Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

so playing intellivision baseball back in the day, how many of you guys discovered that outside corner pitch?  If you took it is was a strike, if you swung it went to the 2B/P  99% of the time.  Our games became basically who could execute the pitch the most and almost every game was an extra inning 1-0 game if we even finished them.  Basically in our house the oldest brother won, because he would just start betting on us as we tried to pitch.     Good times

I was really curious about Safecracker. I thought it was a new IP, but it's not ! It's from Imagic, but never heard of it before !!!

Here is a description I found about the original game :

Safecracker puts you in the role of one of history's greatest spies as you drive around the streets of a foreign city and abscond with secretive cameras, keys, microfilm, flasks of chemicals, and bars of gold bullion.

While cruising around the city, you should avoid crashing into curbs or other cars. You can shoot the cars if you like, but this will bring the Secret Police and their bullets. You should make your way to one of the embassies, where you can learn the combination needed to open the treasury vault. This is also where you can find most of the secretive items. After picking the combination locks of four embassies, you will have both secret numbers needed to open the treasury safe, which contains the gold.

The most profitable way to crack a safe is to pick its combination numbers by finding the right number sequences. This involves cycling through various numbers (0 through 99) on your keypad. Pick numbers until there are no more to find. If you find yourself running out of time, you can simply blow up the safe with dynamite. However, you will not score any points, and the Secret Police will respond to an alarm that will automatically be set off.

I imagine easily this game now using colors with co-op multi player !

That could really be fun.

14 minutes ago, LePionnier said:

I was really curious about Safecracker. I thought it was a new IP, but it's not ! It's from Imagic, but never heard of it before !!!

 

 

Here is a description I found about the original game :

Safecracker puts you in the role of one of history's greatest spies as you drive around the streets of a foreign city and abscond with secretive cameras, keys, microfilm, flasks of chemicals, and bars of gold bullion.

While cruising around the city, you should avoid crashing into curbs or other cars. You can shoot the cars if you like, but this will bring the Secret Police and their bullets. You should make your way to one of the embassies, where you can learn the combination needed to open the treasury vault. This is also where you can find most of the secretive items. After picking the combination locks of four embassies, you will have both secret numbers needed to open the treasury safe, which contains the gold.

The most profitable way to crack a safe is to pick its combination numbers by finding the right number sequences. This involves cycling through various numbers (0 through 99) on your keypad. Pick numbers until there are no more to find. If you find yourself running out of time, you can simply blow up the safe with dynamite. However, you will not score any points, and the Secret Police will respond to an alarm that will automatically be set off.

 

 

I imagine easily this game now using colors with co-op multi player !

That could really be fun.

I had Safecracker back in the day for the Intellivision. What I really liked about it was the atmosphere with the city, locations and gangster style cars. The worst part of the game was the driving. The controls were kind of clunky & one wrong move and you would crash. However I love the premise and I think the Amico wheel is going to be so cool to interact with a safe dial, it is kind of a natural fit. This is definitely a game down my alley, however, I even wrote a real safe cracking tool years later (maybe it was inspired subconsciously): http://analoghacking.com/vscale.html

5 hours ago, IMBerzerk said:

Man.. would be great to have one now with all this self-quarentine, and social distancing going on.  Hunker down and play me some Amico!!

I was thinking the same thing,especially since all the families are spending so much time together.

Make the best of a bad situation with the Amico!👍

1 hour ago, LePionnier said:

I was really curious about Safecracker. I thought it was a new IP, but it's not ! It's from Imagic, but never heard of it before !!!

 

 

Here is a description I found about the original game :

Safecracker puts you in the role of one of history's greatest spies as you drive around the streets of a foreign city and abscond with secretive cameras, keys, microfilm, flasks of chemicals, and bars of gold bullion.

While cruising around the city, you should avoid crashing into curbs or other cars. You can shoot the cars if you like, but this will bring the Secret Police and their bullets. You should make your way to one of the embassies, where you can learn the combination needed to open the treasury vault. This is also where you can find most of the secretive items. After picking the combination locks of four embassies, you will have both secret numbers needed to open the treasury safe, which contains the gold.

The most profitable way to crack a safe is to pick its combination numbers by finding the right number sequences. This involves cycling through various numbers (0 through 99) on your keypad. Pick numbers until there are no more to find. If you find yourself running out of time, you can simply blow up the safe with dynamite. However, you will not score any points, and the Secret Police will respond to an alarm that will automatically be set off.

 

 

I imagine easily this game now using colors with co-op multi player !

That could really be fun.

i bought it at Toys R Us when it 1st came out..fun game! 

3 hours ago, bigdaddygamestudio said:

Looks good but I dont see a selection for the East Coast beach. I see some kinda lake, Im hoping it scrolls down and allows a east coast NJ beach type thing. Its huge here on the NJ beaches.

There should be an Outer Banks beach level where you have to constantly compensate for the never ending winds.  I can see it where if you throw it too high, the wind just blows it right back in your face.

3 hours ago, The Wren said:

Tommy is there any chance you'd be willing to share when you're going to post the trailer tomorrow...are we talking like a midnight release...I'd stay up for that

 

10am pacific!

3 hours ago, haplo13 said:

I really shouldn't be this excited over a cornhole screenshot, but yet, here we are...  I can see this one being a favorite with my kids.  

