Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

6 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Wow!!  Jim Peterick from Survivor too!  Love the EYE OF THE TIGER guitar!  Me want!!!
 

 

@Tommy TallaricoDid you listen to this tune.. I found it very wicked cool!  I felt like I stepped back in time to when Styx was still the original lineup.  Too bad Dennis and Styx can't make up... one last fling... as it would go down as an awesome final bow to the fans.  tj

ps.. if you did... you will find later tonight and tomorrow you will need to listen several more times.. it is that good. 

44 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Yo!,

 

I made the mistake of venturing over to the Amico thread on Reddit late last night and something caught my eye that was a bit disappointing. 

Here is the comment...

LordRayken

tommy has changed a lot of his answers in the atariage thread. i am on his side but its hard to defend him when he is now saying he may not even have 10 units for E3. if he cant even get 10 units by e3 how is he going to get thousands and thousands by september for an october launch? i dont think hes as trustworthy about this as he lets on anymore.

 

A few things...

 

1.  I wish if this person had a question or issue he would just take it up with me publicly in here.  I would have no problem addressing his question or concern.  But to basically call me a liar... is going too far.  Especially when the question was never posed to me in here. 

 

2.  Yes... I change answers in here because everyone is seeing, hearing, reading all of this stuff in real time as its happening.  Most people understand and appreciate this.  I'm just surprised the concept of things changing isn't clearly understood by some people.  But to basically call me a liar because of it?  Really?!?  I'm ALWAYS open and honest ALL the time.  I guess... to a fault.  Every sentence and word I say shouldn't be held to some kind of perfect standard that is never going to change.  All of this is happening in real time and plans constantly change.  Companies NEVER do this... for exactly this reason.  Yet I continue to do it anyway... knowing that stuff will be used against me in the future.  Sad.  Yes... at one point I was hoping to have 50 or so machines on the floor of E3. Then Corona hit.  But if we get 10 - 20 in a featured position with BIG TIME TV coverage... I'm happy with that.  As if I could predict the Coronavirus?  But whether it's 10 or 50 (or NONE if it gets canceled) the machines at E3 wouldn't be the ones that come off the assembly line anyway.  They would be DEV KIT versions.  So the phrase "he can't even get 10 units by E3 how is he going to get thousands by Sept/Oct" is 2 COMPLETELY different things.

 

Anyway... I just wanted to point out how disappointing it is to read stuff like this when I've always been so honest and upfront about every little thing.  For folks to now somehow use it against me is going a little too far IMO. 

 

Last comment about Reddit.  I have never read so many ridiculous, uneducated and just plain STUPID remarks than from the user: paprium_fiasco.  This guy really takes the cake!  Literally EVERY comment I've ever read from this guy is almost completely the opposite.  And you guys thought that Tony guy was off?  Nah... this papsmear dude is on a whole different level.  Another self proclaimed "genius" who pretends to know everything... yet knows nothing and doesn't have the balls to come here and confront me in a manner fitting of an adult.

 

People need to understand that we're not going to pull the trigger on a $10 Million marketing/advertising budget if we will only be able to produce 100,000 machines.  Why?  Because we could sell that many on our own with very little marketing.  This is business 101.

 

 

 

Don't be disappointed! I always rate your comments as a reflection of the current situation. We all know (at least we should!) things can change the next minute and there are a lot of them beyond your influence. 

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Yo!,

 

I made the mistake of venturing over to the Amico thread on Reddit late last night and something caught my eye that was a bit disappointing. 

Here is the comment...

LordRayken

tommy has changed a lot of his answers in the atariage thread. i am on his side but its hard to defend him when he is now saying he may not even have 10 units for E3. if he cant even get 10 units by e3 how is he going to get thousands and thousands by september for an october launch? i dont think hes as trustworthy about this as he lets on anymore.

 

A few things...

 

1.  I wish if this person had a question or issue he would just take it up with me publicly in here.  I would have no problem addressing his question or concern.  But to basically call me a liar... is going too far.  Especially when the question was never posed to me in here. 

