Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

On 11/23/2019 at 12:59 AM, IntelliMission said:

The replies defending couch coop have received 10x likes than the ones complaining about the lack of online.

 

I suspect the Amico can have a much bigger impact that many people think... even among hardcore gamers.

I totally agree 100%.  But if I say it out loud at this point... I'll just get attacked.  So I'll just wait until folks have a chance to play it.  I can't really state that before. 

But... as we've all seen from some hardcore gamer YouTubers who have played it... they all love it.  There are a lot of great "hardcore" type games on there.  Night Stalker is a perfect example.  Not too many moms will want to play that one and it's a super fun single player, couch co-op or versus game.

 

On 11/23/2019 at 3:20 AM, PlaysWithWolves said:

Thanks for the link.

I agree there can be other reasons than fanboyism.  Sometimes humor or saltiness is enough to get likes.  But that just buttresses my implied point that the likes may not be because they like the couch-coop idea itself.

 

 

You may have missed post #12 that mentions Steam and #13 that says PlayStation 4 has a similar feature (I think).

 

I find Tommy's vision great for kids and families.  I don't think he's targeting adult childless or empty-nest gamers, though.  If he is, it needs to come with at least a beer koozie. 

 

 

Another point to make about couch co-op is that the newest generation of gamers have never really experienced what it is!  We hope that Amico will help to open up a whole new world that they didn't even know was possible.

Sure there are some couch co-op games on all the systems.  But I'm talking about a system DEDICATED to it and games that EVERYONE can play together.  Not just your hardcore friends playing Smash Bros with 4 Switches.

7 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Another point to make about couch co-op is that the newest generation of gamers have never really experienced what it is!

I'd have never in my life even predicted a time when couch co-op wasn't a gaming mainstay, but here we are. 

On 11/23/2019 at 11:58 AM, MantaNZ said:

Holy crap - I just caught up on the Pat/Ian vs Tommy thing. I unsubbed from them ages ago because they were getting more and more arrogant. They talk about “journalistic integrity” yet it’s blatantly obvious that the subjects they talk about on their podcast they are only learning about as they read from their laptops. They research nothing. 
 

Tommy, they treated you with utter disrespect and I get the feeling they just trash talk everything to try and get clicks... I’m not sure why they think that would work.

 

Anyway, I’ll admit I was sceptical of the Amico at first. Especially after the Coleco Chameleon, but then I heard your name (and other industry vets) was involved and I listened to what you had to say and I started to gain confidence in the console. I had a baby boy earlier in the year and I’ve already told my partner that we’re getting an Amico to play as a family and I’m looking forward to it!

 

I do have one question/bit of criticism though. Earlier you talked about the Amico being a 2D powerhouse and brought up Cuphead and how the devs said it was really pushing modern consoles. I’m guessing that’s to do with so many frames of high resolution textures eating up VRAM? Anyway, I bring this up as the only Amico gameplay I’ve seen has been 3D and pretty basic at that. Now I understand it’s not meant to compete with PS5 etc and it’s going to be all about the fun, which I’m 100% onboard with but, where’s this amazing 2D stuff you promised?

 

Anyway, I just thought I’d offer my support. You have a day one buyer here. I’ve been a fan of your work since the Mega Drive days too, so Pat can stick his “more people know who I am” comment up his arrogant ass. You’ve got to where you are because of passion and hard work. They got to where they are (which is nowhere in the grand scheme of things) by being nasty.
 

Cheers!

Hi MantaNZ!,

Great to have new folks around!  I'm a big fan of NZ... been there many times.  Prefer the north island.  Spent a lot of time in the Rotorua area and as far north as the Bay Islands (amazing!).  Hopefully you'll be joining us here more often as you'll find the conversation between everyone open, honest and respectful as humanly possible (at least for a message board).

Yeah... I do find it interesting that they are pretty much finding out about stuff as they are recording.  Very obvious there is very little preparation.  And that's fine... it's their show... they can do what they want.  And that works well for some folks as you get natural reactions as they happen.  But the "rub" comes when they become so arrogant that they won't admit when they get info wrong because they don't prepare.  And then attack and lie when someone tries to merely (respectfully and nicely) correct them and/or give them more info (which they refuse).  Again... an ego thing... which of course shined through when he declares how much more famous he is.  

To answer your 2D question.  I think it's more about "style" than actual processing.  The mistake I made in that initial talk was not talking about that more.  I had a gazillion things to get out in 45 minutes as I wanted to do a Q&A as well.  Instead... I got out about 70% of what I wanted and it took an hour.  I had just stayed up all night finalizing the Reveal Trailer as well as my power-point.  I know that we've only really shown 3D type stuff... (2.5D actually) but we have traditional 2D things as well.  We just haven't shown them yet.

