Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

Since the coronavirus is on topic too, here's some medical news: The cure is not estimated to arrive after at least one year. According to the same source, people will have already developed natural defenses against the virus by then.

Also, other articles say that Sony "will not be affected" by the crisis.

20 hours ago, IntelliMission said:

Hey guys, have you ever been one of these people that buy a console day one and camp outside the shop before it opens? Do you know anyone who has done that?

 

I did once. Nintendo Gamecube on day one. But there were 5 people at Target's door at 8am that day they opened, so I didn't have to camp out for it. 

I've bought most of my consoles day one since the GameCube but never had to 'camp' since I probably pre-ordered. I think the Wii was the last one I actually bought from a physical store anyway...

On 2/12/2020 at 9:49 AM, GrudgeQ said:

A lot depends on how these (and other store) games are portrayed in the ads, on the box, etc. Notice this Wii commercial makes everything look like you just wave the controller around (they only zoom in on a button once I think). The video commercials will probably be a lot like this - showing some motion control cornhole, rotating the disc to play another game, maybe pouring dice out of the controller in another game and then "and it comes with 5 free games" cut to montage little video clips of the 5 games included. If done right they can show the twitch gamer excitement of Astrosmash & aunt Rosemarie the simplicity of Cornhole and everyone comes away knowing there is something in there for them. Describing how hard or easy each game is to play is more of a store function and from prior comments it sounds like Tommy & the team have some sort of rating system in mind so grandma doesn't pick up Night Stalker unless she means to.

 

 

 

Yes!  Good job.

Nailed it!

On 2/12/2020 at 1:05 PM, LePionnier said:

So tomorrow we will see the first official list of companies that will be present at E3 2020. (June 9, 10 and 11)

 

https://www.e3expo.com/

 

Tommy, has Intellivision Entertainment already signed up ?

Do you know what day your conference will be?

Probably the 9th, so you will have 3 full days so that people can try out the wonderful games and also the controller! 😃

118 days to go ... ⏳

We are in the middle of negotiations with E3 right now.  Nothing to report as of yet.

On 2/12/2020 at 1:39 PM, m-crew said:

Here's a thought (posted in the other thread as well)After IE and the Amico get's established in the market I would love if IE came out with a soundtrack of there exclusives games and release a SE pressing on vinyl.  I think Atari did this back in the eighties...  Since Vinyl has made a big comeback in recent years.  

Why wait til we get established?  Why not do it even before the console is released to hype it up. 

On 2/12/2020 at 1:55 PM, RetroAdvisoryBoard said:

Back in November or December (probably around page 170 or 185, who can keep track?) I suggested that Intellivision should think about airport kiosks as a potential communal place where people come together and play.

 

I swear Nintendo has a spy on the forum.  They're launching rather sterile lounges in a handful of airports next month. 

 

Now, the Switch is exciting and it's a nice little gesture to come check out the system and see what's in store.  But, it's largely still a solitary experience.  Some travellers are going to be familiar with Super Smash Brothers on the mounted Switch and tv and want to play it or try it out.  But with so many buttons, they're likely just smashing away trying to flip and kick, punch and figure out what the point is, or who the 478 different Fire Emblem characters are.

 

It's fine, but Amico is a much better fit.  The games can be short and easy to pick up and walk away from if your flight is boarding in 20 minutes.  The games are universal premises and translatable to passengers from other countries.  The games are meant to be played together.  You're at an airport, you're watching CNN or PBS or Fox News or Airport News Now - whatever boring newscroll they've got on the monitor.  Near your lounge there's an Amico kiosk.  Not a lounge, not a destination you have to go to and miss your flight or go out of your way to experience.  No, just a kiosk.  An Amico (maybe two or three), and a tv or two or three.  Instructions for how to connect - download the free app, it's free to play, there's a little monitor above showing today's high scores.  Why not try it out?  Other people sitting around waiting on their flight can download the app and sync to play too.  Maybe you can license "Want to Play a Game?"... or stick with "Come Play Together"..  you're stuck on a plane with 200 people.  Maybe playing a quick round of Shark! Shark! isn't the worst experience.  And hey, the kiosk also has charging, so don't just play with your phone, charge it too. 

 

Time to board, gotta go?  That's fine, it's a quick little game.  But you downloaded that app.  Intellivision can send you a friendly little note a few days later.. enjoyed playing Amico?  Want to bring home the fun and play with family and friends?  Here's a $30 rebate. 

