Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

1 hour ago, Papy said:

 

Overall, good trailer. I like the focus is still on simple games to play with family and friends. The music was maybe a little overboard, but I have nothing against it.

 

On the down side, I still have difficulty guessing the size of the controllers. I wish the trailer would have flashed a kid and an adult playing together so we could see how these controllers fit in the hand.

 

I like that the "Game Library" listing doesn't try to hide things like card games.

 

As for the games shown...

 

I tend to be a purist so I won't comment on Moon Patrol, Missile Command, and Asteroids.

 

Biplanes (I'm guessing that's what it is) looks good, but I can't imagine what the gameplay is like.

 

I feel the cramped environment of the four-player Night Stalker might offer a fun gameplay.

 

I have no clue what the game with the blocky running guy is about.

 

What looks like a miniature race track game looks promising for some quick fun with non-gamers.

 

I wonder what the Armor Battle (or Battle Tanks) looking game is like. Is it now a cooperative game? Hmm, now I wonder... Is the miniature race track game the successor of Car Racing, meaning those three games is the reimagining of Triple Action?

 

Astrosmash looks good, but since I was never a fan (yes, I know, I'm a heretic), I'm not sure I will be interested.

 

I still play from time to time with Shark! Shark! on my Flashback and I'm guessing the multiplayer version will be a lot of fun for everyone.

 

I never liked playing Breakout without a paddle, so my guess is I'll pass on this one.

 

The cannonball and the D.J. game looks like a party game. The graphics looks promising, but party games seem to be a hit or miss for me, so I'll see...

 

I always loved Snafu. It was the first game I programed on my school's computer (Thomson TO7). I'm guessing this game will also be a success like Shark! Shark! (in the sense that everyone will like it).

 

As someone who was somewhat of a hardcore Virtua Fighter 2 player (when people remove their quarters when they see you approaching the machine, you know you're not a noob anymore), I'm surprised and intrigued by what seems to be a fighting game. Can a game like this be E10+ ?

 

What looks like the new Auto Racing looks promising. I love this kind of game. But is it only a one-player game now?

 

Finally, I like the dolphin-themed game (Ecco?). I believe this kind of cute theme is essential for my niece to be interested in the console.

 

For what it's worth, my first impression of those games is good. Of course, this is just a first impression...

 

 

Good point about Auto Racing, I would expect computer controlled cars to race against.  All games will have a local multiplayer mode.

As far as breakout and other paddle/spinner games (e.g. tempest, warlords); the disc might work as a decent spinner.  The touch screen might also work.

The armour battle game looks like Armor Attack.  And I'm not an astrosmash fan either; looking forward to space battle and star strike remakes.

Looking good, my only concern is that many of the classic games were so playable because there was such a contrast between the background and the objects. the simplicity was actually a strength. It was easy to follow what's going on as the game play intensified and your eyes had to track more things moving faster. Many modern remakes of classic games completely miss that. Particularly in a game like Shark! Shark!, the new version seems to have such a colorful, busy background it might get awfully visually confusing. It makes for good screenshots, but bad game play.  Of course, it's hard to say based on a half-second screen cap.  Once it's in front of you played for real it might be just fine.  That's about the only thing I could nitpick.  I'm 100% on board with a 'back to basics' console, and I love what's been shown so far.

looks great Tommy can't wait! 

"Assassin Kitty VS General Meow!" lol 

what is that game called?

5 hours ago, JBerel said:

Is that a new Ecco the Dolphin?  ...

Could be Fathom.

6 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

HERE IT IS!!!

Let me know your thoughts. Please help us by sharing this video! The world needs to know that Intellivision is back and available on 10.10 2020.

 

Looking  forward to sharing more details and gameplay footage over the next 14 months.
 

https://youtu.be/TzE386pQOy4

Awesome video I am so hyped for this the video games shown look great. Can’t wait for the next round of news 

3 hours ago, Papy said:

 

Overall, good trailer. I like the focus is still on simple games to play with family and friends. The music was maybe a little overboard, but I have nothing against it.

 

It's those crescendos that let you know they mean business

In the next video, I expect lots of unnecessary Inception BWAHS

The music really seemed at cross purposes with what Tommy was trying to say!

I don't know; I'm torn. I get it; (good) sprite art is expensive; gussied up polygons aren't. Part of me says "Oh, boy, New Moon Patrol! New Astrosmash!" and part of me says, "That stuff looks really visually unappealing to me." 

