Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

Did Tommy get in a bidding war with Palmer on the Nintendo/Playstation?  Just guessing but seeing as Tommy has an unreal collection of gaming hardware... inquiring minds want to know 

https://kotaku.com/the-nintendo-play-station-will-sell-for-over-400-000-1841701765

8 hours ago, atarifan88 said:

You will be glad to know Tron Deadly Discs is on the list of reimagined games to be done:

https://www.intellivisionamico.com/press-releases/press-release-october-22nd-2018

Tommy, please please get Wendy Carlos' score integrated somehow in the reimagined Tron games

2 hours ago, 1001lives said:

 We may also all lose our hands by the time it launches - is that a valid concern to you? How will we adjust without hands?

 

 

Some silly Adam Sandler western movie had a character who's special talent was playing the piano with his weener.  So there's hope.

Amico Video Roundup:

OEB Pete has a nice rundown of the reasons people buy consoles and how the Amico compares to a lot of the other alternate consoles coming out.

JPFAN5 lists a bunch of the games that have been mentioned as possible Amico Titles

5 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

All valid concerns.  You definitely shouldn't pre-order the console.  And if you're afraid of the system failing and shutting down... you should definitely wait a year or two before purchasing.

 

That would be my advice.  What are your thoughts?

 

I appreciate that you want the system to succeed... but if you are fearful of its failure... then just wait.  Sounds reasonable to me.

 

 

I almost believe that if all the hardcores (like me) here jumped on this blindly, that would be cause for concern with regards to your target market. I think there is a difference between healthy concern and skepticism, and downright ignorance and hate for what you are trying to do.

16 hours ago, fiudr said:

Now clearly this thread is full of some of Amico's biggest supporters, so of course any doubts like this will just be dismissed. But to say there aren't risks for those who buy into this system is silly. I could spend $250 on this system in October and another $100-$200 worth of games in the next year just to read one day that due to slipping sales they are shutting down. I truly hope that doesn't happen. But only time will tell.

 

This is what I meant by worries or concerns. I feel they are valid.

 

7 hours ago, Mockduck said:

The amount of money I'd be willing to spend on a modern version of Tron: Deadly Discs is embarassing. 

The concerns are perfectly valid. . .

But Mockduck's post is also valid. . .

I have fond memories of many titles from the original Intellivision. And I would pay multiple hundreds if not thousands to have an easily accessible way (with the classic style controllers) to play quality versions of games that have been in some cases completely inaccessible for decades. Even if I only end up playing Burgertime on it, but I'm playing it 12 years from now, it was a good investment. For me this is a passion product. Thankfully, for Tommy, this is a passion project. He's surrounded himself with the right people.

It's fair to have concerns and a healthy skepticism. But it's also fair to at least give Tommy some credit considering that he has gone against the grain his entire professional life, yet been successful nearly every step of the way.

The market thing is largely an unknown, that is for sure. However, there is a lot of science and research going into it as well. Smart people thought the Edsel was a good idea. Smart people also thought having Flo sell insurance was a good idea.

Please forgive me if I’ve missed the answer but I was never able to own an original Intellivision so I got in on the Founder’s Edition pre-order. My question concerns the original library of games. Will they be available for play and, if so, in what form? Will we have to purchase them all individually or will packs be available? Maybe like greatest hits packs or something?  Thanks

Tommy has said that original Intellivision games will be released in packs some time after launch, licensing permitting.

Seems this year even the big players are finding pricing and procurement difficult.  Hopefully the scope of production isn’t too affected early on.  Sony struggling to set PS5’s price due to scarcity of parts.

7 minutes ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Tommy has said that original Intellivision games will be released in packs some time after launch, licensing permitting.

Great thank you

7 minutes ago, mario64 said:

Great thank you

Forgot to say that he said they will not be available individually, but they will basically work out to be like $0.50 each.

 I giggled when I saw  the slug, I laughed even harder because it appears someone stole their idea of using a slug, now he/she needs to find a new animal to represent himself/herself. 

Just love the comment section of my videos, even the naysayers

20 hours ago, m-crew said:

Thank You for expressing your concerns, which for you are valid. But I agree with Alpha82 and supahwally responses to you. I really hope that one day all your concerns disappear and you are enjoy playing the Amico with family and friends.. Cheers 

I hope I didn't come off as sounding too harsh. That wasn't my intention. I'm more excited for this system than I've been in a long time for a piece of hardware. I just hope the intended audience gives it a chance.

