Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

10 minutes ago, atarifan88 said:

Yeah, our hero's are at that age.

Not just 70s groups. New Wave band Ultravox signer Midge Ure (He wrote 'Do They Know It's Christmas' for Band Aid) now looks like Captain Picard & Paul Schaffer had a transporter mishap.

1 hour ago, IMBerzerk said:

I got the pic from your site, but I remember reading this from back in the early 90s when I bought the first issue Signals CD while in College.  I thought it was really cool how geeky they could be and be proud of it!  Lol!

 

I'm sure it would hit a high note for many people having Geddy Lee endorse the Amico.  The fan base of Rush is massive.  The Blah Blah comment was a reference to Alex's RRHoF speech.  It took Rush and Yes a millennium to get in. They both were pissed about it, so Alex figured in his sarcastic humor, and made a great speech!  😂🤣😂

 

At any rate, can't wait to see Baseball re-imagined!

 

Hehe yeah.  I first noticed on the LP I got from the Columbia Record Club.  Still have it!

21 hours ago, MantaNZ said:

Awesome!

 

Speaking of ads - this is one for the first console I had, around 1981/2. Freaky thing is the voiceover sounds like my father. I’m trying to find out if it was him (hard to tell 100% due to effects and age etc) as this very ad could be the sole reason I’m a gamer.

 

https://youtu.be/jvTpA3hafdA

 

EDIT: It’s not him. Carry on...

Wow I had no idea there was a New Zealand rebranded video game called Force2 (also the 1292 or 1392, Force 2 being the much better name). Looks like they were all made by Audiosonic and rebranded in various markets. Very OG Intellivision like controllers except with analog joysticks and a swapped top to bottom configuration. Also that ad - like a little time capsule from the 80's. I am assuming your Dad did some voice over work in NZ. All very cool stuff, learned something today, thanks for posting that!

Just a bit of Intellivision Entertainment Europe news, they are hiring long time gaming industry vet Leo Jackstädt as a consultant come 1.1.2020 (the article's photo shows he joined 1.1.1990 so maybe he is retiring instead ). It's in German but lots of good info on how closely Intellivision is working with the Bavarian government on building their game development industry. Sticking with my prediction the Amico game paid development model is going to launch several important game studios in the coming years:

Here is the Google Translate:

Intellivision Amico: Leo Jackstädt joins as a consultant
December 11, 2019

Joins 1.1.1990 as Consultant at Intellivision Entertainment Europe GmbH: Leo Jackstädt (Photo: Intellivision)

With Leo Jackstädt, Intellivision Entertainment Europe GmbH is hiring former Sierra and Blizzard PR managers as consultants.

Leo Jackstädt will accompany the market launch of the game console Intellivision Amico as an external consultant and advise Intellivision Entertainment Europe GmbH based in Nuremberg.

Jackstädt worked as a PR manager for Sierra, Vivendi Universal and Blizzard in the 1990s, serving brands such as "Diablo," "StarCraft," "Warcraft," "Leisure Suit Larry," and "Half-Life," before becoming the games portal in 2003 Gamona co-founded. From 2011, the licensed physician headed the central purchasing department of a large-scale hospital - now Jackstädt returns to the games industry.

It will not stay that way: starting in 2020, two product managers will be starting at Nuremberg's European headquarters, which will be responsible for developing the games in coordination with local studios and the Intellivision headquarters in Irvine, California. In parallel, a sales, PR and marketing structure will be created to prepare for the Amico launch on October 10, 2020.

Currently ten German studios are working on 17 titles. The Free State of Bavaria will provide 450,000 euros for new editions of the four classic video game "Pong", "Shark! Shark! "," Intellivision Skiing "and" Moon Patrol ". A few days ago it was also announced that Intellivision receives additional government subsidies from the 50 million euro pot of the Federal Ministry of Transport in the context of computer games promotion: "SNAFOO" and "Biplanes" are subsidized with over 160,000 euros .

2 hours ago, Blarneo said:

Not just 70s groups. New Wave band Ultravox signer Midge Ure (He wrote 'Do They Know It's Christmas' for Band Aid) now looks like Captain Picard & Paul Schaffer had a transporter mishap.

 

Holy pooh.  I never thought I'd see a mention of my favourite band from my teens on AtariAge.  I know there's probably lots of Brits and other Europeans on here that would've heard of them but they never broke America.

1 hour ago, GrudgeQ said:

Wow I had no idea there was a New Zealand rebranded video game called Force2 (also the 1292 or 1392, Force 2 being the much better name). Looks like they were all made by Audiosonic and rebranded in various markets. Very OG Intellivision like controllers except with analog joysticks and a swapped top to bottom configuration. Also that ad - like a little time capsule from the 80's. I am assuming your Dad did some voice over work in NZ. All very cool stuff, learned something today, thanks for posting that!

