Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

31 minutes ago, Utopia said:

You look like a proud new father showing off the new family member. Is that a Willy Wonka gold lottery ticket you are holding?

Pretty much yes,to both of those!😄

On 11/11/2019 at 11:16 AM, Tommy Tallarico said:

Please read this article.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2019/11/just_dance_2020_sold_better_on_wii_than_ps4_or_xbox_one_in_its_opening_week_uk

 

Anyone want to make an argument against our business model and audience we're going for? 

I love your model and the premise behind Amico. However, I think in some cases it may be hard to sell this to those still playing their Wii. 

So really it will probably come down to the marketing and the games. When is the marketing part of this going to kick in?

I am order # 00446 and received a shipping confirmation !!
So it's good news for most of you because I was one of the latest to buy the t-shirt !

23 minutes ago, MrBeefy said:

I love your model and the premise behind Amico. However, I think in some cases it may be hard to sell this to those still playing their Wii. 

 

So really it will probably come down to the marketing and the games. When is the marketing part of this going to kick in?

I'm thinking there will be a select group of people who still play their Wii that will be interested in what the Amico has to offer and make the jump to the new system.  Of course like you said, it will come down to marketing and game titles.  One thing Amico has going for it that the Wii lacks are really good big name arcade games.

3 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

I love your model and the premise behind Amico. However, I think in some cases it may be hard to sell this to those still playing their Wii. 

 

So really it will probably come down to the marketing and the games. When is the marketing part of this going to kick in?

I don't know if it will be a hard sell (unless you are a Wii collector or enthusiast). I think the vast majority of those still using a Wii are because it is was the last system made for them. The store is dead, only composite output, no online play - I think people are just hanging on to them because nothing else is available and even they know it's time is nearly up. But like you said it all depends on if the marketing message can reach them. If so I think you will see most of these folks switch to an Amico.

On 10/20/2019 at 9:41 AM, IntelliMission said:

Breaking news: Death Stranding will break the Amico commandment number 2, so even a 2D version will not be possible on the system:

 

I actually laughed out loud that the screenshot says "Basic" controls...

1 hour ago, atarifan88 said:

I'm thinking there will be a select group of people who still play their Wii that will be interested in what the Amico has to offer and make the jump to the new system.  Of course like you said, it will come down to marketing and game titles.  One thing Amico has going for it that the Wii lacks are really good big name arcade games.

2 minutes ago, GrudgeQ said:

I don't know if it will be a hard sell (unless you are a Wii collector or enthusiast). I think the vast majority of those still using a Wii are because it is was the last system made for them. The store is dead, only composite output, no online play - I think people are just hanging on to them because nothing else is available and even they know it's time is nearly up. But like you said it all depends on if the marketing message can reach them. If so I think you will see most of these folks switch to an Amico.

I don't think the Arcade games will be the big draw for the Wii owners. Not many of the games people loved on the system were arcade like. The arcade type games appeal to me, but Wii didn't sell so well because of arcade games.

The Amico is currently set to not have online play either out of the box. It is couch co-op, much like the Wii was. Yes the Wii doesn't have a store anymore, but how much has Tommy talked about some never bought another game other than Wii Sports. To get that crowd you are going to have to give them a reason to play a new system that has a Wii Sports like game. I am excited for Moon Patrol, but that is not what is going to drive that group. It will drive us more. I'm excited for the reimagined stuff, but I'm also curious about the Bowling type games. I think it is going to be the games in the same vein as Wii Sports that will push this thing into that casual household. On top of that the next battle is giving them a reason why they should stop playing the Wii and playing Amico.

I think this has potential, but I don't think it will be as easy as we want it to be. We already know we will love the arcade games, reimagined games, and new ones like Earthworm and 'Echo'. Most of the casuals needed to be tapped do not already know that.

3 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

I love your model and the premise behind Amico. However, I think in some cases it may be hard to sell this to those still playing their Wii. 

