Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

44 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Scarcity is a powerful tool.

Yes it is, which is why Japan has limited edition EVERYTHING. Limited edition McDonald's burgers, limited edition Coca-Cola (we had vanilla float last year in the summer and strawberry near Christmas. I miss the orange and lime ones from 2014~2015 the most, but lemon shows up every summer before going away again) limited edition Pepsi, limited edition video games, limited edition trains with their own limited edition tickets, a new selection of limited edition potato chips at 7 Eleven literally every week... the list goes on forever.

Anyway, I hope this doesn't affect your hardware sales too much. I guess Japan is facing lower availability of the Switch because of Foxconn or whoever it is that Nintendo has making them.

2 hours ago, bigdaddygamestudio said:

the point I think a lot of people are missing is. If there is no E3 there will not be other alternatives since all other conferences will be likely cancelled as well. I love Tommy's optimism but lets get real, this virus thing will jeopardize both marketing and manufacturing plans. Worse yet, after all is said and done , when we do emerge from it your looking at a world in recession.  I mean the one good thing is with Zoom and Twitch and all the rest you can still market and communicate to media as well as potential customers, but the world is about to change and not for the better. Insane times we live in.

It will be temporary.

14 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

BEST OVERALL:   Super Mario World

 

WORST OVERALL:  High Heat Baseball 2003 of course!

Here's the proof!!  (Funny considering I just posted that Victor Lucas video about Amico!!)   Hahahha!

 

Enjoy!

 

 

This video-review of a video game is one of the best I've ever seen. 

Not only is it blunt and to the point, but I love the sincerity here. Passionate yet freaking hilarious at the same time.

If this same fire is used to critique Amico games before they're released to the public. Nobody's going to lose.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that Tommy will be overseeing game production and quality control for many of the games. 

5 hours ago, 1001lives said:

I completely forgot about Gamescom! Will be awesome to see if Amico makes it there (that's if it's not canceled :/)

If the epidemy is still not contained by August, we will have a lot more to be concerned about than Amico... 😅

28 minutes ago, roots.genoa said:

If the epidemy is still not contained by August, we will have a lot more to be concerned about than Amico... 😅

You mean the apparent shortage of toilet paper in Japan? I'm not sure if this is true, though I need to go to the pharmacy to get laundry detergent, so I'll find out in a few days when I go.

14 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

BEST OVERALL:   Super Mario World

 

WORST OVERALL:  High Heat Baseball 2003 of course!

Here's the proof!!  (Funny considering I just posted that Victor Lucas video about Amico!!)   Hahahha!

 

Enjoy!

 

 

BTW this game looks pretty miserable. I may or may not be slacking off at work right now so I can't listen to the audio, but I don't expect much. I wonder if it's worse than Fellowship of the Ring for GBA or CrazyBus for Genesis/MD.

Fellowship of the Ring for GBA is the worst "playable" game that I have ever played, but I'm not sure if CrazyBus is considered "playable" in the sense that there is really nothing to do. That said, I feel like contradicting myself by saying that CrazyBus is still WAY more playable than Fellowship of the Ring.

Anyway, have you talked at all about the Amico quality control system? I know, 7/10, but what is the actual criteria? Obviously game must be playable and not have CrazyBus-tier music (please do not listen to the "music" if you want to retain your sanity or your hope for humanity. Or do if you want to die laughing or maybe even just marvel at its horror).

Hey Steven, I know I should be asking questions to Tommy, but... how's life in Japan? What are the most noticeable differences, both in video games and in general? What job made you live there? I think i would be cool if you could write a few lines about this while we wait for the Amico. 🗾

By the way, I think my last question to Tommy would make a good topic, so I have created it: What is the BEST game you've ever played and which one is the WORST?

13 minutes ago, IntelliMission said:

Hey Steven, I know I should be asking questions to Tommy, but... how's life in Japan? What are the most noticeable differences, both in video games and in general? What job made you live there? I think i would be cool if you could write a few lines about this while we wait for the Amico. 🗾

 

By the way, I think my last question to Tommy would make a good topic, so I have created it: What is the BEST game you've ever played and which one is the WORST?

