Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

I know I’m new around here, but why are there certain people having a go at Amico and Tommy and just seem to hate anything about it. You would think being gamers, they would be happy a new system with a lots of retro and family games is coming out. My father is 78 and thinks Amico looks great, and he’s going to by one. 👍😀

Tommy,

 

Will the lights on the system flash in time with what’s going on on the screen, is it like the TVs you can get that light up on the back and react to what’s on the screen, so if I shot something on the right of the screen will the console flash on the right had side. Thanks 👍😀

11 minutes ago, Silverbot said:

I know I’m new around here, but why are there certain people having a go at Amico and Tommy and just seem to hate anything about it. You would think being gamers, they would be happy a new system with a lots of retro and family games is coming out. My father is 78 and thinks Amico looks great, and he’s going to by one. 👍😀

Good question.  It makes you wonder doesn't it.  Glad to hear that your dad is interested in the Amico.

59 minutes ago, Silverbot said:

I know I’m new around here, but why are there certain people having a go at Amico and Tommy and just seem to hate anything about it. You would think being gamers, they would be happy a new system with a lots of retro and family games is coming out. My father is 78 and thinks Amico looks great, and he’s going to by one. 👍😀

A lot of people who throw hate seem to me to think video games are only about awesome graphics and story  driven hundred hour experience.  Or that only Microsoft, PlayStation, and Nintendo are the only people allowed to make consoles, or that people outside of hardcore players won’t buy a system.  Even though a large number of people who were not hardcore gamers bought a Wii.  

Given the amazing team Intellivision has put together in my eyes puts this group in a great position to succeed which is a big reason I find all the hate so confusing 
 

my grandma is looking forward to playing games together and she has only ever played Tetris on NES which is why I’m excited plus simpler games because I got tired of games that required me to get a walk through unless I wanted to spend an hour or more running in circles trying to figure out how to open a door.
 

 

Don't remember if this has been answered before, but will Amico support any USB adapters for Ethernet?

Tommy,

 

I have to admit that when I first started looking into the Amico I had a negative impression of you after coming across one or two of your haters, but tying into what you were saying before, after doing more research I realised what a great guy you are and all the hate started to seem increasingly bizarre. I totally understand why you hit back against them, though of course they do say "don't feed the trolls"!

 

A little research and critical thinking skills would definitely go a long way for certain people on Youtube, social media and in the press. And acting in good faith would also help of course.

Tommy spends a lot of time talking about the haters, and so many of us can't understand it either. I thought it was interesting to hear what Phil Spencer had to say about the same topic:

 

"I look at shipping a product, shipping a game, as one of the bravest things a team can do. You put your product out there, it gets analyzed and prodded and reviewed. It can’t defend itself. It’s an inanimate object. You can’t go on the internet and defend it. We’ve seen that way too many times. That never works.

 

"When a team releases something into the market for the world to tear it apart on the internet — it’s just such a brave thing for a team to do. I’m never going to vote against any creative team or any product team to do poorly because I have a competitive product. It’s not in me. I don’t actually think it helps us in the long run in the industry.

 

"But especially in the console space, there’s like a core of the core, that have, I think, taken it to a destructive level of, “I really want that to fail so the thing that I bought succeeds.” I’m saying on both sides. I’m not saying that it’s all people crushing Xboxes and everybody that loves Xbox is always completely inviting to all the PlayStation stuff. I’ve said before, that I find it distasteful, but maybe that is too light. I just really despise it. I don’t think we have to see others fail in order for us to achieve the goals. That’s not some kind of “kumbaya” thing. It’s actually real. We’re in the entertainment business. The biggest competitor we have is apathy over the products and services [and] games that we build."

 

https://www.theverge.com/21611412/microsoft-phil-spencer-interview-xbox-series-x-launch-decoder-podcast

59 minutes ago, GD Mof said:

Tommy,

 

I have to admit that when I first started looking into the Amico I had a negative impression of you after coming across one or two of your haters, but tying into what you were saying before, after doing more research I realised what a great guy you are and all the hate started to seem increasingly bizarre. I totally understand why you hit back against them, though of course they do say "don't feed the trolls"!

 

A little research and critical thinking skills would definitely go a long way for certain people on Youtube, social media and in the press. And acting in good faith would also help of course.

I think hiring this new video editor/"social media guru" will go a long way in alleviating that. Right now, all of this new information about Amico is spread out amongst disparate interviews and forum posts.

