Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

38 minutes ago, vongruetz said:

Tommy, I totally understand that right now you're in the early stages and that the marketing team hasn't even begun to spin things up yet. Right now it's just you, making videos and getting online in forums, YouTube videos, and making as much noise as you can. My fear is that first impressions make lasting impressions and I don't want the view of Amico to be that it's just a console being cobbled together by some people in the backroom of an office park. You have something really special here, and I want everyone to think it's going to be as great as I think it will be.

 

In answer to your question, I want to preface that I am not a professional marketer.  I could be way off base here, but I have given enough presentations and briefings over the years to recognize that your excitement is blurring the focus.  Starting around the 1:20 mark of the video where things get a little crazy. You want to highlight all the amazing ways that Amico controllers work in Missile Command and why it's better than conventional controllers. This is where I can see your mind racing a million miles a minutes and you want to say ALL the reasons why it's amazing.  The big giveaway is that you start cutting yourself off mid-sentence because a new idea has just popped into your head.

Tommy is taking a lot upon himself I have noticed.

I think your biggest point here is "first impressions make lasting impressions." All we can hope is that Tommy's team has a lot of marketing they're preparing for June and later in the summer that goes beyond the behind the scenes videos Tommy has been offering us lately. 

The behind the scenes videos are awesome for us and I don't think the larger audience that they will be marketing to this summer and fall will see these videos anyway. 

The only thing I was wondering out of the whole video was why cities were on the edge of a cliff in the game and what kind of society did that 🤡

26 minutes ago, 1001lives said:

The only thing I was wondering out of the whole video was why cities were on the edge of a cliff in the game and what kind of society did that 🤡

The kind of society that likes to "live on the edge"

They probably only read the "cliff notes" instead of the whole book.

And the are always "on edge" at the start of the day before they get their coffee.

But I'm sure if you visited you could send use some "postcards from the edge"....ok I'm done

4 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

Are the games Burgertime and ToeJam and Earl currently being worked on?

Yep!

3 hours ago, sanguinesonata said:

i wonder if you'll show that same level of compassion when they start rolling out the soylent green?

Yet another cornhole reference.

Yummy.

3 hours ago, ASalvaro said:

i bet the person who created Puffy is pretty proud on how well he has been received 

I came up with the concept and then our Art Director Mike Dietz designed him.  Mike was the animation/art director for Global Gladiators, Cool Spot, Disney's Aladdin & Earthworm Jim 1 & 2.

Then our developers in Germany really brought him to life!

2 hours ago, Ramey butler said:

Hey good day Tommy and my fellow "Amico amigos".

Question for the main man, Tommy Talarico.

Is activision and intellivision on good terms?

Reason why I ask this question because, i would Love a remaster of Beamrider, River raid 1 and 2, and keystone cops.

So is there any chance of this happening?

Also are you going to get anymore licsenses from Sega? Reason why?

ZAXXON BABY!! YEAH!...(ahem) I mean, I would like you to politely ask Sega for Zaxxon for the amico. They arent doing anything with Alex Kidd either. Go for broke, ask for both. Lol

 

We also need Dig dug, 1982 Smurf game, and Pole position.

Thank you for your time and be safe.

Yep... spoke to Activision last year.  We are waiting til the console comes out to re-engage.

Have been speaking to Sega as well.

Thanks!

2 hours ago, ONLYUSEmeFEET said:

How does copyright work on robotic voices? I had (have) an entire folder of words the Speak & Spell can say, which I intended on using for a scrapped game I was making in college that was a hybrid of Berserk and Windjammers. I was always curious if the Speak & Spell voice font was copyrighted and if so, if there was a royalty-free voice font people could use for games since I also dig the sound. I believe with Vocaloids (such as Hatsune Miku) you get a personal commercial license when you buy the software, but I could never find the legality of using older sound fonts in games. If Intellivision does own the Intellivoice and can license it out to developers (maybe by providing .ogg files of individual words it has said originally) I would totally be down to use said voices in my games. With permission, I'd also be willing to generate an Intellivoice sound bank if I knew which game sounds were free to use. Sorry for the tangent, but this is an incredibly niche topic of gamedev that has had my interest for years!  

