handheld failure ever? think again
Over the last several months I have spent many a sleepless night collecting as much evidence as I can regarding this device. It's one of the hardest videos I have ever created due to the team behind the Smach Z hiding the vast majority of updates they made.
So move aside Amico and VEGA+ this is one hell of a ride!!
...well, actually, it's not as crazy as the Amico but it's still pretty painful
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A huge thank you to the following awesome channels who all provided voices for the video...
‪@WhatHoSnorkers‬
‪@Yesterzine‬
‪@ctrlaltrees‬
‪@GouldFishOnGames‬
‪@akatimo84‬
Grizzly Krieden
Joey Freeze
‪@VitasVarnas‬
and of course... ‪@StopDropRetro‬ Who deserves all your love and attention, as stated in the video you absolutely must check out his coverage on this system which can all be found here • KickShaming
---------------
⌛ The Complete History Series…
goo.gl/CMCMvQ
The ultimate in-depth documentary look at all your favourite gaming franchises such as... Metroid, Streets of Rage, Shinobi, Strider, Metal Slug, Parappa the Rapper, Toejam & Earl, Earthworm Jim. Space Harrier, Jet Set Radio, Crash Bandicoot, Grand Theft Auto, Final Fight and many many more
---------------
⌛ The Kick-Scammer Series...
goo.gl/BB7DyX
Join us as we look into some of the very worst Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns ever!
---------------
⌛ Random Video Games Fact Series…
goo.gl/eJwsYP
The Strangest Video Game Facts found on KZfaq
---------------
⌛ Quickshot Series...
goo.gl/r32WH7
Random bite-sized gaming facts
#Kickscammers #Smach Z #Kickstarter #Scam #SmachZ #SlopesGameRoom #IndieGoGo

Пікірлер: 637

@slopesgameroom Ай бұрын

Click my trainwell (formerly CoPilot) link go.trainwell.net/SlopesGameRoom to get 14 days FREE with your own personal trainer!

@RetroObserver Ай бұрын

Given up pushing the sucking stick?

@anthonybf2 Ай бұрын

@uiopuiop3472 Ай бұрын

i am mr rombio and i approve of this

@DimerNL Ай бұрын

Garbage and overpriced. But hey, sponsors whatever the cost.

@uiopuiop3472 Ай бұрын

@@DimerNL ima go ohio

@IcyTorment Ай бұрын

"But before we move on to the main scam of this video, here's Trainwell..."

@tenebrisity6170 Ай бұрын

😂

@Atlas_Redux 24 күн бұрын

Why in the world don't people use uBlock Origin and SponsorBlock? Can't remember last time I saw an ad or sponsorship.

@Dazreil Ай бұрын

I only heard of the smach Z because of Stop Drop and Retro, so it's nice to see that you gave him a shout.

@TheVHSReviver Ай бұрын

Sounded a little bit like his voice reading out the tweet url at 8:41

@thepolarphantasm2319 Ай бұрын

SD&R never dies He just takes really long weed naps

@Alxasaurus Ай бұрын

Early Worm Effect at its finest.

@FlavioZaBess Ай бұрын

Same here.

@PointsofData Ай бұрын

@TheVHSReviver He's done some voice overs for Slopes before. :)

@OriginalBadRobotz Ай бұрын

Stop drop retro was a goat for covering this real time

@slopesgameroom Ай бұрын

Agreed

@StopDropRetro Ай бұрын

Thanks! It was a fun project to cover and later on my own channel I'll have to do a retrospective explaining what led me to figuring out that they were using a windows tablet. It's a pretty interesting part of the story that I've never shared.

@HeyItsJonny Ай бұрын

@@StopDropRetro I remember watching it live and then seeing you drop off the face of the earth when the steam deck released

@StopDropRetro Ай бұрын

@@HeyItsJonny I've made several steam deck videos, including one about its announcement, I didn't fall off the earth because of it.

@HeyItsJonny Ай бұрын

@StopDropRetro Well, steam deck does what smach-zdon't! So I'm not surprised it was the focus of the channel. Big fan btw, thanks for entertaining us.

@pixelsafoison Ай бұрын

Funny thing, us moustached cheese-lovers call an obvious scam a "piège à gogo" = a "gogo" trap... Always made me smile a bit with all of these indiegogo scams.

@pylthescientist Ай бұрын

Un attrape-nigaud!

@luheartswarm4573 Ай бұрын

that's kind of perfect

@luckyducky7819 Ай бұрын

Wow, that's spooky. It even kind of looks like "Pledge a gogo" to my eyes.

