Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

6 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

Ciao amico!

 

E benvenuti alla discussione!

 

Scommetto che il mio italiano è molto peggio del tuo inglese! Conosco soprattutto tutte le parolacce!

Yes... it will be sent to Italy from America because I need to sign them all and we need to add the "extras".  Although... ya never know!  I might just hand deliver the ones to Italy!!  Any excuse to go there!!  Hahha!

 

I hope you stay safe during this crisis in the homeland. 

 

p.s. Forza Ferrari!!

 

ahaha Tommy, I too know many swear words in English.  If you personally hand over the founders' edition, we will increase our culture with each other.  Anyway I live in full food valley, the best place in the world to eat great food and drink good wine .... see what you want to do ... In October we hope this virus emergency has passed, my children are home from school  (schools still closed for at least two weeks) but my wife and I are going to work regularly for now.  We are careful, we overcome well.  P. S. I will give the founders' edition to my son, as my father gave me the original intellivision many years ago.  W le Rosse di Maranello!

26 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Yeah!!  LOVE this conversation!!!!!!!

 

Everyone... join in!!!!!!!

ok I have another story about this 7-11. It was about a couple years before the last story. So late 1970s. The 7-11 was just getting these new arcade games in, they were  asteroids and space invader first wave type stuff. 

So anyway during the summer me and a couple of my friends are just goofing around walking about like you did back then. Suddenly we saw this older guy we knew, he was like 16 or 17, we were all like 11 or 12.  So he said he was heading up to play some of the games at the 7-11 to make sure he still had all the high scores there.  The guy was known to be a bit of a dork but he really was good at these games, so we said what the hell lets go watch him play.

 So we head off on our 5 block walk to 7-11, along the way we pick up a few more guys and so by now he has 6 or 7 of us following him up to the store.  You could tell he was digging it having this little posse follow him up. SO we get there and he's strutting across 7-11 to get to the asteroids game which was tucked in corner with the other couple games they had there.   So he gets to the game and he sees this little girl 10 years old or so playing asteroids and full of bravado he says  "beat it kid, this is my game"  without hesitating the little girl looks back without missing a beat and says " shut up and wait your turn loser"  well hearing that we all lose it. We are laughing and mocking him, the lil girl told him off in front of everyone, it was classic. 

It turns out this girl was from a family of all girls with a marine dad and they really took no shit from anyone.  So he basically got so embarrassed he just left, so we just all got slurpees and went home....  Cool story yes/no...

oh but there is more.  Little did I know at the time, but at this moment was the first time I ever met what would later turn out to be my wife.  Yep I ended up marrying that lil take no crap girl and we are still happily married to this day.  (fyi- she still plays arcade games to this day as well)

52 minutes ago, bigdaddygamestudio said:

ok I have another story about this 7-11. It was about a couple years before the last story. So late 1970s. The 7-11 was just getting these new arcade games in, they were  asteroids and space invader first wave type stuff. 

So anyway during the summer me and a couple of my friends are just goofing around walking about like you did back then. Suddenly we saw this older guy we knew, he was like 16 or 17, we were all like 11 or 12.  So he said he was heading up to play some of the games at the 7-11 to make sure he still had all the high scores there.  The guy was known to be a bit of a dork but he really was good at these games, so we said what the hell lets go watch him play.

 So we head off on our 5 block walk to 7-11, along the way we pick up a few more guys and so by now he has 6 or 7 of us following him up to the store.  You could tell he was digging it having this little posse follow him up. SO we get there and he's strutting across 7-11 to get to the asteroids game which was tucked in corner with the other couple games they had there.   So he gets to the game and he sees this little girl 10 years old or so playing asteroids and full of bravado he says  "beat it kid, this is my game"  without hesitating the little girl looks back without missing a beat and says " shut up and wait your turn loser"  well hearing that we all lose it. We are laughing and mocking him, the lil girl told him off in front of everyone, it was classic. 

 

It turns out this girl was from a family of all girls with a marine dad and they really took no shit from anyone.  So he basically got so embarrassed he just left, so we just all got slurpees and went home....  Cool story yes/no...

 

oh but there is more.  Little did I know at the time, but at this moment was the first time I ever met what would later turn out to be my wife.  Yep I ended up marrying that lil take no crap girl and we are still happily married to this day.  (fyi- she still plays arcade games to this day as well)

 

 

Awesome story , thanks for sharing with us.... 