I'm not sure what the exact law or copyrights are for that kind of stuff.   Sorry.

Copyrights... complicated business.  Just ask Roblox.  

Actually, things are super cool between us.  Some big announcements coming soon (nothing Amico related).

1 hour ago, vongruetz said:

Tommy, I totally understand that right now you're in the early stages and that the marketing team hasn't even begun to spin things up yet. Right now it's just you, making videos and getting online in forums, YouTube videos, and making as much noise as you can. My fear is that first impressions make lasting impressions and I don't want the view of Amico to be that it's just a console being cobbled together by some people in the backroom of an office park. You have something really special here, and I want everyone to think it's going to be as great as I think it will be.

 

In answer to your question, I want to preface that I am not a professional marketer.  I could be way off base here, but I have given enough presentations and briefings over the years to recognize that your excitement is blurring the focus.  Starting around the 1:20 mark of the video where things get a little crazy. You want to highlight all the amazing ways that Amico controllers work in Missile Command and why it's better than conventional controllers. This is where I can see your mind racing a million miles a minutes and you want to say ALL the reasons why it's amazing.  The big giveaway is that you start cutting yourself off mid-sentence because a new idea has just popped into your head.

 

For a short video in which you want to show off the controllers, you need to take the top three or four features and really make those punch. You can hold it in different orientations. You control the reticle of where you're going to fire by using the touch screen, and the disc acts as the fire button. It works with both the included controllers, but also with the mobile devices you already have. In the introduction part of the video, I would point out the three or four main points I want people to pay attention to, and then while watching the gameplay, you could highlight how Missile Command is making specific use of certain features. That's when you can say why this works better than traditional analog sticks. At that point, you can show people and not just tell them.

 

The analogy that comes to mind in all of this is that years ago I played golf with a guy who had just had a heart attack. He said the best thing that ever happened to his golf game was that he had that heart attack because it forced him to slow his swing down. It forced him to focus more. I think everyone's initial instinct in golf is to swing as hard as you can and knock the crap out of the ball.  But if you mindfully slow things down, you tend to hit the ball cleaner, straighter, and have more control.  

 

But hey, at the end of the day, this is your show and you know what you're doing.  As David Perry would say, I wouldn't bet against you.

Yo!  Thanks for the feedback!

I wouldn't worry that our core audience is going to see any of these video diaries first.  Our reach right now is around 50,000 people.  When our marketing rolls out it will be 200M.  We have it all in place.  No worries.  Corona is affecting our timelines for budgeting however as the less consoles we're able to manufacture for the marketplace... the less you need for marketing initially.  So everyone is in a wait and see hold... but there are so many big surprises and announcements coming that I can barely contain myself when I do some of these interviews. 

I believe folks are drawn to my passion for the product.  It's just the way I'm built.  And yes... I'm definitely a talker when I get going and it's probably due to the fact that people sometimes complain that they don't know this or that about the project.  ESPECIALLY the controllers.  For 2 years people have been bugging me about how the controllers work and why they are different.  So I may have gotten carried away, but to be fair... it was only 5 minutes.  That's a record for me talking about the controllers!  Hahahha!  

But thanks again for the feedback.  For future behind the scenes videos I'll try to be more consise. 

p.s.  You may not want to watch the one coming out tomorrow.  More of the same. 

59 minutes ago, 1001lives said:

Tommy is taking a lot upon himself I have noticed.

 

I think your biggest point here is "first impressions make lasting impressions." All we can hope is that Tommy's team has a lot of marketing they're preparing for June and later in the summer that goes beyond the behind the scenes videos Tommy has been offering us lately. 

 

The behind the scenes videos are awesome for us and I don't think the larger audience that they will be marketing to this summer and fall will see these videos anyway. 

 

The only thing I was wondering out of the whole video was why cities were on the edge of a cliff in the game and what kind of society did that 🤡

Yes.  For sure.  Think of these as nothing but little behind the scenes diaries for the super fans.  Only thousands are watching. 

When the national roll-out goes down... it will be tens of millions.

Very easy for us to unlist any videos we don't want shown... but quite frankly... the underdog start-up style is very endearing to a lot of folks and we do want to do thing very differently than the way all the rest do it.

