Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

On 12/15/2020 at 8:35 AM, Tommy Tallarico said:

We stayed away from manuals as it kinda goes against our SIMPLE concept and all the physical games are digital as well.  There is also a cost associated with it and we wanted to keep our physical media under $20 if possible.

@Tommy Tallarico This is one of the few decisions I have heard about that I hope IE reconsiders, and also that by simple you don’t mean we shouldn’t expect a game like Treasures of Tarmin on Amico - that game needs instructions (and use as reference, although not necessarily as a hard copy). Having recently got a Switch Light and my first physical media for it, I was disappointed (but not surprised) that there was no manual included (just a case and card). To this day, I still peruse the internet and look up game manuals for the original Intv games. I feel they were a huge part of the “retro” game experience (although it wasn’t retro at the time) and reading them and seeing the art within brings back many childhood memories.  Literally my first reaction when I heard there was going to be physical media on Amico was excitement to have the manuals come back. I remember being a kid and buying a game at the OC swap meet and sitting in the back of the car on the way home and reading their manuals.  Beyond instructions, they brought some serious depth to those simple games (by today’s standards, and let’s be real, Intellivision games were not only more sophisticated, they were also the more complex games back then).  For myself, a few extra bucks for physical media to include manuals would be a no-contest on value.  I may be one of only a few that feel this way, but would not be surprised if I wasn’t in the majority, especially for the more retro crowd (and the non-retro crowd may just not know any better).  Hope you consider giving this one some additional thought. 
 

As always, appreciate the ability to easily share our thoughts here on AA, and your availability for the same. 

2 hours ago, vongruetz said:

What was unachievable about the deadline? Maybe I don't know all the details, but it seems like they were making a Linux box with off the shelf parts tucked into a case that looked like an old Atari 2600. If they put as much effort into their product as they did their website (which I think is very slick), then it seems like it should have been very achievable. 

I dunno, haha.

If they had gone with that route in the first place, I think Atari would've been okay, even with a meager $3 million to work with. However, I remember they were trying to order a custom AMD design at the beginning, just like the big boys at Microsoft and Sony do.

...But of course, that didn't work out, did it?

1 hour ago, Starpaddler said:

@Tommy Tallarico This is one of the few decisions I have heard about that I hope IE reconsiders, and also that by simple you don’t mean we shouldn’t expect a game like Treasures of Tarmin on Amico - that game needs instructions (and use as reference, although not necessarily as a hard copy). Having recently got a Switch Light and my first physical media for it, I was disappointed (but not surprised) that there was no manual included (just a case and card). To this day, I still peruse the internet and look up game manuals for the original Intv games. I feel they were a huge part of the “retro” game experience (although it wasn’t retro at the time) and reading them and seeing the art within brings back many childhood memories.  Literally my first reaction when I heard there was going to be physical media on Amico was excitement to have the manuals come back. I remember being a kid and buying a game at the OC swap meet and sitting in the back of the car on the way home and reading their manuals.  Beyond instructions, they brought some serious depth to those simple games (by today’s standards, and let’s be real, Intellivision games were not only more sophisticated, they were also the more complex games back then).  For myself, a few extra bucks for physical media to include manuals would be a no-contest on value.  I may be one of only a few that feel this way, but would not be surprised if I wasn’t in the majority, especially for the more retro crowd (and the non-retro crowd may just not know any better).  Hope you consider giving this one some additional thought. 
 

As always, appreciate the ability to easily share our thoughts here on AA, and your availability for the same. 

Got my vote!

I would be worth willing to spend more money to get physical documentation, in my case, along with my physical Media!

I also agree that many hours were spent with those old user manuals, especially if you hadn't played a game in awhile, and forgot a particular part of the game control, or needed a refresher.

I would be willing to pay an extra $5.00 to $10.00 to make sure to offset the costs of the physical media, documentation, and to make sure that there was still enough to have profit.

Hopefully that would be enough in this sad over commercialized world we live in.

Tommy, You tell us?  You're closer to this than all of us. What's the "magic" number?

