Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

1 hour ago, Michael Garvey said:

Anyone else watch Tommy's response video and just thought "what if I could reach out and grab that Amico that's behind him...I mean it's clearly on because I can see the light...wonder if Tommy would notice my hand reaching passed him to take that controller..."

When I first watched that video when he first posted it I had to rewind a few spots because I would get hypnotized by the lights and lose focus on the words lol 

4 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

Hi!,

 

Thanks for your comments.  I don't think you're a hater at all.  I always welcome dialogue and concerns and appreciate the respectful way you engage.  So no worries.

 

My response to your concerns would be the following.

 

1.  Controllers & set-up:  You mentioned that anyone can just hook up an Xbox controller and play on their TV.  That right there is a non-starter for most average people.  They hate modern controllers and the fact that they can't just play right out of the box is a huge problem.  Think of all the steps the average person needs to take in order to get Android TV up and working and controllable.  Much different than just hooking up an HDMI cable and plugging something in.  

 

2.  Graphics:  You mentioned how much better the graphics look... but what we're doing (and the people we're attracting and selling to) don't care about graphics... and quite frankly PREFER things are more simple in nature.  This is an absolute fact that we have proven time and time again in our focus testing.  You'll notice in our trailer that the more arcade or "gamer" style games do have more detailed graphics (Night Stalker, Armor Battle, Astrosmash, Breakout,  Auto Racing, etc.).  But games like Shark! Shark!, Skiing, Cornhole have the graphic style pulled back and more simple, colorful and not as detailed.  We are doing that on purpose and for a reason.  We understand the data and research and it makes sense.  You put a photo realistic bowling game with an Xbox controller next to a bright cartoony one with a simple controller... and which one do you think the non-gamer or grandparent will pick?  I know the answer. 

 

3.  Playability and design:  I went through every trailer on the link you sent and with maybe the except of 1 or 2 games... there isn't much for a non-gamer there at all.  The library is very much focused on hardcore gamers.

 

4.  Co-Op:  Out of that library in the link... I didn't see much couch co-op.  And would they need to purchase 4 Xbox controllers in order to play with tactile feedback?  Or do they have to control everything with just their phones?  Not the greatest for the types of games they are showing.

 

Anyway... those are my thoughts as to why we are so much different than something like Apple Aracade/TV and Android TV.  I personally don't think that non-gamers are going to be drawn to something like that.  But they will be drawn to Amico.  But hey... I'm clearly biased... so interested in hearing from others in here what their thoughts are.

Thanks for the dialogue and appreciate that you are on my side in hopes of success.  Thanks!

Wanted to chime in as well.  Side-note: Lord Rayken has made a good deal of comments to combat the trashing-for-sport crowd on a recent Let's Watch the Amico Trailer and Kvetch video.  side-side note: also created probably the most thorough and accessible pop history YT video on the video game crash of 1977, unless I'm crossing my Lord Raykens and completely ignorant of some pop culture reference..  **Googles** ... nah, think it's safe to assume he's one and the same.

Here's some things I think worth considering.  Keep in mind, I don't have particularly in-depth knowledge of the cost of creating a console, just some observations and things I think we miss when comparing.  I know Pat and Ian fall into a few of these with their analogies and its frustrating that no one can get past their echo chamber to say, "yeah, but did you consider this with your point?"

Android TVs and the many tv-top Android-like boxes are going to be necessarily cheaper.  There are vastly more of them doing a committed few functions, and the tech isn't revolutionary or standout.  They all do the same thing.  Some premiere do more, are a little costlier, but they compete directly with the cheaper units so can't be so much a Cadillac in a new market.  Maybe a better example, since we're kind of throwing in cheap electronics hooking into your tv and managing a few resources, including accessing mobile game storefronts, is to think of all the old Pong clone units, or the super cheap Chinese "retro" handhelds.  They all basically do the same thing.  While they have different sourced manufacturers, maybe slightly different chip sets on one of six stock PCBs, different variations of simple menu selection screens, they're essentially a minimum cost clone unit repurposing hardware that usually has been discontinued from a more successful product.  They're cheap because they're abundant, because they're dated, and because there really isn't such a demand at any higher pricepoint.  They sit on shelves above $70.  At $40, people take a chance on them and a quarter won't ever open the box - purely throw-away impulse buy.