@zembryoz 27 күн бұрын

A gogo means "a lot" or "in abundance". It's a commonly used suffix.

@RRVCrinale 17 күн бұрын

@@zembryoz So that's what that means. So a literal translation is something like "traps aplenty," which is a delightful way to describe something obvious.

@Hammface Ай бұрын

“ this old broom has had 17 new heads and 14 new handles in its time” 😂

@captainblood9616 Ай бұрын

Is that an Only Fools and Horses reference? Sounds like something Trigger would say Dave

@throningermine8 Ай бұрын

"How the 'ell can it be the same bloody broom, then?"

@LuminalSpoon Ай бұрын

Ship of Theseus paradox if you're a simpleton.

@Hammface Ай бұрын

@@throningermine8 there it is in the picture what more proof do you need???

@dylan4125 Ай бұрын

Had a friend call me a ludite for not "believing" in the smach z.

@slopesgameroom Ай бұрын

Still friends?

@joejoe2658 Ай бұрын

@@slopesgameroom still friends with any asians after they see the name of your channel?

@ridhosamudro2199 Ай бұрын

@@joejoe2658what's wrong with slopes?

@AllardRT Ай бұрын

@@joejoe2658 What the fuck.

@NickyBlue99 Ай бұрын

@@joejoe2658 Wtf

@DarthEquus Ай бұрын

The moment the Steam Deck was announced, I knew the final nail in the coffin of the Smach Z had been driven.

@arnoldrimmer4025 24 күн бұрын

I was wondering about that, but Steam Deck was announced in July 2021 a couple of months after Smach went under. I seem to remember though that it was well known it was coming for some time before the official announcement. So they could well have got wind of it and decided to shut up shop ahead of it being announced.

@FoxeyeValkyrie Ай бұрын

Smach Z sounds like a console from Hypnospace Outlaw.

@Blurgleflargle Ай бұрын

The Smach Z has a hackblood charge!

@ShiroR3aper Ай бұрын

Gives a serious case of beefbrain

@YokiBrewster Ай бұрын

This reminds me of that family restaurant that got caught selling popeyes chicken as their own and got shut down 😅

@slopesgameroom Ай бұрын

O wow. That sounds juicy.... Not the chicken, the stoey

@PointsofData Ай бұрын

@slopesgameroom I mean Popeyes chicken is pretty juicy tbf

@MegaZeta Ай бұрын

Yeah, _"we can't process your refund till we're done production"_ sounds like a variation on a pyramid scheme. If you need money from people demanding refunds to fund initial production, then the obvious conclusion is that you have nothing to sell.

@cliffordreynolds1835 25 күн бұрын

Popeyes is overrated. I prefer Mary Brown's chicken (A Canadian chain).

@inthefade 20 күн бұрын

How do you even pull that off profitably?!

@superpan218 Ай бұрын

I forgot that the Smach Z even existed. This was years before the Steam Deck.

@EastyyBlogspot Ай бұрын

I think even the creators did too

@slopesgameroom Ай бұрын

Hahahaha you beat me too it

@0uttaS1TE Ай бұрын

@@superpan218 That, and that one other scam, the PGS ("REVOLUSHUN, NAO!")

@ge2719 Ай бұрын

i was going to go with "it existed?"

@YokiBrewster Ай бұрын

The way the plastic looks on the controller like the steam logo is cool actually

@fattiger6957 Ай бұрын

I remember the series of videos Stop Drop and Retro made about this thing. Weird how things have changed for handheld PCs. Years ago, they were all little, niche thing with only a few legit products and a lot of scams. Now you have big companies like Valve and Asus making them. I wouldn't be surprised to see other, even bigger companies getting in on it.

@DM4Aaron Ай бұрын

The switch shown that handheld is still a thing. Remember this was back in the mobile gamers are the future, never mind most of the audience doesn't carry over. Also the steam machine was horrible and I found out pc games outside shooters don't work too well on the couch with a controller

@marcelosoares7148 Ай бұрын

Handheld PCs die and come back every 10 years or so. There were a bunch of them in the XP~Vista era, but tech wasn't advanced at the time, so the low power chips could barely run anything.

@lpnp9477 Ай бұрын

@@marcelosoares7148ya, but they're likely here to stay at this point

@MegaZeta Ай бұрын

Not until companies like Asus stop failing at it, would be my guess. It's relatively easy to put Windows, a GPU, a controller and a 1080p screen into a device you can hold in your hands, which seems to be the model for non-Valve competitors. It's difficult right now to make it _mobile,_ that is, with battery life that makes "handheld" meaningful.