I'm not asking for an exact number Sir, You can just throw out a ballpark like You normally do when You are discussing these things.

And NO, I'm NOT going to hold You to it! 

B

I like manuals as well.  I miss having a manual with today's physical games.  Over time I've gotten used to it not being included.  I always enjoyed reading the manual.   Sometimes depending on game, the manual would go in depth about enemies, weapons, tips and tricks.

It was nice when you had a manual.  That's one of the things I miss about older games.

Tommy,

What about a juggling game on Amico?

I know it's not Amico related but another Star Wars actor has passed away.

https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-news/jeremy-bulloch-boba-fett-actor-original-star-wars-dead-obit-1105489/

3 hours ago, Intellivision Master said:

I know it's not Amico related but another Star Wars actor has passed away.

https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-news/jeremy-bulloch-boba-fett-actor-original-star-wars-dead-obit-1105489/

Yes it was already posted hours ago where it belongs in this dedicated thread for such news 😉

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/202057-the-official-bearer-of-bad-celebrity-news-rip-thread/#comments

14 hours ago, vongruetz said:

What was unachievable about the deadline? Maybe I don't know all the details, but it seems like they were making a Linux box with off the shelf parts tucked into a case that looked like an old Atari 2600. If they put as much effort into their product as they did their website (which I think is very slick), then it seems like it should have been very achievable. 

You took this out of context.  This is a statement to any failure of a rushed product.  Not just software, hardware, tools, car...etc..etc...etc.  when was the last time you bought a car and brought it back to the dealer for countless recalls ... A hand tool that had to be returned because of poor construction...and software...Cyberpunk just suffered this, as well as No Man's Sky and Fallout '76.  

Seasonal deadlines, holiday deadlines and preset deadlines always hurts a product. The testing phase is the most critical time for product development before and after production. When it's ready...release it.  

The first release of our game Over Flanders Fields in 2007 met good reviews and decent sales.  But as we revised each new version with added planes, higher resolution graphics, better lighting effect...etc the fan base grew.  More interviews, more online media exposure and more pressure to make it better...to this date.  But we only release when we feel it's thoroughly tested, as clean as we can get it and packed full of new stuff so you're happy to have it.

Here is a brief story and reference.  

https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/content.php?17179-Review-Wings-Over-Flanders-Fields-Ultimate-Edition

Just like Tommy and the crew at IE are doing...we took our time to get all the little things right.

I realize not every product should take this route... it's a very broad statement to make...but at least make an all out effort to be ready to go once that consumer cuts open the seal... For the sake of the consumer AND your product/company reputation.  Otherwise you best have an outstanding product support system in place.  Social media is brutal on bad products.

14 hours ago, CurlyQ said:

 

"Life is like a PS5. You never know what you're gonna get.  That's why I ran out and bought the Amico!" 😄

13 hours ago, Starpaddler said:

@Tommy Tallarico This is one of the few decisions I have heard about that I hope IE reconsiders, and also that by simple you don’t mean we shouldn’t expect a game like Treasures of Tarmin on Amico - that game needs instructions (and use as reference, although not necessarily as a hard copy). Having recently got a Switch Light and my first physical media for it, I was disappointed (but not surprised) that there was no manual included (just a case and card). To this day, I still peruse the internet and look up game manuals for the original Intv games. I feel they were a huge part of the “retro” game experience (although it wasn’t retro at the time) and reading them and seeing the art within brings back many childhood memories.  Literally my first reaction when I heard there was going to be physical media on Amico was excitement to have the manuals come back. I remember being a kid and buying a game at the OC swap meet and sitting in the back of the car on the way home and reading their manuals.  Beyond instructions, they brought some serious depth to those simple games (by today’s standards, and let’s be real, Intellivision games were not only more sophisticated, they were also the more complex games back then).  For myself, a few extra bucks for physical media to include manuals would be a no-contest on value.  I may be one of only a few that feel this way, but would not be surprised if I wasn’t in the majority, especially for the more retro crowd (and the non-retro crowd may just not know any better).  Hope you consider giving this one some additional thought. 
 

