Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

1 hour ago, Blarneo said:

Y'all non gay guys always posting Will Ferrel like he's a catch. 

Posting a Boy George photo isn't really upping the ante now is it? 😜

Back to the Amico!  How about those Asteroids game play clips? 😁

2 minutes ago, atarifan88 said:

 

Posting a Boy George photo isn't really upping the ante now is it? 😜

 

Is that him? I just googled "Ewww Pics" and chose that as a good one. LOL 🤣

2 hours ago, atarifan88 said:

Back to the Amico!  How about those Asteroids game play clips? 😁

Who put you in charge of when a side topic ends?😛

And Asteroids always sucked. Centipede! That was Atari's game!

36 minutes ago, Blarneo said:

Who put you in charge of when a side topic ends?😛

And Asteroids always sucked. Centipede! That was Atari's game!

Trying to get those awful images out of my head.  Asteroids over Centipede any day! 😝

On 11/2/2019 at 9:47 PM, GrudgeQ said:

Just went to the Video Game Live event in Fort Worth Texas and waited in line for the meet & greet at the end. Shamelessly played my AtariAge Amico cred and Tommy shared with me a small video of the new Amico skiing game. Got to say, it looks bright, detailed and super fun - it has that impressive graphic aesthetic you saw in the other games in the trailer. Really excited with what they are doing with these games.

 

BTW If you ever get a chance to see a Video Games Live show they are definitely worth it. The "VS" video game mashup segments are hilarious & hearing these game classics with a full orchestra is pretty amazing. Plenty of hits like Pokemon & Final Fantasy but also stuff like Okami & Undertale.

Thanks!  So glad you enjoyed the show... and Skiing!!  It's coming out really good and I can't wait to share it with everyone!!

 

On 11/3/2019 at 2:05 AM, MonsterSky said:

Tommy, I have a question about purchase logistics for non US buyers and in particular for italian buyers like me.

 

The vintage woodgrain limited edition and the other variants of Amico (I'm interested in the Obsidian Black one also) will be available on online stores that ship from UE? I'm asking this for the customs fees.

 

Thanks.
 

We haven't figured out all of the distribution logistics just yet.  Lots of things still to do before finalizing things like that.  Will definitely have the answer by next summer.  Lots of things still up in the air in regards to supply chain, manufacturing, distributing, etc.  Stuff that my team deals with on a daily basis.  The obvious and hopeful answer is to have a European distribution hub for the limited edition models... I'm just not sure yet so don't want to give you an answer that could change in the future.

I'm sure we'll be announcing it by next summer.

On 11/3/2019 at 4:00 AM, IntelliMission said:

More ideas for 2D top-down shooters... This is a Spanish game that has just been released for the ZX Spectrum: Paintball 2048

Reminds me of Food Fight!

On 11/3/2019 at 10:22 AM, vongruetz said:

Thanks for this.  The big question I had about Amico was this.  I also have a Wii with the same problem, and I was hoping the Amico wouldn't suffer from the same problem.

 

Break: ----------

 

So the Amico will come with 5 free games.  Are there any early guesses what they might be?  My early guesses are:
1. Skiing

2. Astrosmash

3. Moon Patrol

4. Night Stalker

5. Some sort of cornhole game (not yet announced or shown)

 

Any other guesses?

3 of those are correct!! 

 

On 11/3/2019 at 2:07 PM, LePionnier said:

Hi Tommy.

 

What I like the most is physical game, and I am happy that we will have a couple of them with Amico.

The only thing I dislike about it, is when we have to change the cartridge, DVD, or Blu Ray.

Sometimes it's turning me off to play it ! ( Lol, I am more and more lazy !! )

 

We don't know how exactly the physical game will be for Amico, but I was wondering...

Will it be possible to have access to those game without plugging or unplugging ?

Example, could it be accessible by wifi, or this sort of thing, like an object at 5 feet from Amico will be playable ?

Maybe you can't tell us for now and we will have to wait June 2020 ?

 

Thank you.

 

Short answer:   Yes!

On 11/4/2019 at 9:38 AM, woobman said:

For the physical Copies.. maybe you can include a "download code".  Can't wait to see what the physical games look like. Even if you use Micro SD cards with a plastic shell to make it look like an old INTV game.. I wouldn't argue.  Same with the Game packaging. Would love to see a throwback to the old Boxes. Especially if you can recreate/update Imagic and Activision boxes. 

Count on it! 

 

On 11/4/2019 at 10:23 AM, IntelliMission said:

I only want to know more about the physical media itself... can anyone give me a clue? It's too mysterious. Yeah, I know, patents, but...

Clue:  No one has ever done it before.  Something kinda similar... but not to the extent that we are taking it. 