That is the base example our gaming crowd pivots back to.  Those are cheap.  Why wouldn't Amico or the VCS or any new system be similarly cheap?

Because, there is proprietary design involved.  Intellivision isn't going after a cheap Chinese pre-packaged plug and play or a mass-produced, similarly cheap TV box that has an Android interface (Android being a several billion dollar project by the way, paying dividends through longtime adoption through phones).  They want to create a unique gaming experience and a console has needs.

It needs to be able to process and interact with eight players simulataneously, without dropping signal, without interference, without a lot of hiccups.  It has to work properly as a communication between eight controllers (or controller devices), the system, the internet and relay that on TV with next-to-no noticeable lag.  That rules out stock Android TV boxes. 

It needs to be something that is a fairly closed system, they're launching a company, if the system is so ridiculously cheap with stock everything that it is easy to recreate, they'll have knock-off competitors in a matter of months eating their lunch in overseas market, within a year or so domestically.  In order to be fairly closed and proprietary, they can't really copy/paste what is being done elsewhere.  Nintendo has a smashing success with the Switch, and we see some knock-off attempts.  But far more knock-offs of the PSP and Vita since those had surplus components, are no longer sourcing components to Sony for manufacture, and the architecture by now is pretty well understood how to strip down and recreate for an 80% PSP experience. 

Intellivision wants an eco-system that is both family-friendly and easy to pick-up, not intimidating to a large market that doesn't consider a video game purchase.  The core of the pitch is that people who play games on phones would play on another medium (television), if the games were approachable and entertaining, and the controller itself less intimidating.  So it has the proprietary controllers built-in with lots of features.  They may be completely wrong with the assumption.  Perhaps that appeal of mobile/tablet device gaming is largely the appeal of being out and about, a device is in your pocket, or you're sitting on the couch and less interested in what a significant other is watching, and you turn to effortless mobile play.  Those mobile numbers could burn Intellivision in the end if that market really doesn't exist.  I think it does, they've done the market research, so it's just sort of wait and see from here.

Now, the numbers on paper are probably far lower than $249.99 we're seeing floated with the VIP package.  Six months ago the official word was still dead-set committed to $149.99 - $179.99 or as near as they could get it.  The early planning and research and review that produced that target price-point, with a healthy retailer cut and good ROI for investors at necessarily smaller manufacture numbers, certainly had the production of a unit with two controllers much lower, closer to $100-$130 if I had to guess before retailer/investor profit above cost.  Maybe cheaper, maybe a little more.  Cost-creep is notorious for any consumer good, and evidently everybody - Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, even Atari and NVidea, have had to make some adjustments or withhold pricing.  And assuming some of these trade-offs, some of what we haven't seen in the still scheduled half year of metered reveals, is going to showcase some of what is being done with the system. 

I also think we are comparing apples to oranges a bit, because we're looking at 1) systems that are standard tv set boxes with fairly uniform design by this point, 2) cheap knock-off systems that have 5% design cost (mostly, "How'd they do this one, let's do ours like this" level of research, 3) home consoles that have hundreds of millions baked into the R&D and are apparently 30%-75% more expensive to manufacture initially than their MSRP, so comparing a $249 Amico to a $399 PS4 Pro that likely cost $750 to manufacture when it was new, Sony was willing to eat the cost, just as Microsoft was, just as we know Nintendo did on the Wii U (refusing to lower the price because its tablet was so expensive).. the cost comparison isn't totally even - the big guys have been able to spread their costs and use economies of scale to bring eventual cost down, making each console sold late in its life profitable too.  Finally, we're comparing these to 4) apps on smart phones/tablets.. again, extremely expensive devices ($1000 phones with costs spread across contract plans, tablets whose prices have come down through sales in the tens or hundreds of millions of units), whose only chance of success is a free-to-play model with in-app purchases or ads, or an under $5 impulse buy with an audience of 3 billion mobile app games players.   None of those avenues are really open to Intellivision to adjust its costs.  It can't leverage those economies of scale.  Can't eat the cost to keep the retail under $150 or under $75 to keep casual observers happy without investors balking at the business plan.  I think there is some truth about the expectations of a system showing up on shelves under $100.  We'd be suspect that the thing is junk like all the rest.  My company also prices products up to avoid the odd psychological issue of consumers seeing no value in free or low-cost goods/services.  We've lost state contract RFPs because we priced products at/near what our cost was rather than what the perceived value was, considering the bad experiences of state departments with costly systems offering little value.  Perceived junk status isn't a price-point to aim for.