As always, appreciate the ability to easily share our thoughts here on AA, and your availability for the same. 

I agree and the same can be said about game catalogs.  I used to pour over those dreaming of when I would finally get to play some of the games that were advertised.  Just staring at the screenshots stirred my imagination.  I would hope Amico would put out some simple, yet cool looking game catalogs as a part of advertising before a game gets released!

8 hours ago, OldSchoolRetroGamer said:

Yes it was already posted hours ago where it belongs in this dedicated thread for such news 😉

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/202057-the-official-bearer-of-bad-celebrity-news-rip-thread/#comments

I know it was already posted.  And you're right.  But the reason I posted about it here is because the people in this Q&A might not follow that thread.  Also, they might not keep up with the news.  So, I figured putting the article in this Q&A would be fine since I only follow and post in this thread.  

On 12/15/2020 at 9:48 AM, Silverbot said:

Tommy, you should get yourself a table that plays Visual Pinball X (VPX), you can download all the tables you want, I have nearly 200 but there’s loads more. 👍😀

Yeah!  I definitely want to see how these Arcade 1up pinballs play.  I got the Star Wars & Marvel ones... just waiting for delivery as they were delayed due to COVID (imagine that!).

Is there a general table that you would recommend?  I would definitely want feedback like rumble, tilt, feel on the paddles, etc.

Where/how do you purchase all the different digital tables?

On 12/15/2020 at 10:14 AM, bigdaddygamestudio said:

Hi Tommy,

 

You're all set, I just PM'd you here with all the game info and the secret link.  Let me know if for some reason you didnt get etc.  I havent used the messaging here much

 

Great!  Look forward to checking it out.

I'll keep the convo going in PM.

On 12/15/2020 at 10:25 AM, AtariSociety said:

USPS is horrid right now.. we ship packages daily for work... lots of them... since Covid-19 hit, what used to take 2 to 4 days is now 1 to 3 weeks!!

Tracking has become null and void in many cases, never shows a pick-up scan but we know USPS has it... the package magically arrives up to 3 weeks later...

TJ

US customs is also crazy backed up.  It's definitely been affecting all of the finalizing and tweaks we're trying to accomplish with the hardware... which of course also backs up the more that 50 compliance tests we are going through.

NORMALLY (as anyone who has worked on hardware, electronics or production knows) certain members of the team would just travel to China to be doing this stuff in the final stages. 

That can't happen.

Some may say... "Can't you just do it over video?"

The answer is a definite NO.  If I had more time I could go into dozens of reasons why that is dangerous to do.  Maybe if someone asks me that question in an interview I can do into a lot more detail.  Just know that it's very far from being that easy.

So instead we rely on FEDEX which takes extra long from China... not even including the long delays and back-up already happening all over China (people wrongfully assume that they are 100% up and running... um... no.)  If we're not in the U.S. what makes anyone think China is?  And yes, you should ignore anything the "press" may say over there. 

So something that would have taken 5 minutes to approve or tweak in person... or a week or so via normal FEDEX circumstances now takes 4 - 6 weeks because of factory delays, shipping delays & Customs delays. 

And we refuse to cut corners on quality.

As always I'm being as transparent as possible with everything AS IT IS HAPPENING. 

Anyone saying I'm using COVID as an excuse seriously has intelligence and emotional issues and should probably seek professional help at this point.

🥰

On 12/15/2020 at 10:45 AM, Lathe26 said:

 

No apology for the exposed genitals in the game?  Seriously?  Wow.  I am underwhelmed by this apology.

 

No, I'm not exaggerating.  Imagine parents seeing that on their TV.  There are several articles about this that I won't link here.

Kinda crazy that Sony pulled the entire game from the PS store.

As these modern next gen games get bigger and more and more complicated... it becomes more expensive and time consuming to produce. 

One of the main reasons I love the approach we're taking at Intellivision.  MUCH more manageable... especially for a smaller company.

