Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

5 minutes ago, Swami said:

1 PM pacific time today. 

dang it. so I have to wait until 4pm EST. 😭

One a completely different tangent, @Tommy Tallarico I'd love to hear you do a weekly or monthly podcast, something like a game by game for Intellivision (original) and Amico, with history, behind the scenes, talk about music, and anything else!

34 minutes ago, Swami said:

1 PM pacific time today. 

Indeed,  I am just being silly with excitement.

TJ 😀

51 minutes ago, AtariSociety said:

Indeed,  I am just being silly with excitement.

TJ 😀

I have a group of friends and we are all gonna order 10 of them and right now I'm still working with another group of people to try and lock down a whole bunch of these it's going to be a big seller for us..... I'm just kidding, I actually don't think there'll be 2600 people waiting at that exact time to order so if you are I'm pretty sure it's a guarantee. I wonder how many people are on the mailing list?

10 minutes ago, Juice said:

I have a group of friends and we are all gonna order 10 of them and right now I'm still working with another group of people to try and lock down a whole bunch of these it's going to be a big seller for us..... I'm just kidding, I actually don't think there'll be 2600 people waiting at that exact time to order so if you are I'm pretty sure it's a guarantee. I wonder how many people are on the mailing list?

I do seem to recall in one of his recent interviews when he was talking about the FE that the mailing list was tens of thousands?

Which I think it is safe to say not every one of them are going to want to get in on the FE; but I also expect he would not release 2600 FE consoles if he did not think there was enough demand for them.


As an aside I did have a question about the Amico, or more specifically the controllers.

I was wondering if (hopefully) many, many years down the road the batteries in the controllers start getting weak and need replacing; how difficult will they be to swap out?

I am curious if they are an Apple level of miserable to get at and replace; or Samsung 5-minutes-and-done easy, or something in between?

Hopefully this would not be a problem for quite some time, but I was curious!

I would only buy the Founders Edition to receive the console some days earlier than the rest of the world, but I guess the delay shipping the console to Europe means that we lose this advantage over here... Tommy, can you confirm that?

Tommy's interview with Vara Dark was great, because Vara is strongly against censorship and basically plays modern games solo. She's far from the target market of the Amico and yet she will buy one. One of the most funny parts was when Tommy asked his usual question about the favorite moment playing video games and Vara said it happened playing KOTOR... 🙃

EDIT: Astrosmash looks great! I understand the music will not be on the final game and the lyrics were quite ironic, but perhaps it was a bit too sentimental for this... 😇 I would have used some more happy song with "fall" in the lyrics, such as Just a Man from Faith No More (or Falling in Love (Is Hard on the Knee) by your cousin, if you don't have the rights for FNM 😎 )

12 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Designed originally by John Sohl and released in 1981, the original Astrosmash game on Intellivision was one of the most popular and biggest selling games for the original system. So much so that it was ported to the Atari 2600 under the name Astroblast.

Astroblast on the atari was one of my favorite games. Played great with the paddle controllers!

Oh, and I'm watching the Astrosmash trailer now...

46 minutes ago, Tavi said:

I do seem to recall in one of his recent interviews when he was talking about the FE that the mailing list was tens of thousands?

Which I think it is safe to say not every one of them are going to want to get in on the FE; but I also expect he would not release 2600 FE consoles if he did not think there was enough demand for them.


As an aside I did have a question about the Amico, or more specifically the controllers.

I was wondering if (hopefully) many, many years down the road the batteries in the controllers start getting weak and need replacing; how difficult will they be to swap out?

I am curious if they are an Apple level of miserable to get at and replace; or Samsung 5-minutes-and-done easy, or something in between?

Hopefully this would not be a problem for quite some time, but I was curious!

We can't tell you that you can open the controllers and swap out a battery.  But I'm sure someone on YouTube will at some point. 

That being said... after years and years of use... probably best to just get another new one.  Trying to keep the controller prices as low as we possibly can.

