Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

9 hours ago, Swami said:

You think back to investigative journalism in the gaming industry in the 80s and 90s and then the off-the-cuff commentary that began with the internet feeds and youtube personalities. There is very little on the internet reliable anymore. It's like a lot of these top ten product lists in the internet mags that are obviously something someone googled for 30 minutes and wrote an article.

I don't know for the US but in France, journalists were very amateurish in the 80s and 90s. Some of them were incredibly young but made a lot of money, like developers in the 80s actually. They're more professional these days, but I'm not talking about bloggers or youtube personalities of course.

10 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

I don't know for the US but in France, journalists were very amateurish in the 80s and 90s. Some of them were incredibly young but made a lot of money, like developers in the 80s actually. They're more professional these days, but I'm not talking about bloggers or youtube personalities of course.

I was religiously reading Jeux & Stratégie and Tilt in the 80s. Maybe game journalists were a bit amateurish and, in the case of Tilt, somewhat fanboyish, but I believe they were generally trying to be objective and to do their job.

I don't know about the situation in France (the last time I was in France was for my military service 25 years ago), but as someone who lives in Québec, I have a lot less trust in game journalists now than in the past. They look more professional, but it seems to me too many of them are now incapable of any kind of objectivity. They put their "feelings" and their political agendas before their duties as journalists. It looks to me game journalists are now quite arrogant and see themselves more like "influencers on a mission to save humanity from its own evil" rather than simple journalists.

1 hour ago, Papy said:

I was religiously reading Jeux & Stratégie and Tilt in the 80s. Maybe game journalists were a bit amateurish and, in the case of Tilt, somewhat fanboyish, but I believe they were generally trying to be objective and to do their job.

 

I don't know about the situation in France (the last time I was in France was for my military service 25 years ago), but as someone who lives in Québec, I have a lot less trust in game journalists now than in the past. They look more professional, but it seems to me too many of them are now incapable of any kind of objectivity. They put their "feelings" and their political agendas before their duties as journalists. It looks to me game journalists are now quite arrogant and see themselves more like "influencers on a mission to save humanity from its own evil" rather than simple journalists.

I don't know Jeux & Stratégie but Tilt was quite unique; editors were mostly professional journalists but most of them didn't know video games very well. I was talking about magazines such as Player One, Consoles+, Joystick, etc. that are very embarrassing to read now.
That being said, to me objectivity can never be achieved, and shouldn't be when writing about culture (movies, music, video games, etc.), at least when it's about the works, not the industry as a whole. Now I agree that some of them are arrogant, probably because they are a lot more exposed today with Internet, videos, etc.

My advice for everyone is to ignore Nintendo fanboys such as Pat the NES Punk. They automatically dismiss every single console not made by Nintendo.

In 2020, 4 consoles will be released: The PS5, the Xbox Scarlett, the Intellivision Amico and the Panic Playdate (which by the way shown gameplay footage and more details a couple of days ago, as you can see here, here and here). Well, we can already anticipate what the Nintendo fanboys will think about them: The first two consoles will be dismissed because "we don't need so much power" (unless it's 1992-2006 and we are talking about the SNES, N64 and GameCube) and the last two consoles will be dismissed because "Switch is doing this better" (as we can see in Pat's opinions and in some of the anti-Playdate comments in my first link above).

I have some questions for Tommy:

1) Amico will be my first home console in 15 years, I always look for gameplay and offline multiplayer in games over graphics or story. I would like for the console to sell 100 millions, but I don't see it happening: The Wii had the Nintendo brand and you could "play baseball in your living room". I hated the Wii and I know I will love the Amico, but I can't see it being a huge hit. So my question is: Even if sales are not very good, do you think the Amico can be considered as a failure? In my opinion, it will be a success even if it fails commercially, as it will bring fun, offline multiplayer experiences to hundreds of thousands of people (hopefully millions).

2) What do you think about the Playdate? It's obviously not competing against the Amico, but it is a coincidence that these two consoles are released the same year after 20 years of Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft dominating the market.

3) Imagine that the Amico sells 50+ millions. What do you do? Will there be any shortages if this happens? Will you release an Amico 2 with improved graphics after 7 years?

4) The Amico is family friendly, so it will not have any censorship in China... Any plans for a China release?

