Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

1 hour ago, BiffMan said:

Tommy, any chance of the next Meet Amico video showing a game with the disc used for directional control?  I've really liked seeing the creative use of the controller in the Missile Command & SideSwiper videos, but in both cases, the disc was just used as an alternative to button presses. 

 

It would be great to see something more "old school" like the original Intellivision controller, using directional disc, side buttons, and maybe even touch screen all in the same game.  For bonus points: have everyone on the couch and a few folks holding the controller in different orientations.

Sure!  Will keep that in mind.

As someone mentioned... unfortunately we won't be doing any group videos anytime soon.  Maybe I can get our mechanical engineer to make something from home or something.  Could be cool.

1 hour ago, The Wren said:

So Tommy...just thinking out loud. How about a subscription service for physical games? However its handled...through Intellivision directly. Maybe Bestbuy gets an exclusive physical and you hand over a subscription list of 1000+ folk who all need to be satisfied first??? What retailer wouldn't want to fight for an exclusive where you've sold the first "X" amount of copies for them?

 

Myself i like to collect mint. So when things like this go up i'll be after them from whatever retailer they are at. I'm also in Canada and hope i have access to all of them...if you take the work out of my hands its just another way Amico sets itself apart. Not to seem Lazy  

 

Interesting idea!!  I like it.  I'll bring it up to the sales team.

1 hour ago, vongruetz said:

Of course he would. In fact, he's already made the call and the two are in talks right now.  I swear, there isn't anyone Tommy doesn't know.

It happens all the time. 

Suggestion:  "Wouldn't it be cool if there was a Marvel game where you played as Luke Skywalker and could jump around like Spider-man??"

Tommy:  "Well, I happen to be best friends with the President of Marvel, and Kathleen Kennedy at LucasFilm was just over for dinner the other night. We were discussing something similar. Still too early to say anything though."  

 

I mean, who does he NOT know??  And on the same note, he will also spend his time in here answering every single question that's asked of him and invites them over to his house to play Intellivision.  This is freakin' incredible.  This is the most open and transparent I have ever seen a company in the world of video games act EVER.  It's really quite amazing.  And so, with that said, I don't care how many consoles are sitting in the IE warehouses.  Nobody does.  Literally, nobody.

The funniest part of this post is that I actually am very good friends with the President of Marvel. 

Visited him at the Marvel offices in NYC with our team when we were there for Toy Fair.  He hooked me up with as many new issues and graphic novels that I could carry! 

Fun day.

On 3/29/2020 at 9:40 AM, Tommy Tallarico said:

As much as I personally love baseball, it doesn't really translate internationally and *if* we had the MLB license... that would cost big money to include in every single console.

 

Funny, I was just having this convo over on the Amico FB wall the other day, and I was saying that I doubt that any of the pack-in games will be licensed properties for that very reason, because including those properties would eat at potential profit margins. If I can't have Burgertime, Lock 'n Chase, Bump 'n Jump Tron: Deadly Discs or AD&D as pack-ins, I'd be good with Astrosmash, Nightstalker, Space Battle, Space Armada, B-17 Bomber, Triple Action, Armor Battle, or Sub Hunt. I can always pick up the others afterwards!

Speaking of baseball, Tommy, when you make the old games available for Amico, I'm REALLY hoping you make THIS particular version of baseball (from intellivision.us) available too! https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=76&v=v1u3YXtJ724&feature=emb_logo

 

1 hour ago, RREDDWARFF said:

So, I just received the email for the next round of Amico preorders. I loved the car crash game. It kinda reminded me of Bomberman with cars. It looks really fun.

 

I also told my wife after watching the video, "Ok what I learned from the video is, women can't drive, but they are great at setting traps."

 

She laughed. 

Hahahhahaa!!  Oh man... I can't wait to tell that one to my wife!  (She's the one in the video).

8 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Hahahhahaa!!  Oh man... I can't wait to tell that one to my wife!  (She's the one in the video).

 

 

I thought she looked familiar from a pic posted a few months back. 

Jared, what’s with the scarf?

10 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Exactly what's happening.

 

They are on a mission to bring us down so they can earn an extra $10 a week on their channel. 

 

Love reading some of the comments from their own fans telling them to knock it off and it's making them look bad.  The more they continue... the more of their own folks they will turn off.

 

How much you wanna bet that we will be the focus this week as well?  They got a lot of "attention" because they trashed us last week.  They will continue down the same destructive path.

I'm torn on the subject of Pat and Ian.  I used to enjoy their podcast regularly, and I remember that they were very helpful to us during the whole RetroVGS and Coleco Chameleon debacle; they spread the word about the investigations into Mike Kennedy and Friends that we were spearheading here on AtariAge at the time, when most of the gaming media was content to re-print Kennedy's press releases.  I was also a backer of Pat's NES Guidebook, and I still think it's a pretty good book.  I haven't really followed their podcast in a while, so I don't know what kind of numbers it's doing now, but I notice that their YouTube subscribers have been stalled at about 250K for a long time.

At their age, and especially after profiles like this one from two years ago, I can't help but wonder how actively happy they are to still be doing this kind of thing.  At a certain point, it must seem less like a passion project and more like a dreary job, and that's the point at which you often see these channels going out of their way to stir up drama as a way of getting attention and boosting their views and subs.  That certainly seems to be what's happening here; if so, that's very unfortunate.  I still think the best thing for us to do is to ignore their negativity instead of amplifying and encouraging it; hopefully they'll realize that it isn't getting them what they want.