Trying to move as far away from corporate type of crap as we can. 

I look forward to the new video tomorrow Tommy.  I'll watch it even if it's just you talking.  I know you are very passionate and when you get talking you can't stop.  Lol.  It's like the old saying from Pringles "Once you pop, the fun don't stop".  

5 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

I believe folks are drawn to my passion for the product.  It's just the way I'm built.  And yes... I'm definitely a talker when I get going and it's probably due to the fact that people sometimes complain that they don't know this or that about the project.  ESPECIALLY the controllers.  For 2 years people have been bugging me about how the controllers work and why they are different.  So I may have gotten carried away, but to be fair... it was only 5 minutes.  That's a record for me talking about the controllers!  Hahahha!  

But thanks again for the feedback.  For future behind the scenes videos I'll try to be more consise. 

 

p.s.  You may not want to watch the one coming out tomorrow.  More of the same. 

LOL.  The irony in all this is that your passion is what my wife loves the most and is THE reason why she is insisting we pre-order a VIP edition when it becomes available. She is constantly overhearing the videos I listen to you talking about the machine and she says, "I just so love his passion for this thing. I think we should get a second one." 

Now I'm worried that you're going to be signing these consoles and thinking, "I recognize that name.... I have a special message for you!" 

and P.S.  There is no way that I'm not going to watch any of the upcoming Meet Amico videos.  You've sold me, and any (and I mean ANY) criticism I may give is purely out of love. 

1 hour ago, LePionnier said:

It's the second or third time I am looking a video from this guy.

I like it and like his UK English accent. I make him a little publicity, duration 5 minutes. ( And it's positive for Amico, so why not ! )

 

 

 

I agree. I really like his videos and feel he should have more subs than he does. 👍🏻

Just now, Tommy Tallarico said:

Trying to move as far away from corporate type of crap as we can. 

 

 

 

 

Man , Do I luv that you and IE have been thinking and acting outside of that Modern Corporate ideology ...  Thanks again, hopefully you and IE have started a trend and model where other Companies can follow ... Cheers !!

1 hour ago, 1001lives said:

Tommy is taking a lot upon himself I have noticed.

 

I think your biggest point here is "first impressions make lasting impressions." All we can hope is that Tommy's team has a lot of marketing they're preparing for June and later in the summer that goes beyond the behind the scenes videos Tommy has been offering us lately. 

 

The behind the scenes videos are awesome for us and I don't think the larger audience that they will be marketing to this summer and fall will see these videos anyway. 

 

The only thing I was wondering out of the whole video was why cities were on the edge of a cliff in the game and what kind of society did that 🤡

That last question was interesting. I impulsively Google searched "city on a cliff". This was the top result.

https://www.touropia.com/incredible-city-cliffs/

I didn't think it would be that prevalent.

33 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

Yo!  Thanks for the feedback!

 

I wouldn't worry that our core audience is going to see any of these video diaries first.  Our reach right now is around 50,000 people.  When our marketing rolls out it will be 200M.  We have it all in place.  No worries.  Corona is affecting our timelines for budgeting however as the less consoles we're able to manufacture for the marketplace... the less you need for marketing initially.  So everyone is in a wait and see hold... but there are so many big surprises and announcements coming that I can barely contain myself when I do some of these interviews. 

 

I believe folks are drawn to my passion for the product.  It's just the way I'm built.  And yes... I'm definitely a talker when I get going and it's probably due to the fact that people sometimes complain that they don't know this or that about the project.  ESPECIALLY the controllers.  For 2 years people have been bugging me about how the controllers work and why they are different.  So I may have gotten carried away, but to be fair... it was only 5 minutes.  That's a record for me talking about the controllers!  Hahahha!  

But thanks again for the feedback.  For future behind the scenes videos I'll try to be more consise. 

 

p.s.  You may not want to watch the one coming out tomorrow.  More of the same. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Understand your concern V, but I for one love the style and find it refreshing, and love, love, love the palpable passion; especially given where things stand today and the community that is currently following. Think of Microsoft or a Sony exec (suits) doing this sort of thing (I can’t).  IE has deep rooted developer DNA that just so happens to have some real good business sense, vs. 100% business (i.e, $’s) first approach. With what I have seen, I have no doubts that when Tommy builds it, they will come; and when formal marketing hits,  I’m sure it won’t be informal, 2 take personal videos that we will be seeing.  