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

The first time me & my dad ever saw and played Space Invaders and Asteroids was at a batting cage.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  First arcade machines I ever played.  I was 10 years old.  Me & my dad STILL talk about that day!!

 

I love that story !! It was such a special time !! Maybe when younger people try the high score type Arcade games we are taking about, they will get a feeling of this type of fun and competition  the arcades gave in the old days ! To come back again and again and again to beat your score. There is nothing on the App Store that ever gave me this feeling or on any consoles in many years. And even on the consoles there was no option to save high scores permanently and enter your initials. This was reserved for certain arcade games, and even then if they were reset or unplugged the scores would be lost, but it was awesome to see your name up there !! Bring the excitement back Tommy !!! It will be better than ever with the technology available today !

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Thanks Michael!!  That really means a lot to hear you say that.

 

Yeah... good advice.  Sometimes I get caught up too much in the negative stuff... even though it's a very very small minority...  But a lot of you have my back and understand a lot about whats going on and how we operate.  Makes a big difference knowing folks are understanding what we're trying to accomplish.  If it was just me fighting all the negativity all the time... it would drag me down and make it tough to want to interact at all.

 

So THANKS to everyone!!!!!!!!!

 

(except for you negative cock-knockers... you still SUCK!)

 

 

 

Anybody know how many posts I need to make to have "Negative Cock-Knocker" as my profile status/achievement level? 

I think upon achieving that epic title of endearment, we're obligated to call it a career, and hang up our typing gloves. 

21 minutes ago, Cranker said:

I love that story !! It was such a special time !! Maybe when younger people try the high score type Arcade games we are taking about, they will get a feeling of this type of fun and competition  the arcades gave in the old days ! To come back again and again and again to beat your score. There is nothing on the App Store that ever gave me this feeling or on any consoles in many years. And even on the consoles there was no option to save high scores permanently and enter your initials. This was reserved for certain arcade games, and even then if they were reset or unplugged the scores would be lost, but it was awesome to see your name up there !! Bring the excitement back Tommy !!! It will be better than ever with the technology available today !

When we were in high school, my buddy worked at the Cumberland Farms down the street. There was just one Donkey Kong machine there, but a couple of us would hang out when he was working sometimes and play.  I remember a big snowstorm one night, no one was out driving...we walked down to Cumberland Farms where my buddy was working and just hung around and played for hours.  My buddy had the key to the game, so he unlocked it and let us play for free...we hung out on a snowy night, it was a ghost town...we had some soda and candy bars, chatted and played Donkey Kong.  I know this isn't a super interesting story to the masses, but those were fun times and good memories...

24 minutes ago, RetroAdvisoryBoard said:

Anybody know how many posts I need to make to have "Negative Cock-Knocker" as my profile status/achievement level? 

 

I think upon achieving that epic title of endearment, we're obligated to call it a career, and hang up our typing gloves. 

Maybe become a subscriber? You could make it your custom status at least. 🤷‍♂️

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

We don't have a camera situation so it would need to be controller controlled.  But we're looking into it.  Had a GREAT meeting today with a super cool music game.  Excited about the potential of having it be a launch title!

Pity the time machine is on the fritz, or we could probably get Harmonix to whip up something new and incredible for the Amico. 

Holy crap... SXSW cancelled 

https://www.sxsw.com/2020-event-update/

Here I thought I was all safe and stuff in Austin... 🤕

21 minutes ago, BiffMan said:

Holy crap... SXSW cancelled 

https://www.sxsw.com/2020-event-update/

Here I thought I was all safe and stuff in Austin... 🤕

Live music capital of the world cancels SXSW? That is tragic. 

2 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Yeah!!  LOVE this conversation!!!!!!!

 

Everyone... join in!!!!!!!!

 

I was raised in my fun years in Livermore California... home of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.  Jokes about our pee being green and stuff was the norm.  haha. 

We had a place in town within walking distance of Livermore High School where I went and at lunch, along with getting Chili Cheese Dogs at Der Wienerschnitzel, we would go to VR... Video Ranch... Was our small town video game place....

Was also one of our main hangouts Friday and Saturday nights as cruising the strip in those days was the norm.  Anyone else here do weekend cruises down town, whistling at the pretty girls?  I and my 1972 Datsun 240Z (miss that car and was my 1st) sure did... btw my mascot in the passenger seat was a large ET Doll.  The girls loved it.  haha

Anyway, I remember my favorite games and one just happens to be Moon Patrol.. One reason the Amico has snatched my heart recently.

