Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

On 2/26/2020 at 2:33 PM, insertclevernamehere said:

I love the look of this H.E.R.O inspired game but maybe it's too pixel art for the Amico.  

I know Tommy has expressed a disinterest in having such retro looking, pixel art games for it.  It would be nice to have some though and I wonder what cooperative and competitive elements could be added for a possible Amico port. Like the look of Sigi and Plutonium Pirates from pixel.lu too.

I wouldn't mind something like that on Amico.  It's the 8 & 16 bit pixel art that I feel is too overdone to death at this point (and would send the wrong message about what Amico is).  But I like this one!

On 2/26/2020 at 6:50 PM, Papy said:

On my part, although I am in big part a retro gamer, I believe that the old arcade-style kind of gameplay has been superseded and very few people are still interested in this gameplay now. I believe that if reimagined games are remakes instead of spiritual successor, that is if they are based on the same gameplay, but with more bells and whistles and some kind of multiplayer modes tacked on, then those games will interest only a minority of people. I implied that Intellivision shouldn't do true remakes. Spiritual successors are fine, but not remakes.

To this specific point... our research shows very different results.  Young kids who have never played Frogger or Burgertime absolutely LOVE them and like the fact that their parents are willing to play those types of games with them.

I'm curious to know why you believe that "very few people" are interested in games like Frogger, Space Invaders, etc. ??

If you go into any Dave & Busters you'll see... multiplayer versions of Pac-Man, Galaga, Space Invaders, etc.  Folks who grew up on that stuff are happy to expose their kids to it as well.  D&B's is a family place.

All I'm saying is that in our research and focus testing we find that young kids absolutely love playing old retro games with their parents.  As mentioned... it is only 20% of our line-up... but the design and simplicity of those old games are predominant in most of our titles across all the other genres.

20 hours ago, cmart604 said:

Errrrr....what was this thread about again? ....ah yes...Tommy while I'm sure some version of this has been asked, once you decided to do this what were the top 3-5 games you personally wanted to be reimagined in the Amico? 

For me personally...

Utopia, Baseball, Skiing, Moon Patrol and Hockey!

13 hours ago, LePionnier said:

In memory of Kazuhisa Hashimoto who died this week...  😌

 

 

Tommy, you could create a special code for Amico. Like pressing the 4 buttons and the disc at the same time and moving the controller 180 degree could provide to play the original game ( for those reimagined ) , see a making of, or have a couple music from a play list from the game !?🙃

For the past 18 years... whenever there is a pre-sale code for Video Games Live tickets I always make it...

UUDDLRLRBA

RIP Hashimoto-san.

9 hours ago, m-crew said:

As long as this thread doesnt become a Bacon or Taco thread, with the same old things being brought up over and over like what has been happening in other threads. Its all good.  Difference of opinion is great as long as it's more then one point of view and people don't complain to mods when another point of view's are being defended with fact's and data.  

 

 

BTW , you guy's debating these last few pages, It was pretty interesting reading what you all have had to say.. 

 

Cheers guys looking forward to more of the same.  

Yeah... I agree.  Fun and interesting to see everyone's opinions.

1 hour ago, OEB_Pete said:

Hey Tommy,

 

Good to have ya back from Toy Fair!    What is the average file size you and the team are aiming for with games on the Amico, physical or digital?  I am a huge geek and this stuff intrigues me for some odd reason, especially since games in this current console generation normally clock in at between 5 to 100 GB.

 

Thanks,

Pete

Yo Pete!,

Thanks!  Just flew into Florida.  Doing a Video Games Live show here tomorrow night.

Average is probably around 500mb.

55 minutes ago, Swami said:

They will get on board once the Amico does well. 🙂

Exactly!

I understand folks' apprehension.  It's okay.  Even more reason to prove ourselves!

 

32 minutes ago, poconojo said:

I am really looking forward to Cloudy Mountain re-imagined. How is that game coming along?

Super cool!!

Will hopefully show parts of it at E3.  But not sure.  Probably won't be available on launch... but possible.

28 minutes ago, Swami said:

Will you be testing the games from third parties in house for playability before approving them or going on demos they send?

I personally design, produce, direct and do the audio for almost every game...  so yes... definitely ALL games MUST go through our internal team. 

Most small developers don't have testing... so they rely on us for most of it.

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Our launch is:

 

20% Sports/Recreation

20% Original IP's

20% Retro Reimagined

20% Card/Dice/Board

20% Edutainment

 

The focus here has always been the Retro Reimagined... but that is only 20% of our line-up!  So many other cool things coming at launch!!

 

 

It's the other 80% that I'm most looking forward to the most, even if I won't play many of the games.  I'm familiar with the old stuff, so seeing what you guys come up with for reboots is going to be great.  More exciting?  The new stuff I can't even conceptualize.  The Amico controllers are so different and open up many gameplay options that are not possible with a traditional, twin-thumbstick controller.   What initially might seem like a novelty-or even an odd choice for controller design-will likely be the biggest selling point of the system for both players and developers. 

Two controllers as hands?  Awesome.  

8 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Not familiar with those games.

 

 

No problem.  Just wanted to ask.  Thanks!

6 hours ago, supahwally said:

It's the other 80% that I'm most looking forward to the most, even if I won't play many of the games.  I'm familiar with the old stuff, so seeing what you guys come up with for reboots is going to be great.  More exciting?  The new stuff I can't even conceptualize.  The Amico controllers are so different and open up many gameplay options that are not possible with a traditional, twin-thumbstick controller.   What initially might seem like a novelty-or even an odd choice for controller design-will likely be the biggest selling point of the system for both players and developers. 