47 minutes ago, Tavi said:

I do seem to recall in one of his recent interviews when he was talking about the FE that the mailing list was tens of thousands?

Which I think it is safe to say not every one of them are going to want to get in on the FE; but I also expect he would not release 2600 FE consoles if he did not think there was enough demand for them.


As an aside I did have a question about the Amico, or more specifically the controllers.

I was wondering if (hopefully) many, many years down the road the batteries in the controllers start getting weak and need replacing; how difficult will they be to swap out?

I am curious if they are an Apple level of miserable to get at and replace; or Samsung 5-minutes-and-done easy, or something in between?

Hopefully this would not be a problem for quite some time, but I was curious!

In the renders shown on the controller video there are screw holes in the back of the controller. I am sure Intellivision Entertainment can't promote or recommend home battery replacement due to lawyers BUT it doesn't look hard to get into. Also I would suspect the battery is below the main board (which would have the screen mounted on it and therefore be very near the front) and so should be accessible as soon as you remove that back. You may need one of those security bit drivers to get into it but for me this doesn't look difficult at all.

2 minutes ago, GrudgeQ said:

In the renders shown on the controller video there are screw holes in the back of the controller. I am sure Intellivision Entertainment can't promote or recommend home battery replacement due to lawyers BUT it doesn't look hard to get into. Also I would suspect the battery is below the main board (which would have the screen mounted on it and therefore be very near the front) and so should be accessible as soon as you remove that back. You may need one of those security bit drivers to get into it but for me this doesn't look difficult at all.

I’m sure sure on day one people like ETA Prime will have a tear down video 😂

2 minutes ago, MarioMan88 said:

I’m sure sure on day one people like ETA Prime will have a tear down video 😂

I love ETA Prime teardowns! Probably because I have had a tendency to crack open electronics since a young age too. I can also recommend the YouTuber Big Clive although he does more terrible quality, often dangerous imported home/industrial appliances type stuff. Hilarious and educational.

13 minutes ago, MarioMan88 said:

I’m sure sure on day one people like ETA Prime will have a tear down video 😂

I remember when the first Apple Watch came out some guy spent $800 to get one off eBay so he could be the first one to post a video about it. However, his video instead became about how he felt the need to re-evaluate his priorities in life.😂

3 minutes ago, GrudgeQ said:

I love ETA Prime teardowns! Probably because I have had a tendency to crack open electronics since a young age too. I can also recommend the YouTuber Big Clive although he does more terrible quality, often dangerous imported home/industrial appliances type stuff. Hilarious and educational.

I’ll have to check him out! Thanks! 

17 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

We can't tell you that you can open the controllers and swap out a battery.  But I'm sure someone on YouTube will at some point. 

 

That being said... after years and years of use... probably best to just get another new one.  Trying to keep the controller prices as low as we possibly can.

 

I think one thing that all of us would like to hear is that the battery is replaceable. The same issue as the question I asked yesterday about the backups - people want to be assured that their devices will work, even if the company moves on. While you're producing new controllers, sure you can buy more. But what happens when they are no longer being made? Then, what's out there is all that there is. And since every last controller out there will have a built-in battery which will of course wear out, this means that just a few years after the last ones are made, it will be difficult to find a controller even on the secondary market that still has a battery that holds a charge. That's the nature of rechargeables sadly. Convenient, but batteries wear out. I really wish you provided a way to easily remove and swap out the battery like some phones, without worrying about voiding the warranty or risking breaking the controller.

Tommy!  Super important question: when is Intellivision's line of Intellivision themed hotels breaking ground?

I refer back to one of my previous posts....how did I end up in this timeline??    