3 hours ago, Silverbot said:

I know I’m new around here, but why are there certain people having a go at Amico and Tommy and just seem to hate anything about it. You would think being gamers, they would be happy a new system with a lots of retro and family games is coming out. My father is 78 and thinks Amico looks great, and he’s going to by one. 👍😀

For lack of better words and description...and being from NY....

 

Because they're a$$holes... 

2 hours ago, vongruetz said:

“I really want that to fail so the thing that I bought succeeds.” I’m saying on both sides.

This is what gets me, somehow, some where people got confused in this consumer tribalism competition and never just took a step back and thought about it. Its not a zero sum game like a sporting event, for me to win you dont have to lose..  in reality, we can both win and be happy and enjoy each others success.  I dont know how things got so weird and out of whack, where if you are successful I'm suppose to resent you?  why?  Why cant I be happy for you?  what has happened to people?  Its not just in the gaming world either, I see it everywhere.  kinda sad, but anyway that just my quick 2 cents.

6 hours ago, Alpha82 said:

Had a dream last night that Intellivision received a reward for top family gaming option definitely one that I hope comes true 

Woah.  That is weird.

 

Remember this post.  I think you're going to enjoy a certain update we have coming soon.

 

 

 

For any Secret Of Monkey Island lovers, and who isnt ( its one of my all time favourites) a cool article showing a bunch of new found secrets  about it via its source code just came out, really cool read.

 

https://gamehistory.org/monkeyisland/

15 minutes ago, bigdaddygamestudio said:

For any Secret Of Monkey Island lovers, and who isnt ( its one of my all time favourites) a cool article showing a bunch of new found secrets  about it via its source code just came out, really cool read.

 

https://gamehistory.org/monkeyisland/

Interesting article.  Thanks for sharing.  It would be neat if this game could come to Amico.

6 hours ago, Silverbot said:

I know I’m new around here, but why are there certain people having a go at Amico and Tommy and just seem to hate anything about it. You would think being gamers, they would be happy a new system with a lots of retro and family games is coming out. My father is 78 and thinks Amico looks great, and he’s going to by one. 👍😀

 

In this case, there is a small handful of negative "blokes" with multiple fake accounts who believe that whatever they don't like... you shouldn't either.  Typical Communist type thinking and narcissistic behavior.  They will declare that "Anyone who likes Amico MUST BE A STUPID SHILL who can't think for themselves!"

 

It started because they weren't capable enough to have an adult conversation with the rest of the people here and when they continued to keep breaking the forum rules the mods had to step in (after many warnings) and banish them.  When their bully privileges got taken away, it drove them nuts.  And of course, they blame me for it.  So they have made it their life mission to lie and misinform people.  And to pile on, their ego's can't handle the fact that literally everything they have ever said about me or Amico continues to be proven wrong on a weekly basis.  It drives them absolutely insane to the point of stalking me and anyone who says anything positive about Amico anywhere on the internet.  So pathetic that literally within minutes of posting anything, anywhere online (social media, here, YouTube, etc.) they need to immediately react within minutes (hi boys!).  Not even really trolls at this point, but true legitimate stalkers.  Of course, they have zero self awareness about how I've taken over their lives and free time on a daily basis.  This is a typical behavior you'll see when a bully encounters someone who punches back and they continue to be proven wrong.  They can't stand it... so they double and triple down to the point of obsessing over it every minute of every day.

As long as we exist and continue to be successful... it will continue to bring sadness, frustration and negativity into their lives.  They'll try to hide it by saying that they are finding enjoyment by trying to destroy us.  That thinking alone tells you all you need to know about the type of folks we're talking about here.  At one point I kinda felt sorry for them, but what they don't realize... is that they only have themselves to blame for the constant anger they feel whenever they read another positive post, watch another positive video or seeing us successfully raising more money.

They will lie and try to trick others by saying that none of us can take criticism when all anyone needs to do is read the pages here to see that it isn't the case.  I, and most of the folks in here welcome a healthy debate and exchange of thoughts, perspectives and ideas.  No 2 people are the same.  It's one of the reason places like this exist.  But not in their communistic world.  BELIEVE WHAT THEY BELIEVE OR ELSE YOUR AN IDIOT!!

As I've always said... Amico definitely isn't for everyone.  So I completely understand that a lot of folks out there won't get it and won't enjoy it.  No worries.  Fair enough.  Why on Earth would I get upset if someone doesn't like Amico?  It would be like getting upset if someone didn't like a song I wrote.  Who cares?!?!  It's impossible to please everyone... I learned that a long, long time ago.  But what really drives these folks wacko is when they see others that DO like it.  Just think about that for a second and soak it in.  Yikes! 

At the end of the day though... it all really boils down to one simple thing. 