 

One thing I think some naysayers are forgetting with the Amico is the benefit to families of having quick playing experiences.  Currently, Wii Sports, Wii Party, and Just Dance are the most played games in our house.  Why?  Because my kids are 6 and 8 years old and have the dexterity and attention spans of, well, 6 and 8 year olds.  They quickly tire of the same game and are constantly switching between games on Wii Sports or Wii Party - many times circling back to a game they just played 10 minutes before.  The other great thing about these short experiences is that my wife or I can take 5 minutes out of whatever chore we are doing, hop in a round and play with the kids, then hop out again as they continue to play on.  This is one of the reasons I am anticipating the Amico so much.  It sounds like most games are going to be like this (instead of the 2/3 titles we have on the Wii currently and are getting quite long in the tooth).

Exactly!!  I am keeping all of those things in mind when designing and developing all the games!

2 hours ago, BiffMan said:

Same here. I keep waiting for Tommy to say 'just kidding' on the game name. 

I'd LOVE to call it something different!!  Trust me!!

But that's what it's called now.  Even all the professional leagues!

Well... if anything... it will get people talking and laughing... which in the end is hilarious and good marketing.  

2 hours ago, LePionnier said:

That's probably what happened with the deal with Atari ! ?  lol

An even BETTER story than that!

2 hours ago, haplo13 said:

I'm from Wisconsin and currently live in Minnesota and I always knew it by beanbag toss but it seems the official name is Cornhole...  at least according to the American Cornhole Organization (https://americancornhole.com/), American Cornhole League (https://www.iplaycornhole.com/), and the World Cornhole Organization (http://iplaywco.com/). Maybe IE could partner with one of them to be the official game of the ACO, ACL, or WCO.  😄

...and maybe we already have.

The ACL on ESPN 2 outdid Wimbleton in the ratings last year!

1 hour ago, GrudgeQ said:

OK I giggled as I read each one of those - proving I am mentally 12 years old - good idea though.

This is exactly what I'm sayin'....

Imagine all of the families laughing like hell everytime someone mentions the word!!  Gonna be the best marketing ever!!!

hahahaha!
 

57 minutes ago, GrudgeQ said:

I had Safecracker back in the day for the Intellivision. What I really liked about it was the atmosphere with the city, locations and gangster style cars. The worst part of the game was the driving. The controls were kind of clunky & one wrong move and you would crash. However I love the premise and I think the Amico wheel is going to be so cool to interact with a safe dial, it is kind of a natural fit. This is definitely a game down my alley, however, I even wrote a real safe cracking tool years later (maybe it was inspired subconsciously): http://analoghacking.com/vscale.html

HATED the driving.

FIXED!!!!!!!!!

If cornhole is getting a game we need to push for a polka dance game.

That's big here in NE Pennsylvania. 

And Amish buggy racing wouldn't be too bad either. 

😄

1 minute ago, Michael Garvey said:

If cornhole is getting a game we need to push for a polka dance game.

 

That's big here in NE Pennsylvania. 

...cue crickets.

Just now, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

...cue crickets.

 

 

 

 

Hahahaha.

You never know with you Tommy.  We kid and sometimes you call our bluff and actually do crazy things.

Lol

4 minutes ago, Michael Garvey said:

And Amish buggy racing wouldn't be too bad either. 

 

😄

I digg the Amish.  I would totally play it.

And maybe star in the game too!  haha

TJ

I'm really looking forward to a new game the Atari Creep clued me into.

It's called the "Atari VCS Waiting List" Game.

It sounds super fun. 

I'm not even sure Amico could produce such a game as that.

🙂

45 minutes ago, ASalvaro said:

i bought it at Toys R Us when it 1st came out..fun game! 

I had this game for the Intellivision back in the day also. I may have purchased it at Toys R Us too, or maybe Kaybee Toys or Service Merchandise... 

11 minutes ago, Michael Garvey said:

I'm really looking forward to a new game the Atari Creep clued me into.

 

It's called the "Atari VCS Waiting List" Game.

 

It sounds super fun. 

 

I'm not even sure Amico could produce such a game as that.

 

🙂

Sounds like a really great game - the kids could start playing in elementary and still be playing all the way through college. What a value!

7 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

I wonder if this is really going to happen!

 

https://www.gizchina.com/2020/03/15/microsoft-xbox-series-x-and-sony-playstation-5-will-be-postponed/

Perhaps they will do something like they did with the 1st run of Star Wars figures back in the 70's.

Come November, for $499 you get a cardboard box and instruction manual to put under the tree until the real product arrives. 

Tommy Talarico,

I ran out of questions for you so do you have any questions for us?

42 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Exactly!!  I am keeping all of those things in mind when designing and developing all the games!

 

 

I read something interesting about the new Xbox today...

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2020-inside-xbox-series-x-full-specs

My eyes glazed over after the first paragraph. Lots of talk about teraflops and CPU units cycling to multi-threaded cores that trace rays of light into the GPU... or something like that. What has yet to be mentioned is anything about the games.  Or why these changes will make playing games more fun.  Because things will be prettier and load faster? The PS4 offered pretty much the same thing the PS3 did, only with prettier graphics. Nothing really new. Nothing special. I'm already over playing a "game" where I have to keep track of upgrading a 1000 different things and constant notifications blinging up on the screen notifying me of a 100 different things.  Maybe I'm just getting old.

I like how Tommy and Intellivision rarely talk about the tech (except maybe the controllers) and instead almost always focus on the games. It's really a breath of fresh air.

3 hours ago, bigdaddygamestudio said:

I personally like the idea of calling it "Betty White".  

 Then it would be gray. The good news is, it would last forever.