@StopDropRetro Ай бұрын

To say the progress in the handheld PC marketplace has been amazing would be an understatement. It felt like for at least a decade there was a core group of PC gamers who desperately wanted a handheld PC and all the manufacturers thought gamers just want gaming laptops. Every now and then there would be a rumor that Xbox would create a PSP like device. I'm sure a lot of people got scammed by Smach Z because they were just so tired of waiting. Then along came the Steam Deck and now we have no shortage of handheld PCs!

@ShadowTheHellJumper Ай бұрын

If you view this from the right angle, it basically looks like Valve was so fed up with waiting for the Smach Z to be released that they just made their own portabl Steam Machine... I know that's not what happened but one can imagine

@dgray5100able Ай бұрын

41:59 StopDrop&Retro also found out Paco Jimenez may not be an actual medical physician in this rabbit hole he jumped through. Why he lied about this is still really confusing.

@QFredfons Ай бұрын

It's a Spanish thing. In many circles, titles are very important.

@napoleonfeanor Ай бұрын

@@QFredfons not just Spanish. You can find a lot of Germans with pretend or faked Dr. titles, especially politicians.

@alansmithee2012 Ай бұрын

I remember seeing some guy Stop Drop Retro talking about this I think. All I can think of was "the Smach Z tripped and fell on top of horse dung so the Steam Deck could run".

@sdbegotist Ай бұрын

Used to check back to his channel every now and then

@swr.nezumi Ай бұрын

he mentions stop drop and retro in the video

@PSPMan Ай бұрын

Wow, this video was like made for me lol. Watching Stop Drop & Retro was how I even learned what Crowdfunding was. I don't even know how many times I've rewatched his videos, probably one of my favorite KZfaqrs that never uploads anymore. Ever since I found your channel, I'd been hoping that you would cover this since I've never seen anybody talk about it in its totality.

@slopesgameroom Ай бұрын

Appreciate that mate. I chatted to him a few times and he helped with this video. We are now in talks to do some collaborations too :) he's a busy guy (we both are) so don't expect them anytime soon. But do know, we are both not done with this sorta content :D

@StopDropRetro Ай бұрын

Thanks! I'm planning to start uploading again soon, need to work out my schedule first.

@TheJuggtron Ай бұрын

I'm one of the suckers who never got my money back, and even paid for the upgrade to the best specs. A$1700 down

@ZeroNeko_1306 8 күн бұрын

Damn bro... Well I can't get your money back BUT I can wish you a wonderful day! =)

@SamSquids Ай бұрын

The Smach Z makes me appreciate the Steam Deck even more.

@slopesgameroom Ай бұрын

The steam deck is quite legendary

@Roadent1241 Ай бұрын

@@slopesgameroom I've been enjoying mine even if I only got it in September.

@LOC-Ness Ай бұрын

I hope that since the idea of a handheld Steam Machine was redeemed by Valve, someone can redeem the concept of modular tech. I guess Framework kinda is... sorta.

@ramrodbldm9876 Ай бұрын

@LOC-Ness no not kinda sorta clown weirdo

@ramrodbldm9876 Ай бұрын

@@LOC-Ness clown

@emperorfaiz Ай бұрын

I still remember that old junk. I'd never expect Valve to do the thing the Smach Z team failed to deliver. After the failure of Steam Machine, a lot of people don't expect Valve to make their own PC "console" ever again. I still dig the modular touchpad attachment idea though.

@antikommunistischaktion Ай бұрын

Valve's mistake with Steam Machines was relying solely on native Linux games. While there's actually a good bit of native Linux games today that wasn't the case back then. Remember, Steam Machines debuted before Proton. If Steam Machines already had 2+ years of Proton development, and perhaps didn't use Debian as a base, they might have been as successful as the Steam Deck.

@chasejulia Ай бұрын

@@antikommunistischaktion that was definitely a downside, but even that *may* have been fine if they produced them themselves at a good price like the deck. I mean most consoles launch with an anemic library. Alas Valve didn't want to take that risk (apparently) so....

