Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

Would be fun to see a Ready Player One style game, where you race against each other in several warped or mashed old type games to get keys to gates..etc.  

 

Reading the book gave all the great nostalgic challenges rather than what the movie offered.  Picking up all the pieces to Zork, or playing Joust vs a D&D character, or even having to fight through a D&D style game.  Whatever...it could go a million different ways to get to the end result.  Just would be fun.

14 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

I wanted to lighten the mood a bit by sharing something that folks in here might think is cool (Tis the season to be jolly M*ther F*ckers!).  

I'll be sharing this today on social media, but wanted to post it here first...

When designing the new logo for Skiing... me and our Art Director Mike Dietz (Earthworm Jim, Disney's Aladdin, Cool Spot, The Neverhood, etc.) were standing around his computer looking at different drawings he and the artist from the developer had come up with based on some of our notes and ideas.

Mike's first game system was an Intellivision and he loves it dearly.  He brought in his original Intellivision from childhood and it's been sitting on his desk for over a year.  Many great childhood memories and one of the inspirations for him loving games and being in the industry.

It was at that point that I looked down and saw that one of the controllers had an overlay in it...

 

It was this...

 

...and the new Intellivision Skiing logo was born!

 

Subtle, but so important to me that we keep as much DNA as possible.


Thought you would all enjoy that.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I absolutely love stuff like this! Which reminded me to ask a question I thought of the other day - are there any easter eggs in regards to to console design itself? Any specific meausrements or anything that you decided to throw in that people may not notice but you know are there and "in its DNA"? Obviously the controllers are a clear throwback but I was wondering about the console itself as it's quite different looking from the big 'ol '70s design!

 

But yeah, little things like this show how much love and care is going into Amico... HURRY UP, OCTOBER!

1 hour ago, IMBerzerk said:

Would be fun to see a Ready Player One style game, where you race against each other in several warped or mashed old type games to get keys to gates..etc.  

 

Reading the book gave all the great nostalgic challenges rather than what the movie offered.  Picking up all the pieces to Zork, or playing Joust vs a D&D character, or even having to fight through a D&D style game.  Whatever...it could go a million different ways to get to the end result.  Just would be fun.

Yeah I think the movie probably struggled to get all the licenses needed. Funny how you can write about anything, mention any product but as soon as you try and put it on screen you get "GIMME MY MONEY!" haha.

8 hours ago, MantaNZ said:

Yeah I think the movie probably struggled to get all the licenses needed. Funny how you can write about anything, mention any product but as soon as you try and put it on screen you get "GIMME MY MONEY!" haha.

I don't mean for the games to be exactly like the movie/book, but something in way of the type.  Meaning a mash-up of several games into one.  A video games Olympics...fun treasure hunt...flag chase through a scene in a movie.  Whatever.  Seems like something family fun that triggers fun throwback memories could be done based on the RPO model.

21 hours ago, IntelliMission said:

The Amico looks better every day... Good job, Tommy! These last news about the big Japanese developers are great.

 

I have a couple of speculative ideas:

 

1) It looks like the system will definitely have hardcore games, but Intellivision Entertainment is afraid that complex games will scare casual gamers. We harcore gamers can tell them apart and will probably buy some of the casual ones for multiplayer fun, but there could be the case of casual/non gamers accidentally buying hardcore games and getting frustrated. This is why Tommy has already explained that there will be different difficulty levels, but I'm still curious about how all this will be implemented. I wonder if the Amico could have some way of easily identify casual/non gamers by their user data and point them to the right games in the store. Another option would be making sure that every single game has an extremely easy and casual mode that starts by default, adding a "only for advanced players" option in the main menu that opens what we normally understand as a 1 player game for modern systems.

 

2) The console and its games are being presented in a very attractive way by Amico and its team. In combination to the 10$ price tag, this could create an interesting "brand appreciation" by Amico buyers and potentially increase software sales. Once the trust has been stablished, hardcore games could start buying casual games (card/board games), and maybe casual gamers could become interested in more complex experiences if the difficulty level is increased very slowly. Even if this doesn't happen and each type of gamer buys only the products aimed for them, a great catalog of cheap games for a console where you have already enjoyed several great couch coop titles, some of them for free, can be the perfect catalyst to boost software sales on the system.