I am here because the Marines told me to go here and then I decided to try living here after I got out. It's basically like living in a big city the USA, I imagine, but with Japanese people instead. Also lots of good curry.

In order to avoid derailing the thread, I'll put it back on track before it gets derailed.

Tommy, how are most people reacting to the no DLC thing? How about game publishers' thoughts on it, provided you are allowed to say? Obviously individual company names are probably NG, but in general, if you are allowed to. DLC is unfortunately a huge money maker for the industry now. I saw some comment on Youtube, I think, where someone was actually complaining about no DLC and said that you guys are just going to send games out to die with no support. How strange. It's actually perhaps one of the biggest reasons that I am interested in the Amico: no more 1/3 complete games.

6 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Yep.  For sure.  Also for Sony, Microsoft & Nintendo as well as anyone who makes electronics. 

But it doesn't kill us.  It only slows things down a bit.  Not the end of the world.  A "walk before you run" structure isn't the worst thing. 

 

Also not bad.... not a lot of machines made, they come out and it's a huge hit and everyone wants one... but can't get one.  2021 hits and we keep making more and more machines.

Scarcity is a powerful tool.

 

Very true! A more limited release perhaps will still be just fine. Also gives the team time to feel out the market and see how things react.

Tommy,

How much storage space is available for the Amico out of the box?  I know it has 16GB flash memory, some of that will be used up from the 5 pre-installed games and the OS.  Hopefully there is enough space left.  Of course there is the option for an SD card.

5 hours ago, RREDDWARFF said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that Tommy will be overseeing game production and quality control for many of the games. 

All.

4 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Anyway, have you talked at all about the Amico quality control system? I know, 7/10, but what is the actual criteria? Obviously game must be playable and not have CrazyBus-tier music (please do not listen to the "music" if you want to retain your sanity or your hope for humanity. Or do if you want to die laughing or maybe even just marvel at its horror).

No criteria really except that it must be fun to play!  That is the main criteria.  We have a team of the most talented folks in gaming who have worked on the biggest and most successful game franchises in the world.  So we are confident that we know what we're doing in that regards.  But also... we are constantly having non-gamers play and give us insights into things to ensure that certain things aren't too difficult for a non-gamer to understand.  There have been a few instances where the obvious... wasn't obvious to a non-gamer.  So we changed a few things.  Really great group of folks we have... both internally... AND our developers!

4 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Tommy, how are most people reacting to the no DLC thing? How about game publishers' thoughts on it, provided you are allowed to say? Obviously individual company names are probably NG, but in general, if you are allowed to. DLC is unfortunately a huge money maker for the industry now. I saw some comment on Youtube, I think, where someone was actually complaining about no DLC and said that you guys are just going to send games out to die with no support. How strange. It's actually perhaps one of the biggest reasons that I am interested in the Amico: no more 1/3 complete games.

We are the publisher of everything... so we don't mind.  

People have become so used to getting screwed and for "updates" for broken shit that they actually argue against it sometimes.  

Here's a crazy idea.  You sell the game when it's finished!  You sell a COMPLETE game with ALL the levels, vehicles, etc.  WHAT A CONCEPT!!!  

Folks have gotten lazy because of digital media.  I mostly blame mobile.

8 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

No to all at this point.

 

 

It's all good.  

9 minutes ago, Atari_Master said:

Tommy,

 

How much storage space is available for the Amico out of the box?  I know it has 16GB flash memory, some of that will be used up from the 5 pre-installed games and the OS.

Hopefully there is enough space left.  Of course there is the option for an SD card.

Yes.  There is an SD card where you can add more storage space.  Not sure how much our OS & 5 pre-installed games take up as we are still working on them all and won't decided the 5 games until we figure out the best ones.  We have 7 possibilities... but only 5 slots. 

1 minute ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Yes.  There is an SD card where you can add more storage space.  Not sure how much our OS & 5 pre-installed games take up as we are still working on them all and won't decided the 5 games until we figure out the best ones.  We have 7 possibilities... but only 5 slots. 

