Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

Okay, lets all find some middle ground people.  Dream games you'd love to see on Amico?

1 minute ago, SegaSnatcher said:

Okay, lets all find some middle ground people.  Dream games you'd love to see on Amico?

My dream game would be The Last Starfighter actually based off the arcade in the film. I have the fan made PC game but my Cerebral Palsy makes my coordination suck lol so I don’t keyboard game well though that game is fun I just never get very far.

Just a quick note as I’ve lost track of your game library comment.  I think your lack of confidence is fair but you also have to balance that with being 16 months out and not wanting to let things out too soon.  Also worth noting in the early interviews Tommy did after the announcement he stated they would need multiple must play games for the system so there is a focus on that end of things 

To me, Amico represents simply more choices, especially since each game will be an exclusive. So even though some might believe the venture will fail, their reason can't be because the games have already been available elsewhere but something else like "online rulez." Now, if those exclusives are not your cup of tea, so be it, but in the end they are simply more video games to choose from that you won't find on any other platform. Hard to see any harm in that, especially since this is no Kickstarter pipe dream that requires our money up front.

55 minutes ago, SegaSnatcher said:

Just one dude's opinion and speculation and having friendly debates about said opinions and specualtion.  I've quite enjoyed the replies as most people have been quite civil.  

54 minutes ago, Alpha82 said:

I don’t think I remember running joked on here just discussing the Amico has driven pages 

But seriously, what has been the debate in this thread?  Any major points on which people disagree?

55 minutes ago, SegaSnatcher said:

Okay, lets all find some middle ground people.  Dream games you'd love to see on Amico?

I think the keypad has some potential for retro styled goodness.  There's classic usage like baseball and D&D, but also stuff like trivia games where it could really shine.  I enjoyed the "Scene It" series when they were making it and that was one that my whole family liked to play.

I'd also honestly like to see someone really do a good modern version of a retro pinball game.   We've had an explosion of pinball video games that tend to go toward "very realistic" or "add as many licenses as possible."  While that has been happening, indie pinball games usually feel like a version 0.  A really well done sequel inspired by Intellivision Pinball would be awesome.  There could be some interesting multiplayer options as well.

1 minute ago, wongojack said:

 

 

But seriously, what has been the debate in this thread?  Any major points on which people disagree?

In my view it’s mostly just differences in personal views on the system given the amount of information currently available. People wondering what some of the titles at launch will be trying to understand the direction wondering if it will be too difficult to get at the audience they are trying to due to other options it’s just so hard to know those things right now with no big marketing push due to start yet, no complete list of games and such 

1 minute ago, wongojack said:

I think the keypad has some potential for retro styled goodness.  There's classic usage like baseball and D&D, but also stuff like trivia games where it could really shine.  I enjoyed the "Scene It" series when they were making it and that was one that my whole family liked to play.

 

I'd also honestly like to see someone really do a good modern version of a retro pinball game.   We've had an explosion of pinball video games that tend to go toward "very realistic" or "add as many licenses as possible."  While that has been happening, indie pinball games usually feel like a version 0.  A really well done sequel inspired by Intellivision Pinball would be awesome.  There could be some interesting multiplayer options as well.

Pinball wizard!!! Sorry had to do it lol 

1 hour ago, SegaSnatcher said:

I never said Amico was going to fail miserably.  I don't know how many units Tommy needs to sell in order for him to consider it a success.  If he's expecting to sell millions of these then yeah I think it will be a flop, but if he's just planning to sell in the thousands then yeah he might find some success.  He hasn't and most likely won't give us that kind of information, so its just a guessing game.

It's not hard to calculate.  A small team works on a game for twelve months; give it a rough budget of $500k.  If the game sells for $10, you can estimate how many need to sell to be profitable.  Factor in attachment rates.  A ten million dollar marketing budget.  We're talking millions of Amigos not thousands.

