Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

1 hour ago, Cranker said:

It’s all about perceived value. I would rather pay 500 for an Amico than 500 for a PS5 because I will have more fun with it. It’s as simple as that. I don’t care if it’s the newest tech or the oldest tech. I just want to have fun. I understand how someone may feel the the opposite. All good 😊

This is exactly why I jumped in on the Amico at the first opportunity. The hardware and graphics are not nearly as important to me as the 'but is it fun?' factor. From what I have seen so far the Amico is going to scratch that itch perfectly.

This is also why I still play on my PS2. It is basically an obsolete console, but it has a huge library of games available and more importantly to myself I continue to enjoy playing many of those games. I could get a PS4 (or a PS5 later this year) and technologically it would be superior to my PS2 in pretty much every way measurable, but would I enjoy playing it more the my old PS2? I expect not, so I have never upgraded.

I do likewise get that for some people things like improved graphics are a big selling feature to them in a console. Different people look for different things in their gaming; there is not really a right or wrong to it, it is just personal preferences.

3 hours ago, LePionnier said:

Hi Tommy.

Can you tell us the % pre-orders for each colors from the VIP edition ?

Something like 50% Black, 30% White and 20% Wood Grain ?

 

Thank you.

 

Woodgrain was about 70% of the orders!  Black next, followed by white.

But VIP's were only promoted to our mailing list & social media which in the bigger picture of things is very small and hardcore Intellivision fans.  So we don't think the numbers in the VIP's represent what our core audience will like.

 

1 hour ago, GrumpyOl'Guy said:

So... hey everybody!

 

It feels like I might have wandered into the middle of something... a touch shy of eternal, as this tangent may go.

I'm no good at these things, so I propose a new topic.

Is anyone else excited about the upcoming announcement for Baseball? Tommy mentioned it's coming in the next couple weeks. Personally, it'll probably be my first purchase!

Baseball was life for a younger me. Things like eating and sleeping were fine, mind you, but they weren't Ozzie Smith bare-handing a grounder off glorified cement!

Baseball video games were mandatory rainy-day playing for my brother and I. Also, RBI 3 was the first time I'd gotten my dad so flustered he (half-jokingly, I assure you) accused me of cheating!

Again, I'm really pumped for this, and can't wait to see it in action. Anyone else with me? If not, then perhaps another game's got you interested? What titles are you all waiting to hear more on?

 

And, as the price goes, everyone do as you feel is right. I'm sure I'll see mostly all of you on the global leader boards (when they come available), more than a few places higher than myself, in due time.

I am glad you mentioned Baseball,because that to this day is the Intellivision game that my best friend and I play when he comes over every month or so.

And a lot of other Intellivision games as well,but ALWAYS a game of Baseball!😄

I hope the Amico version is great and we both love it and play a game of that once a month also.

So much fun,I am looking forward to Baseball along with the rest of the Amico games.

So glad you brought that up,and changed the subject for the better here.👍

9 minutes ago, wolfy62 said:

I am glad you mentioned Baseball,because that to this day is the Intellivision game that my best friend and I play when he comes over every month or so.

And a lot of other Intellivision games as well,but ALWAYS a game of Baseball!😄

I hope the Amico version is great and we both love it and play a game of that once a month also.

So much fun,I am looking forward to Baseball along with the rest of the Amico games.

So glad you brought that up,and changed the subject for the better here.👍

 

I can't wait to play you in Baseball!!

23 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

I can't wait to play you in Baseball!!

Same here! Hope many of these games will be multiplayer over the 'net at some point. Couch potato co-op is fine and dandy of course, but let's be real. Most of *us* don't live near each other...

So it had been so long since I played NES baseball games I mixed up two in my mind Base Wars where the players are different kinds of robots and when you get into a close call the robots fight to see which way they call goes I remember really enjoying that game though I probably lost a lot as my brother has always been much better at sports games than me. And Baseball Simulator 1000 where you had power up moves you could do while pitching and batting who knows maybe Intellivision could mix elements of both those games into an original title I just remember having a blast with both.  
 

My brother loved to play the college football game but in order for our games to be close I had to pick a team with mostly A&B grades and he would pick a team with C&Ds one game I remember it was a 6 point game he was in the lead and there was Maybe 10 seconds left he ran the ball there was a fumble I ran back for a touchdown to win the game. He got so made the next game he chose a team with A&Bs and ended up winning 92-14 I don’t remember if we ever played together after that lol 

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

With Pete's intro being about 12 - 13 seconds... he should extend the video to 1:12 seconds instead. 