@antikommunistischaktion Ай бұрын

@@chasejulia I'm kind of glad they didn't take the risk back then. IMO Linux gaming and the Steam Deck are in good places today specifically due to the failure of Steam Machines. Imagine if Valve didn't have the drive to develop Proton and Pressure Vessel. I highly doubt that many triple A studios would have pushed Linux releases even if the Steam Machines were hugely successful. Steam Machines walked so the Steam Deck could run.

@ZW_Zacattack99 Ай бұрын

That Spawn Wave bit brings me back. If we ever expand Kick-Scammers into the realm of Patreon; - Sonic Omens: A rather bad, but impressive Sonic Fangame that was exposed for withholding builds behind a paywall, hosting ads on the game’s GameJolt page, planning false copyright strikes on negative reviews, stealing music from Cars 2 the game, weaponizing fans into stalking critics on Discord & Twitter, and plagiarizing a former team artist’s in-development comic for a thrown together pilot. - Weegeepie: for stealing assets from GLITCH Productions (or to be precise; the co-founder’s Mario-centric Machinima channel; SMG4) and putting it behind a $120 monthly paywall. (on top of some rather demonetizing stuff regarding “Little Girls”)

@niclasneziru1854 Ай бұрын

An hour-long Slope documentary on a failed crowdfounded handheld device? Yep, looks like my evening is fully sorted out!

@B8GViews Ай бұрын

These long-form deep dives are always great. I know next to nothing about Kickstarter so it's amazing to hear about these monumental gaming scams.

@rustkitty Ай бұрын

The way I see it, it did start off as a scam because a crowd funding project starts with the campaign and that was already fraudulent in multiple ways.

@VyceEcho Ай бұрын

Wtf, never heard of that device. Thx buddy

@PointsofData Ай бұрын

What a vibe lmao

@novalinnhe Ай бұрын

I have a question... why do people do this? Instead of just saying "sorry, it's not coming out" and going dark, why do scammers/dishonest people continue to string people along and make up more and more fabrications to prolong the ruse - sometimes for years afterwards? Surely this is the least efficient thing to do, and just makes it more likely that you will be caught or do something that will land you in hot water? What is the end objective to this behaviour?

@MegaZeta Ай бұрын

It's moderately harder to lie to yourself if you admit the truth to everyone else, it's moderately harder to skate from scam to scam if you don't lie to yourself as to how you're just a temporarily embarrassed future success, and it's truly hard for a lot of these people to imagine a life that's not skating from scam to scam.

@WatsonDynamite Ай бұрын

think about it like this: if they straight up said "sorry it's not coming out", they would get a massive influx of refund requests and could legally land in hot water. But by saying "it's coming guys, promise" they can hang on to that last subset of believers AND maintain plausible deniability, plus eventually some people will just forget about it

@QWERTYCommander Ай бұрын

Honestly, I think scammers have an addiction. Illegal activity is pretty much the only way to go from rags to riches with the way the world is right now. So yeah, of course they would string it along.

@novalinnhe Ай бұрын

@@QWERTYCommander I think that's where my issue is. If you want to go from rags to riches, as soon as the scam is done you'd cut your losses and be right onto the next. My confusion is around those who pull off the scam, but then stay around for months and years afterwards in an attempt to convince the marks that it wasn't one. I think the other two folk who commented offered some interesting perspectives as to why someone might go about it in this long and drawn out way.

@loweedwards7807 25 күн бұрын

Because of (shown in the video) big MOLA investor who backed them since the beginning. The scammers get to enjoy the ride (as funded tech venture company) on top of continue collecting preorder money from unsuspecting people. In the end, MOLA pulled out most likely after discovering the ongoing charade. If not mistaken MOLA pulled out months before the scammers announced bankruptcy. The charade is hiring hardware developers to create a good enough prototype for public showing so they could pull more customers. The scammers did it with Rhombio, continue the same pattern with next hardware developers but with no intention of completing it. That is why Phawx's unit was unfinished. The ruse about being in production is to, again, find more new preorders and keep the backers calm.

@haxtontemeraire2966 Ай бұрын

I think in context a lot of people were lead to believe in the Smach Z because of other companies also getting into that handheld PC sphere. GPD launched their Indiegogo page for the GPD Win in 2015 for example, and that did ship as a Windows handheld PC in 2016. And to add that it wasn't their first project. Not to mention the whole UMPC craze from the mid to late 2000s kind of spurring this idea of an ultra portable PC. Perhaps if the company didn't keep moving their goal posts and just made a UMPC that was kind of a handheld console at first (kind of what GPD did), they wouldn't be the complete joke they are now. Literally why not gut a Sony Vaio UX (2006) and slap Steam OS 2 on it? That shit came out in 2015 with Big Picture mode.

