Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

I see a Rock Band box in the corner of the live video, and you ended it with "rock on"... any chance you're working with Harmonix?

Just got through reading all the pages.  Thanks for all the well wishes and congrats.  I will make sure to share them all with the team!

A lot of questions regarding getting a confirmation e-mail from us.  Sorry for the confusion.

Because we weren't actually officially selling a product (just taking a pre-order with a 100% refundable down payment) we could only send out an official confirmation once the day was over... or we sold them out.

Now... we can gather all the e-mails from PayPal and have crafted an e-mail from us that will be going out to everyone who purchased one... first thing tomorrow.

Thanks everyone!!  Will be hard to get to sleep tonight!!

Just now, xeex said:

I see a Rock Band box in the corner of the live video, and you ended it with "rock on"... any chance you're working with Harmonix?

Ooooh... that's a good one. 

Okay... make that 2 hidden things!!

I'm seriously surprised that they lasted longer than an hour or two.

Don't get me wrong, 2600 units in under 8 hours is pretty dang sweet given that this hasn't been marketed to mainstream stores yet (such as Best Buy/ Gamestop/Walmart).

I wouldn't be surprised if this is the must have Christmas gift for 2020.

The game footage looks awesome, the developers seem legitimately excited about working on the console and the price is not all that bad. 

Who would have thought, Intellivision in 2020- cool!

21 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Yes... you would more than likely lose the advantage of getting it a few days early if you are based outside of the U.S.

 

I typically only sleep 4 hours a day.  I am what is called a "Super Sleeper" (Google it).  About 1% - 2% of the population is lucky enough to have it.  I basically go straight into REM sleep so my 4 hours is just like anyone else's 6 - 8 hours.  Now you know why I'm able to run the company, tour my show and have time to answer folks here (and social media & YouTube).  I'm a very good multi-tasker as well.  For example... a lot of times on on here is usually when I have videos rendering or are waiting for a phone call or e-mail.   

Coming here and other places helps my mind as without things like this I would start to go crazy.  Only so many books you can read or TV shows & movies to watch.  It's a great way to pass the time at 3am when my wife is sleeping and I can't turn on the TV or crank stuff in the movie theatre.  

 

 

Do you use a health band/sleep tracker? Just asking because I just started wearing one after Christmas,, and I was very surprised to learn there are three major sleep modes - light sleep, REM sleep, and deep sleep (technically there are two others but they're just short cycles preparing you for the other modes of sleep). Rem is actually different from deep sleep. REM is where most of your dreaming occurs. Deep sleep is where your body gets repaired. According to sleep.org, when you enter deep sleep, "The brain produces even more delta waves and you move into an even deeper, more restorative stage of sleep next. It's most difficult to wake up during this stage. This is when the body repairs muscles and tissues, stimulates growth and development, boosts immune function, and builds up energy for the next day.".

My watch shows the three different phases and how much of each I get - light, REM and deep. It's possible to have a healthy amount of one or two types and still be deprived of the third type. If you aren't getting proper deep sleep, your body isn't repairing itself physically properly and maintaining the immune system, even though you may think you're sleeping well. Generally if somebody is feeling tired all the time, they may be lacking in deep sleep, which should account for 20%-60% of your night's sleep. My girlfriend gets only 8-30 minutes generally per night, even if she sleep 8 hours, and she always feels very fatigued.

Just thought I'd mention it. Since I started tracking my sleep I've been fascinated to see how my sleep is from night to night. It also tends to push me into better sleep practices.

Thought some folks would be interested...

We sold just over 1,000 units in under 5 minutes!

By the 15 minute mark we had sold around 1,500.

After the first hour we surpassed 2,000.

By hour 3 we were at 2,300.

Hour 5 = 2,500.

Just around the 6 hour mark we shut it off as 2600 came in.

Here's the CRAZY part... only about 25% of the e-mails we sent today were opened!  And only a small fraction of those folks must have purchased.  And we didn't really post the link (til the very very end) on social media at all (where we have around 20,000 folks).

We could have probably done at least 10,000 units over the next few days if we wanted to (which we are not).  Which is kinda funny considering Atari took weeks to sell 10,000 on IndieGogo.  Obviously having all of the stuff we've shown makes a big difference... but still interesting that in the 21st century... Intellivision holds it own when compared to Atari.