 

Two controllers as hands?  Awesome.  

Yea hope that 2 controller in each hand game is a boxing game 😄

9 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Great meeting with the MLB folks and doing something really incredible with them that I can't wait to tell folks.  Probably announced at E3 in June.

Left field Umpire is signaling "HOMERUN" !  White climbed the fence but just missed it.  Bench now with his 2nd Homerun of the game.

You will notice some subtle changes in my avatar. It took dozens of hours in Photoshop, but it was necessary in order to differentiate myself from the competition. I mean, from the other users.

Since this is a Q&A thread... Tommy, what is the best video game you have ever played and which one is the worst? You can only name one for each category.

7 minutes ago, IntelliMission said:

You will notice some subtle changes in my avatar. It took dozens of hours in Photoshop, but it was necessary in order to differentiate myself from the competition. I mean, from the other users.

 

 

World’s shortest palindrome. 😄

On 2/27/2020 at 5:35 AM, IntelliMission said:

I just hope Papy doesn't really think that we live in an "oppressive feminine society". Society is certainly oppressive, but I wouldn't blame women on it.

My goal was not to blame anyone. It was just to explain why I believe games that rely on high scores don't appeal to people anymore and therefore why a game like Nex Machina was a flop despite having, in my opinion, a near perfect design.

As for an oppressive feminine society, this is not a subject I'd like to discuss here, but I'll make one last comment about it. I live in Quebec. Here, 13.97% of children aged between 10 to 12, and 14,5% of children aged between 13 to 17 are being prescribed Ritalin. What statistics don't say is that the vast majority of those children who are prescribed Ritalin are boys, so it's more than 25% of boys who are put on drugs in Quebec. Whenever a teacher is bothered with the behavior of a boy, the "solution" is to prescribe him Ritalin to calm him down. One of my clients takes care of children who show "problematic behaviors" in school in order to "help" them. I listen to what those people believe and there are times when I find it frightening.

9 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Not familiar with those games.

 

 

https://vsrecommendedgames.miraheze.org/wiki/Atari_2600/Supercharger

https://atariage.com/catalog_thumbs.php?SystemID=2600&CatalogID=40

Supercharger used a cassette adapter to play 6K games because 4K was the practical cart max. I gotta say they push that 6K as far as they could. Games looked better and were more fun than similar 2600 games of the time. Problems due to proximal release of 8K and 12K cart competition and 1984 crash ended them.

9 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

We will have something for everyone as individuals... AND... for families/everyone. 

It truly is a very unique line-up in that sense in regards to where our focus is.  Just like in the 80's. 

What will be the percentage of games that are for "individuals" compared to games that are for "families/everyone" ?

9 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Our games will sure be a helluva lot better! 

 

 

Games on Facebook are generally pastimes that are used as an excuse to maintain the illusions of social contacts. They are not truly for playing games.

2 minutes ago, Papy said:

Games on Facebook are generally pastimes that are used as an excuse to maintain the illusions of social contacts. They are not truly for playing games.

There's also Words with Friends, etc.

10 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

I've actually renamed it.  I'm now calling it...

 

Blarneo's Math Fun!

🤣

Not sure how educational it will be...

9 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

All I'm saying is that in our research and focus testing we find that young kids absolutely love playing old retro games with their parents.  As mentioned... it is only 20% of our line-up... but the design and simplicity of those old games are predominant in most of our titles across all the other genres.

I see my friends' kids. Yes, they all had great fun playing old arcade games with us (I have two MAME bartop arcade machines that I can easily bring with me), but that quickly wore off. It's the same for women (one of my clients asked me to make a MAME machine for them after they saw the ones I made for myself). The female employees had a lot of fun playing Frogger or Ms. Pac-Man with us at first, but it was short lived. It's now almost only men who play with those.

Do you believe people here will be interested in the other 80% of games? Do you think they will play with those games as much as the remakes? Because if they don't, if everyone ends up playing their own game, I don't see how you intend to bring families together.

1 hour ago, Papy said:

My goal was not to blame anyone. It was just to explain why I believe games that rely on high scores don't appeal to people anymore and therefore why a game like Nex Machina was a flop despite having, in my opinion, a near perfect design.

 

As for an oppressive feminine society, this is not a subject I'd like to discuss here, but I'll make one last comment about it. I live in Quebec. Here, 13.97% of children aged between 10 to 12, and 14,5% of children aged between 13 to 17 are being prescribed Ritalin. What statistics don't say is that the vast majority of those children who are prescribed Ritalin are boys, so it's more than 25% of boys who are put on drugs in Quebec. Whenever a teacher is bothered with the behavior of a boy, the "solution" is to prescribe him Ritalin to calm him down. One of my clients takes care of children who show "problematic behaviors" in school in order to "help" them. I listen to what those people believe and there are times when I find it frightening.

Overuse of prescription drugs is common everywhere and all over the planet now. Regardless of gender or age. 

As a personal aside, I don't drink alcohol but I see alcohol as a pretty big problem as well. We can't fight off prescription drugs use if we encourage everyone to knock back a few (or a few more) when they're older in every society.

Buttttt this also has nothing to do with the Intellivision Amico.

Tommy,

Since Star Wars can't be on Amico due to EA, unless later on you get permission from them.  What about a Star Trek game?  But that might be a problem too.

Tommy,

Will there be a Bubble Bobble type game on Amico?  What about Lode Runner re-imagined?