 

Okay, that's fine.  

On 3/1/2020 at 4:35 AM, IntelliMission said:

It looks like Intellivision Entertainment has made small, weird-looking and affordable machines with a name that means "friend" in a Romance language trendy.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to the Citroën Ami:

 

Where do you store the Allen wrench to change a tire?

2 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

We are the publisher of everything... so we don't mind.  

People have become so used to getting screwed and for "updates" for broken shit that they actually argue against it sometimes.   Here's a crazy idea.  You sell the game when it's finished!  You sell a COMPLETE game with ALL the levels, vehicles, etc.  WHAT A CONCEPT!!!  

 

 

So in the case of a hypothetical Sonic game, you'd be the publisher instead of Sega, because they'd have licensed Sonic to you. That's interesting, but not unprecedented (Sonic Pocket Adventure).

I see all sorts of idiocy online about "games shipped broken in the 70s, 80s, and 90s before patches existed! Sonic & Knuckles is the first DLC!" and what have you. Most games then went through thorough QC before they got released. Most of them.

Games were also passion projects back then and it shows in things like Dracula X, Akumajou Densetsu, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and Gleylancer. Now games have become tools for shareholders who don't care about or know anything about games to make more money so they push things through, finished or not. It will be nice to return to no DLC, no MTX, and a focus on having not-broken games again. My cynicism is showing again, but it's all true, as I am sure you already know.

20 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

We are the publisher of everything... so we don't mind.  

People have become so used to getting screwed and for "updates" for broken shit that they actually argue against it sometimes.  

 

Here's a crazy idea.  You sell the game when it's finished!  You sell a COMPLETE game with ALL the levels, vehicles, etc.  WHAT A CONCEPT!!!  

 

Folks have gotten lazy because of digital media.  I mostly blame mobile.

 

 

I never buy new because the game is still going through QC testing and patches, and no need to pay premium when the game will be 60% of the cost within a year. 

I think the trend predates mobile gaming (mobile has made it perceived as an acceptable business practice because of DLC in mobile - even though when mobile games are released, they're essentially complete games, and content is just built into them).  I think the massive multiplayer online experiences of the late 90s/early 00s opened the door for patch-laden releases.  PC players became use to early glitches, every few months or year a new expansion adds levels, every couple weeks a patch addresses a host of identified issues.  Early gaming as a service.  Consoles toyed with the model late in the PS2/Xbox era, it became normalized soon into the 360 and PS3's life-cycle, and now every larger game seems to be patch-laden.

I think the nature of these games on Amico reduce the need for updates and broken areas.  No user-managed camera to consider every angle and view glitches.  Play-testing has a limited number of options to trial.  Maybe some sort of additional levels or features added in a future update as a bonus, not as purchased content.  That's a model consumers would find easy to follow and get behind.

28 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

No criteria really except that it must be fun to play!  That is the main criteria.  We have a team of the most talented folks in gaming who have worked on the biggest and most successful game franchises in the world.  So we are confident that we know what we're doing in that regards.  But also... we are constantly having non-gamers play and give us insights into things to ensure that certain things aren't too difficult for a non-gamer to understand.  There have been a few instances where the obvious... wasn't obvious to a non-gamer.  So we changed a few things.  Really great group of folks we have... both internally... AND our developers!

 

Yeah, I watched the reveal trailer again a few weeks ago when I was bored and couldn't sleep. Your staff is full of some of the best in the whole industry, so I'm not really worried about it at all. As long as the games are fun, that's all that matters to me. It's good that you're having non-gamers test things. They aren't as biased toward certain development conventions as people who do play games regularly are. Look at the damn controls for MGS2 and MGS3 because of the stupid pressure sensitive buttons on the PS2, which Kojima decided to use for some unknown reason. Push square all the way and release it quickly to fire on semi-auto, push all the way and hold for full auto, push it only lightly to point your weapon without firing, and release it slowly while easing up on the pressure very slowly if you want to put your gun down without shooting. Like... why? There is absolutely no need for that! Trying to use an enemy as a shield or interrogate him without killing him in MGS3 is even worse, perhaps.

