Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

6 hours ago, GD Mof said:

Maybe Intellivision can do a deal for some of those Sega games! I bought Virtua Racing on the Japanese e-shop, I couldn't wait for it to come out in the West! It's the only game I've done that with. I know Sega is bringing out a mini console with Virtua Fighter on it, along with a bunch of 2D games, sadly. I already have Outrun, Hang On, Space Harrier etc on the 3DS, as well as owning Shenmue and Shenmue 2.

 

I never got into the Earthbound games, WarioWare was a cool series of course.  Metroid Prime 4 is meant to be coming to the Switch, but seems to be going through major issues, so who knows what will happen there.

 

Yeah, Sony seems to be more on point with the nostalgia side of things, but I don't have much, if any, nostalgia for stuff like Ratchet and Clank or MediEvil. Hopefully the Amico will go full nostalgia overload! The Intellivision was a bit before my time, but I do love retro games, as well as retro inspired games. And looking at some of the games for the original Intellivision it definitely seems like I've been missing out!

I'm with you, my gaming prime was in the late 90s/throughout the 00s so I mostly discovered the Atari/Intv/Coleco generation in compilations and flashback consoles. But if we can make the Amico successful there's no shortage of possibilities...hopefully it sends a message that people want more remastered classic titles that have seen limited or no re-release.

1 hour ago, GrudgeQ said:

Don’t forget that licensed sports franchises like FIFA are effectively monopolies. People protest by downvoting the video and posting on message boards but these very same people buy the game each year. They really have no choice if they want the latest teams and rosters these games have. Like most monopolies their service sucks but you have no choice so people rant and rave but keep on buying.

Pro Evolution Soccer has team and player licenses.  Not that I'm familiar with either game; looking forward to Amico Soccer.

This looks interesting and fun.  Maybe it can be on Amico.  It has a funny title, lol.

While it's true that soccer games are actually a duopoly (I was a huge Pro Evolution Soccer fan in the late 90s and early 2000s and I hated FIFA after playing 97, both the Game Boy and PC versions, way to much and feeling stupid), the current lack of variety in sports games is a real shame.

I miss the days where new soccer, basketball, tennis (and I suppose baseball and NFL) games came out every month, even if most of them were terrible.

As I said, I think FIFA sales Vs the perception of the game in the Internet is another proof that we're part of a "vocal minority" of video game fans, but most of the people who pay for these products don't read forums or video comments.

4 hours ago, nightmonkeyii said:

Two words,

 

Sensible Soccer!

Without a doubt!  Sensible Soccer is the best football game ever released and would be an absolute smash on Amico.

Personally, I think Amico should steer clear of having player names in their game so there is no obligation to keep putting out the same game year after year.  Using the team names is fine and keeping the gameplay similar to the Intellivision would be great.  I do feel that the AI in their sports games needed ramped up though.  World Cup Soccer for the original Intellivision was on the right track minus the goalie AI.  Here's to keeping some of the legacy of the original sports games as a part of their future games.

EA doesn't have to come out with a new game every year.  They can sell roster updates for a small fee if they want.  They do it the way they do because they can.

I think player rosters, even if fictitious, just adds a layer of complexity to the games that's not fun (some people find it fun).  Didn't care for it in Intellivision Slam Dunk Basketball.

1 hour ago, atarifan88 said:

Personally, I think Amico should steer clear of having player names in their game so there is no obligation to keep putting out the same game year after year.  Using the team names is fine and keeping the gameplay similar to the Intellivision would be great.  I do feel that the AI in their sports games needed ramped up though.  World Cup Soccer for the original Intellivision was on the right track minus the goalie AI.  Here's to keeping some of the legacy of the original sports games as a part of their future games.

Go the route of WSMLB  or Accolade games like 4th and inches and Hard Ball etc.  A QB named Willie Pass or a WR named Hugo Long.  Great stuff!

22 minutes ago, mr_me said:

I think player rosters, even if fictitious, just adds a layer of complexity to the games that's not fun (some people find it fun).  Didn't care for it in Intellivision Slam Dunk Basketball.

i think there is a middle ground for something like the amico.  While full life imitating rosters may be over kill, what may be underwhelming IMHO would be a bunch of players all exact clones of one another, that takes away a lot of strategy and personality in a sports game. In baseball for example, every pitcher the exact same=boring. every hitter the same? thats boring as well and kills a lot of the strategy of the game. I think a good middle ground is to have perhap 5 or so classes of hitters and pitchers. Each class has strengths and weaknesses.  Players can let the computer give you randomized teams, or you can actually pick your roster with the variety you want, and even name each player individual if you want. 

This approach gives some variety but isnt overwhelming.  Allows players to create the own teams or favorite teams without Amico having to get all caught up in yearly updates or expensive licensing issues with player unions.

Sociable Soccer looks interesting.

4 hours ago, Intellivision Master said:

This looks interesting and fun.  Maybe it can be on Amico.  It has a funny title, lol.

 

Wavy Navy is awesome. The added waves and mines adds a lot of challenge to the shoot 'em up genre. 

8 ore fa, nightmonkeyii ha detto:

Due parole,

 

Sensible Soccer!

Seeing Sensible Soccer on Amico would be a dream!

1 hour ago, AmicoBoise said:

Sociable Soccer looks interesting.

