Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

On 11/14/2019 at 4:06 PM, 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.

All I had to do was text my sister a pic of the console & she said "OMG! I want one!"

On 11/14/2019 at 8:21 AM, 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.

 

 

I agree that to get the casual Wii buyer... we will need more games like Wii Bowling.  Which is a HUGE focus for us.  We are doing Wii Bowling type games TIMES 100!  Wii Sports was nothing more than a tech demo.  2 of the 4 games being almost unplayable.  It was all about Bowling... and maybe Tennis sometimes.  We will be giving them a LOT of reasons to finally put away their 13 year old machine that they never bought a game for (because games weren't created and targeted for them). 

Honestly... that is the last crowd/audience we are worried about in regards to getting people on board.  They are overly excited!   To give an example... please find someone you know who is a non-gamer or casual gamer who purchased the Wii... then explain what Amico is and tell them what the games will be like (E for Everyone, under $10, no in-app purchases, all games are simple and anyone can pick up and play, every game has a family/couch co-op mode, etc.)... and then tell them the price range... and that they can hook up to 8 mobile devices (for free) and it comes with 2 controllers. 

Trust me... not a hard sell at all.

And yes... the Retro Reimagined games will be a huge hit with the folks 45 and older as well (not just hardcore retro folks like all of us). 

On 11/14/2019 at 9:00 AM, GrudgeQ said:

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.

Yes.  You nailed it.  Everything in your comment is 100% spot on.

On 11/14/2019 at 1:06 PM, 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.

Shhh!!  You're giving away all my secrets. 

On 11/14/2019 at 2:51 PM, atarifan88 said:

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.

Yes!  Everyone who has a RFID is in a special database of folks who will be receiving special e-mail instructions on our 40th anniversary (Dec. 3, 2019).

On 11/15/2019 at 5:21 AM, GrudgeQ said:

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.

Speaking of the VCS... anyone else notice how "silent" they've been over the past month or so as they are supposed to be delivering the hardware/system to the IndieGoGo backers in a few week?  I guess those "scheduled" Facebook posts finally ran out.  On Twitter they have just been retweeting things about other Atari products.  You would think there would be a lot more hype and marketing going on a few weeks before release.  But as we all sadly know... it's not going to happen.

 

On 11/15/2019 at 6:18 AM, 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,

...yet it still happens...

On 11/15/2019 at 6:47 AM, PlaysWithWolves said:

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

 

I hope no one actually is saying that.

 

 

If you read comments on the negative YouTube videos you'll find them everywhere.  I have literally been compared to Hitler by commenters... and they are 100% serious.  Not joking.

Negativity begets negativity.  So interesting to watch and so sad how quickly people want to fall in line to please the content creator.  When there is a positive or neutral video done on Amico the majority of the comments will be positive, uplifting and cautiously optimistic or inquisitive.  On the flip side... when the YouTube liars, click-baiters and "scammers" themselves put out negative videos... their sheepish followers have no issue throwing gasoline onto the dumpster fire.  I mean... why think for yourself and do research when you can have some loudmouth industry uneducated liars do it for you. 


 

On 11/15/2019 at 7:43 AM, intvsteve said:

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!".

You got it!

It's interesting how many "internet" folks constantly spew hatred at me because I'm talking about a system that isn't even coming out til 2020.  They say I'm desperate, I don't know what I'm doing, I only show colors of the console because we don't have anything else to show and it's clearly going to be failure, etc., etc., etc...

Yeah... I'm sure it's nice to be established like Sony, Microsoft & Nintendo in the market and have every press person, YouTuber and fan waiting for your every bit of news.  That isn't us.  We need to create that from the ground up and because we are the "new kid on the block" (even though we've been around longer than most)... because we are such a disruptor and so different from everyone else... we need to educate our base and get the ground flow going much earlier than the rest.

I'd rather have 20,000 interested followers talking about it now... then just me!  It's all gotta start somewhere.

For anyone to think we're just making this up as we go along... couldn't be more wrong and naive. 