Thank you so much for what you are doing, Tommy. 22 years ago, my 17 year old self was a fanboy of your awesome work in the MDK soundtrack, which led me to use the PS1 disc as a music CD. And now, you are trying to bring back offline multiplayer, something that should never have been lost. For this reason, I have decided to become an "Amico fanboy" and I am promoting your console in several message boards. I used to be a Sony fanboy, but gone are the PS1 and PS2 days. Thanks to the Amico, I discovered the Electric Playground: just like you, I used to criticize the N64 in the 90s, but now I love the console and I think it's probably because I hate modern consoles and I love offline multiplayer.

By the way, Tommy, the other day you replied a Spanish youtuber (from Spain, Europe) saying that Latin America was very important... I just wanted to let you know 😝

You guys are awful with the ad hominem attacks.

Ian and Pat will be fair and didn't say anything unreasonable about the Amico in that last episode.  Tommy just came off a podcast where he convinced a doubter and several of you praised him for the interview.  

Hi Tommy,

I am really excited about the Amico, because i love 2-2,5D games! Can you tell which are going to be the pre-installed games?

On 8/31/2019 at 6:01 AM, LoTonah said:

Tommy, that podcast interview was incredible and really sold me on it. I was previously pretty blah about the whole thing, saw the latest commercial, got a bit more excited, heard the podcast and now I don't just want one, I want the SDK now!  Four player Moon Patrol where the other players who are waiting their turn to be the buggy control the aliens instead?  Genius!  But I think that the one thing that sets you apart and needs to be emphasized in the advertising is the handicapping system.  Holy crap what an ace-in-the-hole.  No wonder that Candace was crying...being able to play with your family like that is more powerful than I previously imagined and I can't wait to try it with my own family.  PS not kidding about the SDK...how can I get it?

Please send an e-mail to [email protected]

It isn't an "open" system in the traditional sense, meaning we give out the information and dev kits to the folks we handpick and sign up.

But please feel free to reach out to Paul.  Definitely include games your studio has done in the past.

Thanks!

On 8/31/2019 at 10:48 AM, Papy said:

This interview made me realize that Intellivision's commitment to social gaming was real and not just a marketing gimmick. It made me realize Tommy Tallarico was genuine. So people can call me a wimp all they want, but I was also tearing up.

 

When I was a kid, I remember my parents were playing card games with their friends every Saturday. Sometimes, they would be playing from 4 pm up until 2 in the morning (with a break for supper). They rarely missed a Saturday.

 

The rise of personal entertainment and telecommunication slowly put an end to this. The Internet was the final nail in the coffin. My mother still play card games or other games like Scrabble... with her tablet.

 

We now live in a very strange world where we constantly communicate with more people than ever, yet we feel more isolated than ever. Technology and modern values are dehumanizing us. This truly sucks. We need real human contact. We need to socialize with "real" people. In particular, we need strong family ties.

 

So yes, human needs are powerful things indeed.

You nailed it 100%!!!  This is EXACTLY why I created Amico and why it's going to be popular around the world.  We are not the only ones who feel this way!  And although the "younger" generation may think we're old and don't know what we're talking about and that the "Switch" and PS4 already "does this"... they are the minority.  The 3 Billion people who play video games and don't consider themselves gamers is proof of that.  The fact that mobile/casual is almost TRIPLE what the PC gaming and more than DOUBLE what all the home consoles combined is proof of that.  The fact that the Wii was the 3rd biggest home console ever is proof of this.  So let the hardcores "hate" and not understand all they want.  It doesn't affect our mission or goal at all.  And again... once they actually PLAY it and see their non-gaming friends all having fun together... they'll all of the sudden start to understand what we all felt growing up and what has been missing for over a decade in the game industry.

6 hours ago, IntelliMission said:

I have some questions for Tommy:

 

1) Amico will be my first home console in 15 years, I always look for gameplay and offline multiplayer in games over graphics or story. I would like for the console to sell 100 millions, but I don't see it happening: The Wii had the Nintendo brand and you could "play baseball in your living room". I hated the Wii and I know I will love the Amico, but I can't see it being a huge hit. So my question is: Even if sales are not very good, do you think the Amico can be considered as a failure? In my opinion, it will be a success even if it fails commercially, as it will bring fun, offline multiplayer experiences to hundreds of thousands of people (hopefully millions).

