Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

Call me old-school but I think the Vintage Woodgrain looks the best.

3 minutes ago, CurlyQ said:

Call me old-school but I think the Vintage Woodgrain looks the best.

 

Yes it does.  It looks beautiful.

On 5/10/2021 at 3:35 PM, bigdaddygamestudio said:

Im interesting in hearing how well the average smart phone ( with the button addons) works with the console. If they work well, then I would think an area to explore would be to simply have one version of the console sell without any controllers.  Just the console for say 99 bucks and allow people's existing smart phones to be their controllers.  This allows an option for people who dont want to or cant spend 250 bucks.  This knocks down one of the largest purchasing barriers and makes the amico even more likely to reach the masses, but again it all comes down to how well the smart phone works as a controller. 

Took the words right out of my mouth! I considered suggesting this at one point.

(double-post)

I am hoping  for the best as far as the launch date goes, but I would appreciate knowing  by July and not September if it’s not happening.(even if it’s very limited quantities) The last delay announcement came bit too late in my opinion. 

13 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Which 3 are your favorite??

1, 4, 7

On 5/9/2021 at 12:29 PM, Barley Farquahr said:

I've got two weeks of vacation scheduled around the time that Y'All have on the calendar that You're currently targeting to be landing the FE's on our doorsteps this Fall. I've been scheduling, and rescheduling that time since the console was first supposed to land, STILL CAN'T WAIT!!

Mmmmmkay. 🌮

1, 4,

8 - Because Rayman

4 hours ago, CurlyQ said:

Call me old-school but I think the Vintage Woodgrain looks the best.

 

At this point in time, I will take anything!!! 😀👍

17 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

8 cool screenshots from Finnigan Fox that were done for the back of the box for the physical version of the game that will be sold in stores.

 

Which 3 are your favorite??

#1

#2

 

 

#3

 

 

#4

 

 

#5

 

 

#6

 

 

#7

 

 

#8

 

 

#1

#6

#8 -this picture is my personal favorite. I really appreciate the dark atmosphere with the glowing sunset and the purple tomatoes (?). Great use of color. This level also looks challenging, like something from Rayman.

3 hours ago, CPUWIZ said:

 

Mmmmmkay. 🌮

 

1, 4,

 

8 - Because Rayman

Ha, funny. I just left my comment up above saying I really liked #8 because it reminded me of Rayman. Then I scrolled up and saw your post. 

The purple tomato looking things. 

👍

1 hour ago, RREDDWARFF said:

The purple tomato looking things.

Plums.

https://raymanpc.com/wiki/en/Plum

EDIT: I loved those things for some strange reason, so they pop out to me as Rayman.  I'll check out the game just for that, it really is that simple, I don't care if somebody says this game rocks or stinks. LOL

1 hour ago, CPUWIZ said:

 

Plums.

 

Snozzberries. @Tommy Tallarico

10 hours ago, CurlyQ said:

Call me old-school but I think the Vintage Woodgrain looks the best.

 

I have to go with the Graphite Black as it reminds me of TRON!

If only the GTO red still had the carbon fibre black, that really set it off!

On 5/10/2021 at 12:35 PM, bigdaddygamestudio said:

Im interesting in hearing how well the average smart phone ( with the button addons) works with the console. If they work well, then I would think an area to explore would be to simply have one version of the console sell without any controllers.  Just the console for say 99 bucks and allow people's existing smart phones to be their controllers.  This allows an option for people who dont want to or cant spend 250 bucks.  This knocks down one of the largest purchasing barriers and makes the amico even more likely to reach the masses, but again it all comes down to how well the smart phone works as a controller. 

It's a great question.

The Amico app controller for phones is mostly more for party, card, board, motion control and dice games.  More simple controlled games like Shark! Shark! and Skiing benefit from the attachable disc and buttons as well.  But they don't really replace the real Amico controller.  Especially the action and platform games.  Yes... they are usable... but the BEST way for most games is still the Amico controller.  Consider the Amico mobile app more of a bonus add-on.  The controller is the gateway to the fun.  One of the most important elements of the experience.  Ergonomics are very important (we spent years developing the exact shape of the controller) and folks who have played it agree it is very cool and unique with some folks even going as far as calling it a "game changer".  The ergonomics of a mobile device work well for board, card & dice, but not for Astrosmash or Finnigan Fox.  We wouldn't want someone to purchase an Amico and not have the best experience possible right out of the box.

Our focus testing, research and most importantly... retailers... all tell us that $249 launch price is the sweet spot for us.  Within 2 - 3 years we hope to get that to $199.

Something else to consider... The Nintendo Wii sold for $249 over 15 years ago and came with one controller and an amazing tech demo.  I don't think any of their games were initially priced at $9.99 or less and most were in the $40 range.

I believe the Wii proved that folks who normally don't purchase video game consoles will absolutely do so at that price range if they feel they are going to have lots of fun with it.  The adjust for inflation price of a Wii was about $320.  We also know that our market wants everything out of the box and prefer not to figure out what more they need to play or which version of the console is best for them.  We also feel that having different versions on the market (like Microsoft does) also gets a little confusing for the hyper-casual or non-gaming crowd.

It's a great question and observation though.  Thanks!
 