I really appreciate the fact that most of the folks here recognize and enjoy what were doing and the way we're going about it.  Keep in mind... Atari made their public announcement about their machine a few months before us (even though we had been working on it about 6 months before they made the announcement)... And... uh... how's that working out for them?

Or what about Google?  The biggest data collecting corporation on the planet.  All of the financial and data/marketing resources in the universe!  Clearly they have a huge advantage with launching the Stadia.  Again... how's that working out for them?  Only 4 days before their launch and major websites are putting out articles like this titled...

The World is Waiting for Google Stadia to Flop
https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/14/20964386/google-stadia-pre-launch-editorial-cloud-gaming

Ouch!

I love being the underdog.  And although there are many disadvantages... there are also some great advantages as well.  I'm ensuring that we use all of those to our advantage.

Here's a great book I read over the summer.  It's called "Eating the Big Fish: How Challenger Brands Can Compete Against Brand Leaders" https://tinyurl.com/vryc2qj

I liked how they put Shark! Shark! on the cover.  

On 11/15/2019 at 7:49 AM, intvsteve said:

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

That is some nerdy shit right there (that only .000001% of the population would understand).

I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!

1 hour ago, Blarneo said:

All I had to do was text my sister a pic of the console & she said "OMG! I want one!"

That's awesome!  We've seen similar reactions from women/young moms/kids, etc.

It's interesting how the hardcore gamers HATED the design of our controllers, the console itself, etc. 

They compared it to things like a baby monitor and foot massager.

Um....  EXACTLY!!!  And who buys those products?

Hmmmm????



But there are also curvy Ferrari design elements in there as well.  So although it's easy for hardcores to "hate" the look of it (btw... for true gamers... who the hell cares what it looks like!  What does it PLAY like should be the real question)...  but for mom's... they want something nice and non-aggressive in their living room.  Something inviting... something that is regarded as a "friend"... not an enemy.  

I can't tell you how much market research we did when coming up with the outer design.  And the best part is... there is something major about the design and shape that we haven't even revealed yet!  And we aren't going to until right before the console launches.  A definite "game changer" for the way consoles are looked at and thought of.

And I'll bring it up again... only "marketing uneducated" folks would say that having different color machines is stupid and proves that we don't know what we're doing.  The ignorance is sad, yet telling. 

And then there is our logo.

A lot of hardcores HATED the new logo design.  They said it looked too "kiddy" and childish and something that would just appeal to moms.

(starting to see a theme?)

Wait til everyone sees the animated version on Dec. 3rd. 

So although it may not be everyone's cup of tea... it certainly is for the biggest audience we need to attract.

11 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

The World is Waiting for Google Stadia to Flop

 

 

Yep. With a launch that includes mostly games that have been out for over a year old on it's competitors consoles and PC's it's not looking so good. Sucking bandwidth like it's the only thing on the internet isn't gonna treat anyone without an unlimited, unthrottled fiber connection very well either. Good luck streaming the likes of Mortal Kombat 11 or Red Dead Redemption 2 on that thing. The Stadia is a good idea but the world doesn't have a mutually grand connection across the board that can properly execute it's premise. If everyone had 5G at full blast for a reasonable price it would do gangbusters but that's just not how it is. And $10 extra a month to be a guinea pig for their network? Hard pass on that shit too.

5 minutes ago, Shawn said:

 

Yep. With a launch that includes mostly games that have been out for over a year old on it's competitors consoles and PC's it's not looking so good. Sucking bandwidth like it's the only thing on the internet isn't gonna treat anyone without an unlimited, unthrottled fiber connection very well either. Good luck streaming the likes of Mortal Kombat 11 or Red Dead Redemption 2 on that thing. The Stadia is a good idea but the world doesn't have a mutually grand connection across the board that can properly execute it's premise. If everyone had 5G at full blast for a reasonable price it would do gangbusters but that's just not how it is. And $10 extra a month to be a guinea pig for their network? Hard pass on that shit too.