On 12/15/2020 at 12:13 PM, Battlefish said:

Quite disturbing, lol, but not out of line with the ESRB rating. It already got an M rating for nudity, among other things.

I think people are just starting to add that stuff for the headlines and shock value at this point.

Did that really add anything to the game experience? 

 

On 12/15/2020 at 4:37 PM, Mik's Arcade said:

It would most likely be a long shot, but this is a GREAT 10 player game that would fit right in on the Amico.

 

 

A few folks have mentioned this one to me.  I'm not familiar with it and need to check it out.

On 12/15/2020 at 5:30 PM, Starpaddler said:

Only about 1/2 way thru this one, but wanted to provide my agreement (for whatever thats worth) on holding back on future big reveals (like a UI video) until a more relevant time that it can be better leveraged for the launch, regardless of how much I want to learn about these types of things now.  
 

For myself, would be willing to give up learning things earlier for the opportunity for the most powerful launch possible.  The developer diary idea would be a good compromise, as details on particular games we all already know are in development wouldn’t be giving away much and would keep the skids adequately greased for the folks currently following the development; that and there are many games that can be covered but only 1 system. 

 

This all being said, hoping to be inundated with a steady stream of awesome announcements come a month or so before launch 😁

Yeah, it's a tough balance.  The followers of the project want to see everything ASAP and don't really care or think about the negative aspects of having certain exclusive "reveal" things for bigger media outlets when the time is right for the company and the product.

I TOTALLY get it!  Of course everyone is interested and wants to see as much as possible.  I just hope that folks will understand the bigger picture... especially in these times when things are literally changing and evolving from week to week. 

You'll also see certain groups of people who go out of their minds crazy because something that was said 2 years ago has now changed.  "OMG!!  TOMMY IS A LIAR AND A SCAMMER!!  HE CHANGED WHAT HE SAID!!"

You'll see the same type of elitist attitude about the games as well.  "SHOW US EVERYTHING!!  AND WHEN YOU DO, WE ARE GOING TO COMPLAIN THAT THE GAME DOESN'T LOOK FINISHED!!  STUPID FLASH GAMES!!"

No way we are going to please everyone.  So we'll just keep doing what we do.  We have reasons for everything we do as well as the timing.  We have weekly meetings about it with certain members of the team.

We'll continue to do things that are best for us and the product.  I'm pretty sure that everyone who posts here wants to see the product succeed.  Lots of time to show a lot of great stuff.

This is also one of the reasons we hired and added a new and really talented full time in house video production person to the team.  He's GREAT!  We work almost every day together with our marketing team to plan out the next 3 or 4 things we're going to do and show.

Please remember... we are all focused on finishing the product right now.  Making videos that thousands of people will see (because we're not spending marketing or advertising money) isn't the highest thing on our priority list right now.

All that being said... one of the things our new video production person will be focused on is doing some cool developer diary type stuff as that doesn't really take away from our core in-house team and what we're doing.

You'll start to see those starting in January.

In regards to the UI.  We have a big video conference we're doing for a HUGE company next Tuesday (where we are showing them the UI and showing them a bunch of games showing how unique the controller is, etc.) so we might do a little recording to tease some stuff before Christmas.  

Hang in there folks!  We are playing the long game here and victory and success is our goal.

1 hour ago, atarifan88 said:

I agree and the same can be said about game catalogs.  I used to pour over those dreaming of when I would finally get to play some of the games that were advertised.  Just staring at the screenshots stirred my imagination.  I would hope Amico would put out some simple, yet cool looking game catalogs as a part of advertising before a game gets released!

It's in one of these catalogs that someday, I read something like this :"Embark on a big adventure to save the world ... " etc.
It was calling me, and I go at the store, and bought my first RPG game ! 😀

At that time, graphics and sound was really bad (retro ! lol ) almost everything was imagined in my head for more fun ! It was a cool time ! 😊

The game was ...