4 minutes ago, GrumpyOl'Guy said:

That last question was interesting. I compulsively Google searched "city on a cliff". This was the top result.

https://www.touropia.com/incredible-city-cliffs/

 

I didn't think it would be that prevalent.

 

I'm amazed! I knew about a few of those but yeah, guess it is somewhat common. 

59 minutes ago, vongruetz said:

LOL.  The irony in all this is that your passion is what my wife loves the most and is THE reason why she is insisting we pre-order a VIP edition when it becomes available. She is constantly overhearing the videos I listen to you talking about the machine and she says, "I just so love his passion for this thing. I think we should get a second one." 

 

Now I'm worried that you're going to be signing these consoles and thinking, "I recognize that name.... I have a special message for you!" 

 

and P.S.  There is no way that I'm not going to watch any of the upcoming Meet Amico videos.  You've sold me, and any (and I mean ANY) criticism I may give is purely out of love. 

No worries!  I dont consider it criticism at all.  Just feedback!

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

I came up with the concept and then our Art Director Mike Dietz designed him.  Mike was the animation/art director for Global Gladiators, Cool Spot, Disney's Aladdin & Earthworm Jim 1 & 2.

Then our developers in Germany really brought him to life!

 

 

So is he the Amico mascot?

Random question, as much about the Amico as it isn't. I suppose it's more about the Intellivision brand as a whole.

I enjoy learning as much as I can about things that interest me. Learning little 'behind the scenes' secrets and the history behind how and why things came about in the time/form they do has always been a fascination. I'll admit that I wasn't as aware of the Intellivision as other consoles when I was younger. What I saw, I liked. It just wasn't something that was a priority to follow up on.

The Amico buzz got me interested not only in the Amico itself (I want to say I'd first heard of it late 2018), but the 'retro re-imagined' category got me looking at the classic catalog with some focus. I feel silly for not looking more into them sooner, as there's a surprising level of depth in the games, especially for the early 80s. I could've totally seen me and my friends bantering about Utopia strategies at the card shop we'd frequent, or kill a couple hours playing Football or Baseball with my brother.

I guess my looking up youtube videos on some classic Intellivision games has rubbed off on the kiddo, who yesterday asked me to see if we can get a "classic Amico".

I held back a chuckle and said 'sure'. I know he was talking about an Intellivision, but I did get in on the Founders' Edition, so we're technically getting a classic Amico. I fear for my wallet if I get into retro collecting, and I couldn't quite commit to buying a Flashback console at the moment, so I went back to where I'd first learned about the system years ago: I tracked down the Intellivision Lives! collection for the PS2.

I'd happen to remember some interviews being on that disk when we'd played at my friend's house years back, but I can admit we were more about playing the games while we were working on some things for a D&D campaign.

Thinking back on it, however, Intellivision has a very interesting history. Even at its height, the brand always seemed to have an underdog status. At no point was it the most popular or best selling console, but it was innovative and forward thinking. The fans it made, it made for life. Intellivision has managed to endure (in one form or another) from the early days of home console gaming to the present day, and almost always as a labor of love from those who work on it.

I guess what I'm getting at is, is there anything in the works to physically curate this history?

I've read the "From Intellivision to Amico" ebook from Intellivision Nation (great read), but what I'd be interested in is more of a deep-dive into the games. It seems that with the combination of industry veterans, employees from the Mattel era, and the close nature which the Amico team is working with developers on these games, how interesting would a coffee-table book highlighting the retro re-imagined games be? Seeing some side-by-side comparisons of the games then and now, along with a story or two about the games - interesting things about the game's development, the impact of the game in the market, etc - from the people who have witnessed it first hand.

As I'm typing this, I'm imagining an Earthworm Jim book in the same vein, with a page in the middle, blank, save the words:

CHAPTER 4: EARTHWORM JIM 3D

Not us!!!!

Anyway, thanks again for enduring another ramble-post. Hopefully, when I get back to having time to compose things better, my questions will be slightly less scattered in nature.