 

2.  Yes... I change answers in here because everyone is seeing, hearing, reading all of this stuff in real time as its happening.  Most people understand and appreciate this.  I'm just surprised the concept of things changing isn't clearly understood by some people.  But to basically call me a liar because of it?  Really?!?  I'm ALWAYS open and honest ALL the time.  I guess... to a fault.  Every sentence and word I say shouldn't be held to some kind of perfect standard that is never going to change.  All of this is happening in real time and plans constantly change.  Companies NEVER do this... for exactly this reason.  Yet I continue to do it anyway... knowing that stuff will be used against me in the future.  Sad.  Yes... at one point I was hoping to have 50 or so machines on the floor of E3. Then Corona hit.  But if we get 10 - 20 in a featured position with BIG TIME TV coverage... I'm happy with that.  As if I could predict the Coronavirus?  But whether it's 10 or 50 (or NONE if it gets canceled) the machines at E3 wouldn't be the ones that come off the assembly line anyway.  They would be DEV KIT versions.  So the phrase "he can't even get 10 units by E3 how is he going to get thousands by Sept/Oct" is 2 COMPLETELY different things.

 

Anyway... I just wanted to point out how disappointing it is to read stuff like this when I've always been so honest and upfront about every little thing.  For folks to now somehow use it against me is going a little too far IMO. 

 

Last comment about Reddit.  I have never read so many ridiculous, uneducated and just plain STUPID remarks than from the user: paprium_fiasco.  This guy really takes the cake!  Literally EVERY comment I've ever read from this guy is almost completely the opposite.  And you guys thought that Tony guy was off?  Nah... this papsmear dude is on a whole different level.  Another self proclaimed "genius" who pretends to know everything... yet knows nothing and doesn't have the balls to come here and confront me in a manner fitting of an adult.

 

People need to understand that we're not going to pull the trigger on a $10 Million marketing/advertising budget if we will only be able to produce 100,000 machines.  Why?  Because we could sell that many on our own with very little marketing.  This is business 101.

 

 

 

Tommy, this seems like the same person who trolled a while back, that you totally owned, he posted under different names/accounts on Reddit also, most of us on reddit are ignoring his nonsense.   We 100% appreciate your candor, open communication and friendly demeanor.  I, and many other people over here have never met you but you treat us with respect, answer our crazy questions and genuinely seem to care about the people that love your product.  I consider you a virtual friend and I am sure many other people feel the same.     

Another thing I want to say about your customer service is, for 13 years before I switched careers I was the customer support/billing services director for a a major US based software and billing services company.  I started and managed(a more talented team than me) the Work at Home remote division. I can honestly say based on my experience, that your approach to customer service is something we used to aspire to on every customer interaction. Tommy you and your team should feel very proud about the job you have done so far, it shows your passion and commitment to excellence.  No matter what history says about the Amico, I know for one it will speak glowingly about the people behind it.

About music and arcade machines:

1) The main reason why I'm not attracted to bands like Styx is the high pitch voice of the singers. I actually like the guitars and instruments.

2) Am I the only one that lived some of the most epic adventures on the arcades with fake arcade machines that were actually consoles with a timer? This one was a big hit in Spain and I used to play this other one a lot (shame they didn't include it in the mini version of the console).

Here is an Awesome band. "Shocking Blue"! Dutch band

1 hour ago, N0mi said:

Don't be disappointed! I always rate your comments as a reflection of the current situation. We all know (at least we should!) things can change the next minute and there are a lot of them beyond your influence. 

I feel the same way. I was looking forward to you answering All of the questions that people asked over the weekend this morning and you always do a damn good job. I think the majority of us hardcore fans appreciate the time you take to interact with us !! Obviously things can change at any time. It’s ridiculous to hold you to every word you say. That’s why most companies share very little information until a product is completely ready. Following  the progress of this project on a regular basis makes me feel like part of the Intellivision family !! It’s a very unusual and unique experience to share information and progress  about this very special project that you obviously have an incredible passion for.  I appreciate it very much -:)

3 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

We've talked about it. 