... Games.  These were some of the best Android games, and they surely had larger budgets than Intellivision's games.  Even tiny "This War of Mine", built by Polish studio 11 Bit Studios, cost about $750,000 to produce, and a Polish programmer is a fourth the cost of a Canadian studio or a sixth the cost of a US studio.. so in fairness, that'd be a $3-4 million dollar game.  Same for Dead Trigger 2, made by Czech dev studio Madfinger Games.  Cost of production is a little higher, but overall dev cost would've been much cheaper for the studio being based in Brno.  And these are games that are basically at par with home console expectations re: graphics and storyline.  They just rely on catching notoriety on a platform used by billions, garnishing revenues through benign in-app purchases and microtransactions, and can put more money up front than Intellivision's model can achieve at its budget game price point.

Amico's doing this from the ground-up.  Building the games, building an install-base, porting and pouring resources into a handful of mobile gems, but I think the trade-off is graphics aren't going to be the masterpiece that draws in sales.  They'll be pretty.  But not the prom queen.  Which sounds a little insulting - but you look at the millions budgeted for some of the smaller, more obscure on that 15 greatest Android TV list, you see the hundreds of millions AAA titles are putting into the most polished graphics, and you realize they aren't going to have that graphic fidelity and applause.  They are aiming for a sweet spot of graphics that look charming or visually enjoyable, without dumping excess into graphics.  Because there isn't a limit into how much you could pour.  

Will this sell at $249? (or $209 or 229, we don't know what that launch price will absolutely be yet - I think we all hear a range and take the largest number or jump up a bit, but this really is not quite final, launch price may be a little higher for the first year too)... we'll see. Don't think anything's comparable out there.  If the games are really fun and some of us are getting these for extended families, and it's a hit when friends are over, they won't bat an eye to go pick up a $250 machine.  That's a day trip.  That's a spa day.  That's a a hundred dollars less than an Ancestry.com subscription or a GreatCourses subscription, and those things have tens of millions of subscribers and suprisingly few heavy users as percentage of total customer base.  Amazon's Echo was original $230 and nobody knew what it could do that was that much more useful than calling up Siri or Hey Google on your phone.  And the thing sold without consumers even blinking.  A talking cylinder?  TAKE MY MONEY!!!!.   It's really not so out of a general consumer's price point.. a higher ask than we originally thought, but, if the experience delivers, it's still a bargain for the need it is trying to fill.   

5 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

So here's a question for you and everyone else here!

 

In regards to Cloudy Mountain.  Would you like to see MORE action or keep it more of a searching around type of game (like the original).  I thought it would be a cool mixture to have some caves/mountains/map areas be more arcade style... meaning... lots of things to shoot and not having to worry about arrow count, etc.  But in other areas... it's more of a searching around type of experience and hearing the horrifying dragon breathing off screen.  I feel a nice mix of both would be welcoming.  I would be concerned if the entire game was too much like the original (more searching than fighting).

What is everyone's thoughts?  Try to think for the masses (not just your personal opinions... although I would be interested to hear that as well).

 

 

I would like to see the game a little closer to the original,  but I can understand where you may want to go with this in terms of gameplay. Either way, the game will be great. Just make sure once you kill the enemies in a certain area, they remain dead. I hate dungeon crawlers where you clear an area, and when you go back, you have to do it all over again. It becomes repetitive. This is just my opinion.

Might have been asked before, so sorry if it has been.

Amico going to have an VR? Or VR games?

7 minutes ago, MrBeefy said:

Amico going to have an VR? Or VR games?

VR for Virtual Reality ?  No way. What will be the cost !! ??

