Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

I know those guys.  From the Convert to Raid podcast and some good Canadian content in the form of the millennial.   

43 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

These are hardcore PC gamers.  One was a millennial and the other Gen X... and they both absolutely LOVED it.  We all played about 7 games together.

 

WHAT?!?!?!  That's like finding the missing link!  You actually got a Gen X'er and a Millennial to agree on something?  That's unheard of!!  You truly are an amazing bunch! 

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Yes on both... except the Night Stalker you heard was VERY early (and for some reason the bass was non-existent).  Night Stalker actually sounds 100x's better than that now!  Like I've said before...  the one thing I can absolutely guarantee 100% about Amico is... the games will sound great! 


 

Yep, I grabbed audio from a few games.  And Tommy... the Night Stalker audio came from Mike M's older game play demo.  Unfortunately, when you add in compression and the lower mp3 bit-rate needed to keep file sizes small on a 5 hour podcast, audio fidelity suffers.  It does sound much better in person, on some good quality speakers!

But as far as I know, this is the first time any Amico game audio has been heard by the public outside of E3 and meetings/visits to the office.

53 minutes ago, Alpha82 said:

I guess it’s Intellivisionaries Podcast time for me I haven’t listened to many episodes yet though I am enjoying it looks like I’ll be skipping ahead 

There's A LOT of content, so you've got your work cut out for you if you decide to listen to them all.  And for someone just jumping in now, there will be a lot of inside jokiness and references to things that have happened in earlier episodes that won't make much sense until you've heard the earlier episodes.  But, as you say, you can always skip ahead and just listen to the parts that interest you.

I skimmed through the pod-cast audio... 5 hours is a lot of audio.  Can you kindly d-marc where the Amico audio is?  I'd love to hear it.  Personal favorite game on INTY.  Thanks. 

9 minutes ago, IMBerzerk said:

I skimmed through the pod-cast audio... 5 hours is a lot of audio.  Can you kindly d-marc where the Amico audio is?  I'd love to hear it.  Personal favorite game on INTY.  Thanks. 

Since we only release a show every few months (it used to be monthly), you can space those 5 hours out over time - ideally with a podcast app on your phone so it remembers where you left off when you come back.  There's a timeline on the website (and when you're playing the episode from a podcast player/app), but the "Get To Know Amico" segment begins at 52:40

But here are some timeline specifics:

Moon Patrol: 1:07:00

Night Stalker: 1:08:18

And... there are actually sounds from several other Amico games in the segment intro music bumper, and in a couple other places later in the show, although I'm not going to tell you what games they are from.  But I will tell you they are official "Tommy Tallarico" sound effects.

2 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Happy Halloween from your Intellivision family!  
 

 

Evil Otto disguised as a pumpkin?  Could that be a clue Berzerk is coming to the Amico? 😁

23 minutes ago, atarifan88 said:

Evil Otto disguised as a pumpkin?  Could that be a clue Berzerk is coming to the Amico? 😁

You can see it? It doesn't play for me. Has 0 seconds.

Ok, I pasted it into Chrome. It worked. It's broken on Safari.

3 hours ago, atarifan88 said:

Evil Otto disguised as a pumpkin?  Could that be a clue Berzerk is coming to the Amico? 😁

Damn..  I missed that.. you would think I would have picked that up.. hahahaha.  

I sure hope so.  Inty never got to see that one back in the 80s... But Night Stalker did a nice job to make-up for it 

5 hours ago, nurmix said:

Yep, I grabbed audio from a few games.  And Tommy... the Night Stalker audio came from Mike M's older game play demo.  Unfortunately, when you add in compression and the lower mp3 bit-rate needed to keep file sizes small on a 5 hour podcast, audio fidelity suffers.  It does sound much better in person, on some good quality speakers!

 

But as far as I know, this is the first time any Amico game audio has been heard by the public outside of E3 and meetings/visits to the office.

 

Ah!  That makes sense then.  That first part of the Mike vid was recorded from his phone instead of the source. Something quick he sent me via Facebook Messenger.  So it was a recording of a recording. 

5 hours ago, nurmix said:

There's A LOT of content, so you've got your work cut out for you if you decide to listen to them all.  And for someone just jumping in now, there will be a lot of inside jokiness and references to things that have happened in earlier episodes that won't make much sense until you've heard the earlier episodes.  But, as you say, you can always skip ahead and just listen to the parts that interest you.

 

For now I just listened to the Amico part of the most recent podcast but I’m only on episode 3 or 4 following along my back is so bad I can’t sit at my computer for they long listening but I have saved all of them so I will give them a listen 

Yeah, what we've heard of the music so far is great (in my opinion), which begs the question, will music from the system and games be separately available for purchase in some way?

15 hours ago, Alpha82 said:

For now I just listened to the Amico part of the most recent podcast but I’m only on episode 3 or 4 following along my back is so bad I can’t sit at my computer for they long listening but I have saved all of them so I will give them a listen 

I wouldn’t sit listening at my computer that long either (I’ve got low back issues myself).  If the option is available to you, the ideal way to listen to podcasts is with a podcast app on your phone.  New episodes will be downloaded automatically through our RSS feed, and you can listen on the go, stopping whenever you need to.  Go back to it a day or two later and it’s right where you left off.