Day 1 patches and large amounts of DLC were not at all common before mobile gaming really took off and "facebook" tier gaming. 

In the past we'd get giant content updates with expansion packs, which are all but gone now. A game like Diablo 2 getting an expansion like Lord of Destruction which added tons of new levels, abilities, classes, etc. is unheard of. Nowadays you'd have that broken into 4 DLC packages in a "season pass" with one part of each of that expansion pack for sale for 5.99 or 9.99 or whatever - but buy them all for a discount!

I believe even with PC gaming and MMORPGs, it wasn't common to have to log in and patch your game files. They would release updates, but usually that coincided with new content in exchange for your monthly fee. 

I think there is a lot to be said for a game console that delivers feature complete games without day one patches that fix a ton of stuff or add DLC. The absolute worst offenders are companies that put DLC on disc that you pay to unlock. 

I give Nintendo a bit of a pass because at least Amiibo were cool collectibles, and not just empty DLC - but it's still kind of bad that they put a ton of content, usually cosmetic, on their games you couldn't access without a 15 dollar action figure.

1 minute ago, 1001lives said:

Day 1 patches and large amounts of DLC were not at all common before mobile gaming really took off and "facebook" tier gaming. 

 

In the past we'd get giant content updates with expansion packs, which are all but gone now. A game like Diablo 2 getting an expansion like Lord of Destruction which added tons of new levels, abilities, classes, etc. is unheard of. Nowadays you'd have that broken into 4 DLC packages in a "season pass" with one part of each of that expansion pack for sale for 5.99 or 9.99 or whatever - but buy them all for a discount!

 

I believe even with PC gaming and MMORPGs, it wasn't common to have to log in and patch your game files. They would release updates, but usually that coincided with new content in exchange for your monthly fee. 

 

I think there is a lot to be said for a game console that delivers feature complete games without day one patches that fix a ton of stuff or add DLC. The absolute worst offenders are companies that put DLC on disc that you pay to unlock. 

 

I give Nintendo a bit of a pass because at least Amiibo were cool collectibles, and not just empty DLC - but it's still kind of bad that they put a ton of content, usually cosmetic, on their games you couldn't access without a 15 dollar action figure.

You missed Brood War, the best expansion pack every made! Maybe, anyway. I'm extremely biased because I love StarCraft and I was just telling one of my friends to play it a few hours ago because he says he has nothing to play and IT'S 100% TOTALLY FREE!

Too bad amiibo have the build quality of a Happy Meal toy. I have a few. The Metroid one (and I mean the actual Metroid breaking out of the container) is pretty cool though

You know what? I just realized that the last new game I bought last year has ZERO patches, DLC, etc. Then again, that game is Xeno Crisis on the Genesis/Mega Drive, so it's not like Bitmap Bureau can patch a physical Genesis/MD game since that involves disassembling the cart, swapping the actual ROM, etc., although they could send out new carts and email us new downloads of the updated ROM file. Not that they need to, since the game seems to be 100% glitchless so far, just like it should be.

Some might be concerned that no downloadable content might hurt the replayability of a game.  But that can be addressed with how the game is designed.

50 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Yes.  There is an SD card where you can add more storage space.  Not sure how much our OS & 5 pre-installed games take up as we are still working on them all and won't decided the 5 games until we figure out the best ones.  We have 7 possibilities... but only 5 slots. 

Are three of the packins still among those shown in the Gamescom trailer and based on old Mattel titles?

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

and won't decided the 5 games until we figure out the best ones.  We have 7 possibilities... but only 5 slots. 

Hi Tommy. That's something new I think. Can you elaborate please ? ( And it will help for the new FAQ thread ) ☺️

I thought the 5 games was decided since a long time ago. Is it a question of more time is needed for some of those games ? Hesitation about which kind of game to be included ? Can you confirmed which one is set in stone ? Snafoo, Astrosmash and Skiing ?

Thank you very much.