26 minutes ago, fiudr said:

I think one thing that all of us would like to hear is that the battery is replaceable. The same issue as the question I asked yesterday about the backups - people want to be assured that their devices will work, even if the company moves on. While you're producing new controllers, sure you can buy more. But what happens when they are no longer being made? Then, what's out there is all that there is. And since every last controller out there will have a built-in battery which will of course wear out, this means that just a few years after the last ones are made, it will be difficult to find a controller even on the secondary market that still has a battery that holds a charge. That's the nature of rechargeables sadly. Convenient, but batteries wear out. I really wish you provided a way to easily remove and swap out the battery like some phones, without worrying about voiding the warranty or risking breaking the controller.

I am a huge right to repair guy but I know enough about manufacturing and consumer product safety that this isn't an easy ask. You are asking for an accessible door (complexity, might break, might represent a choking hazard and might expose electronics underneath to unwanted touches or liquid spills) and a using some sort of standard sized battery with built in contacts available instead of the much cheaper (because they are vastly more popular) batteries designed for industrial manufacture with a mini plug or ribbon cable. This would raise manufacturing cost, increase design cost & create potential liability and potentially even a worst product (they might not be able to fit as large of a battery in). This is going to raise the cost for the 99% of average consumers who will never bother to swap the batteries and would only make it convenient for preservationist - who typically are often tech savvy enough to unscrew some screws and swap the battery themselves. If Intellivision was gluing/electronic welding the thing shut like the Stadia controller then I would be asking if they would reconsider. However I think the current controller design looks reasonably repairable from a modern electronics perspective.

12 minutes ago, GrudgeQ said:

I am a huge right to repair guy but I know enough about manufacturing and consumer product safety that this isn't an easy ask. You are asking for an accessible door (complexity, might break, might represent a choking hazard and might expose electronics underneath to unwanted touches or liquid spills) and a making some sort of standard battery with built in contacts available instead of the much cheaper (because they are vastly more popular) batteries designed for industrial manufacture with a mini plug or ribbon cable. This would raise manufacturing cost, increase design cost & create potential liability and potentially even a worst product (they might not be able to fit as large of a battery in). This is going to raise the cost for the 99% of average consumers who will never bother to swap the batteries and would only make it convenient for preservationist - who typically are often tech savvy enough to unscrew some screws and swap the battery themselves. If Intellivision was gluing/electronic welding the thing shut like the Stadia controller then I would be asking if they would reconsider. However I think the current controller design looks reasonably repairable from a modern electronics perspective.

Yet I can slide the entire back off my Samsung cell phone right now and swap the battery in a minute.  I can do the same thing with my cordless phone in my apartment. I can replace the battery in my remote controls for TV, receiver, blu-ray player. They don't seem to be concerned about choking hazards. Toys and games have been out for decades with battery compartments that either slide/pop off or are held on with a screw. Why would this be any different in terms of choking hazards?

You throw a random number out (99% of people won't do this), but once the battery no longer holds a charge, I guarantee 100% of people will need to either buy a new controller or replace the battery. I'll bet most would rather just buy a battery and swap it out in less than a minute.

What we’d really like, of course, is to get the source code for the games in 10-15 years, so we can make endless silly or fun hacks of them, like making Tommy one of the robots in Night Stalker, or maybe the spider. 😬

Just seen the video for Astrosmash and gotta be my fave so far.  I have Astroblast for the Atari and while fun, that game plays so fast my head feels like it wants to explode.  From the video, I see that the Intellivision original and the Amico update play at a more reasonable speed so I can look forward to hours of fun with (almost) no risk of my head exploding.

1 minute ago, fiudr said:

Yet I can slide the entire back off my Samsung cell phone right now and swap the battery in a minute.  I can do the same thing with my cordless phone in my apartment. I can replace the battery in my remote controls for TV, receiver, blu-ray player. They don't seem to be concerned about choking hazards. Toys and games have been out for decades with battery compartments that either slide/pop off or are held on with a screw. Why would this be any different in terms of choking hazards?