There are several podcast apps for Apple/iOS - I use one called Downcast, but Overcast is also quite good.

For Android there’s Pocket Cast, Podcast Addict and CastBox, among others.

16 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Ah!  That makes sense then.  That first part of the Mike vid was recorded from his phone instead of the source. Something quick he sent me via Facebook Messenger.  So it was a recording of a recording. 

Yeah, unfortunately that was the only audio I had for Night Stalker.  For the other game sounds, I recorded from the source (running a PC-build or using some of the individual audio SFX you sent me a while back).  I plan to drop in more clips in future episodes, ideally recorded directly from the console / dev board.  I’ll follow up with you on that.

Jeeze... If that's what the new games are going to sound like...the Amico is going to cost me a lot more than the console.

I'm thinking bass amplifiers, pictures falling off walls, cracks in sheetrock, blown windows in mine and neighbor's house... Falling trees... Etc..

Night Stalker sounds real intense.  What will B-17 Bomber sound like??? Great job on the music design.  Can't wait for more video and of course.. 10/10/2020!!!

Great sound has a huge effect on games, and can make them even better.  Those games sounded amazing in the podcast, and I'm even more excited to play them and hook 'em up to my surround system.  You can tell a lot of care and effort went into making these games sound awesome!

5 minutes ago, IntyFanMatt said:

Great sound has a huge effect on games, and can make them even better.  Those games sounded amazing in the podcast, and I'm even more excited to play them and hook 'em up to my surround system.  You can tell a lot of care and effort went into making these games sound awesome, and that is something exciting to look forward to.

I have always love music in video games. (Really like it in Snafu ).

But a lot of people told me I was crazy, like in the 90's, with an audio cassette in my car playing music from Bust a Groove ! That was great !

Whoa, so many new messages talking about video game music and sound! Now this is a decent topic and not Bed Bath & Beyond.

Sound is a key element in a video game. For me, in the 80s it was the Saboteur 2 and Cauldron 2 themes, and in the early 90s the music and sound for games like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Monkey Island 2 or Space Quest IV made the games much better.

With the Playstation, sound gained even more importance. Check out games like Silent Hill, Metal Gear, Tomb Raider, Abe's Oddysee... Tommy did a great job with the music in games like MDK and Treasures of the Deep too. And yes, I also loved the songs in Bust a Groove!

So yeah, I'm glad the Amico sounds good. I hope this can help sell the system. In video games, sound is usually something that "is there" but people don't pay attention to it, at least consciously. But they are listening to it and it's an important part of their experience, even if they don't realize.

36 minutes ago, LePionnier said:

like in the 90's, with an audio cassette in my car playing music from Bust a Groove ! That was great !

Yeah I secretly enjoyed those Bust A Groove tunes.   They are still buried in my iTunes playlists.  Along with Bubblegum Crash Konya Wa Hurricane.  Don’t tell my kids.  They will take my Dead Kennedy’s albums away from me.  

The Capoeira, Kitty-N and Kelly themes were awesome. I was 18 and in the process of becoming a fan of alternative rock and metal, but these songs on my PS1 were so catchy I couldn't help like them even if it wasn't my style.

9 hours ago, IMBerzerk said:

Jeeze... If that's what the new games are going to sound like...the Amico is going to cost me a lot more than the console.

 

I'm thinking bass amplifiers, pictures falling off walls, cracks in sheetrock, blown windows in mine and neighbor's house... Falling trees... Etc..

 

Night Stalker sounds real intense.  What will B-17 Bomber sound like??? Great job on the music design.  Can't wait for more video and of course.. 10/10/2020!!!

the Night Stalker sound is amazing..i can picture playing it late at night with the lights off and the sound blasting! lol 

11 hours ago, squirrelgotdead said:

Yeah, what we've heard of the music so far is great (in my opinion), which begs the question, will music from the system and games be separately available for purchase in some way?

Absolutely!

Trivia question... who was the very first musician/composer to ever release a video game soundtrack album worldwide and on a major record label?

9 hours ago, IMBerzerk said:

Jeeze... If that's what the new games are going to sound like...the Amico is going to cost me a lot more than the console.

 

I'm thinking bass amplifiers, pictures falling off walls, cracks in sheetrock, blown windows in mine and neighbor's house... Falling trees... Etc..

 

Night Stalker sounds real intense.  What will B-17 Bomber sound like??? Great job on the music design.  Can't wait for more video and of course.. 10/10/2020!!!

I can't wait til everyone hears Night Stalker with all the music & sound design!!  We crank it up like crazy in the office. 

Haven't started sound design on B-17 yet... but I'm looking forward to it!

9 hours ago, IntyFanMatt said:

Great sound has a huge effect on games, and can make them even better.

I've heard this rumor as well. 



 

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

I can't wait til everyone hears Night Stalker with all the music & sound design!!  We crank it up like crazy in the office. 

Haven't started sound design on B-17 yet... but I'm looking forward to it!

 

 

If I can toss in my aviation based suggestion here .. 

Deep drone for piston powered engines...fighters fly-by with a turbo driven engine sound, some radio chatter and static in the voices like your talking into a busy open frequency with an O2 mask on... And most of all... when those bombs hit the ground...real heavy bass in the whump sound. Like it would shake my walls.

😁

Can't wait to see the remake of it!