I was reading an article earlier today about how the Playstation 5 will cost Sony more than they expected to make them, and it was brought up that the Xbox 360 had a rough time with lots of hardware failures. This isn't something you would expect out of a premium system, but unexpected things can happen when electronics are involved, especially when everything is manufactured overseas these days. I believe that Tommy is focusing heavily on delivering a quality system. This is apparent from the improvements made to the controller screen. But when dealing with electronics, there's always a fear that something unexpected could cause issues that impact the system. With Xbox 360, they were able to recover from that. With a new system, I imagine any hardware faults could be a real hurdle to get through, just trying to break into the market.

I'm doing my best to stay optimistic though. All we can do is be supportive and hope the public gives it a chance.

13 hours ago, RetroAdvisoryBoard said:

I found this all very much valid concerns and thoughtful.  This thread may have some of Amico's biggest supporters, but we're a bit practical as well, following so many of the points and criticisms helps shore up some confidence on certain aspects, and follow-up on things most concerning/still outstanding.  

 

Not having the established staying power of Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo is a good point, and one on its surface I'd take a "wait and see approach", if not for the nature of the project itself.  If they were competing with a system that was going for that market, trying to appeal to Sony or Microsoft or Nintendo purchasers, it'd be a little more concerning.  The system isn't a resource sink for Intellivision and investors, they're going after more rote, well-established processors and components you'd expect in a bargain PC build.  It certainly limits capabilities and cool toys in the system itself that would produce a more costly machine, that would make Activision or EA or Bethesda devote a team to putting on popular franchises.  But that's not the play here.  And ho-hum bargain PC components mean nothing to me as a consumer for Will I/Won't I buy the thing, but it's really important in that the R&D costs and production costs were really suppressed in this project.  Not absent, Tommy's super excited to reveal all the cool bells and whistles, but it means, innovation is well managed and limited to what mattered most.  Game play and experience over power and performance.  And that means the system has a really low threshold to meet profitability in producing number of units.  Realistically, somewhere under 200,000 units sold equals success.  Any more equals runaway bonanza, half that number would force some adjustment to marketing, pricing, or model.  And the game development budget is laughable by AAA studio standards, but if the finger to the wind was right, there's a real market for games that are waaaaay better quality than most mobile, but far less involved and flashy, expensive than AAA.  Somewhere is that indie sweetspot, and Intellivision is idea-mining small studios to find good concepts that fit and funding them upfront.  It's brilliant if you need to put out unique, clever games that stand apart and give gamers reason to give you a second look, and it's certainly necessary if your premise is that usual game design on consoles isn't very focused on broad appeal.  And if you sell any more than 100,000 units, that fund-small-developers-as-second-party-devs approach is sustainable for years.  The goalpost is reachable with just the faintest luke-warm response from casuals.  Hell, they're 2.6% of the way there   That $220 or $230 investment in a platform.. is on better foundation than any other examples in recent history.  By a mile.

 

As to failed consoles to serve as wary warnings, Ouya was playing with large amounts of loaned capital, in financial distress long before launching, at a time when Steam was transitioning from something like 5% of PC gaming to 30% of PC gaming.  Ouya was announced just a couple years after iPad launched, when mobile gaming suddenly exploded from several hundred mediocre games to several thousands to take advantage of the iPad and popular new smartphones with their glass surface touchscreens.  And what was Ouya's premise?  Bring gaming to the players, making games open dev and free to play.  What did Steam do the year it launched?  It opened its Steam shop to hundreds and hundreds of new developers, suddenly a flood of new, cheap games were in their store.  And mobile?   Exploded with free-to-play and cheap $.99 - $2.99 games that pulled the rug out from under them.  So we saw Ouya hurriedly launch, with almost no exclusive games or rationale to speak of, and we saw it crash and burn pretty hard.  True believers tried to keep it afloat, but ultimately, what was the rationale to build and sell a unique game on a platform where its few most talked-about best-sellers sold in the 5,000 to sub-20,000 unit range?  It was unsustainable.  And Ouya didn't have games to develop itself.  Its CEO didn't know the name of their leading games when pressed.  There was no Plan B - put the thing out and hope devs build killer apps for it - refresh that sales update page every 10 minutes because if the news isn't good any day now, you're all screwed.  Ultimately Razr bought them out as a lifeline for years of add'l support, but they had no plans to add games or sell more systems.  It was just a platform to acquire.