 

They are extremely jealous of my past, present and future success.  It's so obvious by their idiotic behavior and I guess they believe that they are somehow hiding it.  Ha!

 

Sorry fellas, you picked the wrong guy to want to fail.

 

Sucks for you.

 

 

7 hours ago, Silverbot said:

Tommy,

 

Will the lights on the system flash in time with what’s going on on the screen, is it like the TVs you can get that light up on the back and react to what’s on the screen, so if I shot something on the right of the screen will the console flash on the right had side. Thanks 👍😀

Yeah, there are some things like that.  Not all the time... and some of it is subtle... but definitely some cool things that people will enjoy!

 

 

6 hours ago, Intellivision Master said:

Good question.  It makes you wonder doesn't it.  Glad to hear that your dad is interested in the Amico.

Yeah... super cool!  And just goes to show the reality of what we have to offer is appealing to a non-typical "gamer".  That is what the entire concept and focus is based around.

Folks of all ages, groups, cultures, etc., coming together... no matter what your skill level... to enjoy video games together.

5 hours ago, Battlefish said:

Don't remember if this has been answered before, but will Amico support any USB adapters for Ethernet?

Yep!  That's the plan!  A USB-C to Ethernet adopter should work for folks who would rather hardwire their internet to Amico.

4 hours ago, GD Mof said:

Tommy,

 

I have to admit that when I first started looking into the Amico I had a negative impression of you after coming across one or two of your haters, but tying into what you were saying before, after doing more research I realised what a great guy you are and all the hate started to seem increasingly bizarre. I totally understand why you hit back against them, though of course they do say "don't feed the trolls"!

 

A little research and critical thinking skills would definitely go a long way for certain people on Youtube, social media and in the press. And acting in good faith would also help of course.

Thanks for kind words and support.  Yep, that is their main goal.  To lie and misinform in hopes that people won't like me or Amico.  Nice hobby eh?  

 

And they do pick up a few like minded stalker folks along the way to engage in their hate parade (I think they've made it up to about 10 people now!).  But as you rightfully mentioned, anyone who actually looks into it finds that all the negativity and misinformation disappears.  And for that... we must thank them!  It leads people like you into becoming a part of the positive conversation.  Pretty cool. 

Of course you'll be now labeled a shill who can't think for themselves.  Welcome!

 

Please let me know if you ever have any questions regarding Amico.

 

Thanks!

On 11/8/2020 at 8:08 PM, Battlefish said:

Let's bring THIS game to Amico:

 

You use your phone's touchscreen, gyroscope, and accelerometer to pull off skateboard tricks. But what if you could use the Amico controller, too?

 

I'm seeing that this studio has made partners with PlayStation Talents, but if you could get past that, I think we have a really good fit for this upcoming system.

 

(And perhaps I may have pledged for a game key on their Kickstarter.  )

Bad news: the studio cancelled their Kickstarter due to a lack of funds. Just got an email today about that.

 

Maybe IE has talked to them, or would be able to? It might help...

3 hours ago, IMBerzerk said:

For lack of better words and description...and being from NY....

 

Because they're a$$holes... 

Nailed it!

 

 

1 hour ago, bigdaddygamestudio said:

This is what gets me, somehow, some where people got confused in this consumer tribalism competition and never just took a step back and thought about it. Its not a zero sum game like a sporting event, for me to win you dont have to lose..  in reality, we can both win and be happy and enjoy each others success.  I dont know how things got so weird and out of whack, where if you are successful I'm suppose to resent you?  why?  Why cant I be happy for you?  what has happened to people?  Its not just in the gaming world either, I see it everywhere.  kinda sad, but anyway that just my quick 2 cents.

“Some people try to be tall by cutting off the heads of others.” —Paramahansa Yogananda

This is why, in the end it all comes down to them just being jealous.  Very typical behavior for these types of folks.  Many a modern study has been done on this.  Low self-esteem also has a lot to do with it.

 

https://www.thespec.com/life/2017/07/31/why-jealousy-often-triggers-bullying.html

 

https://www.verywellfamily.com/why-envy-causes-bullying-460521

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/weekend/most-bullies-are-motivated-by-fear-jealousy-and-envyyou-have-to-learn-to-protect-yourself-when-attacked-36588444.html

 

 

 

And of course... we can't forget this one...

 

 

57 minutes ago, bigdaddygamestudio said:

For any Secret Of Monkey Island lovers, and who isnt ( its one of my all time favourites) a cool article showing a bunch of new found secrets  about it via its source code just came out, really cool read.