 

So really it will probably come down to the marketing and the games. When is the marketing part of this going to kick in?

I believe the marketing to the general public is going to start in June around E3 when they have their big system reveal 

39 minutes ago, MrBeefy said:

 

 

I don't think the Arcade games will be the big draw for the Wii owners. Not many of the games people loved on the system were arcade like. The arcade type games appeal to me, but Wii didn't sell so well because of arcade games.

 

The Amico is currently set to not have online play either out of the box. It is couch co-op, much like the Wii was. Yes the Wii doesn't have a store anymore, but how much has Tommy talked about some never bought another game other than Wii Sports. To get that crowd you are going to have to give them a reason to play a new system that has a Wii Sports like game. I am excited for Moon Patrol, but that is not what is going to drive that group. It will drive us more. I'm excited for the reimagined stuff, but I'm also curious about the Bowling type games. I think it is going to be the games in the same vein as Wii Sports that will push this thing into that casual household. On top of that the next battle is giving them a reason why they should stop playing the Wii and playing Amico.

 

I think this has potential, but I don't think it will be as easy as we want it to be. We already know we will love the arcade games, reimagined games, and new ones like Earthworm and 'Echo'. Most of the casuals needed to be tapped do not already know that.

 

 

Your right, so far the trailers have all been arcade style games but I think that is just to entertain us collector/retro geeks in the meanwhile. I know there has been several casual and sports style games mentioned and Tommy has said that the overall mix will be 20-25% of these. Plus he said it is shipping with at least one of these builtin just to appeal directly to the motion control crowd/casual sports Wii crowd. So I wouldn't judge the mix from these early trailer releases. Tommy is showing the games this group wants to see because he can easily reach us without really tapping into his general marketing fund. Plus I think he wants to show the Amico can be cool and retro chic so the tech press doesn't immediately dump on it as just a 'mommy machine'. I do think we all will feel a bit lonely when the main campaign starts because that will be mostly directly marketed towards Soccer Mom Susan with fun party games, cards, motion controlled sports games etc. However we are getting our bit now, but come 2020 they will probably start the shift into showing other styles of games. I wouldn't doubt the controller trailer coming up early next year shows off a motion control game of some sort.

What Tommy is doing at AtariAge is called 'evangelism marketing' and it's clearly working since several people here claimed they already 'sold' the Amico to their friends and families. It is actually a clever first step before traditional marketing starts next year.

27 minutes ago, roots.genoa said:

What Tommy is doing at AtariAge is called 'evangelism marketing' and it's clearly working since several people here claimed they already 'sold' the Amico to their friends and families. It is actually a clever first step before traditional marketing starts next year.

I got my shirt and golden ticket today! Tommy, will there be further instruction on how to use the ticket to view additional content? I didn't see any additional information with my shirt.

On 11/13/2019 at 9:16 PM, Tommy Tallarico said:

Please thank your wife for noticing! 

Done!

On 11/13/2019 at 9:16 PM, Tommy Tallarico said:

although hopefully you're all already signed up to our mailing list at www.intellivisionamico.com

Done since from "old" IntellivisionentErtainment site.

Also got an RFID reader for my phone, can't wait to discover the news.

16 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

What Tommy is doing at AtariAge is called 'evangelism marketing' and it's clearly working since several people here claimed they already 'sold' the Amico to their friends and families. It is actually a clever first step before traditional marketing starts next year.

100% right but also by staying highly engaged and providing tons of behind the scenes info he has equally managed to turn a lot of haters into fence sitters. Just the opposite of the Atari SA situation where they managed to turn a lot of blind faith and brand love into suspicion and dislike. There are still a few Ouya Two Yas floating out there but nobody I have seen recently says its a scam & won't come out. Actually huge progress considering the recent Chameleon fiasco and ongoing VCS situation. I am a huge fan of high engagement marketing and it’s power to build customer confidence is clearly on show here.