 

We don't have many other examples of a console that launched in the last twenty years and failed.  The N-Gage launched in 2003 and had some good games for the system, but its premise was a phone and handheld gaming device in one.  It was clunky as a phone, and awkward as a handheld.  They redesigned, but its reputation was torpedoed.  If you wanted a handheld, the GameBoy Advance was cheap, the Nintendo DS and PSP were new and had great range of libraries for the same money or less.  And if you wanted a Nokia phone, they weren't expensive at the time.  There wasn't quite the need for mobile gaming and text/call device in one unit at that time.. there would be six years later with smartphones, but the form changed quite a lot.  The startup Tiger Telematics (not the same as Tiger Electronics) gave us the ill-conceived Gizmondo - a cheap handheld alternative with a dozen games, before going belly-up.  Even more obscure was the DigiBlast - a handheld aimed at young children to compete with V-Tech and Leapfrog.  I don't even think it made it out of Europe.  And Mattel quietly, timidly dipped its toes back into gaming with the Hyperscan, utilizing RFID to sync to separately purchased game cards for in-game experiences.  It was cheap at $70, with games at $20 and card packs at $5 I think.. but it wasn't well marketed, Mattel didn't seem to pour too much into it - only 5 games were ever released.   Then we can go all the way back to early 2000 with the failed Nuon, which wasn't a gaming system so much as a specialized chip that could be used in DVD players to alternate between DVD functions and a gaming function.  It was only offered in a couple brand's alternate model DVD-players and they made eight poorly made games for the thing.

 

That's it.  That's the trainwreck of failed-to-thrive consoles over the last 22 years.  I'm excluding things like the Wii U and Dreamcast or the Neo Geo Pocket Color or N64DD.. projects with massive funding behind them but weren't commercially profitable for the companies pouring hundreds of millions into them.  And still, good products that lasted years with libraries and support for many years afterward.  But I think our modern sensibilities is we've had this graveyard of failed consoles - when really, there's been a handful of squawks in the past 20 years.  But largely, few big players have tried a new system, and nobody among those I named were focused on the games.  Mattel had a few licenses and were focused on how to sell accessory card packs to integrate with basic games - they wanted to capitalize on the popularity of Digimon and Yu-Gi-Oh card games.  Those cards had no identity.  Ouya wanted to build a system for small developers to have a home.  Steam and mobile opened the door to them a year before they could launch.  Nokia was forward thinking in how to combine your phone and handheld, but it was designed by an amorphous blob lacking opposable thumbs, and the market didn't have a compelling reason to play games on it when the thing was clunky and cumbersome as a phone.  Nuon never found adoption among DVD player manufacturers, and DigiBlast, Gizmondo were no more differentiated than the cheap Chinese handheld systems we see today at CVS.. they sat beside those and Jakks Pacific, AtGames plug-n-play systems looking for an audience that would tolerate cheap generic games on a cheap plastic handheld.  Everything else we gamers lump Amico with - the Retro VGS-turned-Coleco Chameleon, the faked Dreamcast 2, the never-out-of-the-gate Project Seedi, the bad taste from "AtariBox".. various console "announcements" and scams get pulled into the conversation with a system that has been pretty transparent, with dozens of employees on the payroll and a hundred and fifty developers working on projects.  There's definitely a difference.  And there's of course some possibility we're fed a false sense of security by Tommy.  But the developers he and Intellivision have revealed - they have social media pages.  They're not throwing up red flags.  They Intellivision advisors and team with video game reputations on the line - they're not putting public distance between their work with Intellivision and past projects on Castlevania and Metal Gear, or Tetris or launching the Wii, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, N64, Super Nintendo, DS or 3DS.  There are a hundred more players who could throw out red flags, but aren't.  That means something is working here, it's on track.  Or Tommy has them locked in the basement.  Send help, or pizza. 

 

I know I kind of went on a tangent, I think the comparisons to previous consoles is a good reminder to all of what Intellivision is doing right.  It may of course fail, but if I had to place money on the thing (and it's the kind of thing I wish was more accessible to placing money on, because it hits an absolute market void where demand clearly should exist based on every conceivable survey, but no product exists to meet the demand) - I'd bet on it being the dark horse success later this year.  Games are everything and that's their focus.  The machine is just the platform, the controllers the nearest tie-in to versatile gaming experiences, and strikingly similar form and function to smartphones that we largely already have - removing a hurdle for casuals.  Will we like the controllers?  Maybe.  I am enamored with the things, but maybe they just won't feel right.  I like that they err toward innovation.  Who says a crosspad is the only way to move in 2D, or a thumbstick is the pinnacle of controller design?  I like the variety and moving the design forward.

Well -thought-out post.