@MegaZeta Ай бұрын

Yes that's explained in the video we all just watched in slightly different language

@TheLexikitty Ай бұрын

“Steam deck clones” while showing the GPD Win 4, vague emotional pain (/lh)

@TheLexikitty Ай бұрын

Unrelated, that beat with the Valve guitar was EXCELLENCE

@bricklander Ай бұрын

i cannot believe it took me until this video to realize "smach" is literally short for "steam machine" i remember when this whole thing was going down i was wondering what the name itself actually meant 😮‍💨

@mattlewis6517 Ай бұрын

I still like the idea of modular phones... it blows my mind how cool we are with spending a grand every 2 years on these things...

@KaiserMattTygore927 29 күн бұрын

"Ferrari Red for me, please! VROOM VROOM!" That made me laugh a little too hard.

@JoeyFreeze 28 күн бұрын

I’m very happy that my 5 second contribution to this hour plus video had that effect on you. 🫡

@ccricers Ай бұрын

I don't think this was completely a scam, but an incompetent team that didn't know what they were doing. They blew too much money for making ads, gaming conventions and hotels, instead of R&D. They got drunk off their own hype.

@sixonepm 21 күн бұрын

Many such cases

@TacticalBurritoSystem Ай бұрын

I think my Dell steam machine was one of the many pieces of hardware associated with Valve, I bought 3 (Steam Deck, Steam Machine, Steam Controller), everything they've built now has been like a iterative yet clunky design process. Maybe that's just because of how they're structured. That's the good and bad in working with a Decentralized company like Valve, you have a lot of freedom, and you can go right to the company owners and say "I have a cool gaming thing I want to build", and if the idea is interesting enough, they give you the development capital needed to make a prototype of whatever you wanted, and if they like it, it becomes "Steam X from Valve". The other side is because you have all this freedom, you have to coordinate with different people to get them into the project, and run it. You are the project manager, and you will have people with more time and seniority at Valve pull people from your project to work on theirs, and the "Bosses" don't say shit because these people, in Valves environment, earned that right. Weeeeeeeeee ANYWAY CROWDFUNDING SCANDALS ARE DOPE, I WANT TO HAVE ONE OF MY OWN SOMEDAY

@aznsensation44 Ай бұрын

Sigh I did back this project back in 2016.. .and of course never got anything or a refund. This and the Dragonbox Pyra really disappointed me. Of course the only gaming handheld during that time that actually did get released was the GPD Win so props to GPD for actually making their device and still going on to this day with the GPD Win 4 and Win Mini!

@tlefevre2918 26 күн бұрын

yikes

@Aragorn7884 Ай бұрын

💘 the Earthworm Jim sound effects throughout the video LOL 🤣

@katoffeevhs9798 Ай бұрын

i really appreciate how good your videos are!! great production, and you don't waste my time with filler. when slope uploads an hour video, there's an hour of stuff to talk about! i wish more youtubers did this

@Eevee_133 Ай бұрын

Hearing about the Smach Z failing really makes me take a better perspective of my ROG Ally. I absolutely love that thing and it’s honestly great for what it is

@ZeroNeko_1306 8 күн бұрын

Indeed. The Ally is a beast :D

@KahlessTheUnforgettable Ай бұрын

Cheers for recognizing Stop, Drop & Retro part in exposing this debacle. Very decent thing to do.! 🏆

@StopDropRetro Ай бұрын

I'm really glad to see this scam featured! It's fun to hear it all retold from someone else's perspective

@KahlessTheUnforgettable Ай бұрын

@@StopDropRetro True indeed! I’d STILL like to see you do beginning to end autopsy of the Smach Z saga! Take care brother! 🤙

@danhlesh Ай бұрын

I fondly remember the Stop Drop & Retro vs Smach Z saga

@EastyyBlogspot Ай бұрын

I wonder how about a retro vgs, coleco chameleon vid...when that happened i was entertained for ages as it kept getting worse lol

@ccricers 3 күн бұрын

The discovery that they just put a video capture card in a transparent shell was so funny. That is a lot more embarrassing than reusing a Windows tablet IMO.

@EastyyBlogspot 3 күн бұрын

@@ccricers fact they found out the card very quickly was amazing, there was a guy involved with the thing and actually wrote a book on it which I got a while back

@jong2359 Ай бұрын

I had been following this console for a while until GPD popped onto the scene and wiped the floor with these tomato Smachers. Glad I never looked back, and all I could do is laugh in 2020 when everything was FINALLY coming down to the end.