It's probably unfair to judge based on the two seconds of each game we saw. Maybe stuff looks better in context, maybe the gameplay trumps the looks.

I really don't know what to make of the system yet. I'm all for the stated goal of giving people fun, casual games to play locally. Even tho' my collection would suggest otherwise, I'm a fairly casual gamer, and I like pick up and play games. I appreciate the idea of less expensive, less extensive games. I appreciate that the Amico actually appears to exist and seems to have people behind it who actually give a damn about video games. I don't know if I need yet another console to play them. I'm willing to be convinced, but I'll take a lot of convincing, if that makes sense.

I like the music. Fits the type of 'unveiling'. I don't think it conflicts with the type of system either. Multiplayer games can get intense.

Want to see more of the games. Really intrigued by that Asteroids, Night Stalker, and.....Ecco????

Would like verification on the dolphin game. I was wondering if Sega would be a part of this.

Overall, I really liked it! I know we are still over a year out so I will just have to be patient for me.

THANK YOU for showing us some of what is going on! (Games, seeing real system)

I know everyone is hyped about the trailer but John Riggs posted a video about his hands on experience with the Amico at E3. Some strong, independent support for the Amico games and group play that is definitely worth a watch/listen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBqOV3ChWDQ

Dj_convoy:  This isn't meant as an attack on you at all but in light of other past posters comments about the system probably not having any 3D engine support, your comments made me chuckle and I think is the main reason why Amico hardware devs need to just stay focused on what they are trying to achieve and not get too caught up with the opinions of the masses lol.  I do get what you are saying, there's a certain charm to 2D art and visually it ages better (ie: compare the majority of SNES games with PSX and the low poly count of the PSX just look too fugly nowadays).

The thing for me is there is an evident vision behind the Amico and I suspect that vision is also at play behind the scenes as far as art is concerned.  As you've said these are just a few seconds of gameplay and I don't doubt this sample of greatest hits is meant to both act as a taster for the games but also meant to show that the hardware can flex its muscles too as far as 3D is concerned.

4 hours ago, mr_me said:

Good point about Auto Racing, I would expect computer controlled cars to race against.  All games will have a local multiplayer mode.

Now that I think of it, maybe it's just because the game is in a very early stage of development.

4 hours ago, BydoEmpire said:

Looking good, my only concern is that many of the classic games were so playable because there was such a contrast between the background and the objects. the simplicity was actually a strength.

I was also worried about this, but apart from Asteroids, it seems quite acceptable to me. In the case of Shark! Shark!, I don't think it will cause problems for kids and adults, but for older people with lower visual acuity, I admit this could be more difficult. Maybe they could do the same as with the circus game to increase the contrast a bit.

3 hours ago, mr_me said:

Could be Fathom.

I guess we'll know soon.

I think everything looks outstanding,though what really pops for me is the colorfullness

Of all of the games.

I love that!😃

35 minutes ago, Papy said:

...

 

I guess we'll know soon.

It is ecco the dolphin.  Confirmation in that video GrudgeQ linked.

10 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

HERE IT IS!!!

Let me know your thoughts. Please help us by sharing this video! The world needs to know that Intellivision is back and available on 10.10 2020.

 

Looking  forward to sharing more details and gameplay footage over the next 14 months.
 

https://youtu.be/TzE386pQOy4

Wait for it!

Running on an i7, in a black box.

J/K, Tommy, I've known you forever and I think this is a good path, to go down.  Nothing but the best wishes. 👍

1 hour ago, GrudgeQ said:

I know everyone is hyped about the trailer but John Riggs posted a video about his hands on experience with the Amico at E3. Some strong, independent support for the Amico games and group play that is definitely worth a watch/listen.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBqOV3ChWDQ

Great video 

26 minutes ago, CPUWIZ said:

 

Wait for it!

 

Running on an i7, in a black box.

 

J/K, Tommy, I've known you forever and I think this is a good path, to go down.  Nothing but the best wishes. 👍

i7 - no way. It is clearly an Atari Box inside with it running all of those Atari games.

Seriously though - kinda of a sad day for Atari VCS backers. I really hope Atari SA manages to come up with some compelling content for their supporters. At the moment Intellivision has out Atari’d Atari however.

Pretty neat!! Think my brother and I will be hitting Nightstalker and SNAFU often. I'm pretty stoked for this more than the next gen consoles! Welp, off to go freeze myself...

 

Great video Tommy, I am in on so many of those games.  I do hope many devs in the future consider doing sprites, but I am ok with the 3d looking characters as long as the gameplay is very tight and properly difficult, which I am sure will be no problem seeing as how much Quality Control your company has over things.