On 12/16/2020 at 12:58 AM, GrudgeQ said:

This is a perfect example of why Intellivision needs to take the time necessary to have its ducks in a row for launch, especially into retail.

 

Exactly.  I agree 100%. 

I hope folks realize that there is a BIG difference between sending out units from an Indiegogo campaign as opposed to launching a product into retail and on store shelves with investment backing.

That isn't a slight on Atari and what they are doing.  I'm just pointing out the massive differences and different pressures and expectations when you are delivering to retail shelves (which they are not).

On 12/16/2020 at 12:58 AM, GrudgeQ said:

The Amico is going to be way ahead in games and likely the interface, store and everything else.

We already have 50 more games in production and they started a year ahead of us.  

On 12/16/2020 at 12:58 AM, GrudgeQ said:

However as with all new launches things will still go wrong at the beginning. The Founders 2600 units and then the over 10,000 pre orders will be an excellent chance for Intellivision to cut its teeth early on actual production units and real customers to make sure things are smooth for their retail launch. There the customers will likely be a lot less invested and probably a lot less tech savvy than your typical AtariAgers. It wouldn’t be a bad strategy to try to push retail out a bit, maybe even months, past initial shipments just to make sure these teething issues are flattened before general sales.

You are 100% correct.  We are also putting a plan in place to get at least 10 and as high as 20 Amico's into families hands as early as January as well as having them film themselves and their families playing it.. all while testing it "in real life" to get the kinks out.

On 12/16/2020 at 12:58 AM, GrudgeQ said:

I wouldn’t even mind Intellivision shipping a very limited “beta” run of units (with NDAs, maybe not final plastics, don’t even get to keep them, etc) ahead of Founders or pre orders just to smooth that ramp too.

Whoops!  I should have read this line before answering above.  As I would have just said YES!  

On 12/16/2020 at 12:58 AM, GrudgeQ said:

If Intellivision isn’t 100% confident in April maybe crank up the production line for a hour or two to test that and their injection molding and make 100 grey test Amicos. Put them with devs, staff and select real world beta testers for a month and then maybe do the Founders in May, pre orders in June and retail in July.

Yep!  We're doing this no matter what in January.  We're assuming Compliance won't be completed, but we can still get machines into folks' hands.  Our hand made units cost us about $700 to manufacture at this point.  Pretty expensive stuff!  Our initial manufacturing line test run will be 300 units.

On 12/16/2020 at 12:58 AM, GrudgeQ said:

 

First impressions are huge and pretty much a one time shot, especially for a small company.

Once again... you're 100% correct.  ESPECIALLY when it comes to hardware!

Ouya was tagged as cheap quality right from the get go.  Every review.  Of course what did people expect for a $99 product?  Some folks will demand that our product is too expensive, yet they would be the first ones to complain if it felt or looked cheap.

I can tell you with great confidence that once you see the product and hold it in your hand... you will all be very impressed at the quality and will be glad we took the extra time, effort and money to make it so.

On 12/16/2020 at 6:55 AM, GD Mof said:

Somebody mentioned the possibility of Gex coming to the Amico, but I gave up trying to find the post again in order to quote it. Gex would be an interesting one, it'd definitely be cool to see a 90's mascot platformer come to the Amico (other than EWJ of course, though I found the original too hard to get in to! I imagine the new one will be much easier though).

 

I've got the original on the 3DO and it's okay, and has some nice ideas, it's not as good as stuff like Sonic or Donkey Kong Country though, let alone some of the best 2D Mario games. Personally I'd rather see a new Rayman or even a new Bubsy, but Gex would be better than nothing of course! And with the right developer it could turn out much better than the original.

 

It was interesting seeing that the Square Enix Collective has been offering to let people make new games based on Gex, Fear Effect or Arachnarox for over 5 years and nothing has come of it yet. The licensing deal sounds very generous as well. I think I know someone who was offered the Fear Effect license, but turned it down. I suspect it was Fear Effect at least, he only hinted at what license it was.