1.  Yes.  We have a very simple way of letting people know (right on the menu/game) what age group, how many people and level of difficulty.

 

2.  Yes.  My main 2 goals with our customer base is to provide Trust and Value.  When you have those 2 things nailed... people are more apt to try new things.

 

21 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

I know Cloudy has been mentioned a lot. What about the other one? That confirmed in the works?

Nothing yet.  Will want to see how Cloudy Mountain does first.

 

 

19 hours ago, LePionnier said:

Really cool logo !   What a team you have. I never tought about the ii ! Really cool !

 

Tommy, what can you tell us about Tron ? I have just recently discovered the 2010 movie.

Sound and music was really great and I can imagine it with your little touch on Amico !

I just saw your comment from the video of papa pete saying Amico will have Tron, but not the one from 1982.

Could be really great with a story, and all the games from the movie.

Also, the motobiker game could look a little like snafu, what will you do to differentiate them ? 

I was referring to the original Tron Deadly Discs game which we are redoing.

 

 

16 hours ago, Battlefish said:

This reminds me: if there's a long period of time since we submit a developer inquiry, does that necessarily mean our proposal(s) are rejected? Or would there be a specific notice if that were the case?

We have received hundreds of inquiries and only have 3 main producers.  But worth following up with to make sure they received the inquiry.  The new website (IntellivisionAmico.com) has info for developers (on the contact page).

We also have too many things in production already.  We need to pace ourselves with the money we have available.  Great problem to have... but none-the-less... a problem. 

 

Yet again... another reason I crack up when no-nothing YouTubers or message board trolls state how no developer is ever going to want to do a game for us because of "exclusivity". 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2019 by Tommy Tallarico

13 hours ago, Swami said:

I wonder where Zombie Panic in Wonderland lies in the Amico mission/commandments? Cartoon violence and no blood, just pink hearts! Butt-load of machine gun firing, though.

 

 

 

That isn't cartoon violence.  Cartoon violence is stuff you would see on Bugs Bunny cartoons.  Bodies shaking as they get pummeled by machine gun fire is definitely violent and something we wouldn't put on Amico.

Out of curiosity, I looked up the rating.  It's TEEN rated (which is what I would have thought). 

https://www.esrb.org/ratings/28620/Zombie+Panic+in+Wonderland/

 

This is why we don't want TEEN games on our system.  It just means MILD violence, blood, sexual content, etc. 

Let Nintendo continue to be the KINGS of blood, violence, bad language and sexual content... not us.  

 

 

11 hours ago, IMBerzerk said:

Dude .. you just get things right ...period!

Looks awesome.  

Thanks!  That really means a lot!

 

 

9 hours ago, MantaNZ said:

I absolutely love stuff like this! Which reminded me to ask a question I thought of the other day - are there any easter eggs in regards to to console design itself? Any specific meausrements or anything that you decided to throw in that people may not notice but you know are there and "in its DNA"? Obviously the controllers are a clear throwback but I was wondering about the console itself as it's quite different looking from the big 'ol '70s design!

 

But yeah, little things like this show how much love and care is going into Amico... HURRY UP, OCTOBER!

Yes!  Many, many, many Easter Eggs.  So many!

 

 

 

9 hours ago, MantaNZ said:

Yeah I think the movie probably struggled to get all the licenses needed. Funny how you can write about anything, mention any product but as soon as you try and put it on screen you get "GIMME MY MONEY!" haha.

I have a good friend who is friends with the author of the books & film.  I told him to mention that we'll give him anything from Intellivision FREE for Ready Player Two!!!  Need to at least see the Running Man somewhere in the background. 

 

 

23 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

I was referring to the original Tron Deadly Discs game which we are redoing.

Ok, another game put in my wishlist!

2 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

That isn't cartoon violence.  Cartoon violence is stuff you would see on Bugs Bunny cartoons.  Bodies shaking as they get pummeled by machine gun fire is definitely violent and something we wouldn't put on Amico.

Out of curiosity, I looked up the rating.  It's TEEN rated (which is what I would have thought). 

https://www.esrb.org/ratings/28620/Zombie+Panic+in+Wonderland/

 

This is why we don't want TEEN games on our system.  It just means MILD violence, blood, sexual content, etc. 