 

2) What do you think about the Playdate? It's obviously not competing against the Amico, but it is a coincidence that these two consoles are released the same year after 20 years of Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft dominating the market.

 

3) Imagine that the Amico sells 50+ millions. What do you do? Will there be any shortages if this happens? Will you release an Amico 2 with improved graphics after 7 years?

 

4) The Amico is family friendly, so it will not have any censorship in China... Any plans for a China release?

 

Thank you so much for what you are doing, Tommy. 22 years ago, my 17 year old self was a fanboy of your awesome work in the MDK soundtrack, which led me to use the PS1 disc as a music CD. And now, you are trying to bring back offline multiplayer, something that should never have been lost. For this reason, I have decided to become an "Amico fanboy" and I am promoting your console in several message boards. I used to be a Sony fanboy, but gone are the PS1 and PS2 days. Thanks to the Amico, I discovered the Electric Playground: just like you, I used to criticize the N64 in the 90s, but now I love the console and I think it's probably because I hate modern consoles and I love offline multiplayer.

 

By the way, Tommy, the other day you replied a Spanish youtuber (from Spain, Europe) saying that Latin America was very important... I just wanted to let you know 😝

1.  I wouldn't underestimate the system until you have a chance to play it.  It's a bit premature to say that you "can't see it being a huge hit" until you have a chance to play it with friends.  

To answer your question... the sales ARE going to be great.  Amico will NOT be a failure or fail commercially.  And yes... to millions of people. 

If I felt any differently then I shouldn't be making the machine or running the company.  I'm not interested in doing anything mediocre or something I "hope" will catch on.  I'm all in 100%.  It's the only way to ensure victory and success. 

2.  I think it looks like fun and I hope they are successful.  It's a completely different device and approach and I love anyone willing to do something different.  I'm tired of the big 3 dominating everything and doing the same kind of stuff year after year.  I'll probably end up picking one up.

3.  There will be shortages no matter how many it sells.  Common practice around the holidays.  I'll just leave it at that. 
The typical game industry hardware cycle is 7 years.  Based mostly around technology and how long it takes to create something new.  We feel our cycle is more like 10 years because we don't rely on technology as much as the others.  Look at something like Roblox or Minecraft.  We're more similar to their models than a PS4.  We hope to be a big part of the game in 2030 and would hope to redefine the industry once again by then. 

4.  We are looking at the China market and it's something that they are very interested in.  We are talking to the biggest companies over there but something that wouldn't be released until 2021 at least.

Thank-you for becoming an Amico fanboy!  I am too!! 

Thanks for the heads up about the Spanish YouTuber!  I didn't realize.  Both Europe & Latin America are big for us.  So hopefully I mentioned Europe in my response as well.

Thank-you for your support!
 

7 hours ago, PlaysWithWolves said:

You guys are awful with the ad hominem attacks.

 

Ian and Pat will be fair and didn't say anything unreasonable about the Amico in that last episode.  Tommy just came off a podcast where he convinced a doubter and several of you praised him for the interview.  

I respectfully disagree with you.

They were NOT fair and yes... they were "unreasonable" because they once again gave out wrong information about the machine (3rd time in all 3 videos they've done).  If you're going to bring up points about why you think the console is going to fail or how it's not going to have a market... then your points need to at least be based on FACTS and correct information which is available everywhere.  Instead, they based their "opinions" on assumptions.  LAZY!!  They said things like no one is going to buy the system because it's too expensive and then listed the price at $250 - $300?!?  Then they attack me and say that my marketing is failing because they didn't know the cost of the console or whether or not is has physical media.  They say it's my fault.  Really?  All they had to do is read the description of the video they reviewed or just go to our website or read any of our press releases over the past year.  But they couldn't be bothered.  So yes... that is being unreasonable when you have that many followers.  But what really makes them unreasonable is the fact that they refuse to speak with me on or off air so I can clear up the wrong information they have been giving out.  I had to do it on Twitter and they would argue and attack me each time I proved them wrong.  So not only do they continue to give out wrong information... but they are unwilling to find out more information from the source in order to correct themselves.  That is VERY unreasonable.