Oh, and I caught the little bit in the level1online interview about the Baseball controls. Super cool! I'm already chomping at the bit for it, and as I'm assuming the Baseball game won't translate too well to a PS2 controller, am counting down eagerly to the arrival of the Founders!

I have been meaning to post this photo since it was taken on February 1st.

David/Utopia on Atariage,on the left I met here on Atariage because of the Intellivision. 

He and his Wife were on a vacation visiting the Los Angeles area so my Wife and I picked them up downtown to tour around a bit and visit my house to play some intellivision. 

We both have preordered the Amico Founders Edition and are very much looking forward to the system coming out.

We are in touch regarding the current worldwide events and since we all made great friends that day,hopefully we will stay in touch for life. Both he and his Wife are great people we had much in common with,even while being on continents far from each other.

All because we are lifelong intellivision fanatics!👍😊

I thought I would share this here,and now,to hopefully brighten up everyone's day.

Oh yeah,we played a little Frog Bog,Bi-planes and Utopia and visited the Griffith Observatory and the CBS Studio Center lot where I work for extra fun.

If any of you Intellivision folks are in Los Angeles,send me a message and maybe stop by and play a couple games sometime!

Just a hopefully constructive criticism about the Canadian Gamer video, was that I think the third question, asked at about 11:00, was if there would be a place where people could try out the console before 10/10/2020. Then I heard "absolutely" and then a 15 minute feature pitch about hardcore versus mobile, families playing together and graphics. You never really talked about how people could play the console before 10/10/2020 and I'm not sure what the 15 minute presentation had to do with the question. I did hear a brief reference to the question at 29:00 before more tangents about MOM 2.0, graphics and like/dislike ratios on videos which ended about 35:00 minutes. There's also a number of spots where you interrupt the poor guy while he's talking for five seconds. I'm one of those very talkative people and I know some others and I knew one that would actually put up her hand if I tried to interject during a pause on a 20 minute monologue to me to shush me and another who would get upset if I interjected during a pause with "okay, that was interesting. Gotta go now." and left. So, definitely not saying we're annoying, like those two examples, but something to think about focusing answers more and avoiding tangents as the audience grows larger.

One question that comes to me from last night interview with level1online regard to opening up the console.  Do you plan to have independent developers to make games for the Intellivision Amico?  It would be interesting to see indie games on the Amico using the hardware provided. 

2 hours ago, Michael Garvey said:

The kind of society that likes to "live on the edge"

 

They probably only read the "cliff notes" instead of the whole book.

 

And the are always "on edge" at the start of the day before they get their coffee.

 

But I'm sure if you visited you could send use some "postcards from the edge"....ok I'm done

Well, now we have to bring it back to Steven Victor Tallarico:

Maybe some ideas for an Amico marketing campaign. What's Edward Furlong doing these days?

33 minutes ago, wolfy62 said:

I have been meaning to post this photo since it was taken on February 1st.

David/Utopia on Atariage,on the left I met here on Atariage because of the Intellivision. 

He and his Wife were on a vacation visiting the Los Angeles area so my Wife and I picked them up downtown to tour around a bit and visit my house to play some intellivision. 

We both have preordered the Amico Founders Edition and are very much looking forward to the system coming out.

We are in touch regarding the current worldwide events and since we all made great friends that day,hopefully we will stay in touch for life. Both he and his Wife are great people we had much in common with,even while being on continents far from each other.

All because we are lifelong intellivision fanatics!👍😊

I thought I would share this here,and now,to hopefully brighten up everyone's day.

Oh yeah,we played a little Frog Bog,Bi-planes and Utopia and visited the Griffith Observatory and the CBS Studio Center lot where I work for extra fun.

If any of you Intellivision folks are in Los Angeles,send me a message and maybe stop by and play a couple games sometime!

My wife and I are down by LAX.  Maybe once all the crazy passes, we can make arrangements. Is your wife into intv as well (mine is not, but think shes warming up to Amico). She was team Atari, but didn't find that out till after we were married. 

I'm sorry I forgot, is there a limit on the VIP units? I won't have the cash until the first of the month and don't want to miss out.