Yeah, they were made (or possibly just assembled) here in NZ by Fountain Electronics. They were very common. I knew more people with a Force 2 than an Atari, that's for sure. I now have the complete collection of Fountain branded games. There were a couple released here like Chess and the hobby module but I believe those were not branded Fountain.

Yeah, Dad was a radio announcer way back when, before getting into behind the scenes TV stuff.

7 hours ago, intvsteve said:

The shout out by Rush is the only contemporaneous one I know of, but FWIW what I’ve gathered over the years relating to music is here. 
 

EDIT: Various links to external sites on that page may be bad. So much of the web has “retired”. 

What about all my original Intellivision-inspired compositions used in the podcast, Steve?

2 hours ago, insertclevernamehere said:

Holy pooh.  I never thought I'd see a mention of my favourite band from my teens on AtariAge.  I know there's probably lots of Brits and other Europeans on here that would've heard of them but they never broke America.

Big fan of Ultravox and Midge's solo work.  I may be a California native, but pretty much all my favorite music from the '80s came from the UK.

"Holy pooh.  I never thought I'd see a mention of my favourite band from my teens on AtariAge.  I know there's probably lots of Brits and other Europeans on here that would've heard of them but they never broke America".

Ultravox was fairly popular here and received some airplay. With my hard earned money as a kid BITD, I bought the Quartet album from the local record store and rode it home on my BMX bike with yellow Mag wheels.  haha   Loved that album and still listen to it (and their GH CD) regularly.  

27 minutes ago, nurmix said:

What about all my original Intellivision-inspired compositions used in the podcast, Steve?

 

Track lists? Links? CD jackets? I’ll watch my mailbox.

22 minutes ago, intvsteve said:

Track lists? Links? CD jackets? I’ll watch my mailbox.

I have several other CD albums I put together for different music projects back in the late '90s / early '20s - none of those had anything Intellivision-related though.  But as far as my Intellivisionaries music... I haven't done that yet, but it might not be a bad idea, actually.  I can include alternate / extended mixes, and maybe open it up to outside remixers as well.  Could be fun!

7 hours ago, intvsteve said:

Hehe yeah.  I first noticed on the LP I got from the Columbia Record Club.  Still have it!

I'll bet you won't guess who I am...

I'll give you a hint.. I donated a ton of my Intellivision stuff I had collected over the years to you when I shut down my website... The Intellivision Bodega...

I got stuck with this tag because I had registered for this forum quite a few years back I was building my MAME cabinet... which is a BerZerk cabinet.  Kinda sucks... but I didn't want to start a new account. 

Here's one of my now ancient looking banners... LOL!

1 hour ago, IMBerzerk said:

I'll bet you won't guess who I am...

 

I'll give you a hint.. I donated a ton of my Intellivision stuff I had collected over the years to you when I shut down my website... The Intellivision Bodega...

 

I got stuck with this tag because I had registered for this forum quite a few years back I was building my MAME cabinet... which is a BerZerk cabinet.  Kinda sucks... but I didn't want to start a new account. 

 

Here's one of my now ancient looking banners... LOL!

 

Got any Intellivision stuff you'd like to donate to me? Hahahaha.

1 hour ago, MantaNZ said:

Got any Intellivision stuff you'd like to donate to me? Hahahaha.

Sorry... it was all pics and fun stuff...nothing physical.   But you're about 20 years too late anyway.  LOL!.

6 hours ago, IMBerzerk said:

Sorry... it was all pics and fun stuff...nothing physical.   But you're about 20 years too late anyway.  LOL!.

Haha, better late than never?

I need to get an Intellivision. Might just wait for Amico though

21 hours ago, GrudgeQ said:

Wow I had no idea there was a New Zealand rebranded video game called Force2 (also the 1292 or 1392, Force 2 being the much better name). Looks like they were all made by Audiosonic and rebranded in various markets. Very OG Intellivision like controllers except with analog joysticks and a swapped top to bottom configuration. Also that ad - like a little time capsule from the 80's. I am assuming your Dad did some voice over work in NZ. All very cool stuff, learned something today, thanks for posting that!

I didn't either until he told me about it!  I can't wait to add one to my collection!! 

 

20 hours ago, GrudgeQ said:

Just a bit of Intellivision Entertainment Europe news, they are hiring long time gaming industry vet Leo Jackstädt as a consultant come 1.1.2020 (the article's photo shows he joined 1.1.1990 so maybe he is retiring instead ). It's in German but lots of good info on how closely Intellivision is working with the Bavarian government on building their game development industry. Sticking with my prediction the Amico game paid development model is going to launch several important game studios in the coming years:

 

Here is the Google Translate:

 

Intellivision Amico: Leo Jackstädt joins as a consultant
December 11, 2019

 

Joins 1.1.1990 as Consultant at Intellivision Entertainment Europe GmbH: Leo Jackstädt (Photo: Intellivision)

 

With Leo Jackstädt, Intellivision Entertainment Europe GmbH is hiring former Sierra and Blizzard PR managers as consultants.