The thing is not being crowdfunded, or offered for pre-order sight unseen. That, by definition cannot be called a scam, nor does it result in "haters turning into fence sitters" since there's nothing to hate until it's released, short of taking people's money based on promises.  What some call evangelism marketing, tech evangelism or engagement marketing is referred to by advertising professionals as the bandwagon approach, the facts and figures approach, or the hype train. It's also typical of the use of P.R. in place of traditional marketing. It's not good or bad in itself, but does run the risk of becoming exhausting when overdone, and can result in waning interest or audience disappointment if the results don't live up to the hype. The true measures of success will be audience reach and conversion. That hasn't even begun, and even if very successful, the product will ultimately have to find acceptance based on its own merits and appeal as results speak 1000 times more than words. All the wildly optimistic projections and predictions in the world don't amount to a hill of beans until the thing is in at least a significant number of households. (conservatively 250,000+)  Otherwise, it's just another pet project like so many before.   

Calling this a scam does a disservice to companies taking proper business routes.

I hope no one actually is saying that.

How many of us are also evangelists for Intellivision? Yep, I'm a bit more "extreme" in my level of evangelism than most. Over the course of a couple decades at $DAY_JOB people have come to associate me with Intellivision for some reason. Maybe it's due to wearing Intellivision T-shirts all the time, or babbling on about homebrews, or websites, or bringing in knowledge I gain working on the LTO Flash! software and other hobby projects into $DAY_JOB work. Or maybe it's bringing Flashback / Ultimate Flashback / actual consoles to 'retro game night' type events....

Over the past year, how many people have learned about Intellivision Amico because we fans bring it up to friends, co-workers, fellow parents, teachers, etc.? This kind of "guerrilla" marketing (to toss out yet another phrase  ) doesn't cost Intelllivision Entertainment anything. Being organic, it's not as off-putting, either. I've had a couple dozen co-workers see an Intellivision logo on a T-shirt and we end up striking up a conversation about our favorite system. I've had a few co-workers who are parents explicitly express a very strong interest in Amico specifically due to the "mission statement" they hear. Usually they are even more enthusiastic after seeing the trailer.

Heck, at the "4th grade end" of the hallway at my youngest son's elementary school, three of the four teachers recognized Intellivision just by the logo, two of them had good memories of playing it, and they still bring it up occasionally -- unprompted.

This kind of approach does work. Those of us in this crowd can feel a little overwhelmed, sure. I'm not much of a youtube watcher or social media user, so there's no way I'm keeping up with all the channels Tommy shows up, podcasts he appears on, etc. Even so, it seems like he's popping up everywhere! Tommy - get some sleep! Heck, at least 4-5 hours!

The passion at Intellivision Entertainment is undeniable. Let's hope that the buzz continues, that the market appears to respond, and that investors can also be confident enough in the ideas and execution to help see this through.

Surely someone has studied how marketing has changed in our interconnected age. It's easier than ever before to plant little word-of-mouth buzz seeds at places like this, each one fanning out literally across the globe in this unpredictable, organic fashion. It sounds like it could be a fascinating area of research.

At least in a tiny sliver of an area around here, when Intellivision Amico pops up in "the real world" there will be people who see it and go "hey! That's that thing that guy was telling me about! Imma go take a look!".

On 10/17/2019 at 4:43 PM, LePionnier said:

Hi again Tommy.

I was taking my measurements for the sweater, and noticed for the adult size, metric sizes and US sizes have been reversed.

It's not a big deal, but at first I was wondering why I could not find my size! lol

 

This was the 2609th post, by the way. Does it win a prize? 😜 

On 11/14/2019 at 11:06 AM, GrudgeQ said:

I think the vast majority of those still using a Wii are because it is was the last system made for them. The store is dead, only composite output, no online play - I think people are just hanging on to them because nothing else is available and even they know it's time is nearly up.