 

https://gamehistory.org/monkeyisland/

Wow!  This is great!!   Gonna share this with the team.

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

 

Hello.

 

I was the person who had one one of the last outside ideas Keith Robinson liked just before he died.

 

I was on board the Amico.  I still think the Amico is a good idea I just said I can't utilize it without network opponents.  

 

Tommy if I accusef you of personally targeting me I certainly hope that is not the case and I apologize if I insinuated it was a personal attack. I was just describing how it felt to me.

 

It just felt like a personal attack when in the early stages the multiplayer Amico modes were originally going to be either against real life humans designer bots that home users program and Network online humans.   And then it got whittled down to making it a virtue to play only against local humans.  The user controlled box with personalities and the network gaming got nixed.

 

At first I thought it was nothing special, it was purely business on why you did it. even though my invention that Keith Robinson did like was precisely turning local multiplayer games into Network online games without introducing new code by basically having an extra long lan cable that's up to 2400 km known as Sprint Direct Connect.

 

And one of my letters to intellivision afterwards I suggested as a minor point if you plan to make a game a long-term classic that people will play many generations to come then maybe the $10 maximum is a bad strategy unless you're intentionally trying to keep the size of the game down.  One thing I hated was buying in the blind.  I mention the Xbox 360 requirements of always allowing a free demo but developers hated it cuz they were getting no money for the demos played.  So I thought if people are unwilling to give money for trial and developers want to be paid for their trial maybe an advertisement during the trial mode would be a good thing so if you play the free trial over and over and over the developer gets paid the add money over and over and over.

 

I acknowledged that ads could be overused and abused. So just like Tom tellrico made a decree that no game shall cost more than $10 us, if he liked the idea enough but saw its potential abuse that he could have said maximum 5 minutes of commercials per hour of content and the user chooses whether they want to play advergames or pay up to 10 bucks with no ads ever for that game once paid.  That would satisfy both halves of the market and make revenue for the game company.  of course you're going to have to plan to have a smaller initial first day but you'll be guaranteed that if the game is played long term anytime constant residual income over time.

 

The fact that the day after I wrote that he made a public proclamation of no ads made me feel it was personally targeted.  People assured me most likely it wasn't a personal target, but I know it's kind of hard because if you promise no ads then you took off the people who hate buying blind.  And if you will promise that ads are an option, then you take off people like my friend whose time is more valuable than his money 

 

I understand with no network this doesn't matter as much, but if it were networked,  this may becomes an issue, Can ad-based players play head to head against paid license players and not offer an advantage to one or the other and offer an experience that is true to both?

 

I do wish the Amico well. It's just hard for me to participate if I can't get my online friends to play, and with no local players in the house mainly because no one, for whatever reason, did marry me, therefore no children, if the main attraction is multiplayer local then there's really no reason FOR ME to buy an Amico.  There are plenty of other reasons for other people to buy an Amico,  just not me.

 

Maybe there'll be a surprise like metro games will be funded and first tested on the Amico if the Amico succeeds.

 

I just had a mental breakdown the day that one of my friends bailed me an original intellivision keyboard and ECS, and it made me feel guilty because he was the one who collected Intellivision as a kid I only bought INTV as 90s thrift store finds.

 

(Then again in 1984 there were eight different video game systems that were considered current generation before the crash.  And Electronics Boutique had a section for every one of them plus about six different computer families.) There was a good chance you could be a video game fan in 1984 and be on different teams but they compete each other as different teams in a 14 team sports League not as Warriors of a system  War like Sega and Nintendo did , even though the pre-crash corporations had dare to compare ads, and THEY took it like a system War back then.  The players did so less, even when I was in elementary school in 84.  There were a lot less "X rules Y Drools" commentary on the playground pre-crash, while Genesis is primarily remembered by outsiders as the the syayem that says "Genesis does what Nintendon't";in America.

 

I don't think I ever cursed the Amico to fail or if I did I was mentally not right.  Even if I was mentally not right I think I might have not wished the Amico to fail.  If I did I wasn't mentally right and I'm sorry.

 

Just saying I wish the Amico success, I won't be one of the "camping" people on 4/3/21.  I'm just hoping that if it succeeds the next big project will be Netrogames first tested on Amico and then later added to all the other retro and current consoles.  I never felt heartbreak with a woman I never felt heartbreak with a submission rejection. The circumstances just happened to add up to equal that to me because it felt stealthily targeted to me.  actually I know it wasn't. I hopefully you could see how one could perceive it to be stealthily targeting me, understand how that looks, and feel the heartache this unfortunate set of circumstances added up to. 