You are again trading off manufacturing cost & often times battery size because you generally have to mold in a battery compartment and then add contacts, wires for those contacts, etc. Because this controller is going to be slung around you would need to add a screw to hold that door shut. Every little bit like that door, and that screw add to cost both in materials, manufacture & design. Then what about flex, is the controller still strong enough, maybe we need to increase the rest of the case thickness by a few mills to compensate. I know this all seems trivial to you but Intellivision wants to make millions of these controllers. Add 25 cents to each one might cost the company a million dollars. Consumers would have to pay that cost & Intellivision would also pay in lowered sales due to the higher cost.

It isn't that it isn't possible - it is the tradeoff on cost & testing & performance vs convenience. I have a Retrogame 300 - it has a removable battery - great!. If you crack the case it also has a ton of dead space in it because they used a standard size removable battery. I personally would much prefer they didn't have a removable battery - they could have had at least a 50% larger battery in that thing.

Finally you are comparing low energy devices (except for your phone) to the Amico controller which is a high energy device (like a phone). Sure any remote can run months on two AAA so of course they are swappable. I am impressed you still have a phone that has a removable battery - again because of the tradeoffs mentioned above almost every manufacturer has dropped them. I simply don't expect a consumer removable battery in high power consumption consumer electronics especially if the tradeoff might be a significant amount of battery life when gaming.

Couldn't you use the controller wired via USB if your battery stops charging? Not ideal I know but I'm from the 70's and have no issues with wires

Just to comment on the controller battery/replacing controllers in the future. I dug out my Wii last night, which I haven't been playing simply because the controllers aren't working right. I finally went online to look for Wii remotes, and all I could find were remotes from 3rd party manufactures. I can only guess at their quality and longevity. So I suppose piece of mind right now before investing would be to know that it is at least in the plans to make the controllers DIY repairable should the need arise, you know, 10 years from now.

another comment - I have the Amico web site open and ready. I'm half expecting that we will all hit the site at once and make it come to a screeching halt.

54 minutes ago, fiudr said:

But what happens when they are no longer being made? Then, what's out there is all that there is. And since every last controller out there will have a built-in battery which will of course wear out, this means that just a few years after the last ones are made, it will be difficult to find a controller even on the secondary market that still has a battery that holds a charge.

Ebay? 

40 years later I can still buy original Intellivision controllers and parts. 

Quote

That's the nature of rechargeables sadly. Convenient, but batteries wear out. I really wish you provided a way to easily remove and swap out the battery like some phones, without worrying about voiding the warranty or risking breaking the controller.

We can't really offer that "officially" with the type of battery we're using and how the devices are put together. 

But like I mentioned... I'm sure there will be a lot of DIY videos on what you need to do.  Same with all the PS controllers.  Tons of vids out there.

All that being said... you can also just use the USB cable to always have use of your controller no matter what. 

The truth is though, this is a company breaking into the market with a new product, and we honestly just don't know how well it will be received. Of course we all want it to be well-received and stay around for a long time to come. But I also want to know that my controller will work in 5 years, even if the company stop producing new controllers if things don't go as planned. With a built-in battery, that controller won't work later.

I'll also point out that my xbox controller has a standard-style battery cover and takes rechargeable batteries. Nice and simple. I don't hear people complaining that they can swap the batteries in the xbox controller.

Yes, the Amico controller is a high-drain device, much like a cell phone, so of course I don't expect it to use AA rechargeables. I just think a user-replaceable battery gives any product a longer shelf-life, and that's a good thing. Nobody is going to like throwing away a perfectly good Amico controller in 3-4 years, just because the battery is dead. With cell phones, tech changes and people want newer phones anyways as they improve in tech. With the Amico, you'll be throwing away a perfectly good controller and buying another one just like it, just because the battery can't be swapped.

Just my opinion.

6 minutes ago, ColecoJoe said:

Couldn't you use the controller wired via USB if your battery stops charging? Not ideal I know but I'm from the 70's and have no issues with wires

 

 

But what about the battery that will eventually leak because it's expired? It would need to be removed.