 

I don't know what the set-up costs would be for marketing, but it's definitely getting the system in front of tens of thousands/hundreds of thousands of potential customers per kiosk.  And you needn't replace controllers or machines - everybody plays on their phone (which understandably isn't the perfect experience, but the games selected will reflect this). 

 

 

We actually looked into this and it pretty expensive.  Something we wouldn't be able to do year one... but hopefully in the future.

On 2/12/2020 at 3:12 PM, Battlefish said:

They did create a version of Beat Saber for the PS4, although only for the PSVR headset. I have a digital copy that I acquired with a certain PSVR bundle.

 

If I recall correctly, didn't Oculus themselves buy out the Beat Saber developers? They might want to steer away from third-party ports now.

Yes.  Facebook owns Beat Saber now.

On 2/12/2020 at 3:44 PM, LePionnier said:

Tommy, are you disappointed that Geoff Keighley will not be attending E3 (for the first time in 25 years) and that there will be no Coliseum Show !?

Personally, I am disappointed. I imagined you very well promoting Amico on its show! 😯😥

A person not attending E3 doesn't disappoint me at all.  E3 is doing things a little different this year... and because of it... we may end up getting more promotion than originally intended. 

As I mentioned... still in the negotiation phase but I can tell you that E3 is very excited about Amico and it would be the ONLY new console on the show floor!  Imagine that.  

Tommy, another question for you. Since you guys have the rights to Earthworm Jim and the original dev team, is there any chance of seeing Earthworm Jim Special Edition for Sega CD on the Amico? I know, no straight ports, but it would be great to not have to spend $200+ on Ebay and still risk getting a fake copy. That and whatever version of EWJ 2 you guys think is the best. I'm not sure how to rank the different versions of EWJ 2, though, so maybe you should share the team's ranking of the best versions of both games!

On 2/12/2020 at 6:54 PM, GrudgeQ said:

Tommy's interview with Level 857 (Twitch) along with Phil Adam (of Spectrum HoloByte & who brought Tetris to the world). Includes some rumors about a possible Tetris game and maybe something new from the inventor of Tetris - also some hints about licenses from toy companies - cool stuff.

 

 

Was great for folks to hear from Phil and to see his enthusiasm as well.  Everyone on the team is so excited to be working on this.  Definitely one of the great ingredients for success!

On 2/13/2020 at 1:08 AM, Steven Pendleton said:

Tommy, you've mentioned that you're launching later here in Japan than the rest of the world. Any plans for Tokyo Game Show this year or next year? If you're going to be here this year, hopefully my Founders Edition gets to me before then so I can maybe have you sign it again!

 

I imagine that that this will be a more difficult market for you than the USA given the trends (older and declining population, low birthrate, etc.), but as you have stated, getting people to try it is important. Demo units in train stations, perhaps? Shinjuku station is the most heavily trafficked train station in the world, but it's probably too crowded and busy for a bunch of people to stand there and clog up the hallways testing it.

 

You've mentioned that one of the reasons that the Xbox (and now the whole Xbox brand as a result) was stillborn here in Japan is that they tried to appeal too much to the Japanese rather than focusing on non-Japanese games, and also that social gatherings are done outside the home due to the size limitations. I'm not into Xbox (and there's no point since lots of stores don't even stock Xbox stuff at all), but the thing about the space limitation is absolutely true.

 

What's your plan to overcome these things? Can't do much about the sizes of people's houses, but I guess you could do something showing families hiding under the kotatsu together in the winter with the Amico. It is true that lots of Japanese people move back in with or close to their families to take care of them when they get older or sick, though, so Amico could give them something to do together. There's currently a giant ad for some Switch brain training game at Ebisu station that I see on the train to work every day (my train car stops DIRECTLY in front of it) with some lady who is like maybe 30~40 with some old dude (her father?) playing that game together. Obviously you probably can't talk about much of this stuff yet, but I'm very interested to see what sort of plan you have for the Japanese market.

Hi Steven!,

Yeah... as you mentioned it is going to be more difficult for us to enter the Japan market based on the two factors I've previously mentioned (and you confirmed).

Our strategy is to focus on North America and Europe first.  Make it a big success in those territories... learn from our mistakes, etc. and then look at the Japanese market to see if there is a way to successfully launch.  I think we have a chance and things that will appeal to the country... but just not something we are focused on at the moment. 