Yeah... I'm confused on how and why they are launching the way they are.  The fact that the "wireless" controller must be connected via a wire for play on PC and mobile is uh... interesting.  And if you do want to play on mobile... you can only do it on Google Pixel 2, 3 or 4 phone.  So much for anyone being able to play anywhere with anything at anytime.

Here mom... here's all you need to connect it and start playing Assassin's Creed & Doom on mobile (after you purchase the full versions of the game)...

Okay folks, it's been awhile since my last message and I have three contributions to make... here they come:

1) Can somebody explain to me what the number 2609 means? Please. Google didn't help.

2) Take a look at these logos and tell me if you see something suspicious:

3) Now that my Death Stranding message has been quoted, I think one of the greatest things the Amico will offer is that the games won't try to be movies. I mean, I love the story in some games (Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, some classic point & click adventure games), but this is not what I seek in this form of art/entertainment. Also, while Ico and SoTC "did it right" using a minimalistic story where the player have to guess what's going on (and this is what true art is about anyway, the mystery), most modern games just flood the players with text and dialogs that are utterly boring. If Death Stranding were also a game without any predictable enemies to face or cliché stories to suffer, I would have probably bought the PS4 to play it, but... Well, just play the whole game or watch all the cutscenes in Youtube to see what I mean. The story is so terrible... It's the worst story I have ever seen in a big game/movie. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a classic movie compared to this. It is so bad that I had to check Wikipedia to learn more about Kojima himself and understand how something like this can be made. After reading about his life, I think I understand... He's probably not very good at doing deep, serious stories with multiple mystical elements. He's good at making fun and original games that look like movies. So yeah, perhaps it's good that Kokima is not releasing any game on the Amico at the moment. I can see all the moms running away after reading the first 20 pages in the diary of the Intellivision running man where he explain all his traumas.

47 minutes ago, IntelliMission said:

1) Can somebody explain to me what the number 2609 means? Please. Google didn't help.

2609 is the model number of the original Intellivision console, just as 2600 is the model number of the original Atari VCS IIRC.

When this thread gets to post 5872 we'll have another party. One might say, a IInd party.

We blew past 1149 … have to go see which post that was. A Key Component to keep in mind, though in this thread you'll never be board bored.

And whoever hits 3330 will certainly have found their Voice.

3 hours ago, Shawn said:

 

Yep. With a launch that includes mostly games that have been out for over a year old on it's competitors consoles and PC's it's not looking so good. Sucking bandwidth like it's the only thing on the internet isn't gonna treat anyone without an unlimited, unthrottled fiber connection very well either. Good luck streaming the likes of Mortal Kombat 11 or Red Dead Redemption 2 on that thing. The Stadia is a good idea but the world doesn't have a mutually grand connection across the board that can properly execute it's premise. If everyone had 5G at full blast for a reasonable price it would do gangbusters but that's just not how it is. And $10 extra a month to be a guinea pig for their network? Hard pass on that shit too.

I literally moved 2 miles away from my former house and went from fast fiber optic with no real data cap to slow rebranded DSL with a cap. What if I had been on Stadia for a few years, bought lots of games and then moved - would be the same as having my Steam library suddenly limited to 1080p, possibly 720p. Maybe if Google hadn't bailed on Google fiber and kept rolling it out to major cities people would have had more faith & a better tie-in. They could have even bundled it with the Internet service and tied directly into their own high speed backbone for uber fast refresh rates/low latency. Of course this brings up Google's cancel culture, just web over to killedbygoogle.com to see the horror show which is Google's cancelled project history. With no fall back guarantee in case of cancellation I simply don't trust Google not to kill/radically morph Stadia in a few years and what happens to my game library? Just too much risk and Microsoft XCloud is looking better and better especially when combined with Games Pass - if you even want such a thing. Not much of a fan of the TheVerge but I have to agree that Stadia is facing a tough battle and isn't handling their prelaunch well.