They are NOT being fair.  Being "fair" would be letting me discuss the wrong info they are giving out to people on a consistent basis.  Bottom line is that deep down they are embarrassed and know I'm right... so their only defense is to tear me and the system down at this point (instead of just admitting they keep making mistakes).  Their record in the 3 times they have covered it is that they have said something wrong every time.  That's 100% of the videos... 3 times with wrong information.  3 times I reached out to try and give them more info... and 3 times they dismissed me and got angry when I called them out on Twitter. 

Yes... people praised me for an interview where I convinced doubters.  That is the point people are trying to make and why they are attacking Pat the Punk and the long haired dude.  Because THEY are unwilling to have a normal adult and mature conversation about it.  Instead, they'll keep giving bad info based on the wrong data they have because they are too lazy to do 10 minutes of research.  Easier to just turn the cameras on, hate it and then get into a Twitter war to get more views.  They should be ashamed of themselves for the way they've handled this.

Lets put it another way...  Ask yourself this question....

If Reggie or Bowser (new Nintendo US prez) or Miyamoto wanted to come on their show to clear up bad info they said about a Nintendo game or device... would they have them on?

Of course they would.  But they won't give me the same respect?  Why?  Because they are biased and can't grasp REAL "retro gaming" because it happened before they were born.  But instead of finding out more info... they just attack more.

Happy to get your thoughts and opinions and counterpoints to this post.  Hopefully my explanation helped you to see the frustration that many folks feel about the way they handled the situation and the way they continue to give bad information about the console to hundreds of thousands of people.

2 hours ago, Adenin said:

Hi Tommy,

I am really excited about the Amico, because i love 2-2,5D games! Can you tell which are going to be the pre-installed games?

I can't tell you that info right now because we are waiting for our big press conference at E3 in 2020 to announce.  I wish I could, however I will say that 3 of them were shown in the last trailer.  Let the "guessing game" begin!! 

 

21 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

I can't tell you that info right now because we are waiting for our big press conference at E3 in 2020 to announce.  I wish I could, however I will say that 3 of them were shown in the last trailer.  Let the "guessing game" begin!! 

 

Thanks a lot for the reply, it means a lot that you care for your fans. Well you already mentioned that Astrosmash is one of them, hoping for Moon patrol and Night stalker or Missle command to be the others. By the way is the remake of Caveman Ninja been made by the same dev who made the Toki remake?

21 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

I respectfully disagree with you.

They were NOT fair and yes... they were "unreasonable" because they once again gave out wrong information about the machine (3rd time in all 3 videos they've done).  If you're going to bring up points about why you think the console is going to fail or how it's not going to have a market... then your points need to at least be based on FACTS and correct information which is available everywhere.  Instead, they based their "opinions" on assumptions.  LAZY!!  They said things like no one is going to buy the system because it's too expensive and then listed the price at $250 - $300?!?  Then they attack me and say that my marketing is failing because they didn't know the cost of the console or whether or not is has physical media.  They say it's my fault.  Really?  All they had to do is read the description of the video they reviewed or just go to our website or read any of our press releases over the past year.  But they couldn't be bothered.  So yes... that is being unreasonable when you have that many followers.  But what really makes them unreasonable is the fact that they refuse to speak with me on or off air so I can clear up the wrong information they have been giving out.  I had to do it on Twitter and they would argue and attack me each time I proved them wrong.  So not only do they continue to give out wrong information... but they are unwilling to find out more information from the source in order to correct themselves.  That is VERY unreasonable.

They are NOT being fair.  Being "fair" would be letting me discuss the wrong info they are giving out to people on a consistent basis.  Bottom line is that deep down they are embarrassed and know I'm right... so their only defense is to tear me and the system down at this point (instead of just admitting they keep making mistakes).  Their record in the 3 times they have covered it is that they have said something wrong every time.  That's 100% of the videos... 3 times with wrong information.  3 times I reached out to try and give them more info... and 3 times they dismissed me and got angry when I called them out on Twitter. 

Yes... people praised me for an interview where I convinced doubters.  That is the point people are trying to make and why they are attacking Pat the Punk and the long haired dude.  Because THEY are unwilling to have a normal adult and mature conversation about it.  Instead, they'll keep giving bad info based on the wrong data they have because they are too lazy to do 10 minutes of research.  Easier to just turn the cameras on, hate it and then get into a Twitter war to get more views.  They should be ashamed of themselves for the way they've handled this.

Lets put it another way...  Ask yourself this question....