Hope that clears everything up! 

 

On 11/4/2019 at 10:26 AM, MarioMan88 said:

Hey Tommy have the shirts started shipping yet? Can’t wait to get mine! Thanks!

They start shipping today!

 

On 11/4/2019 at 10:37 AM, Sinjinhawke said:

I refuse to wear a shirt until I get my Amico shirt.  Hope it comes soon.   It’s getting cold north of the wall.   

Hahaha!  Hang in there!  Should be to you by the end of the week!

20 hours ago, Blarneo said:

Who put you in charge of when a side topic ends?😛

 

In the AtariVCS thread they just yell at you and then continue posting taco pictures. 

 

19 hours ago, atarifan88 said:

Trying to get those awful images out of my head.  Asteroids over Centipede any day! 😝

I believe I love them both equally.  Would be tough to pick one I like more. 

I loved Blasteroids!  That one came out while I was working in an arcade (1987).  We would play that one for hours after the store closed!

 

Some GREAT press and interviews this week in case you missed them...

A cool interview with one of friends here on AtariAge... retro game book author Brett Weiss!  I had to be on stage about 10 minutes after this interview ended so it's a quicker one.  Which is nice because I get a ton of info out as quick as possible (instead of the normal 2 hour interviews I do and I know are hard to listen to in full!) 
 

Here's a radio interview on ROCK 108!  Radio interviews are typically only a few minutes long... but this one lasted just over 30 minutes!  That's how you know it's a good radio interview.  Especially for a rock station!  These are the types of things I'll be doing a lot of come next year.  Older folks (like all of us!) still listen to radio.  It's still a HUGE business that all of the other game companies ignore.  Not us!  By the way... make sure to read the write up as well.  Amazing that certain "industry and marketing uneducated" YouTubers continue to bash the machine and say that there is no audience for us and that no one is going to buy it.  So biased and pretentious that they can't even see 2 feet in front of their own self-absorbed bubbles. 

http://www.rock108.com/2019/10/30/ned-chats-with-gaming-legend-tommy-tallarico-about-upcoming-intellivision-amico-audio/?fbclid=IwAR0m58hga7LNXya1ZrG9hmxeVrqdshow2a5bofvpWEBOlb4ibaXs-DErR_E

And this AWESOME article about Retro Gaming that I'm sure the folks here will love!

Favorite quote from the article...

"I believe that a modern console built with a retro philosophy makes the Intellivision Amico the most forward-thinking systems out there. This is because they are not just pushing the envelope based on what tech can do, but consciously shaping it based on what they believe would create better experiences - as measured by a more fully-dimensioned understanding of "better."

https://retrogamestart.com/answers/why-retro-video-gaming-so-popular-its-much-more-than-nostalgia?fbclid=IwAR2YObQdMKRj-yGyozA4gKaHsMw_J3DTcSADe91CbHMw4oOEEp-VSHf2O9A

 

52 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Some GREAT press and interviews this week in case you missed them...

A cool interview with one of friends here on AtariAge... retro game book author Brett Weiss!  I had to be on stage about 10 minutes after this interview ended so it's a quicker one.  Which is nice because I get a ton of info out as quick as possible (instead of the normal 2 hour interviews I do and I know are hard to listen to in full!) 
 

 

 

 

Here's a radio interview on ROCK 108!  Radio interviews are typically only a few minutes long... but this one lasted just over 30 minutes!  That's how you know it's a good radio interview.  Especially for a rock station!  These are the types of things I'll be doing a lot of come next year.  Older folks (like all of us!) still listen to radio.  It's still a HUGE business that all of the other game companies ignore.  Not us!  By the way... make sure to read the write up as well.  Amazing that certain "industry and marketing uneducated" YouTubers continue to bash the machine and say that there is no audience for us and that no one is going to buy it.  So biased and pretentious that they can't even see 2 feet in front of their own self-absorbed bubbles. 

http://www.rock108.com/2019/10/30/ned-chats-with-gaming-legend-tommy-tallarico-about-upcoming-intellivision-amico-audio/?fbclid=IwAR0m58hga7LNXya1ZrG9hmxeVrqdshow2a5bofvpWEBOlb4ibaXs-DErR_E

 

 

And this AWESOME article about Retro Gaming that I'm sure the folks here will love!

Favorite quote from the article...