@DarthPerkins Ай бұрын

34:46 Actually this is absolutely wrong and it legally couldn't be advertised as such. Saying it's "the most powerful handheld ever" suggests there will never, EVER be a handheld more powerful and consumers would be within their rights to return the Smach if one more powerful was released due to false advertising.

@gopherbone697 Ай бұрын

Shout-out SDR, love that guy, I wish he made more videos. Honest, realistic dude with a great voice!

@slopesgameroom Ай бұрын

Yeah, he's awesome. Super chuffed to have him involved in this video

@gopherbone697 Ай бұрын

@@slopesgameroom btw I haven't watched your channel in a while, I've been busy... You really have a screen presence full of charm and charisma! Gonna go through what I've missed soon.

@StopDropRetro Ай бұрын

Thanks! I'm hoping to start uploading again soon

@monkun76 Ай бұрын

Being there for this live was so dumb and hilarious. A good trip down memory lane lol

@Valkian24 Ай бұрын

Smach Zimps. Perfect 😂 Great video as always, Dan! Knew about this whole thing from Stop, Drop & Retro and it's great to see a doco covering the whole thing.

@axelprino Ай бұрын

I remember the whole mess that was the Smach Z from back in the day, but I never knew that it was still going up until 2021, last time I heard about it was around 2018. If anything the one good thing to come out from this scam is that it proved that there was a market for a product like it, I imagine quite a few companies used it as an example that there was a public eager for a real gaming handheld PC and quite a few r&d projects got greenlit as a consequence, it might have even been the thing that motivated Valve to jump in and create a "Steamboy" themselves.

@Ayameex Ай бұрын

I'm so glad to see The Real Tommy is still getting some voice over work.

@0x9E01 Ай бұрын

i thought the whole thing had died by 2019 what the heck edit: omg ofc they got into nfts as soon as they dropped the project

@wilkgr Ай бұрын

Man I'm still salty that proper modular smartphones didn't become a thing. (as an aside, Project Ara was originally a Motorola project; they then got bought up by google and later sold to Lenovo, sans Ara)

@BenjaminSaragosa 14 күн бұрын

I watched while I was laid up from a leg reconstruction when SD&R covered it and this gave me so much nostalgia! The KickShaming series was my favorite and I hope it comes back one day! Loved your stuff Stop, Drop, and Retro! I'm not one to rush but I await your return!

@awesomeferret Ай бұрын

Well done. Thank you for spending the time on this.

@CassiusStelar Ай бұрын

Why are the buttons so low, my arthritis riddled gamer hands are screambing

@MrNobody47710 Ай бұрын

I'd only heard of the Smach Z after the GPD Win 2 had launched. The Smach Z was appealing, but it had not been launched, so I didn't do much beyond keep my eye on the official website. I did manage to watch one or two of the Phawk's videos, before they were removed. I had completely avoided all of the Smach Z drama.

@MegaZeta Ай бұрын

That 2018 E3-day-one trailer...! I know it was the least of it, but the face-plate's plastic crusting and peeling in what's supposed to be the glamor-shot closeup is just 😗👌

@FrogTony Ай бұрын

Fake Tommy cameo FTW!

@BadWallaby Ай бұрын

The IndieGoGo page even says they raised “189% “of their 200 something thousand dollar goal which is definitely not 744k lol

@AngelHalo017 Ай бұрын

I had been following the whole Smach Z ordeal ever since I graduated college. I recall being excited for the idea and how the Switch had competition. That was before I learned about the GPD Win. Fortunately I simply waited out, then years later just randomly found Stop, Drop and Retro's videos where I ended up following it further. The kiss of death for me was around the same time they declared bankruptcy, the Steam Deck got announced. I pre-ordered it right away and never regretted. The Steam Machine may had been a bust, the Smach Z being even bigger blunder, but the Steam Deck came out and works really nicely. Even got the OLED model years later. And would ya look at that? Healthy competition with the ROG Ally and the Legion Go. Even GPD's new hardware looks nice. It was a wild ride but I'm glad to had held out thanks to the Early Worm Effect that SDR put out.

@SonicBoone56 23 күн бұрын

Who else remembers this from Stop Drop And Retro? This is what we've all been waiting for, the final conclusion to the epic saga. Thanks DJ Slope.

@Gio954 Ай бұрын

another great documentary, thanks slope!