1 minute ago, nightmonkeyii said:

If only the GTO red still had the carbon fibre black, that really set it off!

Trust me... we tried!  Real carbon fibre would push the cost over $100 and the faux carbon fibre plastic molding looked cheap and cheesy.

We were hoping to go with a print on plastic with gloss, but the curves of the areas just didn't look or wrap correctly.

But what we have with the GTO Red is pretty sexy!  I think a lot of folks are really going to like it.

3 hours ago, CPUWIZ said:

 

Plums.

 

https://raymanpc.com/wiki/en/Plum

 

EDIT: I loved those things for some strange reason, so they pop out to me as Rayman.  I'll check out the game just for that, it really is that simple, I don't care if somebody says this game rocks or stinks. LOL

Damn!  If it's that easy... I'll start putting them in every game we do!  

9 hours ago, Cranker said:

I am hoping  for the best as far as the launch date goes, but I would appreciate knowing  by July and not September if it’s not happening.(even if it’s very limited quantities) The last delay announcement came bit too late in my opinion. 

I understand.  Just know that both times we have known we weren't going to make the date we've announced it within a week or two of knowing.  There is about a 2 - 3 month lead time from manufacturing to store shelves.  But with different options (i.e. assembling in Mexico, flying consoles instead of shipping, etc.) we don't want to give up the date unless it's 100% necessary.  We are missing 4 components.  2 are major, 2 are minor.  If they are not secured and ready for manufacturing by sometime in July, it will greatly impact our October 10th launch.  That is the best up-to-the-minute info I have.  I hope you'll understand.  It's a challenging situation we're in.

10 hours ago, Intellivision Master said:

 

I really enjoyed this one.  Those guys were great!

11 hours ago, CurlyQ said:

Call me old-school but I think the Vintage Woodgrain looks the best.

 

I personally keep going back and forth from the Vintage Woodgrain to the GTO Red. 

This is my new favorite .gif!! 

You're amazing!!!!!!!!!!!

22 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

I understand.  Just know that both times we have known we weren't going to make the date we've announced it within a week or two of knowing.  There is about a 2 - 3 month lead time from manufacturing to store shelves.  But with different options (i.e. assembling in Mexico, flying consoles instead of shipping, etc.) we don't want to give up the date unless it's 100% necessary.  We are missing 4 components.  2 are major, 2 are minor.  If they are not secured and ready for manufacturing by sometime in July, it will greatly impact our October 10th launch.  That is the best up-to-the-minute info I have.  I hope you'll understand.  It's a challenging situation we're in.

 

 

I appreciate your response and will be patient and a fan always ! I’m just confused about how the console could have launched when In my understanding , very few or none of the games are 100 percent complete. This might be incorrect but I got the idea from your interviews that many are at a 95-99 percent complete state. The explanation that comes to mind is that you are making improvements and could have launched them as they were then ? I’m just curious about that. Also to put the controller issue to rest , from my understanding in your responses regarding this question, there is no problem with the response of the controllers at the moment ? Thx for the responses 😀

34 minutes ago, Cranker said:

I appreciate your response and will be patient and a fan always ! I’m just confused about how the console could have launched when In my understanding , very few or none of the games are 100 percent complete. This might be incorrect but I got the idea from your interviews that many are at a 95-99 percent complete state. The explanation that comes to mind is that you are making improvements and could have launched them as they were then ? I’m just curious about that. Also to put the controller issue to rest , from my understanding in your responses regarding this question, there is no problem with the response of the controllers at the moment ? Thx for the responses 😀

Games couldn't be completed unless the final development kits were in developers hands.  They were supposed to be manufactured in China last spring... instead, as the pandemic was going on and we were unable to get out dev kits to our 50+ developers, we decided to bite the financial bullet and built and assembled them in-house as the boards were assembled locally.  This raised the price of our dev kits almost 10x's!  When multiplied by 100 units, it gets into the six figures.  Games could not be 100% completed unless they had final dev kits.  The longest and sometimes most important part of game design is the final 5%.

In regards to the controller... many people have played it and says it works great and there is no noticeable lag during gameplay.  The only folks who claim the controllers don't work and are laggy during gameplay are a couple of people who have never played it and declare publicly that they hate me and want to see me and the product destroyed.

Everyone is perfectly within their own right to believe whoever they'd like.

1 minute ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

Games couldn't be completed unless the final development kits were in developers hands.  They were supposed to be manufactured in China last spring... instead, as the pandemic was going on and we were unable to get out dev kits to our 50+ developers, we decided to bit the financial bullet and built and assembled them in-house as the boards were assembled locally.  This raised the price of our dev kits almost 10x's!  When multiplied by 100 units, it gets into the six figures.  Games could not be 100% completed unless they had final dev kits.  The longest and sometimes most important part of game design is the final 5%.

In regards to the controller... many people have played it and says it works great and there is no noticeable lag during gameplay.  The only folks who claim the controllers don't work are a couple of people who have never played it and declare publicly that they hate me and want to see me and the product destroyed say that there is.

Everyone is perfectly within their own right to believe whoever they'd like.

 

 

Fair enough. I trust you and if there were any serious issues I’m sure you would be open and honest about it. Have an “Amico Day” tm OEB Pete 😂