A very dear and old friend of mine was the guy who created GEX.  We worked together in the early 90's at Virgin (he was a producer and a designer).  He now owns and runs Heavy Iron Studios and we've been talking for over a year about doing something on Amico.  He doesn't own the rights or name for GEX... but it's something we could potential do a deal for with the folks who own it.  But the project he wants to do on Amico is actually even cooler (in my opinion).

On 12/16/2020 at 7:09 AM, GD Mof said:

Tommy,

 

Are you in contact with big Youtubers like Pewdiepie and Markiplier by the way? A lot of kids watch these big Youtubers for video game stuff so having them on board would be some of the best exposure the Amico could get. Kids are often the driving force behind games console purchases for families of course. Either that or the parents having nostalgia for the console manufacturer.

We have a big plan in place for certain YouTubers.  We're talking folks with 10 million+ subscribers on YouTube.  Yes... we've already starting putting plans and deals in place.

Pewdiepie isn't our target audience though.  We are talking about a bunch of other family oriented channels as well as working with our incredible licensing partners like Sesame Street, Major League Baseball, Mattel Hot Wheels, Care Bears and many more!

On 12/16/2020 at 11:35 AM, GrudgeQ said:

A while back Tommy said they had contacted a few YouTube influencers and had had good responses from the ones they most wanted. I suspect it might not be those more teen/twenties target people like Pewdiepie or Septic Eye, but more like EvanTubeHD (4.7 million subs, kids talking to kids) or WhatsUpMoms (3.1 million subs, moms talking to moms). I would think Intellivision will advertise more like Mattel than XBox, but that is just my guess.

Yep!  You are once again 100% correct!!

14 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Yeah, it's a tough balance.  The followers of the project want to see everything ASAP and don't really care or think about the negative aspects of having certain exclusive "reveal" things for bigger media outlets when the time is right for the company and the product.

I TOTALLY get it!  Of course everyone is interested and wants to see as much as possible.  I just hope that folks will understand the bigger picture... especially in these times when things are literally changing and evolving from week to week. 

You'll also see certain groups of people who go out of their minds crazy because something that was said 2 years ago has now changed.  "OMG!!  TOMMY IS A LIAR AND A SCAMMER!!  HE CHANGED WHAT HE SAID!!"

You'll see the same type of elitist attitude about the games as well.  "SHOW US EVERYTHING!!  AND WHEN YOU DO, WE ARE GOING TO COMPLAIN THAT THE GAME DOESN'T LOOK FINISHED!!  STUPID FLASH GAMES!!"

No way we are going to please everyone.  So we'll just keep doing what we do.  We have reasons for everything we do as well as the timing.  We have weekly meetings about it with certain members of the team.

 

We'll continue to do things that are best for us and the product.  I'm pretty sure that everyone who posts here wants to see the product succeed.  Lots of time to show a lot of great stuff.

This is also one of the reasons we hired and added a new and really talented full time in house video production person to the team.  He's GREAT!  We work almost every day together with our marketing team to plan out the next 3 or 4 things we're going to do and show.

Please remember... we are all focused on finishing the product right now.  Making videos that thousands of people will see (because we're not spending marketing or advertising money) isn't the highest thing on our priority list right now.

 

All that being said... one of the things our new video production person will be focused on is doing some cool developer diary type stuff as that doesn't really take away from our core in-house team and what we're doing.

You'll start to see those starting in January.

In regards to the UI.  We have a big video conference we're doing for a HUGE company next Tuesday (where we are showing them the UI and showing them a bunch of games showing how unique the controller is, etc.) so we might do a little recording to tease some stuff before Christmas.  

 

Hang in there folks!  We are playing the long game here and victory and success is our goal.

 

 

The Six year old me, wants to see everything now Tommy !!! But the 50+ year old me gets it. January is only a few weeks away. Christmas is around the corner and any new tidbits would be great!  I'd rather you be a little under the radar for a bit, and have a fantastic launch. Than if you update us every day and us have the out of box experience that one youtuber had with another console earlier this week. 

Can't wait until more is revealed. When you can!!!