Along with Moon Patrol I loved Dig Dug... probably my favorite game of all, and Sinistar!  That game was spooky as [email protected]#$%^.  It damn spoke evil.  haha.

Anyway, love and miss those years but for me... 2020 will bring that all back with Intellivision and Amico.  I am SOOOO ready!

TJ

There is a non-trivial chance that freaking Olympics will be cancelled. Therefore, there is an even less trivial chance that E3 will be cancelled in its current form. But I think if that happens, they'll do the announcements online. Intellivision will do fine. I'm looking forward to watching a Steven Tyler mini show on Youtube E3 live broadcast 😁

5 minutes ago, Guy said:

There is a non-trivial chance that freaking Olympics will be cancelled. Therefore, there is an even less trivial chance that E3 will be cancelled in its current form. But I think if that happens, they'll do the announcements online. Intellivision will do fine. I'm looking forward to watching a Steven Tyler mini show on Youtube E3 live broadcast 😁

I still believe that Spring and warmer temperatures will save us. 

2 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

The producer of Dance Dance Revolution (Jason Enos) is my VP of Production!  Jason also produced all the early Metal Gear Solid & Silent Hill games!! 

We don't have a camera situation so it would need to be controller controlled.  But we're looking into it.  Had a GREAT meeting today with a super cool music game.  Excited about the potential of having it be a launch title!

 

Not sure where this suspicion arose, but are you bringing back the dance/fitness mat?

3 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Yes.  Gameplay video within the next 2 weeks (and will announce the VIP pre-order at the end of the video). 

Still working on Moon Patrol demo... but so many more important things ahead of it.  Not as easy as just porting a level from Amico to mobile.  All hands on deck for other stuff.  But hoping for the end of March for more Moon Patrol!

 

I’m more excited to see gameplay videos anyway. I didn’t think about the fact that it takes a lot of precious time to port it to mobile and playing these type of games on mobile isn’t that great anyway. But it would still be fun to check out an entire level as a demo if time permits. I really hope Warlords is on the to do list or even a launch title ! That game with 4 players would be awesome !!! And sea battle reimagined please !

On 3/4/2020 at 10:40 AM, Tommy Tallarico said:

I'm sure you can imagine how difficult it must be for us to break into the market dominated by 3 multi-billion dollar companies.

Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo... or Apple, Samsung & Huawei? 😂

focus on the blue ocean Tommy 🌊, don't try to dip your toes in the shark pool.

Tommy has battled hardcore gamers so much that he has started using their narrative 🙊

On 3/5/2020 at 2:24 PM, Tommy Tallarico said:

Hi,

You know I NEVER told you privately to delete comments here!  Why would you say that??!?!?  I would appreciate an apology.  You know that isn't true.  You PM'd here yesterday and I simply replied...

"Hi.  Not sure why that is happening.

 

Please send an email to [email protected]

 

Thanks."

 

Also... just a quick question... True or False... you put the wrong e-mail address in?  Just a simple Yes or No.  We have the correspondence. 

I wasn't throwing you under the bus in any way.  I was trying to get to the bottom of who and how you were contacting us so I could take care of the problem.  You never responded publicly. 

Totally unfair of you to say that I privately requested you to delete your comments.  I NEVER did such a thing.

 

Wow.

 

 

I really didn't want to continue this needless drama further but just to clarify for everyone - 'you' did not request the deletions and I was not referring to you (nor did I imply it) - it was your customer service rep who did.  If you want me to post a screenshot of the entire correspondence, I would be happy to do so privately in a DM.

This is a Q&A forum and I sincerely appreciate your openness and candidness here.  So, being a forum of this nature, I thought it would be appropriate to ask a "Question" about an issue I was having so that I could get an "Answer."  I sent emails as far back as February 23rd, and the Paypal case was opened Monday 3/2 at 6:46 PM.  I got responses to nothing and only posted here as a last resort.  

I still have (or had, after all of this...) intentions of getting an Amico.  I simply wanted to cancel my order at this time for reasons mostly unrelated to the product; and I even told your rep that I would gladly transfer my purchase to someone else so someone could be happy with it.  I've tried to be absolutely civil but the amount of drama over this is quite frankly ridiculous and unnecessary. 

Again, I truly wish you guys the best but such a simple thing as a refund request (which was advertised) really shouldn't be this big a deal.  I hope whoever gets my order gets many years of enjoyment out of it.   Cheers

1 hour ago, Swami said:

I still believe that Spring and warmer temperatures will save us. 

umm its summer in half the world and its spreading there in place like Australia. WHO made a statement about this, warmer weather likely not going to effect it.