4 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

If you read comments on the negative YouTube videos you'll find them everywhere.  I have literally been compared to Hitler by commenters... and they are 100% serious.  Not joking.

 

Negativity begets negativity.  So interesting to watch and so sad how quickly people want to fall in line to please the content creator.  When there is a positive or neutral video done on Amico the majority of the comments will be positive, uplifting and cautiously optimistic or inquisitive.  On the flip side... when the YouTube liars, click-baiters and "scammers" themselves put out negative videos... their sheepish followers have no issue throwing gasoline onto the dumpster fire.  I mean... why think for yourself and do research when you can have some loudmouth industry uneducated liars do it for you. 

The saddest part is that these Idiocracy* residents are overlooking why the Amico is really important - family & face-to-face gaming. Sure it is a product and I know Tommy & his investors want it to sell well - but I think we NEED a product like this in the gaming market right now. The Amico isn't going to cure cancer, but I think that loner gaming - without a clear sense that a real human is on the other side of the conversation (if there even is communication) - is creating a significant portion of people who don't know how to interact well with others in competitive environments. Plus it is safe for kids, the youngest members of society who most need to learn some of these social skills. Maybe you don't think it is a big deal but just take a look at Twitter, Reddit, toxic game voice chats, etc. - anonymous interactions breeds extremism, hate talk, prejudices and every other other ills that a lack of empathy & accountability breeds. Maybe it is just a mouse nibble on the foundation of society but I think we would be better off introducing our kids to true social gaming - at least for a few formative years - than turning them loose on yet another solo video based baby sitter for that time. Rarely does a product come along that offers at least the prospect of doing some social good - but this is one of them and that alone means it gets my support & best wishes for success.

*One of my favorite movies - can be viewed equally as a bad comedy or a tragic documentary

I took my Atari Flashback Gold 9 to work about a year ago. Everyone had a good time, even the younger workers. I've taken it back a couple of times and the competitiveness is infectious. I'm already tempted to buy a third Amico (one for the family room, one for the kids alone, and) for work. I just hope games I buy are transferable between potentially three machines.

I hope your German is better than mine because here is a presentation Hans Ippisch, President of European Operations for Intellivision, gave at the EGX Berlin 2019 game developer conference. Both the audio & captions are in German, however at around 33:00 Hans shows off & gives a comparison of the regular Amico controller vs the mobile app running on his phone. I believe this is only the second time the mobile application has ever been shown since Tommy posted a closeup here of a very early version a long ways back.

6 hours ago, GrudgeQ said:

I hope your German is better than mine because here is a presentation Hans Ippisch, President of European Operations for Intellivision, gave at the EGX Berlin 2019 game developer conference. Both the audio & captions are in German, however at around 33:00 Hans shows off & gives a comparison of the regular Amico controller vs the mobile app running on his phone. I believe this is only the second time the mobile application has ever been shown since Tommy posted a closeup here of a very early version a long ways back.

I know a little German....he's sitting over there!

Here's some interesting marketing data that has just been released: Nintendo’s Doug Bowser Says More “Female Consumers” Are Buying the Switch Lite Than the Original

Quote

Exactly why more “female consumers” are purchasing Nintendo Switch Lite consoles isn’t clear, and Bowser seemingly didn’t speculate when discussing it with Fortune. The price drop is obviously the biggest difference, but it likely helps that the console is an all-in-one type deal where the Joy-Cons are integrated, and that there are multiple colors options. The form factor also likely makes a difference.

So the upcoming Papa Pete video about 5 titles you would like to see on Amico got me thinking how great would it be to see a Normy/Making it inspired game in honor of Keith. Any chance of that happening?

I was wondering if my friend ordered a shirt today if the golden tickets are still available.

Just curious!

1 hour ago, wolfy62 said:

I was wondering if my friend ordered a shirt today if the golden tickets are still available.

Just curious!

 

 

 

 

 

RFID card,thanks for any info.😊

2 hours ago, wolfy62 said:

RFID card,thanks for any info.😊

Yes you do still get a card with each order.