2 hours ago, hoserama99 said:

Couch coop for something like Catan is problematic, as each player has "hidden information" that you don't want shown on the TV. The same thing holds for several other board/card games. Catan, Scrabble, Ticket to Ride, Lost Cities and so on: all these types of board games have existed since time immemorial on other consoles (and the PC). The Xbox 360 had them, for example, and they never set the world on fire although they did have their dedicated followings.

 

Now if the Amico has player-specific screens on each controller (like, say, the WiiU), then it does add a new twist. It also opens up new problems: you'll need a way to upload a game-specific client app to each handheld (maybe using WiFi like a modern phone), you need good battery time, and you likely need more than 2 controllers, particularly for family play. Maybe there will be Amico apps for iOS and Android to allow those to be used as additional handsets. Maybe additional handsets will be cheap. Who knows!

 

It's already been revealed; controllers have screens, two controllers included with the console, extra controllers for about $30, controller apps for smartphones, up to eight controllers.

10 minutes ago, wongojack said:

But seriously, what has been the debate in this thread?  Any major points on which people disagree?

Well, it seems to boil down to whether couch gaming -- especially for families with children who are a little older -- is a viable gaming model for 2020 and beyond. But I'm not sure that it's a robust debate with lots of players.

It seems to be trending in the direction of too many other AA threads: whether parents are bad these days. 😉

2 hours ago, SegaSnatcher said:

I can tell you that is definitely not the norm.  Sounds like fun though.  Most Parents these days would rather have Phones/Tablets to babysit their kids, its unfortunate but a reality we can't ignore.  You sound like a great Parent, so props on that.

I do my best. 😁 Admittedly only one other parent has hosted and that was a smaller group but they are all happy to drop their kids off at my place. 😂 When the kids come over my son does take pride in showing off his dad's retro gaming collection so maybe there is still hope for the kids of today. 😂😂😂

2 hours ago, Alpha82 said:

My dream game would be The Last Starfighter actually based off the arcade in the film.

 

I second this! I've fired up the fan game, but never dove into it. @Tommy Tallarico, this would be great to see made. Love a coop, and vs mode, too. Do your magic, mister!

3 hours ago, SegaSnatcher said:

Okay, lets all find some middle ground people.  Dream games you'd love to see on Amico?

M.U.L.E.

Chaos (Julian Gollup)

4 hours ago, SegaSnatcher said:

Kids these days are less about actually doing things in person.  They are happy just texting each other, sending each other funny memes and having a go on some online multiplayer matches.  

If thats what makes them happy then I don't see a problem.  If they decide they want to play co-op in the living room together well they already have options available to them.

This is how things appear but not true. They long for the more personal connections but have had parents let the technology parent. They struggle with in person because they fear rejection because they haven't been taught how to deal with it.

It is anecdotal but from my experience in working with kids, they do want the in person connections. They also want more interaction with parents too.

This isn't specifically related but kids that use phones and social media more frequently have higher rates of anxiety and depression. Which leads to more of that isolation. I've had to call another state too many times to track down an adult who knows some random teen who was playing xbox or ps4 and talking about wanting to kill themselves. Go Fortnite! Simple advice, take it how you will. If you have young kids, do not even consider giving them a phone until they are maybe driving. If you give them a tablet I would have it super locked down and only let them use it with you will them. 

Will this succeed? I really hope so because it is something missing. I think the Switch is good, but I think IE is trying to take it a step further to back how the Wii was. WiiU flopped because it wasn't the Wii and it wasn't more mainstream. The Switch is starting to head more into the maintream side and away from how the Wii was. From my experience I see parallels with playing board games. My family has always done both, but in recent years we are starting to tabletop more together and that's because there are more options for all of use to get involved.

1 minute ago, MrBeefy said:

This is how things appear but not true. They long for the more personal connections but have had parents let the technology parent. They struggle with in person because they fear rejection because they haven't been taught how to deal with it.

 

It is anecdotal but from my experience in working with kids, they do want the in person connections. They also want more interaction with parents too.