Thanks for your support and please feel free to ask any questions you'd like and I'll try to answer them best I can (given the restrictions I have because of patents and PR/Marketing release schedules.  Thank you for recognizing the passion and hard work... everyone in the Intellivision office is the same way and it's really going to show in the final product.  Can't wait to share more info with you!!



 

On 11/23/2019 at 12:23 PM, MantaNZ said:

Ah I see. I’m all good with 2D style games but I’d love to see some actual 2D stuff too. Hoping Earthworm Jim will be that

 

In all honestly I can’t wait to see how the controllers work. Rather than just say “no one plays games like that” I want to experience it myself and see what kind of awesome control schemes developers come up with. I’m really excited for something different! I’m thinking football games where each player can choose their play without the others seeing it etc. Kinda like the Dreamcast VMU but better

Yeah... I think a lot of folks will be pleasantly surprised as some folks are too quick to completely write off the controllers because they can't see themselves playing Call of Duty on them.  Which is exactly the point. 

Kids and non-gamers LOVE the controllers so far.

On 11/23/2019 at 9:51 PM, Alpha82 said:

I think you will see some hand drawn style animation too it’s going to come down to what works best for the people programming the games the few games we have seen have been 2.5 D (3D with fixed camera) however I think we will also see beautiful 2D things as well I’m pretty sure at some point back on here Tommy said the Earthworm Jim art style would be more like the classic games but better 

Yeah... we're doing a lot of 2D painted and/or animated stuff... along with 3D elements.  Really looks cool. 

 

On 11/23/2019 at 9:58 PM, xeex said:

Agreed! I've been on quite a M.U.L.E. kick recently. I played that game to death when it came out, and still love it 36 years later.

 

I think the memorable theme song would really benefit from a Tallarico treatment. And 8 player M.U.L.E.? The mind boggles.

 

Love it!!  Lots of M.U.L.E. love!  I gotta make it happen!!

On 11/24/2019 at 9:33 AM, MarioMan88 said:

I loved that aspect on the Dreamcast about the VMU! No cheating by looking at my plays I pick on screen! 

Yep!  Most every game will have things like this in multiplayer!

22 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

There's a rumor of Atari possibly being in some legal trouble. Any possibility that would affect the Atari remakes on Amico?

No.  None at all.  Our contracts are signed and valid for the next 10 years.  So no worries.  Even if another company purchases them or they go into bankruptcy... our contracts are still valid.

6 hours ago, IntelliMission said:

It looks like Tommy has been spending a few days in Spain with the Video Games Live tour... Hey Tommy, how did you like Murcia? As a Spaniard who lives in Spain, I've never been there, but the weather and the monuments look great. Fun fact: It is both the most religious region in Spain (it's the small one at the bottom right) and the one where most people voted for Vox, the new Spanish far-right party that, among other things, proposes that hunting and bullfighting should be taught to children at Schools.

 

Back to the Amico, I just found the following interesting, recent articles:

 

- Diary Of An Arcade Employee Podcast 1UP – Night Stalker

 

- Parlamo di videogiochi - GameRome 2019 Part 1

 

- Parlamo di videogiochi - GameRome 2019 Part 2

 

- IGN Italy: Intellivision Amico family entertainment: In a market now saturated with consoles destined for more hardcore users, Intellivision aims to conquer a completely different audience.

 

The first one includes a 23 minute podcast about the development of Night Stalker.

 

The others are poor Google translations (Amico appears as "Friend") of italian articles about the recent GameRome event, where Hans Ippich gave some interviews to the media.

I wish I had more time to see the region!  Just the hotel, airport and venue.  Every second I had off the stage was either an interview or working on Intellivision (even though I officially took the "week off"). 

Yes... I've seen all of the items above.  I was a little disappointed that the hardcore gamers in Italy (IGN) didn't react nicely to the idea... I thought that maybe they would appreciate the name and Italian passion we are putting into the project.  But like most hardcore folks who comment on video game message boards... they all dismissed it, hate it and say that no one will buy it.  I guess hardcore message board gamers are the same no matter what country they are in. 


 

2 hours ago, GrudgeQ said:

Awesome links and worth a read though despite the clunky translation. For some eye candy - here is a high res view of the Amico console with controller and mobile app from GameRome 2019 Part 2.

It's kinda funny... but in this photo there are 2 super major things/secrets that I can see right out in the open that are so important and that we haven't yet revealed.  Very subtle stuff.  But if you knew what we were doing... you could pick it out right away.