@OnnieKoski Ай бұрын

I remember hearing about this and thinking to myself, maybe I should just buy one of those tablets and build my own 😂

@Gulyus Ай бұрын

The information offered at 17:25 ish makes sense when you see the flexible goal under it - 189% of 265k goal raised. So it being the absolute total, not a portion, makes sense.

@lasskinn474 Ай бұрын

steam machines existed originally as a response to windows 8 and microsoft trying to move to an ecosystem like ios to get the cut from all software sales. a lot of things happened in response, like adobes current up yours billing model etc.

@fattiger6957 Ай бұрын

So is that when Microsoft introduced the horrible UWP file format? Basically stripping away all the customization and user freedom that made Windows so popular in the first place. Since the Windows Store seems to have flopped, Game Pass PC is the only remnant of that file system.

@lasskinn474 Ай бұрын

@@fattiger6957 yes and the fullscreen start menu meant to guide you towards apps and the store and that whole metro ui api system for the 'apps' that could be made to run on the arm windows 8 machines(or rather i should say the arm win8 machines could only run those, not even windows mobile applications despite the system being perfectly capable of running them). windows store is now actually a somewhat decent way to install some stuff(actual windows parts and regular windows applications). too bad the ui still suffers a lot from them trying to guide people to the store to install certain stuff from there etc, so if you want just a traditional windows experience with windows 11 you need explorer patcher, openshell etc to get a movable taskbar and start menu that's like before. win8 wasn't that bad once you got a start replacer though, in other ways it was better than 7 but they really screwed it up. if they didn't mess with the start menu and shoving metro ui in your throat. it could have been a really well liked windows release.

@stevemclovin1566 Ай бұрын

I remember seeing it's one of its Kickstarter being released around the same Time as the gpd win 1 but also seeing smach z continue to post delays while gpd kept releasing successors. Seeing the win 3 deliver on its promises and was wild. Especially with its size. The only problem with this video is the gpd is not a steam deak clone.

@JD-gn1oy Ай бұрын

"Wouldn't that be something?"

@DanaTheInsane Ай бұрын

I really miss Stop Drop and Retro. I hope he comes back.

@StopDropRetro Ай бұрын

Thanks! I should be making some more videos for you guys soon

@bloodroses626 Ай бұрын

I keep waiting for that big bombshell of the SteamDeck being announced part of the vid. I really want to see the reaction of the backers to that.

@NateRD90 Ай бұрын

Can you do videos on successful handheld gaming PCs like the GPD Win handhelds or the AYANEO line?

@JamBagels Ай бұрын

Excellent video. Really well researched and edited.

@Ashamaxa Ай бұрын

Glad for the shout out to my man Stop Drop And Retro! Smach Z is such a shitshow of a story, and i been following it ever since SD&R started covering it.

@StopDropRetro Ай бұрын

Thanks! I hope to make new vids soon

@jayeraine 24 күн бұрын

I remember back in like 2016 or 2017 i was asking someone something like "should I get a Switch or a SmachZ?" and they were like "...well, the Switch is actually coming out, so..."

@Adammyers1995 Ай бұрын

I still remember low-spec gamer covering it. I was so excited for this..

@StopDropRetro Ай бұрын

A lot of people forget that part. He was a big reason why the second KS campaign succeeded. I remember him getting a lot of heat after my first video about this. It was totally unjustified, he was as much a victim of Smach's lies as their own backers.

@JambopaulGamerInPJs 8 күн бұрын

I totally forgot about this whole scandal. Great video. I remember following the project in its earlier years (around 2016 I think) I (thankfully) wasn't a backer because I was a broke high school student at the time, but the prospect of a handheld PC capable of running console quality games interested me. Then StopDrop&Retro released his videos exposing the scam. I had assumed that the project went under, but I had no idea it only happened (publicly) just two months before Valve revealed the Steam Deck (which I'm a proud owner of).

@earthwormjim91 Ай бұрын

Theres something immensely satisfying about watching this while playing my steam deck oled

@jackpilcrow Ай бұрын

Ah yes, I remember this, I wanted this to be real at one point, was a huge fan of the idea of stuffing a steam controller in a handheld form factor (which thankfully, we got, from valve). Didn't know that the Phawx deleted all his Smach Z videos, since he was literally the most reputable (and only) person to have gotten their hands on the device, though very unsurprised, once the Smach team announced the project was fully dead there was no real reason to keep it up, ESPECIALLY when two months later, the steam deck gets announced. I just know Phawx got a lot of flack for being a supporter of this massively failed, and embarrassing handheld, so washing his hands of it was probably a no brainer.