26 minutes ago, tripletopper said:

Hello.

 

I was the person who had one one of the last outside ideas Keith Robinson liked just before he died.

 

I was on board the Amico.  I still think the Amico is a good idea I just said I can't utilize it without network opponents.  

 

Tommy if I accusef you of personally targeting me I certainly hope that is not the case and I apologize if I insinuated it was a personal attack. I was just describing how it felt to me.

 

Hi.  I'm not exactly sure who you are, so I don't recall you personally attacking me.  But after reading your post, I don't believe that is the case at all.

 

It's totally fine to not like what we are providing and it's totally understandable that you are bummed about not having network play.  To be clear though... it is something we may potentially bring to the table in a few years.  It really depends on what the people who buy it want (and if they are willing to pay more for it).

 

 

 

Quote

At first I thought it was nothing special, it was purely business on why you did it. even though my invention that Keith Robinson did like was precisely turning local multiplayer games into Network online games without introducing new code by basically having an extra long lan cable that's up to 2400 km known as Sprint Direct Connect.

 

I'm not familiar with an invention pitched to Keith in regards to multiplayer.  He never mentioned it to me whenever I would talk about doing another console.  I'm not saying your conversations with Keith never happened... I'm just saying that he never made me aware of them... which is understandable.

 

 

Quote

I acknowledged that ads could be overused and abused. So just like Tom tellrico made a decree that no game shall cost more than $10 us, if he liked the idea enough but saw its potential abuse that he could have said maximum 5 minutes of commercials per hour of content and the user chooses whether they want to play advergames or pay up to 10 bucks with no ads ever for that game once paid.  That would satisfy both halves of the market and make revenue for the game company.  of course you're going to have to plan to have a smaller initial first day but you'll be guaranteed that if the game is played long term anytime constant residual income over time.

 

The fact that the day after I wrote that he made a public proclamation of no ads made me feel it was personally targeted.  People assured me most likely it wasn't a personal target, but I know it's kind of hard because if you promise no ads then you took off the people who hate buying blind.  And if you will promise that ads are an option, then you take off people like my friend whose time is more valuable than his money 

 

I can absolutely confirm 100% that you were in no way targeted and that no ads or micro-transactions was always part of the design.  I don't really recall getting e-mails like the one you described.  Did I ever write back to you?

I don't recall or remember.  If you sent them to our general mailbox... I don't monitor or read those.  Folks in our company do and they will sometimes pass on stuff to others within the company.

 

I just want you to be aware and 100% certain that you were in no way personally targeted.  So I'm hoping you feel better about that.

 

 

Quote

I do wish the Amico well. It's just hard for me to participate if I can't get my online friends to play, and with no local players in the house mainly because no one, for whatever reason, did marry me, therefore no children, if the main attraction is multiplayer local then there's really no reason FOR ME to buy an Amico.  There are plenty of other reasons for other people to buy an Amico,  just not me.

 

I can understand why you would feel that way.  But please know that most every game also has a single player experience as well.  Did you like the original Intellivision?  What were some of your most favorite games?

Do you not enjoy single player experiences at all?  What games are you typically playing these days?

Did you enjoy any of the Mario Bros. or Zelda games?

 

 

Quote

I don't think I ever cursed the Amico to fail or if I did I was mentally not right.  Even if I was mentally not right I think I might have not wished the Amico to fail.  If I did I wasn't mentally right and I'm sorry.

 

No need to apologize friend.  As mentioned, I can appreciate and understand that not everyone will enjoy what Amico has to offer.  No worries.

 

 

Quote

Just saying I wish the Amico success,

Thanks.  I appreciate it.  Even though it may not be for you.  I appreciate the fact that you hope it succeeds.

 

 

Quote

The circumstances just happened to add up to equal that to me because it felt stealthily targeted to me.  actually I know it wasn't. I hopefully you could see how one could perceive it to be stealthily targeting me, understand how that looks, and feel the heartache this unfortunate set of circumstances added up to. 

 

I hope my response has made you feel better.

Thanks for joining the discussion.

 

 

p.s.  Your post count is currently at 666.  Hurry up and make another one!

 

 

 

Battlefish I'm apologizing to the whole Amico fandom on AtariaAge.

 

Remember that day I broke down and someone thought there was a psychiatric issue with a post?  

 

That was me.

 

I have no problem with the machine.  Looking back on it now, I have no problem with the man.  I guess I was just feeling self-pity for my circumstance that I can't enjoy the system primarily made for local multiplayer because I'm the only gamer in the house.

 

If you don't have a local human to play with/against, the Amico looks less attractive.