Let Nintendo continue to be the KINGS of blood, violence, bad language and sexual content... not us.  

 

 

You sure love bashing Nintendo over and over.

 

This thread was cited Nintendo 175 times vs Sony 68 times and Microsoft 64 times.

 

Most games made by Nintendo have rates E and E10 with few exception like metroid series might be rated T or above.

 

There are people here on Atariage enjoy Nintendo games.

 

Keeping bashing Nintendo might not be the best tactic to promote a new video game system. Or a family device what you call it.

Edited December 28, 2019 by Serguei2
Typos

2 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Nothing yet.  Will want to see how Cloudy Mountain does first.

 

 

I’m more of a Treasure of Tarmin kind of guy so would love to see that one reimagined!

Treasure of Tarmin is more of an rpg.  An action-adventure would hit a wider audience.  Would a new Treasure of Tarmin still be first person perspective.

 

So the intellivision AD&D remake on Amico is officially called Cloudy Mountain?

Edited December 28, 2019 by mr_me

1 hour ago, Serguei2 said:

You sure love bashing Nintendo over and over.

 

This thread was cited Nintendo 175 times vs Sony 68 times and Microsoft 64 times.

 

Most games made by Nintendo have rates E and E10 with few exception like metroid series might be rated T or above.

 

There are people here on Atariage enjoy Nintendo games.

 

Keeping bashing Nintendo might not be the best tactic to promote a new video game system. Or a family device what you call it.

Tommy isn't bashing Nintendo games or Nintendo fans, he is pointing out the mostly fictional market position they keep showing in their ads. They paint themselves as purely family friendly, play together fun for all ages. The truth is Nintendo *first party* games are almost all family friendly but *not* a huge chunk of the games sold for the Switch. From a parent' perspective you always need to make sure what your kids are playing on there, just like an XBox or PSx. Also they show single player experiences as multiplayer (oh but those paid actors are all having a good time watching - and doing nothing). And as he recently pointed out, their true in the same room multiplayer involved $2500 worth of Switches. Also really disappointed in their pay to win/play mobile efforts so far, at least the Switch hasn't fallen prey to that yet. I don't hate Nintendo, Breath to the Wild, probably game of the decade, best overall studio for quality - Nintendo - but Nintendo wants to position itself and it's *platforms* (not just games) to be one things an when they are actually another. I don't feel calling that to light is bashing or hating.

Edited December 28, 2019 by GrudgeQ

6 minutes ago, GrudgeQ said:

Tommy isn't bashing Nintendo games or Nintendo fans, he is pointing out the mostly fictional market position they keep showing in their ads. They paint themselves as purely family friendly, play together fun for all ages. The truth is Nintendo *first party* games are almost all family friendly but *not* a huge chunk of the games sold for the Switch. From a parent' perspective you always need to make sure what your kids are playing on there, just like an XBox or PSx. Also they show single player experiences as multiplayer (oh but those paid actors are all having a good time watching - and doing nothing). And as he recently pointed out, their true in the same room multiplayer involved $2500 worth of Switches. Also really disappointed in their pay to win/play mobile efforts so far, at least the Switch hasn't fallen prey to that yet. I don't hate Nintendo, Breath to the Wild, probably game of the decade, best overall studio for quality - Nintendo - but Nintendo wants to position itself and it's *platforms* (not just games) to be one things an when they are actually another. I don't feel calling that to light is bashing or hating.

 

Then, parents shouldn't buy any games are not suited for kids. It's their responsibilities.

 

Unless kids are old enough to earn money and buy games for themselves.

 

 

There's a bit of nintendo bashing going on.  Nothing wrong with it as long as it's fair. And if it causes you to lose a couple of nintendo fans but gain three others than you're ahead.

Just now, Serguei2 said:

 

Then, parents shouldn't buy any games are not suited for kids. It's their responsibilities.

 

Unless kids are old enough to earn money and buy games for themselves.

 

And that is why you shouldn't buy a Switch - as a parent you have to learn about the games and monitor what they buy. Thank you for making my point. As for point #2, quite frankly, even if a kid can earn enough money to buy their games I don't think letting them get anything they want is a great parenting strategy.

18 minutes ago, Serguei2 said:

 

Then, parents shouldn't buy any games are not suited for kids. It's their responsibilities.