 

 

LOL, I am working on a new minute intro. but yes I can tighten it up for sure.  You know how hard it is for me to shut up for a minute already!

19 minutes ago, Alpha82 said:

So it had been so long since I played NES baseball games I mixed up two in my mind Base Wars where the players are different kinds of robots and when you get into a close call the robots fight to see which way they call goes I remember really enjoying that game though I probably lost a lot as my brother has always been much better at sports games than me. And Baseball Simulator 1000 where you had power up moves you could do while pitching and batting who knows maybe Intellivision could mix elements of both those games into an original title I just remember having a blast with both.  
 

My brother loved to play the college football game but in order for our games to be close I had to pick a team with mostly A&B grades and he would pick a team with C&Ds one game I remember it was a 6 point game he was in the lead and there was Maybe 10 seconds left he ran the ball there was a fumble I ran back for a touchdown to win the game. He got so made the next game he chose a team with A&Bs and ended up winning 92-14 I don’t remember if we ever played together after that lol 

I remember my brother finding a quirk in a Genesis-era college football game. He ran the punt returner straight to the sideline, the turned directly upfield and sprinted past the coverage. Worked like six straight times!

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Woodgrain was about 70% of the orders!  Black next, followed by white.

 

But VIP's were only promoted to our mailing list & social media which in the bigger picture of things is very small and hardcore Intellivision fans.  So we don't think the numbers in the VIP's represent what our core audience will like.

 

I’m not surprised at those numbers. Most of the hardcore fans want the woodgrain 😀😀

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

To all the dumbasses who still insist that Nintendo Switch doesn't allow AO (Adult Rated) rated games.

 

Here, add another one to the pile:

 

 

 

Wow this is where Nintendo has gone?  Really sad they sold out. 

20 minutes ago, Cranker said:

I’m not surprised at those numbers. Most of the hardcore fans want the woodgrain 😀😀

Including me lol 😀😀😀🙃😀

1 minute ago, Relicgamer said:

Including me lol 😀😀😀🙃😀

And me.

20 hours ago, MarioMan88 said:

Same! Wife had me at Gametop 6 hrs early to get the Switch...didn’t bat eye at $300. Mario, Zelda, Pokémon...on and on top tier first party games with years of hits behind them. I didn’t need to “convince” her...she knows. People won’t know Amico like this and the above $199 initially will, I think, give pause to some consumers.

The other thing to consider, and the challenge that IE is going to face, is to the general public Amico is still an unknown. Part of my buy in on this, beyond the system and game play, is the passion of the team to deliver something special and the desire they have to better many things for the consumer (don’t forget that is us by the way).  Amico can’t be designed so cheap that it doesn't provide quality or value.  The challenge will be how to convey all this in their advertising. Tommy spends hours on interviews from which we are more informed, but we are not the majority of the general buying public. Getting all that info and background to the general consumer would be huge, but at 30 seconds a commercial thats going to be tough and I’m sure advertisement will be mostly centered toward the system/games, and only a little on the IE philosophy and team. 

There is one hugh differentiator though, Amico is designed to be used with groups, so I’d expect impact from word of mouth will likely be much higher than with other current systems; that  the upcoming “mic drop” moments.   

Cant wait to see the Baseball reveal. Loved Intellivision Baseball, but my absolute favorite video Baseball Game was Gamestar Star League.  Listening to the tape drive load for 20 minutes while it loaded was worth it. LOVED this game. When it comes to sports games, its all about the gameplay, it really is.  

23 minutes ago, Starpaddler said:

The other thing to consider, and the challenge that IE is going to face, is to the general public Amico is still an unknown. Part of my buy in on this, beyond the system and game play, is the passion of the team to deliver something special and the desire they have to better many things for the consumer (don’t forget that is us by the way).  Amico can’t be designed so cheap that it doesn't provide quality or value.  The challenge will be how to convey all this in their advertising. Tommy spends hours on interviews from which we are more informed, but we are not the majority of the general buying public. Getting all that info and background to the general consumer would be huge, but at 30 seconds a commercial thats going to be tough and I’m sure advertisement will be mostly centered toward the system/games, and only a little on the IE philosophy and team. 

 

There is one hugh differentiator though, Amico is designed to be used with groups, so I’d expect impact from word of mouth will likely be much higher than with other current systems; that  the upcoming “mic drop” moments.   

I don’t foresee them IE having issues showing that very message I think people forget the excellent marketing people they have on the team which is understandable since marketing hasn’t kicked off yet but with the team members we know about and their past projects I have a feeling their message to the general public will be well thought out, well delivered, and on point 

Does anyone remember this game?  

