Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

1 hour ago, Starpaddler said:

I think (could be wrong) pressure sensitivity is based on area of contact, with more finger area touching the screen when pressing harder, and not any sort of mechanical depression force type sensor. 

Yes, touchscreen pressure sensitivity can work in a similar way as the disc.  When pressed harder the disc touches more contact points.

1 hour ago, mr_me said:

Yes, touchscreen pressure sensitivity can work in a similar way as the disc.  When pressed harder the disc touches more contact points.

Thanks, pressure sensitivity might be a good feature to use in games where the screen employs several zones (buttons) to ensure only intended inputs are registered.  That would allow your finger to hunt the correct area and then press harder to register the input. 
 

I am really looking forward to seeing the re-release of the original games and IE’s solution for the keypad buttons and overlays; although the latter isn’t to hard to imagine. 

Another reason WHY there is a chip supply is getting worse - a Taiwanese drought,
affecting the world's largest chip fabricator, TSMC, in Taiwan; don't forget climate.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56198269

This is a very interesting article for people who do not work in the tech industry.

However, it's not all bad news - Taiwanese man gets his phone from dried up lake!
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56685406

12 hours ago, GrudgeQ said:

I ain't no @CurlyQ but here you go:

 

 

Not exactly what meant, but very good none the less.😀👍

5 hours ago, CurlyQ said:

This would be AWESOME!!!

Tommy Tallarico...

5 hours ago, CurlyQ said:

This is great.  I would like to see this handheld become a reality.  If it does, I'll buy 2.  

6 hours ago, CurlyQ said:

There is something about this design that just hits me in the feels.. I love this. Then i got to thinkin' what about making the touchpad touchscreen so it would be easier to manufacture and no multiple parts/tooling needed? It may only drive the cost of parts up a tiny bit. I stopped after I realized I needed to thank @Tommy Tallarico for these sorts of tangents in my brain. I was always interested in the actual process of manufacturing things that we like to use/play with, but watching Tommy tell us about what they are going through makes me appreciate it more. 

This was a cool article that I thought some of you might enjoy.  The way they put the paragraphs in order makes it sound like Amico is being done by Nintendo.

A high compliment for sure... but I believe they may have got us confused with the Switch.

https://www.explica.co/42-years-later-the-legendary-intellivision-console-returns-in-a-modern-version-gaming.html

6 hours ago, CurlyQ said:

HOLY CRAP!!!

Okay..... THIS needs to happen at some point!!!!!!

2 versions! 

One that has a cartridge slot and you need to put the overlays in.

And a digital version that just has all the games in there already and a digital screen that just changes the overlays when the game is loaded up.

21 hours ago, Starpaddler said:

@Tommy Tallarico - Was there any design iteration on the size of the disc?  
 

It looks smaller than the original and was curious if the disc was purposely sized for optimized control, or if it was more simply a fallout of fitting within the size of the controller ascetically.

We did a lot of different versions with different screen sizes and different discs.  Some were bigger than the original, some were the same sizes, some were smaller.

In the end, a slight smaller disc worked the best.  The screen is practically the same as the original keypad with the screen being a little tiny bit bigger.

The smaller disc worked much better with quicker gameplay and the ability to turn/spin a lot easier.  It also looks better aesthetically.  When I look at the older versions with the bigger discs... they don't look as nice.

21 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

XE-1AP is for X68000, MSX, PC-88, PC-98, FM Towns (not sure if it works on the Marty, but I imagine it probably does), MD/Genesis, and PC Engine, but it needs an adaptor for PC Engine. There are a very small number of Genesis/MD/32X games that work with this controller, most notably Genesis/MD After Burner II (actually the Japanese release apparently has an ad for this controller in the box), Musha Aleste, 32X Space Harrier, and After Burner Complete, giving you full analog control in all of them and an adjustable analog throttle in After Burner II and After Burner Complete.

 

This controller is a pain in the ass to get working, as it comes with a little tiny plastic screwdriver that you have to use to adjust 3 screws in the back to configure the deadzones for the analog sticks, but After Burner II automatically detects the XE-1AP and actually has a special XE-1AP configuration screen that only shows up when this controller is plugged in, which makes it much easier to set up.

HOLY CRAP!!!  Sounds like a nightmare.  Doesn't sound very casual/non-gamer family friendly... that's for sure!

20 hours ago, Zee said:

Haha, I knew that story too.  Enzo Ferrari telling Lamborghini to stick to tractors cause he knew nothing about cars. A great Italian success story and a great lesson for sure. 

"Hey Tommy stick to music, you can't make a new video game system!" 

The irony is that the negative folks trying to destroy the company and product... are actually helping it. 

19 hours ago, GrudgeQ said:

You are right on your size estimation, the new disc is slightly smaller, maybe 2 or 3 mm all around the edge, (NOTE: this might not be production Amico disc and that is a Flashback controller)

Yep!  The disc I gave you is a production disc and the final size.  Not final plastic coloring (it was an extra from one of our dev kit controllers).

18 hours ago, GrudgeQ said:

I am also digging the Amico blue color of the lanyard too (I think there will be matching lanyards for the various model colors, however). As the primary Amico color, it isn't a typical 'gamery' color and wouldn't offend a boy, girl or parent - so right at their target market.