Leo Jackstädt will accompany the market launch of the game console Intellivision Amico as an external consultant and advise Intellivision Entertainment Europe GmbH based in Nuremberg.

Jackstädt worked as a PR manager for Sierra, Vivendi Universal and Blizzard in the 1990s, serving brands such as "Diablo," "StarCraft," "Warcraft," "Leisure Suit Larry," and "Half-Life," before becoming the games portal in 2003 Gamona co-founded. From 2011, the licensed physician headed the central purchasing department of a large-scale hospital - now Jackstädt returns to the games industry.

It will not stay that way: starting in 2020, two product managers will be starting at Nuremberg's European headquarters, which will be responsible for developing the games in coordination with local studios and the Intellivision headquarters in Irvine, California. In parallel, a sales, PR and marketing structure will be created to prepare for the Amico launch on October 10, 2020.

Currently ten German studios are working on 17 titles. The Free State of Bavaria will provide 450,000 euros for new editions of the four classic video game "Pong", "Shark! Shark! "," Intellivision Skiing "and" Moon Patrol ". A few days ago it was also announced that Intellivision receives additional government subsidies from the 50 million euro pot of the Federal Ministry of Transport in the context of computer games promotion: "SNAFOO" and "Biplanes" are subsidized with over 160,000 euros .

Yeah!!  Once again brought a huge AAA talent to the team.  It made the headlines and major gaming news in Germany!  And the best part is that because of this... other major heads of divisions in Germany have been reaching out to Hans in hopes of joining the team.  People in the industry are really responding positively to what we're doing.

6 hours ago, MantaNZ said:

Haha, better late than never?

 

I need to get an Intellivision. Might just wait for Amico though

If you can... you should get an original Intellivision.  I will make you appreciate the updates we're doing even more! 

It can get expensive though... so my recommendation would be to pick up an Intellivision Flashback unit as it has a ton of games built in (although the emulation isn't perfect).  But if you can afford to do so... definitely browse Ebay and pick up an original with a bunch of carts.  There are somewhat affordable "package deals" listed all the time.

18 hours ago, nurmix said:

Big fan of Ultravox and Midge's solo work.  I may be a California native, but pretty much all my favorite music from the '80s came from the UK.

 

Same with Toronto, they both showed up on our music video shows and channels.  They had a great sound.    

Wow! I wasn't sure anybody even heard of Ultravox when I posted that. 🤣 This is sort of like family. Except old farts. 😍

19 hours ago, nurmix said:

Big fan of Ultravox and Midge's solo work.  I may be a California native, but pretty much all my favorite music from the '80s came from the UK.

 

Californian and no room for Oingo Boingo. Not even a hint of Missing Persons!

😥

22 hours ago, insertclevernamehere said:

Holy pooh.

... Guilty Pooh...

Really nice article by Valerie Vacante (on the SXSW advisory board, in the tech startup scene, Top 25 women in Tech, etc.) for VRScout on the use of AR in the Amico Club app. She touches on the use of AR in promotion but then goes into the history of the Atari/Intellivision rivalry and covers the Amico concept & games. Really nice write-up and she seems like a fan just from the amount & detail of the coverage.

On 11/12/2019 at 2:40 PM, GrudgeQ said:

I know - those smooth plastic lines. Don't be fooled by ones from Walmart that look exactly like that, this one is hand crafted from free-range, artisanal plastic. Fortunately I just picked up my Amico T-Shirt so I had something to show it off with.

OT: Merchandise for Intellivision was at Walmart at one time, and now it's gone? What is the general word on Inty-related merchandise going forward?

47 minutes ago, GrudgeQ said:

Really nice article by Valerie Vacante (on the SXSW advisory board, in the tech startup scene, Top 25 women in Tech, etc.) for VRScout on the use of AR in the Amico Club app. She touches on the use of AR in promotion but then goes into the history of the Atari/Intellivision rivalry and covers the Amico concept & games. Really nice write-up and she seems like a fan just from the amount & detail of the coverage.

That article is way too long. Valerie must be one of those cheeky Intellivision fanboys. She clearly doesn't have a clue about the industry and how everyone should be happy downloading free mobile games from checkoutmywebsitethisisnotspam.com (This message is not ironic at all).

Is there gonna be a way to obtain the special Intellivision card without making a merchandise purchase?

(That or mailing in for a free sweeps entry)