 

That's awesome Tommy .I mean if you take drugs and sex out of 99 percent of teen rated games  a sub category rating could easily be created. 

3 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Yo!,

 

I made the mistake of venturing over to the Amico thread on Reddit late last night and something caught my eye that was a bit disappointing. 

Here is the comment...

LordRayken

tommy has changed a lot of his answers in the atariage thread. i am on his side but its hard to defend him when he is now saying he may not even have 10 units for E3. if he cant even get 10 units by e3 how is he going to get thousands and thousands by september for an october launch? i dont think hes as trustworthy about this as he lets on anymore.

 

A few things...

 

1.  I wish if this person had a question or issue he would just take it up with me publicly in here.  I would have no problem addressing his question or concern.  But to basically call me a liar... is going too far.  Especially when the question was never posed to me in here. 

 

2.  Yes... I change answers in here because everyone is seeing, hearing, reading all of this stuff in real time as its happening.  Most people understand and appreciate this.  I'm just surprised the concept of things changing isn't clearly understood by some people.  But to basically call me a liar because of it?  Really?!?  I'm ALWAYS open and honest ALL the time.  I guess... to a fault.  Every sentence and word I say shouldn't be held to some kind of perfect standard that is never going to change.  All of this is happening in real time and plans constantly change.  Companies NEVER do this... for exactly this reason.  Yet I continue to do it anyway... knowing that stuff will be used against me in the future.  Sad.  Yes... at one point I was hoping to have 50 or so machines on the floor of E3. Then Corona hit.  But if we get 10 - 20 in a featured position with BIG TIME TV coverage... I'm happy with that.  As if I could predict the Coronavirus?  But whether it's 10 or 50 (or NONE if it gets canceled) the machines at E3 wouldn't be the ones that come off the assembly line anyway.  They would be DEV KIT versions.  So the phrase "he can't even get 10 units by E3 how is he going to get thousands by Sept/Oct" is 2 COMPLETELY different things.

 

Anyway... I just wanted to point out how disappointing it is to read stuff like this when I've always been so honest and upfront about every little thing.  For folks to now somehow use it against me is going a little too far IMO. 

 

Last comment about Reddit.  I have never read so many ridiculous, uneducated and just plain STUPID remarks than from the user: paprium_fiasco.  This guy really takes the cake!  Literally EVERY comment I've ever read from this guy is almost completely the opposite.  And you guys thought that Tony guy was off?  Nah... this papsmear dude is on a whole different level.  Another self proclaimed "genius" who pretends to know everything... yet knows nothing and doesn't have the balls to come here and confront me in a manner fitting of an adult.

 

People need to understand that we're not going to pull the trigger on a $10 Million marketing/advertising budget if we will only be able to produce 100,000 machines.  Why?  Because we could sell that many on our own with very little marketing.  This is business 101.

Yeah LordRayken is just one of those people who doesn't realize the messy development path that all projects (especially complex ones like, you know, developing your own freek'n game console) goes though. Excited for the good news but panics at the thoughts of production difficulties or E3 being cancelled or insert any other bump in the road. Your right, that is why most companies hide all development progress, but I am so glad you didn't do that. Your confidence in the project's final destination has shown through from beginning to end - most folks here know not to sweat the details in between.

As far as Fiasco & Tony (you are lucky you missed Tony's hit piece he posted twice - it got removed by two different mods) is they have a selfish ax to grind while both are trying to cloak themselves in "outing the truth" about the the Amico. It seems that them lying and trolling is perfectly OK in their search for that "truth" - disgusting.

4 hours ago, AtariSociety said:

yeh also a fan of both Van Halen and Styx.  I hope to see the current lineup of Styx and the separate Dennis DeYoung performing Styx one day.

btw, Dennis's new album just hit on Sunday.  His new tune is out.  Nice to have a new album out and he is in his 70s.  His voice has not changed a lick.  One of those you know it is him voices like Steve Perry.