1 hour ago, RREDDWARFF said:

So, I just received the email for the next round of Amico preorders. I loved the car crash game. It kinda reminded me of Bomberman with cars. It looks really fun.

 

I also told my wife after watching the video, "Ok what I learned from the video is, women can't drive, but they are great at setting traps."

 

She laughed. 

This is 100% not true!  

My wife is GREAT at crashing cars into things.  She'll be amazing at this game.

People often measure entertainment in hours of use they get from a product or service. I’m getting so many hours of entertainment from this fantastic group of people that I feel like I’m getting the console for free. This is all part of the experience This is free entertainment for me 😃

30 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Hahahhahaa!!  Oh man... I can't wait to tell that one to my wife!  (She's the one in the video).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She's a knockout! I think my wife is a cutie too.

She's the one on the right, not the guy in the middle. That's my buddy Jason. 

15 hours ago, cmart604 said:

As long as someone is keeping track when the first 2400 are sold so you can send Pat the great news that his prediction of 5000 units sold has been achieved. I'm sure he'll be thrilled and want to send you his sincere congrats. 👍🏻

And without true marketing having even started yet, BTW

7 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Awesome!  Okay... once this virus shit ends... me, you, Paul, your buddy and anyone else near us will have a big Intellivision party at my house!  Lets do some tournaments as well!  Baseball, hockey, etc.

And I'd also love to whip everyone's ASSES in Utopia.  I have a few nasty moves that pretty much destroy folks who aren't prepared for my wrath.  Just ask @nurmix!!  

 

Count me in!

Minute 54 in the Great Question Dodge-gate of 2020.

Tommy has yet to answer the burning question on everyone's mind...

What did John Alvarado win for beating all- commers in the championship tournament of Sideswipers?

As the world holds its collective breath and waits I want to remind our viewers that this hour is brought to you by Puffy the lovable pufferfish which stole our hearts and captured our imaginations.  Puffy...this one's for you.

5 hours ago, OEB_Pete said:

maybe Puff Daddy

Amico is targeting moms..., so; Puffy Daddy works

5 hours ago, BiffMan said:

I could see some fun with expressive eyebrows on the screens when docked like that. Just hope Amico doesn't bring its angry eyes... 🙂

Or, you pick your Amico’s personality. 

4 hours ago, Nolagamer said:

"Ya never know."  While not as assuring as  "wouldn't  that be something."  Its still hopeful and exciting 

Apple’s got “one more thing”; IE’s “wouldn’t that be something”

you so got to integrate this into a commercial!

And here we have our first interview with a bystander Mr Gravy.

Mr Gravy,  can I ask a question to you?

"Yes"

Mr Gravy, what award would you give to John Alvarado for such a stunning achievement of beating everyone (including Tommy's wife) in SideSwipers?

"Well I believe the only fair and reasonable thing to do would be to offer John Alvarado a day off next year to spend with a Mr. Michael Garvey.   I mean it would only be fair if Mr. Tallarico gave John a day off after his fantabulous Amico Machine was out for about a year and they could afford to have John away from his position for a scant amount of time just to meet and greet his Number 1 fan.  I believe that would be an appropriate reward. "

Thank you sir.

And to our audience we will keep you updated as this news develops. 

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Look out for some new merchandise in the online store this week.  

 

 

Fanny packs and keychains right?  Make it happen Tommy.  Lol.

10 minutes ago, Intellivision Master said:

Fanny packs and keychains right?  Make it happen Tommy.  Lol.

An Intellivision Running Man keychain would be nice. 

How about toilet paper? Running Man toilet paper. Sign me up for 50 rolls. 

4 minutes ago, RREDDWARFF said:

An Intellivision Running Man keychain would be nice. 

 

How about toilet paper? Running Man toilet paper. Sign me up for 50 rolls. 

If they sell toilet paper does that make them an essential business?

🤔

1 hour ago, Michael Garvey said:

There are a few posts now that are putting bold lettering in and they appear to be important questions.

 

Also there appear to be more eyes on this page and that appears to be important as well.

 

So now for what I feel is the most important question to ask Tommy at a time like this....

 

What does John Alvarado win after kicking everyone's butt in that last video?

 

Don't dodge the question sir.

 

America needs to know.

I paid for lunch.

True story.

1 minute ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

I paid for lunch.

 

True story.

 

 

Lol wait till you get to my other posts

😂

1 hour ago, Cee Cee said:

Funny, I was just having this convo over on the Amico FB wall the other day, and I was saying that I doubt that any of the pack-in games will be licensed properties for that very reason, because including those properties would eat at potential profit margins. If I can't have Burgertime, Lock 'n Chase, Bump 'n Jump Tron: Deadly Discs or AD&D as pack-ins, I'd be good with Astrosmash, Nightstalker, Space Battle, Space Armada, B-17 Bomber, Triple Action, Armor Battle, or Sub Hunt. I can always pick up the others afterwards!

Speaking of baseball, Tommy, when you make the old games available for Amico, I'm REALLY hoping you make THIS particular version of baseball (from intellivision.us) available too! https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=76&v=v1u3YXtJ724&feature=emb_logo

 

Yep!  That's the version we are basing it on.

15 minutes ago, RREDDWARFF said:

An Intellivision Running Man keychain would be nice. 

 

How about toilet paper? Running Man toilet paper. Sign me up for 50 rolls. 

And at $500 a roll it's a bargain!!

About Sideswipers :

Is there a mode that you can play alone ? Other cars controlled by AI ?  ( I know its much more fun with people ).

Same thing if we are only two players. Will there be only 2 cars on the track ?

(The questions came to my mind following a comment on youtube. )

Thank you.