3 minutes ago, LePionnier said:

VR for Virtual Reality ?  No way. What will be the cost !! ??

No for Very Raunchy.....

🤡🤡

Oh, I thought it was for Video Retro

4 minutes ago, Starpaddler said:

Oh, I thought it was for Video Retro

...or Voice Recognition.

🤡🤡

5 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

p.s.  What Coleco game are you working on?  I'm a big Home Brew collector of Intellivision, Vectrex & Coleco so will definitely look out and support your work!

Mean Santa is almost finished, and another secret Colecovision game that's almost finished.  For Colecovision, I made Pong/Computer Space, Spunky's Supercar!, Flappe Byrd, Challenger, and Vanguard.  And Mad Bomber for the Intellivision, which was kinda difficult since Kaboom uses the paddle controller, but I applied some ideas how to use the disc since it has 16 directional input, so I developed 3 control scheme and put in Avalanche as a bonus.  All sold out on CollectorVision web site. Few completed Colecovision games I made could be found on the forums, like

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/275889-grail-of-the-gods/

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/264678-flapee-byrd-colecovision-roms/

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/262799-rockcutter-32kb-version/

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/237437-2-adventure-games-text-adventure-and-star-ocean/

5 hours ago, IntellivisionDude said:

What is everyone's thoughts?  Try to think for the masses (not just your personal opinions... although I would be interested to hear that as well).

I wondered if you have seen or played Dragon Buster II for the NES.  It's almost exactly like Cloudy Mountain D&D.  I would steer to exploration and less arcade like.  Maybe different scenarios or levels that have different mission or items you need to find, and more difficult monster.  Possibly pick up power up or life up jars to make your character more unstoppable.  Kinda like how Kid Icarus does it, you progressively get more life and arrow power as you progress through the game.

52 minutes ago, RetroAdvisoryBoard said:

 

Here's some things I think worth considering.  Keep in mind, I don't have particularly in-depth knowledge of the cost of creating a console, just some observations and things I think we miss when comparing.  I know Pat and Ian fall into a few of these with their analogies and its frustrating that no one can get past their echo chamber to say, "yeah, but did you consider this with your point?"....

 

 

 

It seems like whenever @RetroAdvisoryBoard has a long post, I just want to grab a beer and enjoy the good read.  Always some good points to be made.

People always make the "Why would you buy X for $$$ when you can buy Y for $" arguments.  I get it. I do it all the time.  Tommy does it when he says the cost of a game will be less than a price of a movie ticket, and you can get much more entertainment out of the game. Why buy a $2000 gaming console when an XB1X is $500?  Why buy that if a XB1S is $250? Or a Switch Lite is $200?  Why buy the Switch when you can get an even cheaper box that plays games? What appeals to me about Amico is that it isn't even trying to compete with those machines. It's trying to provide something that none of the other boxes offer. Or at least they don't offer it easily.  

9 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

So here's a question for you and everyone else here!

 

In regards to Cloudy Mountain.  Would you like to see MORE action or keep it more of a searching around type of game (like the original).  I thought it would be a cool mixture to have some caves/mountains/map areas be more arcade style... meaning... lots of things to shoot and not having to worry about arrow count, etc.  But in other areas... it's more of a searching around type of experience and hearing the horrifying dragon breathing off screen.  I feel a nice mix of both would be welcoming.  I would be concerned if the entire game was too much like the original (more searching than fighting).

What is everyone's thoughts?  Try to think for the masses (not just your personal opinions... although I would be interested to hear that as well).

 

 

My answer would be that you have to be careful when asking hardcore retrogamers what they want a game to be like, unless you want it to be the exception to the target market. My guess is you will be asked for a classic pixel art RPG with lots of open-world wandering, having lots of conversations and messages from characters and solving puzzles with a few battles. 

I will say I'm not much of an RPG fan, unless you count the arcade type like Gauntlet and Crypt of the Necrodancer. I just rewatched the first 20 min of Skyward Sword gameplay and it felt like what should have been mushed into the 1st minute introduction to a game I actually would enjoy.