 

This isn't specifically related but kids that use phones and social media more frequently have higher rates of anxiety and depression. Which leads to more of that isolation. I've had to call another state too many times to track down an adult who knows some random teen who was playing xbox or ps4 and talking about wanting to kill themselves. Go Fortnite! Simple advice, take it how you will. If you have young kids, do not even consider giving them a phone until they are maybe driving. If you give them a tablet I would have it super locked down and only let them use it with you will them. 

 

Will this succeed? I really hope so because it is something missing. I think the Switch is good, but I think IE is trying to take it a step further to back how the Wii was. WiiU flopped because it wasn't the Wii and it wasn't more mainstream. The Switch is starting to head more into the maintream side and away from how the Wii was. From my experience I see parallels with playing board games. My family has always done both, but in recent years we are starting to tabletop more together and that's because there are more options for all of use to get involved.

Yep I think we can agree that Parents have gotten a bit lazy with their kids thanks to technology and that does have an effect on how kids handle in person connections, but I wonder if its too little too late to change things. 

6 minutes ago, SegaSnatcher said:

Yep I think we can agree that Parents have gotten a bit lazy with their kids thanks to technology and that does have an effect on how kids handle in person connections, but I wonder if its too little too late to change things. 

We won’t know the answer to that unless someone tries which is what Intellivision is doing and I think we can agree we hope they succeed 

i've been a gamer since 1981 when i got my first Intellivision and have had just about every console from the Colecovision,Atari 5200 all the way up to the current xbox and the only major games i still play are NHL Live and NBA 2K otherwise i browse through the xbox marketplace for old arcade compilations or remade classics..once in awhile i'll download a demo for a new game everybody is talking about and i am bored to tears..i just dont have the patience anymore to sit there and learn a game with 12 buttons and long cut scenes...sure i play games on my 10 inch tablet but i always end up basically playing old arcade games on mame because there is so much garbage on the google play store it's unreal..i mean they have so much crap with generic titles like "Car Race Fast" ..I think the Amico is perfect for guys like me that just want to play fun and addicting games that i don't have to invest HOURS ON but can play on my big screen tv with a controller...btw that's another thing that's missing from a lot of new games..games used to be addicting..now i'll download something and play it for awhile and never want to ever play it again 

4 minutes ago, SegaSnatcher said:

Yep I think we can agree that Parents have gotten a bit lazy with their kids thanks to technology and that does have an effect on how kids handle in person connections, but I wonder if its too little too late to change things. 

I know my son will probably hate the lock down on tech when he gets older. I am a nerd and it saddens me that I find tech even nerdier tech like modern gaming to be almost evil lol. 

As far as types of games? Maybe get something like Pac-Man Vs on the system. Not sure who owns Lock n Chase but a game where one person is the their and the others cops chasing him around would be a blast.

20 minutes ago, MrBeefy said:

As far as types of games? Maybe get something like Pac-Man Vs on the system. Not sure who owns Lock n Chase but a game where one person is the their and the others cops chasing him around would be a blast.

That’s something I think you could very well see as I recall I think I saw maybe on a Facebook post where Tommy verified they had the rights to Lock N Chase 

Intellivision Entertainment listed several Data East games in their 2018 press release.  Those games are now owned by a company called G-mode.  So Locknchase shouldn't be a problem.  Not sure how valuable the Locknchase title would be for Amico, I'm sure they'd rather have Pacman.  The odd thing with that press release list is that it has "Super Burgertime" rather than just Burgertime.  I wonder why that is.

Wasn't Joust one of the announced games?  I love me some Joust.

No Williams games were in that list.  The golden age Williams games, I believe, are owned by Warner.  Where did you hear about Joust? 

21 minutes ago, mr_me said:

No Williams games were in that list.  The golden age Williams games, I believe, are owned by Warner.  Where did you hear about Joust? 

Rats, no Joust.  Great multiplayer game.  

Doesn’t mean it won’t happen, most titles will only be announced next spring, etc.