Hope all the folks in here are having a rocking good Friday night... some of you if overseas may be in bed now.    I am just getting started.  

Listening to some Journey and Boston.

Any way You Want It

https://youtu.be/atxUuldUcfI

Don't Look Back

https://youtu.be/2HuiH-0R6a0

Cheers all!

TJ

1 hour ago, AtariSociety said:

Hope all the folks in here are having a rocking good Friday night... some of you if overseas may be in bed now.    I am just getting started.  

 

Listening to some Journey and Boston.

Any way You Want It

https://youtu.be/atxUuldUcfI

Don't Look Back

https://youtu.be/2HuiH-0R6a0

 

Cheers all!

 

TJ

Awesome music choice !!!

2 hours ago, bonehead said:

I really didn't want to continue this needless drama further but just to clarify for everyone - 'you' did not request the deletions and I was not referring to you (nor did I imply it) - it was your customer service rep who did.  If you want me to post a screenshot of the entire correspondence, I would be happy to do so privately in a DM.

 

This is a Q&A forum and I sincerely appreciate your openness and candidness here.  So, being a forum of this nature, I thought it would be appropriate to ask a "Question" about an issue I was having so that I could get an "Answer."  I sent emails as far back as February 23rd, and the Paypal case was opened Monday 3/2 at 6:46 PM.  I got responses to nothing and only posted here as a last resort.  

 

I still have (or had, after all of this...) intentions of getting an Amico.  I simply wanted to cancel my order at this time for reasons mostly unrelated to the product; and I even told your rep that I would gladly transfer my purchase to someone else so someone could be happy with it.  I've tried to be absolutely civil but the amount of drama over this is quite frankly ridiculous and unnecessary. 

 

Again, I truly wish you guys the best but such a simple thing as a refund request (which was advertised) really shouldn't be this big a deal.  I hope whoever gets my order gets many years of enjoyment out of it.   Cheers

Umm, this seems very unlikely?

As the Intellivision customer service rep would have no way of linking your actual name with your AA forum nickname, I find it somewhat implausible that they would just up and ask you to delete your posts on the forum.

Or perhaps if you had mentioned to them that you posted about not receiving a refund on the AA Amico forum, they then replied with something along the lines of 'As we have now completed your refund, you can delete your request in the Amico forum'. Which would not be a demand, but more like the Intellivision staff member trying to make sure that your requests in various formats for a refund are all showing as being properly resolved. i see nothing nefarious in that kind of request.

Regardless, only you and Tommy are the ones with all the information on this. If it this much of a problem for you, it might be more practical just to DM Tommy directly about it rather then you two doing a 'I said, they said' back and forth in the forum over it.

4 minutes ago, Tavi said:

Umm, this seems very unlikely?

As the Intellivision customer service rep would have no way of linking your actual name with your AA forum nickname, I find it somewhat implausible that they would just up and ask you to delete your posts on the forum.

Or perhaps if you had mentioned to them that you posted about not receiving a refund on the AA Amico forum, they then replied with something along the lines of 'As we have now completed your refund, you can delete your request in the Amico forum'. Which would not be a demand, but more like the Intellivision staff member trying to make sure that your requests in various formats for a refund are all showing as being properly resolved. i see nothing nefarious in that kind of request.

Regardless, only you and Tommy are the ones with all the information on this. If it this much of a problem for you, it might be more practical just to DM Tommy directly about it rather then you two doing a 'I said, they said' back and forth in the forum over it.

Please, do not put words in my mouth. I never said they “demanded” anything (or used that word in any capacity.)  The word i used was “request” which has an entirely different meaning.  
 

Ironically, the intention of my post was actually to clear Tommy of involvement in this and end this ridiculous saga once and for all.  
 

Seriously, the amount of pearl clutching and faux outrage here is bordering on ludicrous. All I asked was how one could obtain the promised / advertised refund as there were no obvious channels available; and the ones that were available were apparently not being monitored.  
 

I could very will post screenshots proving everything I’ve discussed but i choose not to.  I’m willing to just let this die on the vine already.  I got the refund; the console was resold. The end.  

It's all faux or kayfabe.

9 minutes ago, MrBeefy said:

It's all faux or kayfabe.

 

 

It is all scripted, but there is no way to fake falling 20 feet onto a table.

Mick Foley is just insane :D Always entertaining to watch, but absolutely zero sense of self-preservation.

Oh my God!