TJ

Dennis Deyoung has one of my favorite voices in music..i'm going to have to check out that new tune 

3 hours ago, AtariSociety said:

yeh, the crew around Dennis's band is awesome!  August is a fabulous guitar player and also sings great too so he and Dennis make the band super.  I am a Tommy Shaw fan too but if I had to choose one lineup... I would go with Dennis.  I am amazed how good his voice has held up.  Super!  

This is not his new song that dropped Sunday but one he did in 2019 and I feel is a stellar song, very Styx here and if his album is anything like this, watch out!

https://youtu.be/qFv55zoTPaU

TJ

This song is pretty cool and has a neat rhythm to it.  😃

5 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

You mean because of cheating?

 

 

 

I'm not going to say anyone is cheating, but when they have a score 100x higher than anyone else, you have to wonder...

As far as Billy Mitchell goes, I think what he did was stupid, but I also don't think people should dismiss all the incredible things he accomplished before MAME was ever a thing.  The guy could play on a level that most people can't comprehend (I know I can't), and it's sad to see that his ego resulted him in doing things that would forever tarnish his image.  

But yes, I only really care about local high scores.  I'm glad to hear that something like that is coming.  Thanks!

Hi Tommy,

If E3 gets cancelled you should set the booth up and have a tour anyway.  In your own, Tommy way, of course.  To make it a genuine experience, set some speakers up just beyond the outside the booth. Pump in loud crowd noises and music.  So much that you have to yell into the microphone to show off some of Earthwork Jim's new moves and levels. Don't forget to have spinning and blinking lights. That is a must.

I'm sure all the cool stuff you are going to give away at the booth is already produced, or at least, on it's way.  Put the items in the store and send the proceeds to a good charity. it would be our way of giving back.

If you can't trust an Italian from the East Coast who can you trust.

🤷‍♂️

Seriously though, Tommy Tallarico is as honest as the day is long (42 hours long if Tommy had anything to do with it). He tells us so much that it even exposes himself to slings and arrows from the naysayers.  I admire his openness and appreciate him spending time with us (something he doesn't have to do and if he ever stops we will all understand and not take it against us)

I mean if John Alvarado left his job to work with Tommy that's all I need to know about this project. 

I'm all in on the Amico.

And Tommy, 

You've said in interviews you never met a person who decided to get a PS5 and then changed their minds to the Amico - well now you know someone; me. I was going to get a PS5 on launch but not anymore. I'm tired of the other companies and their games (see what I did there?) to get more money from people. They are cold and corporate and giving them some money is never enough. They want all your money. Instead of a possible $500 console with a $60 game I'm going to buy an Amico and all the launch games. That's a better use of my hard-earned cash.

😁

Not directly Amico related (although GameStop has been rumored to be an Amico retailer) but certainly interesting - Reggie Fils-Aime (was President of Nintendo of America until retiring about a year ago) has joined the board of GameStop (and several other board members are leaving):

https://venturebeat.com/2020/03/09/reggie-fils-aime-gamestop/

As long as Phil Harrison doesn't join, they will be fine.

Anyone ever see the 'Untitled Goose' game?

What about an 'Untitled Tallarico' game?

You are Tommy going through a city if people all of whom have ideas for a new console.  You have to somehow get their ideas and take them back to your headquarters to build the perfect machine. But watch out for the trolls and naysayers. You have to Metal Gear Solid around those people all stealth-like.

Instead of "honk honk" you could just have Tommy saying "Amico " in different ways (like as a question, a statement, a curse and an 'aha' moment)

😆

Ok. I got a hold of Tommy Tallarico's police report (hey it's public knowledge)

It says here he's been convicted of "stealing hearts and breaking records".

Well there you have it. Another Italian with a winning rap sheet. 

Too bad I'm Irish. 😔

At least I can live vicariously through him though.