An Apple Arcade exclusive.  It's 3D but the controls are suppose to be simple; inspired by Sensible Soccer.  I hope Amico Soccer uses a horizontal orientation.

4 hours ago, bigdaddygamestudio said:

i think there is a middle ground for something like the amico.  While full life imitating rosters may be over kill, what may be underwhelming IMHO would be a bunch of players all exact clones of one another, that takes away a lot of strategy and personality in a sports game. In baseball for example, every pitcher the exact same=boring. every hitter the same? thats boring as well and kills a lot of the strategy of the game. I think a good middle ground is to have perhap 5 or so classes of hitters and pitchers. Each class has strengths and weaknesses.  Players can let the computer give you randomized teams, or you can actually pick your roster with the variety you want, and even name each player individual if you want. 

 

This approach gives some variety but isnt overwhelming.  Allows players to create the own teams or favorite teams without Amico having to get all caught up in yearly updates or expensive licensing issues with player unions.

Super international cricket on snes is set up as you've described, and your bang on with that one. Its my favourite cricket game, because its not too complex, it has the right mix. 
Bradman ‘17 on ps4 is way too complex for me, couldnt get into it, and takes too long to explain everything to a second player. Not fun. More of a simulator than a fun game.

6 hours ago, AmicoBoise said:

Sociable Soccer looks interesting.

 

Looks like a reimagined version of Sensible Soccer. 

5 hours ago, IMBerzerk said:

Looks like a reimagined version of Sensible Soccer. 

That's the claim out there.

10 hours ago, mr_me said:

I hope Amico Soccer uses a horizontal orientation.

I played the 2600 M-Network Soccer the most, so vertical scroll is what's familiar with me, but I don't have a real opinion either way. It would be nice to get a simple, fun soccer game again, though.

On 12/4/2020 at 3:13 PM, Tommy Tallarico said:

Yep!  He is in the know for hardware stuff... considering he is one of the main architechs of the system!!   

 

I would target Android initally.  Not PC.

Sorry to be a pain, but when you say showing a demo running on Android, do you mean a video or a build? And if you mean a build, would it be tested on an Amico dev kit and therefore support physical controls via stuff like Input.GetAxis("Horizontal") and Input.GetButton("Fire1") or would I have to write touch controls, when I'm mostly planning on using physical controls (and maybe use the touch screen for stuff like switching weapons)? If you mean a video then I'd have to write touch controls to show how the game plays of course (unless I recorded my inputs from the PC version and then played them back on the Android version).

I was hoping Unity might automatically convert stuff like Input.GetAxis("Horizontal") into touch controls on Android (since stuff like that works across most physical inputs/game systems), but it appears that's not the case.

I think the perfect soccer game for the Amico would be Haxball, an online free game that you can play 1 vs 1 up to 4 vs 4:

Only one action button, each player controls only one player on the screen, ball bounces off walls, all players are visible at all times, different playing field sizes to choose from...

However, I can't think of how the controller could be used in an unique way here.

This is the last Amico podcast for 2020.  But it'll return next month.

On 12/3/2020 at 11:37 AM, Bixler said:

Just popping in to say this console looks far more promising of a product than whatever it is Atari is about to put out... good luck! It looks like the Amico won't be able to play original carts, but all the same, this reminds me that I believe I have a few boxes of Intellivision CIB games at my parents' house that I should call about soon... wonder what happened to them.

 

EDIT: Just going to add that the woodgrain limited edition is so, SO tempting. I've bookmarked the page to really take a look at this over the weekend.

I mentioned to my parents that I thought I had some old video games stored away at their place, and sure enough...! (My father took some pics and sent them to me).

No system to play them on, alas. But this is exciting!

That's a very nice collection you have there Bixler.  Too bad you don't have a console to play them on.  

2 minutes ago, Intellivision Master said:

That's a very nice collection you have there Bixler.  Too bad you don't have a console to play them on.  

Thanks! Yeah, that's alright. I don't have the time or space right now anyway. I told him to hold onto them for me all the same.

3 hours ago, GD Mof said:

Sorry to be a pain, but when you say showing a demo running on Android, do you mean a video or a build? And if you mean a build, would it be tested on an Amico dev kit and therefore support physical controls via stuff like Input.GetAxis("Horizontal") and Input.GetButton("Fire1") or would I have to write touch controls, when I'm mostly planning on using physical controls (and maybe use the touch screen for stuff like switching weapons)? If you mean a video then I'd have to write touch controls to show how the game plays of course (unless I recorded my inputs from the PC version and then played them back on the Android version).

 

I was hoping Unity might automatically convert stuff like Input.GetAxis("Horizontal") into touch controls on Android (since stuff like that works across most physical inputs/game systems), but it appears that's not the case.

I thought Android devices support game controllers; bluetooth or usb.

13 minutes ago, mr_me said:

I thought Android devices support game controllers; bluetooth or usb.

Ha, seems you're right! I hardly ever use smart devices so I didn't know about this. That should make things a lot simpler! Thanks for the tip.

The physical media for the retro-reimagined is supposed to happen this month.  I can't wait to see what it looks like.  Also, I know we're all still waiting for the UI video.  Maybe Tommy can show us in January.  It would be a nice way to begin the new year.