Not doing more than 2600 will also hopefully lay to rest the ridiculous hater notion that we were being sketchy or only doing this for the money (or whatever the conspiracy theory of the day was).

Great day in Intellivision history!!!!!!!

5 minutes ago, RREDDWARFF said:

I'm seriously surprised that they lasted longer than an hour or two.

 

Don't get me wrong, 2600 units in 8 hours is pretty dang sweet given that this hasn't been marketed to mainstream stores yet (such as Best Buy/ Gamestop/Walmart).

 

I wouldn't be surprised if this is the must have Christmas gift for 2020.

 

The game footage looks awesome, the developers seem legitimately excited about working on the console and the price is not all that bad. 

 

Who would have thought, Intellivision in 2020- cool!

 

This definitely has the potential to be a big seller this Christmas, I think. It's a very cool-looking system with very innovative controllers, and the screen should feel familiar to anybody who has a modern cell phone. And the price is very reasonable, especially since you're getting two controllers in the box, which is fantastic. Most systems these days come with one controller (or none).

1 minute ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Thought some folks would be interested...

 

We sold just over 1,000 units in under 5 minutes!

By the 15 minute mark we had sold around 1,500.

After the first hour we surpassed 2,000.

By hour 3 we were at 2,300.

Hour 5 = 2,500.

 

Just around the 6 hour mark we shut it off as 2600 came in.

 

Here's the CRAZY part... only about 25% of the e-mails we sent today were opened!  And only a small fraction of those folks must have purchased.

We could have probably done at least 10,000 units over the next few days if we wanted to (which we are not).  Which is kinda funny considering Atari took weeks to sell 10,000 on IndieGogo.  Obviously having all of the stuff we've shown makes a big difference... but still interesting that in the 21st century... Intellivision holds it own when compared to Atari.

 

Not shocking at all.  You have a tangible product that people have seen working.  We get videos, you answer every question no matter how off the wall it is.  You have shown us your office and staff working on the unit. You do countless interviews to the point that you look exhausted in the video. 

What has Atari given us... 

I was slow to purchase simply because I was at a bar with the wife for happy hour and forgot!  Lol.

I'm looking forward to the release and being a part of the FE unit. 

6 minutes ago, fiudr said:

Do you use a health band/sleep tracker? Just asking because I just started wearing one after Christmas,, and I was very surprised to learn there are three major sleep modes - light sleep, REM sleep, and deep sleep (technically there are two others but they're just short cycles preparing you for the other modes of sleep). Rem is actually different from deep sleep. REM is where most of your dreaming occurs. Deep sleep is where your body gets repaired. According to sleep.org, when you enter deep sleep, "The brain produces even more delta waves and you move into an even deeper, more restorative stage of sleep next. It's most difficult to wake up during this stage. This is when the body repairs muscles and tissues, stimulates growth and development, boosts immune function, and builds up energy for the next day.".

 

My watch shows the three different phases and how much of each I get - light, REM and deep. It's possible to have a healthy amount of one or two types and still be deprived of the third type. If you aren't getting proper deep sleep, your body isn't repairing itself physically properly and maintaining the immune system, even though you may think you're sleeping well. Generally if somebody is feeling tired all the time, they may be lacking in deep sleep, which should account for 20%-60% of your night's sleep. My girlfriend gets only 8-30 minutes generally per night, even if she sleep 8 hours, and she always feels very fatigued.

 

Just thought I'd mention it. Since I started tracking my sleep I've been fascinated to see how my sleep is from night to night. It also tends to push me into better sleep practices.

 

 

 

Sorry... yes... I meant my body goes into "deep" sleep quicker.  I skip the other 2 and very very rarely ever dream.  I like to think my life is such that I don't need to.  I'm living it every day! 

4 minutes ago, fiudr said:

This definitely has the potential to be a big seller this Christmas, I think. It's a very cool-looking system with very innovative controllers, and the screen should feel familiar to anybody who has a modern cell phone. And the price is very reasonable, especially since you're getting two controllers in the box, which is fantastic. Most systems these days come with one controller (or none).

 

You know that's a very good point.  You pay $450 and get one controller.  The 2nd is what 100?  

That does make Amico a better sell for families.

Tommy, you should make trading cards of you and the rest of the Amico team.

With a stick of bubble gum of course. 

Just now, IMBerzerk said:

You know that's a very good point.  You pay $450 and get one controller.  The 2nd is what 100?  