Does anyone know how to contact Intellivision customer support? Two weeks ago I placed an order for the Amico T-shirt. Haven’t heard a peep from them since. Tried contacting them via their web site twice. No response

43 minutes ago, bigdaddygamestudio said:

Cant wait to see the Baseball reveal. Loved Intellivision Baseball, but my absolute favorite video Baseball Game was Gamestar Star League.  Listening to the tape drive load for 20 minutes while it loaded was worth it. LOVED this game. When it comes to sports games, its all about the gameplay, it really is.  

Played that one for hours too. Also played a lot of Earl Weaver Baseball. Don't recall which system I played those on. My best guess is Atari 400/800 and the Commodore Amiga. 

And you're right, it's the gameplay that really matters. Don't care about the cheerleaders, game announcers,  etc.

4 hours ago, GrumpyOl'Guy said:

So... hey everybody!

 

It feels like I might have wandered into the middle of something... a touch shy of eternal, as this tangent may go.

I'm no good at these things, so I propose a new topic.

Is anyone else excited about the upcoming announcement for Baseball? Tommy mentioned it's coming in the next couple weeks. Personally, it'll probably be my first purchase!

Baseball was life for a younger me. Things like eating and sleeping were fine, mind you, but they weren't Ozzie Smith bare-handing a grounder off glorified cement!

Baseball video games were mandatory rainy-day playing for my brother and I. Also, RBI 3 was the first time I'd gotten my dad so flustered he (half-jokingly, I assure you) accused me of cheating!

Again, I'm really pumped for this, and can't wait to see it in action. Anyone else with me? If not, then perhaps another game's got you interested? What titles are you all waiting to hear more on?

 

And, as the price goes, everyone do as you feel is right. I'm sure I'll see mostly all of you on the global leader boards (when they come available), more than a few places higher than myself, in due time.

I've been a lurker in this thread since it's inception, but the baseball and sports games, in general, will be a big draw to me as an original intellivision player. I've got a FE coming so I'm excited for 10/10/20 (actually earlier for FE). While I know these games won't be nearly as in depth as say, MLB The Show, I am hoping they have some league play capabilities and player stat keeping. Even a fun, simple career mode would be great....something as simple as some of the mobile games would be fine. Looking forward to alot of the retro upgraded games from the past as well.

19 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

I'm not too familiar with American Girl.  I'll check it out!

From a business perspective, its Barbie on steroids...

Tommy,

What do you think about this for Amico?

13 hours ago, GrudgeQ said:

That is totally accurate for one persons price to value equation. The problem is projecting this assumption on others. If you have ever suffered through price elasticity or demand curves in economics (I inflicted those onto many a student in a former life of cruelty as a Eco/Fin instructor) the whole point of those is that it is a range of values shown as a curve. Different consumers perceive value completely differently, for example a family with 2 kids may see a console with 6 games and two controllers as more of a $125 purchase per child than say a $250 purchase, so it may fit their Christmas gift budget of $150 per kid, while the Switch doesn’t. Also maybe Mary being able to stay a bit active by playing Corn Hole inside during a Chicago winter is a lot more appealing to her than Susan who lives in Florida, even if she is equally Corn Hole obsessed (well that didn’t sound right). Anyway what is the demand curve for the Amico? Nobody really knows but Tommy has done focus groups which is about the best way to get an early indication. Also there is some demand at $250 and higher prices with the pre-orders (and no real advertising to boot). Would $199 be better for adoption assuming the same product? Sure, but be careful about projecting personal price/value considerations (for or against) on Amico. One person does not a market make.

True when only considering the sale point of Amico, but that curve is really to find the sweet spot for max total profit; throw in revenue from games and how the available consumer base tweaks that end of the formula, optimization gets a bit trickier; but generally speaking, IE should generate a larger consumer base with more Amico sales (i.e., lower system cost) that then generates more profit on the SW end (especially given their pricing) - but maybe this should be left to Math Fun’s Amico’s second release...

10 minutes ago, Intellivision Master said:

Tommy,

What do you think about this for Amico?

 

 

I actually had that exact set always meant to buy more but never did it was a ton of fun though busting down the defenses lol 

This would be perfect for Amico.

3 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

To all the dumbasses who still insist that Nintendo Switch doesn't allow AO (Adult Rated) rated games.

 

Here, add another one to the pile:

 

 

 

Wow this is where Nintendo has gone?  Really sad they sold out.