The Snafu and Night Stalker. Moon Patrol games looks amazing, Astrosmash, Armor Attack, Shark Shark just simply amazing!  I loved the Asteroids new and old, tell your asteroids developer to include Blasteroids (the arcade remake), if they are redoing the game, that evolution of asteroids to this day is still one of the best!

Human Cannonball, Auto Racing, Hot Wheels / Matchbox racers were such pleasant surprises, I can't believe no one has ever made a Hot Wheels game that actually simulates playing with the toy and not trying to make a 3rd person / 1st person racer.

Ok now that I can see what you all are thinking, you have an amazing catalog of Intellivision and 2600 games that would be amazing, I am thinking Swordquest series, Star Master, Dodge em, Seaquest, Omega Race (come on this one can so be arcade vector perfect and fun on that controller), the mind literally boggles at the opportunities!

Congrats, I have been showing your trailer to everyone I know today!

2 hours ago, GrudgeQ said:

I know everyone is hyped about the trailer but John Riggs posted a video about his hands on experience with the Amico at E3. Some strong, independent support for the Amico games and group play that is definitely worth a watch/listen.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBqOV3ChWDQ

Great video! Glad to hear he enjoyed his experience 

7 hours ago, mr_me said:

Good point about Auto Racing, I would expect computer controlled cars to race against.  All games will have a local multiplayer mode.

 

As far as breakout and other paddle/spinner games (e.g. tempest, warlords); the disc might work as a decent spinner.  The touch screen might also work.

 

The armour battle game looks like Armor Attack.  And I'm not an astrosmash fan either; looking forward to space battle and star strike remakes.

Auto Racing is up to 8 players.  Human or Computer.
Touch screen is amazing to control Breakout, PONG, Missile Command, etc.
Armor Battle but I combined some ideas from games like Armor Attack. 

7 hours ago, BydoEmpire said:

Looking good, my only concern is that many of the classic games were so playable because there was such a contrast between the background and the objects. the simplicity was actually a strength. It was easy to follow what's going on as the game play intensified and your eyes had to track more things moving faster. Many modern remakes of classic games completely miss that. Particularly in a game like Shark! Shark!, the new version seems to have such a colorful, busy background it might get awfully visually confusing. It makes for good screenshots, but bad game play.  Of course, it's hard to say based on a half-second screen cap.  Once it's in front of you played for real it might be just fine.  That's about the only thing I could nitpick.  I'm 100% on board with a 'back to basics' console, and I love what's been shown so far.

Shark! Shark! is one of the highest voted games in focus testing.  People absolutely love it and so far have not complained about the potential issue you mentioned.  Like you said... hard to tell from such a quick clip... but trust me... it plays AMAZING!  And one thing you can't see from the clip is that the backgrounds actually come into play during certain parts of gameplay.  That's all I can say for now.  Looking forward to sharing more in the future.

7 hours ago, ASalvaro said:

looks great Tommy can't wait! 

"Assassin Kitty VS General Meow!" lol 

what is that game called?

Can't say right now.  It's not a fighting game though.  More like an Interactive multi-player story adventure.  More info coming in the future. 

6 hours ago, mr_me said:

Could be Fathom.

...or not.  

2 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Auto Racing is up to 8 players.  Human or Computer.
Touch screen is amazing to control Breakout, PONG, Missile Command, etc.
Armor Battle but I combined some ideas from games like Armor Attack. 

 

I just watched and commented on the John Riggs video, have to really say I'm definitely excited about this unit Tommy.  This sounds great.  The fact that you crossed over so many boundaries that the original Intellivision never got to be a part of is amazing.  Ecco the Dolphin being one of them, the other being Earthworm Jim.  Wow.. Sega specific stuff.. and now on Intellivision.  Very exciting!!!  All the unique Atari arcade games... the remakes... WOW!!!   

Like I said before... it's your drive to make this thing a success that is really pulling us all in.  Keep it going!   Best luck at the Show in Germany and the big Amico reveal!  Post some pics if you can.. 

JR

2 hours ago, GrudgeQ said:

I know everyone is hyped about the trailer but John Riggs posted a video about his hands on experience with the Amico at E3. Some strong, independent support for the Amico games and group play that is definitely worth a watch/listen.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBqOV3ChWDQ

Was so cool to hear John's honest thoughts.  The folks who play Amico fall in love quickly with the games and controls.  Can't wait for everyone here to try it out for the first time!