Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

On 11/25/2020 at 11:47 AM, Tommy Tallarico said:

Did everyone see this?

Pretty funny huh?

I don't think you can see it in this pic, but everything is set to 1 except Charisma.  It's 42.

🌎🐬📗

 

 

Dang it, Now I am going to have to go have another baby... Hey honey got a sec or two LOL

On 11/21/2020 at 11:34 AM, Tommy Tallarico said:

Here's a little Saturday morning fun for ya...

 

Our first pass of Founders pins are in!  Which one does everyone like the most?

 

I'm kinda digging the darker wood on the left.  Really makes the Running Man pop!

 

Thoughts?

 

Let me know your favorite and why.

 

Better contrast with the one on the Right, IMO

5 hours ago, Kaboomer said:

Better contrast with the one on the Right, IMO

 

I think it appears that way in the photo due to the lighting. There seems to be a sheen on the right one which makes it stand out more. 

Personally, I prefer the darker wood grain. It's just not the most flattering photo.

On 11/25/2020 at 2:19 PM, Nolagamer said:

What about say for a wrestling game where with a create a player we can add our own entrance music  (this is pretty much a standard feature in wrestling games)

I could definitely see something like that.

On 11/25/2020 at 2:59 PM, Silverbot said:

Cool, looks really good, is there a reason the lights don’t follow all the way round the front at the same level? 👍😀

Aesthetically it looks cooler (in my opinion) and it helps with the passive cooling.

Even for certain gameplay elements the 3 distinct sections/sectors comes into play when you have a separate left, right and center.

On 11/26/2020 at 5:34 AM, Matt-H06 said:

Tommy, don't give the haters your time. They are not worth it.  Sales will speak for itself soon.

Oh trust me... I'm well aware and agree.

I focus and work about 16 hours a day and I spend about 5 minutes a week humiliating their nonsense which in turn triggers them to continue spending hours and hours of their lives every day following me around like lost puppies.

I win.

On 11/26/2020 at 5:50 AM, Intellivision Master said:

I know I said only one game request per week from now on.  This one doesn't count since it's for Vectrex.  Although it would be cool to have this game on Amico as well.  Sorry Tommy, I couldn't resist.  LOL.

 

Hahaha!  No worries. 

One a week though?   Hmm...  how about one a day?

Make em good!

1 minute ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Hahaha!  No worries. 

 

One a week though?   Hmm...  how about one a day?

Make em good!

 

 

 

One a day is fine by me.  I'll do my best to make them good.

On 11/26/2020 at 6:42 AM, profholt82 said:

@Tommy Tallarico

 

Mr. Tallarico, I get why you don't want to include online play, and it's totally understandable. It seems that whenever I play a modern game online, I have to mute all of the headsets so that I don't have to listen to all of the vile things that many players are saying. And for arcade style games, this feature shouldn't really be necessary for a good gaming experience anyway.

 

That said, online leaderboards for some games would be a welcome addition. I'm not sure if this feature has already been considered, but it is a great way to see how you measure up, and is a cornerstone of arcade gaming. I realize that not every game will be arcade style, but for the ones that are, this would be an excellent feature that would not only engage the player and give them something to shoot for, but would also add connectivity to the Intellivision Amico community. And I would think it would be much easier and cheaper to implement than full online multiplayer. 

 

Anyway, I'm a longtime fan of your game soundtracks (particularly on the Genesis and Sega CD), and am looking forward to the Amico. Thanks. 

Hi!,

Thanks for joining in on the conversation!

Yep!  We have both online leaderboards and local leaderboards.  And the online leaderboards can be separated into weeks, months, year and all-time as well as state & countries!

It's pretty cool.  We have 3 programmers dedicated on this for awhile now.

On 11/26/2020 at 8:58 AM, theswede said:

That would be cool, even better if you could see your ranking in your city or country during a certain month or year as well, and if you had the top spot, you would get a certificate of some sort😄

Someone's been listening to interviews.

On 11/26/2020 at 9:26 AM, Silverbot said:

If this is really happening, would it be possible to connect your phone via Bluetooth to play music from apps like Spotify on your Amico? 👍😀

Yep!  That is the current plan/idea for sure!

On 11/26/2020 at 12:35 PM, Crusader71 said:

Hi Tommy, are you planning to have a merchandise warehouse in Europe?  Between taxes and shipping, buying from the United States becomes expensive.  P. S. Happy Thanksgiving to all the guys in the forum.