There are other systems that come to mind that turned out to be flops. The Nintendo Virtual Boy, which I did buy on clearance and thought was very cool as a huge 3D fan, did very badly. There's the Panasonic 3DO. The Philips CD-i. TurboGrafx 16. The Sega Saturn. The Atari Jaguar. I remember renting both the Saturn and Jaguar systems from a video rental store way back and having lots of fun with them, especially Aliens vs Predator on the Jaguar, and I remember a shop trying to convince us the Jaguar was the next big system. Of course it wasn't. Some of these might fall into that category you mentioned as being funded by larger companies but not being commercially profitable, but it still shows there were quite a few systems that have come and gone that didn't work out. Heck, the Atari 5200 and 7800 didn't do so well, but that's going way back now, along with systems like the Bally Astrocade. But of course how many people are around these days that remember any of those failures? Probably not too many from the casual market the Amico is aiming for.

Then there's things like the recent Google Stadia streaming game system which I doubt will be around too long. I'm hoping the Amico isn't bundled into the same category as the Stadia or Ouya, as I really think the Amico has put a lot more thought into things than those systems have done.

I also wonder if people will just put this into the same category as the many retro systems we've been seeing over the past few years, like the Atgames flashbacks or the Hyperkin systems. Of course the Amico is nothing like those, offering new exclusive games and a revolutionary (hopefully) controller. But people see these flashbacks everywhere. I hope people see that this is not even in the same ballpark as those retro systems.

Then people see this new Atari system supposedly coming (WalMart even has pre-orders up), yet most if us are (rightfully) very skeptical of that system. I hope people don't see the Amico and immediately liken it to that.

12 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

All valid concerns.  You definitely shouldn't pre-order the console.  And if you're afraid of the system failing and shutting down... you should definitely wait a year or two before purchasing.

 

That would be my advice.  What are your thoughts?

 

I appreciate that you want the system to succeed... but if you are fearful of its failure... then just wait.  Sounds reasonable to me.

 

 

I think for big movie fans that are considering a 4k UHD player, and also enjoy gaming, the two new big systems coming out this year might be worth considering as they both offer UHD playback, but I already own a player, and a $500 gaming system (plus the cost of premium games) is completely out of the question for me.

I'll be honest. Unless I hear some very bad factual issues (not rumors or falsehoods) about the system pre-launch (and I don't expect I will), I think I'll be on-board for a pre-order. It's been a long time since I've owned a system. I do most of my gaming on the PC, when I have the time, which isn't much lately, and it's mostly smaller games, freeware shmups, small indie games and retro games.  I do love racing games, because you can jump in and race a few tracks and then quit. I also love pinball like Future Pinball and Virtual Pinball. I used to play bigger games on the PC and my original Xbox but I don't have the time these days to get into epic campaigns. Same reason when I buy modern board games I tend to buy shorter-play, smaller games, not epic 4-hour adventure games. I just don't have the time or desire to spend all night learning how to play a new board game, just to forget how to play again next time we play because the rules are 18 pages long. I just play board games with my girlfriend and her sister anyways, so we enjoy board games that don't overstay their welcome - quick to learn but having some depth. 45-75 minutes = okay. 4 hours = not okay.

So the Amico is really calling to me. An affordable system with affordable games that promises lots of fun in a short amount of time. Turn on the system and play for half an hour or hour, and then move on with the evening. I mentioned my worries about the risk of it not working out, but honestly, I think no matter what, this system will give my girlfriend and I some fun times after the holidays, and from there, we'll see how it goes.

11 hours ago, 1001lives said:

Now would be a good time to remember what concern is versus what we should define as "concern trolling."

 

Actual concern comes when you are invested in something - as in literally. You've either spent your money, your time, and your effort as a form of investment.

 

"Concern trolling" is when you have spent nothing - all the time you use is your own free time and of your own free will, and you have expended zero effort, but still say you're concerned. While this is great - and bringing up valid criticism can be helpful, it's not going to be that helpful in this case. You're just playing devil's advocate because you have too much time. Which is what we see a ton of in the "independent" thread, and a lot of the stuff that's been deleted and removed by mods was this form of concern trolling and argumentative analysis just to be argumentative. No end goal.

 

Fiudr, your post is great, but it's borderline man... Some of these comments... " It may be a great controller but some of us just might not be able to adjust to it." are wholly unnecessary.

 

If some of us aren't able to adjust to it, that's not anything anyone can help. We may also all lose our hands by the time it launches - is that a valid concern to you? How will we adjust without hands?