 

49 minutes ago, PlaysWithWolves said:

 

I'd have never in my life even predicted a time when couch co-op wasn't a gaming mainstay, but here we are. 

 

Crazy right!?!?!?  

And with things like VR, watching Twitch, E-Sports, etc.... it's only getting worse!

The whole Steam "virtual couch co-op" was kinda crazy to me.  Lets do couch co-op... but without being together.  Huh? 



 

15 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

The whole Steam "virtual couch co-op" was kinda crazy to me.  Lets do couch co-op... but without being together.  Huh? 

When you're 800 miles from buddies or brothers, online's all ya got. 😁 Throw in VOIP and it's a good way to stay in touch.  Even if they were in the area, sometimes it's nice to just hop on and play for a half hour instead of spending time driving there and back again.

But kids would be missing out on some great social experiences, I think.   And my feelings won't be  hurt if that's your target market--it makes sense!  But I do think a remote couch co-op does too,for some, even is it's not technically correct.

2 minutes ago, PlaysWithWolves said:

 

When you're 800 miles from buddies or brothers, online's all ya got. 😁 Throw in VOIP and it's a good way to stay in touch.  Even if they were in the area, sometimes it's nice to just hop on and play for a half hour instead of spending time driving there and back again.

 

But kids would be missing out on some great social experiences, I think.   And my feelings won't be  hurt if that's your target market--it makes sense!  But I do think a remote couch co-op does too,for some, even is it's not technically correct.

 

Yeah... we've always talked about the potential of having people play each other remotely.  But only on an "invite" and personal level.  For example... if I wanted to play my brother in Baseball (he lives in NC and me in CA), then we could "friend" each other and play together. 

This option won't be available on launch... something that would probably take a year or so to put together if we find that there are enough people asking for it.

50 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

I was a little disappointed that the hardcore gamers in Italy (IGN) didn't react nicely to the idea...

Don't bother with IGN Italy, they are a little bit... "supponing". Think instead of all italians that will support Amico!

Thought you would all enjoy this...

We are launching a bunch of new merchandise products in our Intellivision store tomorrow. Gonna beat the Black Friday crowd. Will have a 25% off code as well for folks on our Mailing List! Not only will we be including new things like women cut t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, etc. but we will have a total of 4 different designs for everything... including (and introducing)... the Running Man Family!

Hmmmm... 🧐

Quote

 

Awesome links and worth a read though despite the clunky translation. For some eye candy - here is a high res view of the Amico console with controller and mobile app from GameRome 2019 Part 2.

 

Quote

It's kinda funny... but in this photo there are 2 super major things/secrets that I can see right out in the open that are so important and that we haven't yet revealed.  Very subtle stuff.  But if you knew what we were doing... you could pick it out right away.

As an avid graphic adventure player, my mind has already clicked the "Look at" "Amico" buttons an found one of them: The lights on the console.

The second one is clearly more mysterious, but it could be the virtual buttons on the smartphone, the microphone on the controller... but those have already been revealed.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..................................

Oh and by the way, the IGN Italy article failed to mention that all of the games will be required to feature couch coop. No mention of the 10 Amico commandments either where the journalist could have found that free 3D roaming games were not allowed. Another case of lack of research, I'm afraid. The Italian users commenting assumed this was another Ouya partly because of that, most of the unique features of the Amico were not mentioned in the article and only the family approach was brought up.

23 minutes ago, IntelliMission said:

 

 

As an avid graphic adventure player, my mind has already clicked the "Look at" "Amico" buttons an found one of them: The lights on the console.

 

The second one is clearly more mysterious, but it could be the virtual buttons on the smartphone, the microphone on the controller... but those have already been revealed.

 

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..................................

Nope... way more hidden.  Yet right in front of everyone.  

5 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Nope... way more hidden.  Yet right in front of everyone.  

 

 

Cell phone charger

8 minutes ago, Swami said:

Cell phone charger

That's a good one!  But no.... that isn't it. 

btw... I couldn't say even if someone got it correct.  I just wanted to tease everyone. 

4 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

That's a good one!  But no.... that isn't it. 

 

btw... I couldn't say even if someone got it correct.  I just wanted to tease everyone. 

 

 

 

 

I'm gonna take one more guess. There is a thingy on the back that either lets it hang on the wall or makes it wireless.

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

btw... I couldn't say even if someone got it correct.  I just wanted to tease everyone. 

 

What a jerk!!!! More on that in December update? The hidden not hidden thing that is.

2 hours ago, Swami said:

I'm gonna take one more guess. There is a thingy on the back that either lets it hang on the wall or makes it wireless.

Nope.  That isn't it.