I'm not sure.  I'm hoping eventually.  Right now we just use one company for everything, but the idea is to eventually branch out and have multiple companies for our merchandise.  Hoping to have that all put together before launch.

3 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Oh trust me... I'm well aware and agree.

 

I focus and work about 16 hours a day and I spend about 5 minutes a week humiliating their nonsense which in turn triggers them to continue spending hours and hours of their lives every day following me around like lost puppies.

 

I win.

 

 

 

That's gold.

On 11/26/2020 at 12:45 PM, GD Mof said:

Haha, don't say that (me being labelled a shill)! Oh well, it doesn't really matter. Part of the issue seems to be that they can't get their heads around the idea that not every games system is aimed at people like them, a lot of people don't care about fancy graphics, and plenty of people, like me, want to see a return to retro-style games and are pretty sick of most of the modern stuff using loads of buttons you have to memorise. And then you wind up dying in the game because you pressed the wrong button! Plus I miss the days of couch co-op on stuff like the N64 and Wii.

Yeah.  That's where their narcissism really kicks in.  Whatever they think and believe is the proper way to think and anyone else with a different opinion on how they like to have fun... is wrong and dumb.

Ironic who the "dumb" ones really are eh?

On 11/26/2020 at 12:45 PM, GD Mof said:

 

Anyway, since you like questions so much, here's a few for you!:

 

I know you've already touched on online multiplayer, but I feel like something like Fall Guys would be a great fit for the Amico. Obviously Sony snapped up the developers of that game, but imagine a game along those lines, but with local co-op parties joining an online throng of people, something like that seems like it'd be a great fit for the Amico and should be happening ASAP! What do you think?

To create online experiences with little to no latency takes teams, budgets and timelines that would double what our current eco-system was built around and is capable of handling.  Both from a technology and budgetary standpoint.  Games would cost $20 and we would need to charge a monthly fee.   Companies like Sony, Microsoft & Nintendo could get away with having their online play free for the first few years because they are all billion dollar companies who could easily invest in the future of online play.  That is not us (yet).  I'd love to be there someday... but that kind of time and money investment doesn't make sense for us currently. 

It's also a huge determent to families with kids as they absolutely hate the idea of their kids locked in a room talking to strangers online in such a toxic environment that they can't really control or watch-over.

On 11/26/2020 at 12:45 PM, GD Mof said:

 

Could the Amico handle games similar to Zelda: 4 Swords or Pacman Vs? The screens built into the controllers seem like they could enable cool games like that, I could be wrong.

Yep.  No problem.

On 11/26/2020 at 12:45 PM, GD Mof said:

 

Any chance of an FAQ for game developers interested in developing games for the Amico? In case you're wondering what sort of questions I'd like to see answered, stuff about what options are available in terms of game engines (current and future),

About 90% of the games currently on Amico are done in Unity.

On 11/26/2020 at 12:45 PM, GD Mof said:

how much dev kits are,

Completely 100% free.  Our developers become part of our family and our team.  Very different mindset than what others are doing.

On 11/26/2020 at 12:45 PM, GD Mof said:

what the approval process is like (I'm guessing each game needs to be approved, since you wouldn't want to approve a dev and then have them start making violent games etc),

We help to make and produce every game.  Sometimes we supply the audio, art, code optimization, etc.  All depends on what the developer needs (or not).  We are there every single step of the way from concept to Gold Master.

On 11/26/2020 at 12:45 PM, GD Mof said:

what you're looking for in terms of developers and potential games,

Potential developers can reach out to our production team here:  https://www.intellivisionamico.com/contact

From there we would sign a mutual NDA so we could see what ideas you were interested in creating with us.

On 11/26/2020 at 12:45 PM, GD Mof said:

anything else we need to know. Just as much information as possible really!

 

When we make a deal with a developer they get access to our backend developers forum set up where tons of people are talking and sharing info.  It's really great and super helpful for everyone.

On 11/26/2020 at 12:45 PM, GD Mof said:

 

I think that's enough questions for now, but I'll try to come up with more for you!

Please feel free!

Thanks!

On 11/26/2020 at 12:53 PM, IntelliMission said:

Here's an interesting question for Tommy: if the Amico is a huge success in April, all units are sold and consoles appear on ebay at $600, what would be your position on that?