"I believe that a modern console built with a retro philosophy makes the Intellivision Amico the most forward-thinking systems out there. This is because they are not just pushing the envelope based on what tech can do, but consciously shaping it based on what they believe would create better experiences - as measured by a more fully-dimensioned understanding of "better."

https://retrogamestart.com/answers/why-retro-video-gaming-so-popular-its-much-more-than-nostalgia?fbclid=IwAR2YObQdMKRj-yGyozA4gKaHsMw_J3DTcSADe91CbHMw4oOEEp-VSHf2O9A

 

Great interviews as always and a fantastic article about retro gaming looking forward to making new memories with family and friends after 10/10/2020

4 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

We haven't figured out all of the distribution logistics just yet.  Lots of things still to do before finalizing things like that.  Will definitely have the answer by next summer.  Lots of things still up in the air in regards to supply chain, manufacturing, distributing, etc.  Stuff that my team deals with on a daily basis.  The obvious and hopeful answer is to have a European distribution hub for the limited edition models... I'm just not sure yet so don't want to give you an answer that could change in the future.

 

I'm sure we'll be announcing it by next summer.

I know, I was aware that I asked for information very early on the subject...  Thank you for the answer.

Let me tell you that in any case the positioning of the distribution hubs in the world will not be a problem! ❤️

5 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

In the AtariVCS thread they just yell at you and then continue posting taco pictures. 

 

Well, we can't have that here!

5 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

They start shipping today!

 

Thanks!!!!

3 hours ago, Blarneo said:

Well, we can't have that here!

Vegan version for me. 

12 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Some GREAT press and interviews this week in case you missed them...

A cool interview with one of friends here on AtariAge... retro game book author Brett Weiss!  I had to be on stage about 10 minutes after this interview ended so it's a quicker one.  Which is nice because I get a ton of info out as quick as possible (instead of the normal 2 hour interviews I do and I know are hard to listen to in full!) 
 

 

 

 

Here's a radio interview on ROCK 108!  Radio interviews are typically only a few minutes long... but this one lasted just over 30 minutes!  That's how you know it's a good radio interview.  Especially for a rock station!  These are the types of things I'll be doing a lot of come next year.  Older folks (like all of us!) still listen to radio.  It's still a HUGE business that all of the other game companies ignore.  Not us!  By the way... make sure to read the write up as well.  Amazing that certain "industry and marketing uneducated" YouTubers continue to bash the machine and say that there is no audience for us and that no one is going to buy it.  So biased and pretentious that they can't even see 2 feet in front of their own self-absorbed bubbles. 

http://www.rock108.com/2019/10/30/ned-chats-with-gaming-legend-tommy-tallarico-about-upcoming-intellivision-amico-audio/?fbclid=IwAR0m58hga7LNXya1ZrG9hmxeVrqdshow2a5bofvpWEBOlb4ibaXs-DErR_E

 

 

And this AWESOME article about Retro Gaming that I'm sure the folks here will love!

Favorite quote from the article...

"I believe that a modern console built with a retro philosophy makes the Intellivision Amico the most forward-thinking systems out there. This is because they are not just pushing the envelope based on what tech can do, but consciously shaping it based on what they believe would create better experiences - as measured by a more fully-dimensioned understanding of "better."

https://retrogamestart.com/answers/why-retro-video-gaming-so-popular-its-much-more-than-nostalgia?fbclid=IwAR2YObQdMKRj-yGyozA4gKaHsMw_J3DTcSADe91CbHMw4oOEEp-VSHf2O9A
 

Sorry I didn't get to meet Brett at the concert! I have his book on Classic Home Video Games 72 - 84 and it is amazingly comprehensive. Over the course of all his books I think he basically has made the "encyclopedia of retro games". Impressive stuff!

Here is my favorite quote from the 108 article:

Quote

 

"Let me tell ya, after chatting with him about Amico for over half hour…I get it…I’m totally on board with this thing. It’s incredibly unique and should garner your attention. You’re not gonna find the M-Rated games on this, you’re not gonna spend $60 on one game (every game will be $10 or less)….what your gonna get it an experience at bringing friends and family together to enjoy a video game."

 

That is pretty darn good synopsis of the Amico.

I hadn't seen that retrogamestart article, it is so good. For so long I just had this feeling the gaming industry was broken and with all of the high prices, games shipped broken, loot box controversies, the cell phone game cesspool, etc. That is why I have increasingly turned back to retro & the indie gaming scene. This article summarizes a lot of what I felt about these simpler/older games but never could put together in words.

On 11/6/2019 at 10:04 AM, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

 

3 of those are correct!! 

 

Well, 3 out of 5 ain’t that bad. But then nothing is set in stone yet so maybe I’ll get one more before it’s all done. 

1 hour ago, vongruetz said:

Well, 3 out of 5 ain’t that bad. But then nothing is set in stone yet so maybe I’ll get one more before it’s all done. 

They are set in stone now. 

12 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

They are set in stone now. 

CONFIRMED by Intellivision CEO: the new Amico system is made of stone, just like the new "Atari" contains real wood.