The Wii supports component as well and looks quite good on a modern TV.  I have modded mine and filled it with emulators which look quite sharp on it.  It has given it new life.  It’s set up right behind my Intellivision and beside the modded PS Classic.  I play Intellivision games on all 3 of these.  

2 hours ago, Sinjinhawke said:

The Wii supports component as well and looks quite good on a modern TV.  I have modded mine and filled it with emulators which look quite sharp on it.  It has given it new life.  It’s set up right behind my Intellivision and beside the modded PS Classic.  I play Intellivision games on all 3 of these.  

Sure but I think you are way beyond the average Wii owner. I think most Wii owners are your average person who isn't into modding nor have they changed anything since they originally set it up. I think they people see it as a device they still like to play and might like to keep forever but they know eventually it will physically die and the rare software release for it is proof the end the market has moved well beyond. If the Amico can provide a similar experience then I expect pretty good adoption from these folks. After all if the market is offering you zero replacement alternatives then of course you are going to stick with the existing solution. For the modder & collector the machine will never die but those aren't the ones rushing out to buy the (miracle for a dead system) release of Dance Dance 2020 in numbers. Those are those still left clinging to the stock Wii lifeboats and are hoping another ship comes along.

5 hours ago, JBerel said:

The thing is not being crowdfunded, or offered for pre-order sight unseen. That, by definition cannot be called a scam, nor does it result in "haters turning into fence sitters" since there's nothing to hate until it's released, short of taking people's money based on promises.

Well you obviously have never been on Twitter before ;). Just joking of course, I generally agree. However marketing (or some form of PR hybrid) is critical to new products. I have never been a believer in the "build a better mousetrap and people will beat a path to your door" saying. Especially in this tsunami of information world we live in currently. Look at all of the great indie games sitting in the cesspool of game stores. Without some brilliant marketing/PR of their own - or lucking out and getting a high profile Lets Player to take up their game for free (or paid) it is really hard to stand out. Equally look at all the semi-crappy products that sell mostly based on their marketing campaign (I am thinking of a lot of As Seen on TV stuff). So basically both product quality and marketing (or PR) are important to the launch of any product. Long term sales are more tied to product quality but often you won't get to long term sales if you don't have short term marketing driven sales.

On 11/13/2019 at 6:49 PM, wolfy62 said:

#165 has arrived,great shirt!

Lookin' good!!!!!!!!!!

On 11/14/2019 at 4:32 AM, MrBeefy said:

I love your model and the premise behind Amico. However, I think in some cases it may be hard to sell this to those still playing their Wii. 

 

So really it will probably come down to the marketing and the games. When is the marketing part of this going to kick in?

Marketing starts in the summer of 2020.

The Wii is going on 14 years old and there is a whole new generation of kids who never grew up on it.  Nintendo has shut down any and all online service for it and with the exception of 1 dance game... nothing new has been made for it in years.  But the biggest factor I believe is that Nintendo NEVER actually focused on family entertainment for the system.  They were too busy with Metroid Prime (a game I worked on with Miyamoto), Smash Bros, Pikman, Zelda, Mario everything, Pokemon, etc.  And all the 3rd party publishers had their "C" teams on the platform because no one believed it in and all the important teams were working on PS & XBOX.  This produced a pile of shovelware that plagued the system for its entire lifecycle.  Our FOCUS is on all those family and co-op games that was the real factor in making the Wii so successful. 

Our research shows that current families who are still playing the Wii are the ones MOST excited about Amico!!  They ARE our target and core audience!  They will be the easiest to get... not a hard sell at all.

 

On 11/14/2019 at 8:20 AM, BydoEmpire said:

I actually laughed out loud that the screenshot says "Basic" controls...

HAHAHAHA!  Simple huh! 

On 11/14/2019 at 4:34 PM, First Spear said:

This was me! My Mom took a Kodak Instamatic shot of me hugging my new Tonka Truck at Kmart in the 70s. I was a lot younger than this guy though. 🤣