 

Unless kids are old enough to earn money and buy games for themselves.

 

 

I agree a video game system should not enable a parent to simply have a latchkey kid, parents must parent their children. I love Nintendo and am 46. As a family we’ve had every Nintendo system since the N64...I parent and control what my kids play. Nintendo may let teen games on the system, but that doesn’t mean we let the teen games in our children’s hands!

 

I know Tommy means well and only wants to point out Intellivision will filter those games for the parent, but I do too feel a lot of “squawking” goes on about the other players in the industry and their shortcomings.

1 hour ago, Serguei2 said:

You sure love bashing Nintendo over and over.

 

This thread was cited Nintendo 175 times vs Sony 68 times and Microsoft 64 times.

 

Most games made by Nintendo have rates E and E10 with few exception like metroid series might be rated T or above.

 

There are people here on Atariage enjoy Nintendo games.

 

Keeping bashing Nintendo might not be the best tactic to promote a new video game system. Or a family device what you call it.

 

 

Stating FACTS about Nintendo and the content they allow on their platform isn't bashing them. 

You may find this article interesting from earlier this year.  They know what they're doing.

 

 

 

 

I like Nintendo games as well.  Doesn't mean I don't have the right to bring up the fact that they allow more violent and sexual content on their machine than any other.

 

And yes... Nintendo keeps coming up over and over on this thread because everyone keeps telling us that we're doomed and stupid because Nintendo already does what we're trying to accomplish and we're idiots for trying to compete. 

All I said is that there are more violent, abusive and offensive games on the Switch than any other platform.  It's a fact... whether you want to acknowledge it or not.  And you want to try to make me out to be the "bad guy" because I'm choosing to point it out?  And trying to show people the harsh reality and differences between what we are doing and what they are?

And by the way... their Parental Controls are complicated and lacking as well (bringing up the Parental Controls argument is a little weak if you've never tried to set them).   Again... that isn't "bashing"... it's pointing out another item that will differentiate us from them.

 

I appreciate Nintendo and their games just as much as the next person.  But don't try to silence my speech that not many people are willing to bring to light.  And for the only reason to explain to folks what makes us different (because certain know-nothing YouTubers are so easily to call us morons because "Nintendo is already doing what we're doing".  No they aren't.  Not on the scale and extent of what we are.

Here are a just a few images from Switch games that you WON'T ever see on Amico...

 

Enjoy...

 

p.s.:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a nice headline... and yet again... something that is very different about our systems:  https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/nintendo-switch-violent-games-3308414

Again... people will bring up that there are Parental Controls on the Switch.  If you're going to bring that up as an argument, first you must list all of the steps you need to take to enable all 4 of the areas of control.  And tell everyone how long it took and whether or not an average "mom" would be willing to understand and operate. 

I'll be waiting. 

 

 

 

4 hours ago, IMBerzerk said:

I don't mean for the games to be exactly like the movie/book, but something in way of the type.  Meaning a mash-up of several games into one.  A video games Olympics...fun treasure hunt...flag chase through a scene in a movie.  Whatever.  Seems like something family fun that triggers fun throwback memories could be done based on the RPO model.

Yeah, I agree. It would be very cool.

25 minutes ago, Serguei2 said:

 

Then, parents shouldn't buy any games are not suited for kids. It's their responsibilities.

 

Unless kids are old enough to earn money and buy games for themselves.

 

 

Question for you...

Do you have kids?

If so, how many and how old.

 

 

2 minutes ago, MarioMan88 said:

I know Tommy means well and only wants to point out Intellivision will filter those games for the parent, but I do too feel a lot of “squawking” goes on about the other players in the industry and their shortcomings.

People "bash" us all the time saying we are crazy to go up against the big 3 (4 if you count mobile) and that we offer nothing different.  So when I point out the differences I'm "squawking"?

Hardware companies go after each other since the beginning.  Remember Nintendo & Sega in the early 90's?  (Sega won that marketing battle!).  Microsoft & Sony go at it all the time (as recently as last week).

Coke/Pepsi, McDonalds/Burger King, etc., etc...

Totally fine to point out differences in your product.  Especially when people are saying your product shouldn't exist because "Product A" already does.  (even though they are very different and go for a different audience).