 

That does make Amico a better sell for families.

I mean, look at the cost of the base system for the new Atari and it doesn't even include a controller at all. You need to spend a good chunk more to add one controller and double it for another one. Even xbox and Playstation include only one controller usually I believe. That makes the Amico a fantastic deal and a very attractive system to consider for the holidays.

I've always been a fan of IntelliVision and I'm thrilled to think later in the year we'll be seeing these on stores shelves. One foot in the past and one in the future. Just amazing that it's happening and you can really feel the enthusiasm behind it from the developers. They know they're working on something really special here. I've seen enough smaller systems (like the Ouya) fail that I don't usually expect much now when I hear about another system launch unless it's one of the big three, but I think this really has a chance to carve a spot for itself.

Was really excited to see the pre-orders sold out so quickly.  It's the narrative you want to see, with a good deal of early demand left on the table!

13 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Sorry... yes... I meant my body goes into "deep" sleep quicker.  I skip the other 2 and very very rarely ever dream.  I like to think my life is such that I don't need to.  I'm living it every day! 

 

 

I gotcha. You're basically slipping right into deep sleep. I slip right into REM sometimes if I'm over-exhausted - the moment I fall asleep I'm dreaming. I even had a period a few years ago when I was getting sleep paralysis (not fun!) due to not getting the sleep I needed. Interestingly the sleep tracking with the watch guilts me more into getting to bed a bit more normal.

6 minutes ago, fiudr said:

I mean, look at the cost of the base system for the new Atari and it doesn't even include a controller at all. You need to spend a good chunk more to add one controller and double it for another one. Even xbox and Playstation include only one controller usually I believe. That makes the Amico a fantastic deal and a very attractive system to consider for the holidays.

 

True, plus with the FE console, we get $50 back to spend on games. 

The Amico console is like the Intellivision IV Re-Imagined. 

Congrats again, superb day for the Amico team!

Intellivision Amico Founders Edition Order Day.

Did You Order Yours?

I did and here is my video story about my purchase.

TJ

https://youtu.be/TBZqH80ACtM

2 hours ago, MarioMan88 said:

Now that the FE sale has concluded I begin to wonder what # I have. I literally placed my order 30 seconds after I got the email. Hoping for under number 100!

I was sitting there refreshing until the email popped up and then I pounced but sadly Paypal didn't work for me and I had to keep trying for several minutes. Still, happy to get one at all! I'm interested to see what my number is too.

Now, I wonder when these will start showing up as pre-orders on eBay? 😂

1 hour ago, fiudr said:

This definitely has the potential to be a big seller this Christmas, I think. It's a very cool-looking system with very innovative controllers, and the screen should feel familiar to anybody who has a modern cell phone. And the price is very reasonable, especially since you're getting two controllers in the box, which is fantastic. Most systems these days come with one controller (or none).

 

I was going to say "name one system that comes with no controllers" and then I remembered the Analogue consoles, hahaha.

10 minutes ago, MantaNZ said:

I was going to say "name one system that comes with no controllers" and then I remembered the Analogue consoles, hahaha.

I was referring to the Atari VCS base model actually. Though the ColecoVision Phoenix retro machine doesn't include a controller either (and doesn't offer one - you have to supply your own).

Congratulations on the success of your pre-orders Intellivision team and fans!

54 minutes ago, MantaNZ said:

I was sitting there refreshing until the email popped up and then I pounced but sadly Paypal didn't work for me and I had to keep trying for several minutes. Still, happy to get one at all! I'm interested to see what my number is too.

 

Now, I wonder when these will start showing up as pre-orders on eBay? 😂

Haha oh they’ll be a few on eBay for sure. From the way Tommy talks on here I don’t think he minds...kinda builds excitement for the machine and will be another free marketing tool.

43 minutes ago, fiudr said:

I was referring to the Atari VCS base model actually. Though the ColecoVision Phoenix retro machine doesn't include a controller either (and doesn't offer one - you have to supply your own).

 

I didn't know that about the VCS, but I suppose it makes sense as it's really just a mini PC. 

4 hours ago, fiudr said:

I was referring to the Atari VCS base model actually. Though the ColecoVision Phoenix retro machine doesn't include a controller either (and doesn't offer one - you have to supply your own).

 

This is not accurate, you could order a Phoenix with a compatible Snes controller