 

"I could spend $250 on this system in October and another $100-$200 worth of games in the next year just to read one day that due to slipping sales they are shutting down. I truly hope that doesn't happen. But only time will tell."

 

So... No one should spend any money at all then? Which would guarantee it's failure and low market adoption rate...? That's called a self-fulfilling prophecy. We all hope the console sells but the only way it sells is people buy it. Not worry it may not sell and it shuts down... That's just self-defeating and not worth the concern. 

 

If a whole lot of early adopters didn't buy PS4 or Xbox One they would have shut down too. Those systems barely launched with games. This is the kind of stuff that drags down the independent thread, and while your concerns are warranted and well written compared to a lot in that thread... It's still not helpful ultimately. 

I think my posts have remained respectful and I've made it clear I'm behind Tommy on this. I don't think it's right though to expect that the only posts in here should be "100% positive approved". I posted what I feel are some of my concerns and that's what these threads are for - sharing thoughts. I could say lots of the comments I see in here could be considered "unnecessary", but I wouldn't say that to anybody because I don't think we're doing any favors by trying to turn this thread into a cheerleader-only thread. As long as posts remain respectful and people aren't purposefully spreading rumors, lies or falsehoods, what's the harm in sharing our thoughts in here?

3 hours ago, mario64 said:

Please forgive me if I’ve missed the answer but I was never able to own an original Intellivision so I got in on the Founder’s Edition pre-order. My question concerns the original library of games. Will they be available for play and, if so, in what form? Will we have to purchase them all individually or will packs be available? Maybe like greatest hits packs or something?  Thanks

Original Intellivision titles will be sold in packs say 50 cents per title with packs of say 8 games for $4. Packs will be themed Sports, Space for example buy these packs won’t release until 2021

14 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

Don't worry!  Only $9.99!  Although I may feel sorry for you if you want to try and collect all the different limited editions of the physical media. 

 

 

Is that a challenge? 😂

7 hours ago, OEB_Pete said:

 I giggled when I saw  the slug, I laughed even harder because it appears someone stole their idea of using a slug, now he/she needs to find a new animal to represent himself/herself. 

 

Just love the comment section of my videos, even the naysayers

 

 

Pete,

SnailAnimeArt and SlugToonArt are the same guy.  
 

Their comments always appear in tandem, only ever to agree with the other, and within a few minutes of the other.

No trolling account is going to have alerts set and go comment within a minute of the Goggle alert that “SnailAnimeArt” has made a comment.  
 

I commented/called him/them out at some point last summer/spring.. one said “That not me”, the other chimed in within a minute “No That not me”.

Always on at the same time, in the same video comments, with the same broken English, patting the other one on the ba- err, shell.  It’s a hobby..

6 minutes ago, RetroAdvisoryBoard said:

Pete,

 

SnailAnimeArt and SlugToonArt are the same guy.  
 

Their comments always appear in tandem, only ever to agree with the other, and within a few minutes of the other.

 

No trolling account is going to have alerts set and go comment within a minute of the Goggle alert that “SnailAnimeArt” has made a comment.  
 

I commented/called him/them out at some point last summer/spring.. one said “That not me”, the other chimed in within a minute “No That not me”.

 

Always on at the same time, in the same video comments, with the same broken English, patting the other one on the ba- err, shell.  It’s a hobby..

I don't know if he's lurking here but that not me!

4 minutes ago, roots.genoa said:

I don't know if he's lurking here but that not me!

Me Neither! 😇

8 hours ago, mario64 said:

Please forgive me if I’ve missed the answer but I was never able to own an original Intellivision so I got in on the Founder’s Edition pre-order. My question concerns the original library of games. Will they be available for play and, if so, in what form? Will we have to purchase them all individually or will packs be available? Maybe like greatest hits packs or something?  Thanks

This is actually on their FAQ.

https://www.intellivisionamico.com/faq#about-the-games

If there's a specific title you're interested in feel free to ask as it's unlikely games from all 124 cartridges will be available.

5 minutes ago, mr_me said:

This is actually on their FAQ.

https://www.intellivisionamico.com/faq#about-the-games

 

If there's a specific title you're interested in feel free to ask as it's unlikely games from all 124 cartridges will be available.

I thought there were 125 original games, not 124?

There are 125 cartridges but one of them only has previously released games so no point in counting it.

1 minute ago, mr_me said:

There are 125 cartridges but one of them only has previously released games so no point in counting it.

There’s a whole thread pinned on this site by Cmart dedicated to the original 125.  I see a possible debate coming now!