@MegaZeta Ай бұрын

The problem there is "washing his hands of it" means publicly renouncing it, after the manner of Pontius Pilate. Silently scrubbing your KZfaq channel of your now-embarrassing videos isn't washing your hands of it, it's trying to get people to forget that you ever mentioned it in the first place.

@MarkAmaro Ай бұрын

Probably my biggest Kickstarter regret

@StopDropRetro Ай бұрын

I am truly sorry you had to go through that. I wouldn't wish this scam on anyone. I can only hope you got a Steam Deck or other device and are enjoying the hell out of it today.

@napoleonfeanor Ай бұрын

Handheld gaming still is a thing. There is this niche product called Switch and well, also this no physical games device called steam deck.

@funisinfinite6171 Ай бұрын

I love my GPD Win4. It's so much better than the Steam Deck. My only complaint with the device is that it can run a little hot in the hands.

@stevemclovin1566 Ай бұрын

I ended up selling my steam deck beacuse the 4 did what i wanted it to do with the perfect size

@dancingwiththedogsdj 29 күн бұрын

Your videos are always a wonderful treat of information, fun, and way more interesting than I ever expected. You always seem to dive deep into the topics and quickly became a favorite of mine to be excited anytime I get a notification of anything new! Have a wonderful day! 😊🌍❤🕺🏻🐶

@slopesgameroom 29 күн бұрын

Thank you so much for this :D I love making these videos so I'm glad so many people enjoy them :D

@abdelali9279 Ай бұрын

Good that Valve finally decided to make their own hardware because this nebulous standard thing was a whole trainwreck

@marco_23p Ай бұрын

Whats funny is that Valve got the last laugh; the smach team started off by ripping off valve, only for valve to actually make what the smach should have been, and even cheaper.

@tw11tube Ай бұрын

@21:08 the soldering iron in that picture looks exactly like the ultra-cheap 14$ iron I recently ordered at amazon. I wouldn't expect any professional manufacturing company to rely on tools of that grade. In a first test, the thing worked, and seems to be an upgrade from the failed cheap 15W iron it is supposed to replace, but I have serious doubts in the longevity of that product and I don't expect any precision from the integrated temperature regulation.

@Petorasaur 29 күн бұрын

Welp, the KZfaq algorithm has me all figured out. Really glad this video appeared on my feed, that was an excellent watch.

@HadesTachyon Ай бұрын

Ngl after 2020 the Smach Z was doomed. A history of delays and issues with a worldwide pandemic basically shuttering a bunch of what this team can do conpared to Microsoft or Sony (Who remember,dropped their consoles during the pandemic) was basically the death sentence for this product Add that with the fact that even IF they did drop in 2020/2021 it would be outdaded as hell. Not to mention months later Steam would announce the SteamDeck ,which makes this look like a god damn Tiger electronic handheld in comparison

@drworm-s6z Ай бұрын

Your choice of background song brings back such great memories

@FOXYBINGOTEEF Ай бұрын

Trig maintained that broom for 20 years... It had 17 new heads and 14 new handles in its time 😝

@justanotherbeautiful5736 Ай бұрын

This Channel is truly underappreciated! Your Videos are always a gem!

@slopesgameroom Ай бұрын

Ahhhhh thanks so much matey

@GreenskullAI Ай бұрын

I'm early! Good way to start my day. Great vid as always!

@Jdbye 21 күн бұрын

I had purged this thing from my mind. It really was ahead of its time and I'm surprised it didn't get more traction. The Steam Deck is exactly what the Smach Z wanted to be, and it's selling like hotcakes. If things had turned out a bit differently, maybe the handheld gaming PC market would have taken off much sooner, and we would have much more mature devices in our hands right now.

@TConX Ай бұрын

I always wonder why Snopes has never done a video about the Kickstarter for the Chuck Tingle game. The game never came out, and the developer has gone nearly a full six years since the last update.

@mikeymotorpsyche2792 Ай бұрын

That would be interesting.

@SomeOrangeCat Ай бұрын

"Pounded in the butt by the failure to deliver a video game on Kickstarter" by Chuck Tingle

@ShinStriderHiryu 2 күн бұрын

Now i noticed the stop drop retro voice cameo hahaha, thanks slope for getting the man to work in this year I just noticed most of the update smach posts were his voice haha