If you want something for kids under 10, maybe an all animal version with weird looking talking animals and you use paint bazookas that splatter the enemies in different colored slime and you can talk to the animals through the microphone. I'm sure that will thoroughly horrify everyone in the thread. Have some of the animals attack you by farting on you, like maybe a skunk.🤣

6 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Thanks.  I appreciate it.   That's the saddest part about what they do.  They lie to people about me in order to create controversy so more people will click on their videos.  They know exactly what their doing and have admitted that they hope Amico fails because when they were bashing on Coleco they were "making the most money".  How disgusting.  

But the worst part is that they turn folks against us based on made up lies.  And people don't see it because they refuse to engage with me as they know what they are doing. 

 

For folks who may not know what I'm referring to.  I posted an unlisted video (which still remains private and unlisted as it's not my intention to put it out to the world) in response to the first run of Pat & Ian videos trying to play the victim and telling everyone that I "attacked" them on Twitter.  I did not.  

Of course they have watched the video and of course will never reference it because it makes them look bad and shows off who they really are and what they're doing.

Why do you think they refuse to speak with me about it?  They'll say that it's because they shouldn't need to talk to anyone about a product... that our website and trailers and press releases (that they say they never read... yet have read on air) should tell them everything.  But the reality is they won't do it because they know I would get the best of them and expose them for what they are trying to do.  Make money off of tearing something down in hopes that it fails.  And their audience eats it up not knowing the real story.  Look at the pure hatred in Ian's voice and expressions in their last Amico bashing video.  So worked up over us.  Ask yourself why that is.

 

It's long (about an hour), but here's the link if anyone is interested.  You tell me what you think after watching it.  See if it lines up with their "narrative". 

 

p.s.  What Coleco game are you working on?  I'm a big Home Brew collector of Intellivision, Vectrex & Coleco so will definitely look out and support your work!

 

 

Tommy... all I can say is that you really are a man of great character and poise.  Nice job.. although I admit, I lasted 10 min.... but I got the point quick.

If that were me... the video would be about 30 seconds, and would end in typical New York fashion.  So sorry.. I could never qualify for any Customer Service rep for your company... unless you do business Cosa Nostra style.. lol.

18 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

We gotta do a video together!!!  Have me on and interview me!  Would love to answer your questions.  Would be GREAT!

 

And I promise I won't bribe you with merchandise you already have.  

 

 

I am down for having you come on the Countdown, let me know when? I just need to get skype installed, haven't used that in a decade.  UPDATE>>> Got it working did a mock interview for 2 minutes with my wife, she was mocking my interview skills!

Tommy, any games of the "co-op panic" variety under development?  Things along the lines of Spaceteam or the boardgame Space Alert?  I've always found the simultaneous, but somewhat frantic nature of both to be pretty fun and the Amico controller would be exceptional for that type of game. 

Alternatively, would also make a hell of an AD&D dungeon crawler if everyone had their own job/character to control.  Maybe that's how to turn Tarmin into a multiplayer game?  Think Dungeon Master, but real-time with the play centered around controller mini-game inputs to do your attacks/spells/trap disarm/etc.  

31 minutes ago, OEB_Pete said:

I am down for having you come on the Countdown, let me know when? I just need to get skype installed, haven't used that in a decade.  UPDATE>>> Got it working did a mock interview for 2 minutes with my wife, she was mocking my interview skills!

Please post that 2 minute video interview with your wife.

Will be nice to know other husbands get mocked and it is just not I.

😂

TJ

30 minutes ago, OEB_Pete said:

I am down for having you come on the Countdown, let me know when? I just need to get skype installed, haven't used that in a decade.  UPDATE>>> Got it working did a mock interview for 2 minutes with my wife, she was mocking my interview skills!

LOL, wives take every opportunity, don't they?  Planning on balancing the ledger a bit by turning off the Karma engine 😂

Also wanted to thank you for your video countdown series and ultimately leading me here as well. Always look forward to your next installment. 

Hey Tommy,

A quick question about the microphone on the Controllers. Do they register words or sounds? I'm uncertain how it works, if its something that is purely a software or a hardware thing? If you say something into the controller is it recognizing the words or just able to record the sound? Or is that more taken care of by the game rather than the hardware?