 

Yes!  I originally picked the blue color for that reason and then after we did some market research and focus group testing we realized it was definitely the best choice for the market we are going for.  And retro too... cause it reminds us of Tron!   Hahhaha!  

Yes.  There are 4 different colors of lanyards.  The standard Glacier White & Graphite Black Amicos will come with the light Amico blue (& black).  Galaxy Purple with purple (& silver), GTO Red with red (& black) and Vintage Woodgrain with brown (& gold).

14 hours ago, Starpaddler said:

Does anyone know if IE kept the screen pressure sensitivity in their design?  If so and they use grids, would be good to set an input trigger on the original games to require a bit of pressure to avoid erroneous brush type touch inputs. 

Yes.  It's in there... but it's just software calculating the amount of surface area that is being pressed.  So the harder you press on the screen, it can tell because the imprint gets bigger.  Nice little software trick.

So the screen isn't exactly physically pressure sensitive... but the software/firmware can detect it through other physical means.

So far we only have one game that really utilizes it.  But it's there if developers want to take advantage of it.

12 hours ago, Starpaddler said:

I think (could be wrong) pressure sensitivity is based on area of contact, with more finger area touching the screen when pressing harder, and not any sort of mechanical depression force type sensor. 

Correct.  That is what we're doing.

Amico 2.0 controller early design work.

Was going to say something about them using a certain someone for the experiment, but didn't want to insult the monkey with the joke. 

Just a quick update on the Intellivision Replublic.co investment offering:

• 6 Days Remaining
• $11,149,473 Invested So Far

Just to give some background in how successful this is, Republic has said they have raised over $200 million in over 250 deals, which means each deal averaged around $800,000 (or less than a million).

A couple of other Republic capital raises from companies you might have heard of include SpaceX at $2,350,000 and Robinhood at $11,200,000.

8 hours ago, CurlyQ said:

That's how it's done. I'd buy it. I think most people in this thread probably would, too.

2 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

HOLY CRAP!!!  Sounds like a nightmare.  Doesn't sound very casual/non-gamer family friendly... that's for sure!

 

 

Yeah, it's pretty annoying. Having that special menu in After Burner II really helps, though. The manual for the XE-1AP is not especially helpful, either, as it's only 4 pages long.

Anyway, so yeah, I know you've been talking with Sega. Not sure if you're taking requests for stuff from companies like Sega, but there is one semi-dead Sega-owned IP that I'd absolutely love to see on the Amico: Thunder Force. The last new Thunder Force was Thunder Force VI in 2008 and it didn't do very well. I think it's time that Thunder Force makes like Altered Beast and rises from its grave. Multiplayer Thunder Force with the same level of quality of Thunder Force III, IV, and V and something similar to Thunder Force IV's unbelievable rock/synth/metal soundtrack would be awesome.

41 minutes ago, GrudgeQ said:

Just a quick update on the Intellivision Replublic.co investment offering:

• 6 Days Remaining
• $11,149,473 Invested So Far

Just to give some background in how successful this is, Republic has said they have raised over $200 million in over 250 deals, which means each deal averaged around $800,000 (or less than a million).

 

A couple of other Republic capital raises from companies you might have heard of include SpaceX at $2,350,000 and Robinhood at $11,200,000.

 

 

 

 

Pretty great investment draw for a product “with no market demand”; others’ words, not mine

1 minute ago, Starpaddler said:

Pretty great investment draw for a product “with no market demand”; others’ words, not mine

Yeah funny about that:

• Just shown the concept and people are interested, Atari Age thread is one of the most popular on the site - "nobody is interested in this"
• Founders Edition pre-order sells out in hours - "just a handful of old retro guys"
• Announced MLB, Hot Wheels, Sesame Street & Care Bear licenses - "No way they get any major license" then "MLB will just hand out their license to anyone"
• Offered to retailers and pre-orders cut off at 100,000 - "no market, it will never sell"
• People shown the working machine and record their positive reactions on video - "paid actors, just a bunch of shills, that kid is a loser"
• Offered as an SEC approved investment, $11 million+ raised, SEC A+ investment approval (they passed more rigorous legal standards so a wider range of people can invest) - "Just a scam, Chameleon 2.0"

Still pissin' after all this time but their pot is just getting smaller and smaller 🤣

57 minutes ago, GrudgeQ said:

Yeah funny about that:

• Just shown the concept and people are interested, Atari Age thread is one of the most popular on the site - "nobody is interested in this"
• Founders Edition pre-order sells out in hours - "just a handful of old retro guys"
• Announced MLB, Hot Wheels, Sesame Street & Care Bear licenses - "No way they get any major license" then "MLB will just hand out their license to anyone"
• Offered to retailers and pre-orders cut off at 100,000 - "no market, it will never sell"
• People shown the working machine and record their positive reactions on video - "paid actors, just a bunch of shills, that kid is a loser"
• Offered as an SEC approved investment, $11 million+ raised, SEC A+ investment approval (they passed more rigorous legal standards so a wider range of people can invest) - "Just a scam, Chameleon 2.0"

Still pissin' after all this time but their pot is just getting smaller and smaller 🤣

At this point it's just kinda entertaining to see them get so upset at how successful we are.

They better buckle up... it's only gonna be getting a LOT WORSE for them from here.

❤️