Sigh. To be that close to John Alvarado. 😎

11 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

We have something similar.  Based on a very popular board game (but not Pictionary... I think... even better!).  

 

 

Ooh Ooh...is it Cranium????

Tommy,

Are the digital games going to have discounts during certain times of the year?  

One thing I havent mentioned but I hope we see down the line from Intellivision is a trivia game line sort of in the You Dont Know Jack line. You know with a really witty and funny announcer etc.  

11 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Yo!,

 

I made the mistake of venturing over to the Amico thread on Reddit late last night and something caught my eye that was a bit disappointing. 

Here is the comment...

LordRayken

tommy has changed a lot of his answers in the atariage thread. i am on his side but its hard to defend him when he is now saying he may not even have 10 units for E3. if he cant even get 10 units by e3 how is he going to get thousands and thousands by september for an october launch? i dont think hes as trustworthy about this as he lets on anymore.

 

A few things...

 

1.  I wish if this person had a question or issue he would just take it up with me publicly in here.  I would have no problem addressing his question or concern.  But to basically call me a liar... is going too far.  Especially when the question was never posed to me in here. 

 

2.  Yes... I change answers in here because everyone is seeing, hearing, reading all of this stuff in real time as its happening.  Most people understand and appreciate this.  I'm just surprised the concept of things changing isn't clearly understood by some people.  But to basically call me a liar because of it?  Really?!?  I'm ALWAYS open and honest ALL the time.  I guess... to a fault.  Every sentence and word I say shouldn't be held to some kind of perfect standard that is never going to change.  All of this is happening in real time and plans constantly change.  Companies NEVER do this... for exactly this reason.  Yet I continue to do it anyway... knowing that stuff will be used against me in the future.  Sad.  Yes... at one point I was hoping to have 50 or so machines on the floor of E3. Then Corona hit.  But if we get 10 - 20 in a featured position with BIG TIME TV coverage... I'm happy with that.  As if I could predict the Coronavirus?  But whether it's 10 or 50 (or NONE if it gets canceled) the machines at E3 wouldn't be the ones that come off the assembly line anyway.  They would be DEV KIT versions.  So the phrase "he can't even get 10 units by E3 how is he going to get thousands by Sept/Oct" is 2 COMPLETELY different things.

 

Anyway... I just wanted to point out how disappointing it is to read stuff like this when I've always been so honest and upfront about every little thing.  For folks to now somehow use it against me is going a little too far IMO. 

 

Last comment about Reddit.  I have never read so many ridiculous, uneducated and just plain STUPID remarks than from the user: paprium_fiasco.  This guy really takes the cake!  Literally EVERY comment I've ever read from this guy is almost completely the opposite.  And you guys thought that Tony guy was off?  Nah... this papsmear dude is on a whole different level.  Another self proclaimed "genius" who pretends to know everything... yet knows nothing and doesn't have the balls to come here and confront me in a manner fitting of an adult.

 

People need to understand that we're not going to pull the trigger on a $10 Million marketing/advertising budget if we will only be able to produce 100,000 machines.  Why?  Because we could sell that many on our own with very little marketing.  This is business 101.

 

 

 

Hey Tommy,

This is becoming par for the course today and as such I find myself in a super fortunate position to pay it no mind whatsoever. I'm not social media savvy at all...but i got twitter, this forum profile, and check my Facebook all the time just to be a part of this. I personally think this thing will be crazy big and for all the reasons you've said so far in all your interviews. You have changed some of the things you've said in interviews...but as a guy who has seen almost all of them I can also vouch that you've remained over 90% consistent and most of the changes you've made have been great changes that will allow your machine to be better, more user friendly, and more fun all around. 