Would love to stay in contact throughout our launch so you can help me to understand the market from someone "on the ground" over there. 

Also... you're gonna be the COOLEST kid on the block with your Amico in Japan!! 

Maybe you'll be the one to help spark a revolution for us! 

On 2/14/2020 at 8:53 AM, 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.

I absolutely LOVE when I see a new post from RetroAdvisoryBoard because I know it's always going to be 100% spot on. 

I seriously need to hire this guy!

On 2/14/2020 at 10:53 AM, BiffMan said:

Hi Tommy, I apologize if this has been covered before, but what was the first moment when someone said to someone 'we should do this' and plans began in earnest for the Amico? If you were part of that discussion (or the one starting it), can you describe just how crazy exciting it was when you realized this could actually work? 

Keith Robinson asked me to be involved with Intellivision about 5 years ago.  It was at that point that I told him I had an idea for a new game console.  Unfortunately, it wasn't until after his death that we started working on it for real... but his passion and love is all over Amico.

On 2/14/2020 at 11:28 AM, ASalvaro said:

i don't get so many people on youtube and twitter sweating over if the Amico will sell or not if this is a good idea or the people that say "who's going to buy this??" 

some people act like they have stock in the company and if it doesn't sell your going to be on the street

let Tommy worry about that stuff and just enjoy the exciting ride 

Sounds reasonable to me!  

On 2/14/2020 at 1:51 PM, bigdaddygamestudio said:

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

Hahahhaa!  Been trying to hook up with Palmer to compare retro collections.  He lives right around me.  Just haven't connected yet.  Can't wait for him to see my Ralph Baer Brown Box... maybe I'll sell it to him and our next investment round will be closed.   Hahahha!  

On 2/14/2020 at 2:04 PM, popsicle said:

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

 

If it is at all possible... you know I will!!!

I've even already recorded it!  This is from my first Video Games Live album:
 

On 2/14/2020 at 4:37 PM, squirrelgotdead said:

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.

Thank-you for recognizing this.  Much appreciated.

Tommy,

Will the physical games for Amico be able to save to themselves like a cartridge on 3DS?  

On 2/14/2020 at 10:41 PM, fiudr said:

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.

We had this problem early on... partly my own fault because of the way I had the very first trailer made.  But since then I believe we've done a pretty good job of identifying what we are.  If anyone goes to our website for the first time... I believe it does a good job in telling our story.

On 2/15/2020 at 12:47 AM, cmart604 said:

Is that a challenge? 😂

Hahahaha!   Maybe.

I'm only going to release 2 copies of certain physical media.  I'll keep one for myself... and the other ones so I can trade you for one of your PlayCables!!

😜

On 2/15/2020 at 5:01 AM, IntelliMission said:

I have news from the other thread: To say that the Switch and the PS4 have sexual and violent content is equivalent to hating those platforms.

People just trying to create drama where there is none.

21 hours ago, IntelliMission said:

Hey guys, have you ever been one of these people that buy a console day one and camp outside the shop before it opens? Do you know anyone who has done that?

 

With so many new consoles about to be released, I realize I have never bought one upon release, not even in the same year.

I preordered some of the consoles I wanted for day one so I didn't had to stand in line. Did this with the Wii and the 3DS. If I remember correctly I made the midnight sale for the 1st World of Warcraft expansion. And I was at the shop opening time at the only store in town that sold the first iPad back then. The line was about 10 people, so no big deal.

On 2/15/2020 at 5:12 AM, xucaen said:

I feel like this thread has gotten away from the Q&A motif. 🤔

I actually don't mind if things go off on tangents sometimes... especially when I'm not always around.  Always want this to be a fun and friendly place to talk anything Intellivision related.

23 hours ago, m-crew said:

Sometime when communication using text.(email,forums,text ext) How they are meant to come across, how when read get interpreted are completely taken in a different content. I think that's what happened to your concerns. With you last comment anything can happen with any new product hitting the market. Why concern yourself if's. I'm sure IE does have a plan if any issues arrive, that is usually put in place when developing a new product or in redesign or updating..  Like you said let's stay optimistic and supporting positive. Here's a quote that someone just sent me.  Love over Hate!!!! Wins every Time!!!!!

So true isn't it.  Cheers....

Ha!  Nice quote. 

😉