Cheers  

2 hours ago, Swami said:

My answer would be that you have to be careful when asking hardcore retrogamers what they want a game to be like, unless you want it to be the exception to the target market. My guess is you will be asked for a classic pixel art RPG with lots of open-world wandering, having lots of conversations and messages from characters and solving puzzles with a few battles. 

 

I will say I'm not much of an RPG fan, unless you count the arcade type like Gauntlet and Crypt of the Necrodancer. I just rewatched the first 20 min of Skyward Sword gameplay and it felt like what should have been mushed into the 1st minute introduction to a game I actually would enjoy.

 

If you want something for kids under 10, maybe an all animal version with weird looking talking animals and you use paint bazookas that splatter the enemies in different colored slime and you can talk to the animals through the microphone. I'm sure that will thoroughly horrify everyone in the thread. Have some of the animals attack you by farting on you, like maybe a skunk.🤣

I love the idea.

Maybe the slime gets on the animals and then they can talk to you.  Maybe different color slime will have different results. Like Princess Peach game with her emotions.  Make an elephant cry and you can fill up a lake to get your boat across (slime would be blue). Make some bees happy and they give you honey (slime would be yellow).  You get the idea.  What would happen if you give the wrong slime color??? Well a happy elephant would roll around in the mud and not cry you a lake. A sad bee would cry and get their wings wet so they couldnt fly.  All these emotions would wear off so the puzzle would reset.

I'm not sure about the farting animals but if that's in there then maybe have the kid say the appropriate response ("excuse me") and that would block the attack.  Maybe if the animal throws something to hit you the kid could say "play nice" or if the animal tried to steal something the kid could say "learn to share"

Just thoughts

I don't have any inside knowledge about these mysterious features we haven't been told about but the new logo and the little kid's voice saying Amico had me thinking.

Tommy also said the Amico means friend and he wants the console to have personality. 

What if it HAD A personality?

What if you turn it on and the controller has two eyes and a mouth and says "hello"

What if it asks you if you'd like to play.

What if you turn it on a week later and it says it misses you cause you didn't play for a while.

It could even recommend turning it off if you are playing too long. "Let's take a break friend.  We can have fun together tomorrow. "

It could literally walk you through the menu and how to select games.

Maybe you could change the voice to 3 or 4 presets. 

Just a thought.

Oh and each controller could have a different voice and personality. 

Then in coop each person would have a "friend" to help them out.  "Let's do this" one would say to grandpa. "Are we ready?" One would say to you. And "I think we can win" one would say to mom.

Itd be like a team of two - you and your controller all the time.

Think of it...two players would be like 4 (two a.i. controller friends helping their human player)

If you're wondering where I got the idea it was Teddy Ruxbin.  A super expensive talking teddy bear that I always wanted and could never afford. 

😥

😆😆😆

13 minutes ago, Michael Garvey said:

I don't have any inside knowledge about these mysterious features we haven't been told about but the new logo and the little kid's voice saying Amico had me thinking.

 

Tommy also said the Amico means friend and he wants the console to have personality. 

 

What if it HAD A personality?

 

What if you turn it on and the controller has two eyes and a mouth and says "hello"

 

What if it asks you if you'd like to play.

 

What if you turn it on a week later and it says it misses you cause you didn't play for a while.

 

It could even recommend turning it off if you are playing too long. "Let's take a break friend.  We can have fun together tomorrow. "

 

It could literally walk you through the menu and how to select games.

 

Maybe you could change the voice to 3 or 4 presets. 

 

Just a thought.

This is interesting.  Also I like the little kid's voice saying Amico.

Just now, Atari_Master said:

This is interesting.  Also I like the little kid's voice saying Amico.

That and the talking teddy bear got me thinking. 

Your ps4, xbox x or switch doesn't talk to you. 

There are games that keep track of events like when and how long you play (birthdays and holidays) but a whole console being another family member. 

That would be so cool.

Imagine going over your friends house and having your controller say " Hi friend" to the other Amico.  And then the other controller saying "welcome what games to you bring for us to play?"

Maybe I think too much. But my mind is racing with ideas tonight.