Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

18 minutes ago, IntelliMission said:

As an European guy who had an Amstrad CPC, my perception is that Commodore 64 games, due to the combination of awesome techno music and strangely depressing colors (they evolved the VIC-20 8-color palette adding 8 "opposite colors", so they were forced to choose colors whose opposite version was kind of usable and only "sad" colors were valid for that), have a very unique "emo" new wave feel to them.

 

It's interesting because this happens regardless of the game, even if it's a Pacman clone.

Yeah the C64 colors weren't super poppy to start with and you could only vary the luminescence (effectively adding various greys) so you ended up with a color pallet more suited to metals and earth tones. Interesting to think that hardware designer color pallete choices may have impacted the actual games made for a system, considering independent game designers would want their games to look good and the C64 only provided certain color ranges.

Good article showing some C64 colors (Sinclair color scheme bashing trigger warning however): http://www.aaronbell.com/secret-colours-of-the-commodore-64/

23 hours ago, Intellivision Master said:

 

Last night's AAA features Tommy hopping on with lots of great information about Amico market plans and a mini tour of his backyard menagerie. Plus the bubble tea wars continue to rage and lots of actual on-topic Amico talk too, like Mike Mullis bringing in an Amico article mention I hadn't seen before. HIGHLY recommended.

On 4/9/2021 at 6:15 PM, Starpaddler said:

I was going to get a second power cord (hopefully via pre-order) as I wanted to be able to move my Amico between the Living Room and another room; with the above, realize I’ll need a 3rd for when I take Amico on the road. 

I have a few pages to catch up on. I’m on  vacation and am trying to get up to date. Just had to comment on this. Don’t forget to purchase the flip up OLED Screen for those road trips. Just in case you. See to play cornhole while driving. 

From Sumeet Aggarwal, head Intellivision MEA (Middle East and Africa)

Nice article, but yeah... ZX Spectrum games were pretty basic, but at least the colors were normal. So you could have games like Saboteur with a few vivid colors that worked well and were not depressing (see ZX Spectrum and C64 screenshots of the same screen).

It's funny how the guy in the article says that the depressing color palette of the C64 was an advantage because it was more "realistic". Yeah, well... For reference, the guy who made the colors in the Watchmen comic-book used very similar colors with purples and browns in many pages with the intention of creating a depressive ambient (in one particular issue, he went from vivid yellows and reds to purples and browns to create a happy-sad transition). So yeah, it's realistic for a game based on the movie Alien.

We should make a separated thread about this in the Classic Computing Section: "8 bit computers palettes: how do they make you feel?".

Could Amico be substantially bigger than we are all hoping for?

I recently read that chip manufacturing is (and has been for a while) at 100%.  The issue (to my understanding) isn’t that chip manufacturing is less than it was pre-pandemic, but that current demand is higher than pre-pandemic levels and the manufacturing infrastructure in place cannot meet current demand.  Reiterating; the issue is not reduced manufacturing capacity, but rather increased demand. Given that Amico is a new product on the cusp of coming out, maybe its pre-release demand is larger then we understand and it is what has broken the system.  Tommy did say he wanted Amico to be a disruptor. Just sayin...  

But for ‘reals’, my true understanding is that with Just In Time Manufacturing the temporary reduction realized in chip manufacturing (and everything else) has created a backlog.  Now everything from assembly, shipping, customs/ports, etc. is backed up trying to burn down the backlog.  
 

My point to this; if you really want to help Amico get released in big numbers this year, stop buying other sh&#.

At least the chip shortage is for a good cause: apparently, it started with "a surge in demand for personal computers and other electronics for work or school from home during the pandemic".

On 4/11/2021 at 6:12 PM, PeterPepper said:

Costco > Sam's Club. Someone had to say it 😄

Hilarious. I actually shop both, even though they're on opposite ends of town here. Sam's has more of the food I actually eat. I buy a lot of food at Costco that looks good, but I'm not sure if I'll eat. One thing I don't like about Costco, is I have limited freezer space, and things like their muffins (which I love!) they force you to buy 2 packages, which forces me to store or unload one on friends or family, so I usually don't even bother. Ultimately, they each do their thing well.

This would be a fun game on Amico.  It's similar to Aquaventure.

9 hours ago, CurlyQ said:

This is awesome!!

That would be great to have Shaq as an Amico spokesperson in commercials.  Only thing is, he can't hold the controller. It would look microscopic in his massive paws.  

10 hours ago, CurlyQ said:

There’s a new dance

Coming your way

It’s the Amico Slap

And it’s here to stay

(Sorry, just had to)

Excellent graphic. Who is the guy? I this person a celebrity in USA, or is this from an app?

26 minutes ago, justclaws said:

Excellent graphic. Who is the guy? I this person a celebrity in USA, or is this from an app?

Saw your edit, but would add that although Shaq is now a sports presenter, most people in the US would first name him as one of the all time professional basketball greats. The sports announcing, commercials and movies came mostly after retirement from a long and storied NBA career.

1 hour ago, GrudgeQ said:

US would first name him as one of the all time professional basketball greats

at 7'1" and 325 lbs, when healthy he was a man among men in the NBA. He managed to make guys 6' 8" 240lbs look small. Truly awesome player, his video games kinda suck tho.

Don't forget Shaq was a singer/rapper and retired a Boston Celtic!

Kazzam and Blue Chips. Kazzam was the one that actually existed vs Shazam with Sinbad), LOL. 

Basketball? Shaq did something other than Shaq Fu video game?

New merch in the IE shop.

https://intellivision.com/shop

1 hour ago, Intellivision Master said:

New merch in the IE shop.

https://intellivision.com/shop

Some cool new stuff.  I’m holding out for the box art prints myself.  
 

I recommend that site be updated to identify the color of the shirts. I noticed for the Las Vegas Poker shirt, it will put your selection at the top, so that works (if people figure that out) but the Utopia shirts (for example) do not, and see that there likely could be some people getting a color other then they were expecting.