In my own sphere I told my wife about this and she said "We don't need another console"...I told her she can connect her cell phone to it, showed her the dice rolling video and told her you were going after Q-bert and she said "I mean buy it". Friends of mine all hardcore, many early Atari adopters were laughing at this and then I said "they're redoing Archon and Lode Runner" and they said "Oh shit really?!? Keep me in the loop". You dropped the Night Stalker and the Astrosmash videos and one of my buds from the last sentence bought a Founders along with the two I bought...another one is interested in the VIP edition you have coming next and is pissed off he missed the Founders. The big win for me is my daughter Tommy...she saw your night stalker video and said "when are we getting that one...I love the music...can we all play together at the same time!!!"...then the same story with the Astrosmash vid. My family is all looking forward to this thing.

Whoever this guy is he entitled to his opinion even if its based in misguided feeling rather than fact...I feel bad for the guy...but i'm willing to leave it at that because I'd rather talk about all the innovations, ideas, and games games games you have coming our way! Anything else is a waste of text

Your team is world class, you're hitting all the chords, coronavirus is super unfortunate for everyone and everything, don't get dragged down by negative types, you can't please everyone...you'll have to settle for the 3 Billion you can please

Cheers, best to the Intelliteam, and Thanks so much for answering all our questions!!!

The Wren

Is the website coming this month for the Golden Tickets from the Intellvision shop? There was suppose to be monthly contests that we've missed out. Will there be some kind of catch up contest for those past 3 months of down time? 

Tommy, I think some of what you are addressing comes from lack of knowledge of how modern manufacturing works. I mentioned the indefinite delay of the TurboGrafx and CoreGrafx minis a few pages ago and those are a good enough example, so let's use those. Basically those got delayed indefinitely because of the virus. They also didn't say this until just the other day, and the announcement was basically "Our thing which was supposed to release literally 13 days from the time of this announcement is delayed indefinitely", which might seem a bit odd when you consider that Konami has to manufacture maybe hundreds of thousands of systems.

Why did they not do this last year? Because they didn't need to; because with modern manufacturing (and the cheap cost of labour in China) you can make a lot of simple things (low-cost SOC emulator systems in this case) in a short time at relatively little cost and those factories are already producing other stuff for other companies as well, so you'd probably have to wait for your turn to get your thing made anyway, hence the not manufacturing until closer to launch. I'm no expert on manufacturing, though, so this is partially a guess.

As for why the PC Engine mini preorders placed on or before the 5th will be fulfilled on the original launch date as planned... I don't work for Konami and so I can't say, but it would make sense in for Konami to prioritize the only country in the world where the PC Engine didn't fail horribly when planning their manufacturing and distribution for this new mini console. Now that the virus has caused manufacturing in China to slow considerably, we can see how far before launch some things are manufactured. Obviously this does not apply to everything; shipbuilding, for example, still takes time, but naval vessels are also not consumer goods.

5 hours ago, Atari_Master said:

Tommy,

 

Are the digital games going to have discounts during certain times of the year?  

Amico will be out in 7 months, games will not cost more than $10, and you are already concerned about discounts? 😕

This might have been asked before, but about purchasing digital games: how is the system going to be set up? I mean like will there be separate stores for each country or just like a master storefront with language/currency display options? What about region locking?

Each country has its own Switch eshop and each eshop only accepts cards from that specific country. I don't use my US bank or card anymore since I get paid in my Japanese bank and don't want to bother with international transfer fees every month, so it's annoying to buy stuff on the US eshop since I have to go to Amazon and buy one of those prepaid card things to put the money into my account. I am very glad they email you the code now instead of having to get it in the mail. I'd rather pay more money to import physical games from the US than buy digital games, but in some cases there is no physical release like with Sonic Mania (before it actually got one, anyway) and I have no choice.

I think the PlayStation store actually lets me use my Japanese card, but it's been so long since I bought anything there that I completely forgot. No idea what Xbox does. Steam doesn't seem to care as long as it gets your money.

By the way, Steam is actually region locked and that is one of the biggest reasons that I hate Steam. Want to buy Metal Gear Rising, a Japanese game made by a Japanese company, when you are living in Japan? Too bad because you can't. Same with Sonic CD and many other Japanese games. Can't get Shogun 2, either. Please don't do this, but since you are publishing everything yourself, I don't think this should be a problem.