From a company perspective that would be a very good thing and I'm sure the investors would love to see that.
 

On 11/26/2020 at 1:43 PM, Tavi said:

I had a random thought today, and thought I would pop on before I lost it again.

Any chance of seeing 'Alley Cat' or something similar on the Amico? It was probably one of my favourite DOS games, being easy to play and quite a variety of fun mini-levels.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alley_Cat_(video_game)

Being from the early eighties I have no idea who would have the rights to the title anymore. There was a really well done (and multi-player!) fan remake in 2018 that I think was quite true to the original, and does show that the game can be just as much fun with multiple players either competing or co-op playing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIm6oRhyDrM

Ha!  I never heard of that one before.  Just checked parts of the video.  Looks really unique and cool.

 

On 11/26/2020 at 2:30 PM, CurlyQ said:

Hahahaa!!

This was so great!  I saw it on Thursday and started passing it around to my friends & family.

Very cool!  Especially from a vegans standpoint.

Hahhaa!

(p.s.  I owe you a call!)

On 11/27/2020 at 12:06 AM, Starpaddler said:

Hi all, hope everyone who recognizes Thanksgiving had a good one.

 

Anyone know if the Karma Engine affects games while playing in single player modes?  Reason I ask is if 2 (or more) people are taking turns and playing against each other for score, could they turn off the engine and be assured they are on equal footing for potential score on any given turn?

Depends on the game.

For example, if you were playing against the computer in PONG, you could turn it on or off.  Up to you.

On 11/27/2020 at 12:29 AM, DJC said:

Any chance we get a new gameplay trailer in December???  Would make a great Christmas gift 🙂

Potentially.

Not sure yet. 

We have a lot of stuff on our plate in December/Jan in regards to final prep and compliance testing for manufacturing.  Going to be all hands on deck over the next few months.

22 hours ago, Intellivision Master said:

Tommy,

 

Since Amico means friend in Italian, perhaps on the console box it can have this: "Say hello to my little friend".  LOL.

As long as Al Pacino will be our celebrity spokesman.

❄️🔫💃

 

19 hours ago, wolfy62 said:

This is one of the true gems from my collection....

Nice!!!

I believe @cmart604 has over 100 of them.

What are those going for these days??

18 hours ago, LePionnier said:

Tommy, will it be possible with Amico, before buying a game on the Amico store, to know if a game have a physical release ?

Yes.  Absolutely.  Everything will be on our website.  We've been working on this for months.

18 hours ago, LePionnier said:

Let say I am looking to buy a game, I see Breakout, ant I have the information that I already own the game. Perfect.

Next one, it's Night Stalker for 9.99$. But if this game as also a physical release, I would like to be informed when I am looking at what to buy.

This way, I will not buy the digital Edition, and I will go at the nearest store to buy the physical media for this game !

Or... directly from us through out website! 

42 minutes ago, 5-11under said:

That's gold.

 

I see that you are a big Microvision collector!  So cool!!  One of my favorites growing up.  My original one got lost somewhere between all my moves in the mid to late 80's. 

I bought one off Ebay a few years back with some of the big ass carts but the screens were barely readable so I haven't really played in 40 years.



Any tips on where to find a good one?

UPDATE:  I just saw this on Ebay!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1979-Milton-Bradley-Microvision-Game-New-Replacement-LCD-Display-PREORDER/224090610358?hash=item342cd75ab6:g:YGgAAOSwLndfu-xk

 

How easy is it to change the screen?

Holy Hell!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/ALL-SEALED-Milton-Bradley-Microvision-Handheld-Game-System-11-Cartridges-Lot-Set/254690037307?hash=item3b4cb58e3b:g:7zkAAOSwqnBfOZAF

Anyone interested in getting me a Christmas present??

Its supposedly from the person who worked at Milton Bradley and created Lite Bright!

Ha!  Check this one out.

Sealed ITALIAN Microvision!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/CONSOLE-MICROVISION-GAME-SYSTEM-MB-ELECTRONICS-BRAND-NEW-VINTAGE-1979-RARE/383385940048?_trkparms=aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131231084308%26meid%3D834931960c894051a50a8dc74d8ec6e9%26pid%3D100010%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D254690037307%26itm%3D383385940048%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DDefaultOrganic&_trksid=p2047675.c100010.m2109