If Reggie or Bowser (new Nintendo US prez) or Miyamoto wanted to come on their show to clear up bad info they said about a Nintendo game or device... would they have them on?

Of course they would.  But they won't give me the same respect?  Why?  Because they are biased and can't grasp REAL "retro gaming" because it happened before they were born.  But instead of finding out more info... they just attack more.

Happy to get your thoughts and opinions and counterpoints to this post.  Hopefully my explanation helped you to see the frustration that many folks feel about the way they handled the situation and the way they continue to give bad information about the console to hundreds of thousands of people.

 

Tommy I totally agree with you. If they continue to get facts wrong, then there is no way they can be fair. They’ve shown how clueless they are, and unreasonable toward you when you tried to reach out to them. It’s ridiculous and I’m glad you called them out on it. They need to get their facts straight if they are going to make any more comments on the Amico. 

@Tommy Tallarico I guess I was thinking about later, when the console is released.  I don't think they would be anti-Amico just because Pat is into NES. I do wish they would do their due diligence; particularly if you've reached out to them.  

Countering them with facts (as you are doing) is best anyway.  

We might have reached peak youtube in regards to fan-experts/commentators.

I prefer forums like AA for my info/news over youtube because of the back and forth dialogue you can have with fellow fans and creators. Also, forums seem to emphasize knowledge over style. The radio style banter of that nes show doesn't interest me as much as a post by the homebrewers on AA or the long time collectors who talk about game hunting in the past. Here, you can skip the commentators and get stuff direct from the horse's mouth. I like that!

It's cool that Tommy posts on the forums, and I hope the Amico is out soon. 

Things are getting intense and we are still one year away from the release date...

Can you imagine this topic, Tommy's Twitter account and multiple other forums and channels one year after the release, when the first sales figures are released?

Tommy i was thinking an Intellivision Amico magazine would be really cool..especially if it came out right before the system launches to get everybody excited and have interviews with all the big names involved with the Amico and previews of the games 

this is an intriguing console for sure!  I look forward to the updates and progress on how it's going. 

47 minutes ago, ASalvaro said:

Tommy i was thinking an Intellivision Amico magazine would be really cool..especially if it came out right before the system launches to get everybody excited and have interviews with all the big names involved with the Amico and previews of the games 

+1 on a magazine.  Maybe have five different covers, one for each color variant?

5 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

I can't tell you that info right now because we are waiting for our big press conference at E3 in 2020 to announce.  I wish I could, however I will say that 3 of them were shown in the last trailer.  Let the "guessing game" begin!! 

1) Ecco the Dolphin

Reasoning : Amico needs a "big" name included. While Ecco is not as recognizable as Sonic, I believe enough people might still recognize that name. One thing is for sure, having a game with the Sega brand included will increase the initial credibility of Amico. Added bonus : who doesn't like dolphins?

2) Shark! Shark! or Astrosmash (I can't decide between the two)

Reasoning : Amico needs to include at least one of the reimagined Intellivision game. So to me the choice is either between the one which is the most iconic (Astrosmash) or the one thas has the broadest appeal in focus groups (which I'm guessing is Shark! Shark!).

3) One of the supposed party games (either the human cannonball thing or the DJ thing)

Reasoning : The games included must be the ones with the broadest appeal and that's generally the case for party games.

15 hours ago, IntelliMission said:

I have some questions for Tommy:

 

1) Amico will be my first home console in 15 years, I always look for gameplay and offline multiplayer in games over graphics or story. I would like for the console to sell 100 millions, but I don't see it happening: The Wii had the Nintendo brand and you could "play baseball in your living room". I hated the Wii and I know I will love the Amico, but I can't see it being a huge hit. So my question is: Even if sales are not very good, do you think the Amico can be considered as a failure? In my opinion, it will be a success even if it fails commercially, as it will bring fun, offline multiplayer experiences to hundreds of thousands of people (hopefully millions).

Don’t worry too much about the Amico prospects for success. One thing that isn’t often realized is the Intellivision has to sell a surprisingly low number of Amicos to become profitable with software sales to those consoles. Just part of that is because Intellivision makes 70% of software sales instead of the normal 30% that Microsoft and Sony get because they pay for development costs. Actually they make 100% until those development costs are paid back then it goes to 70/30 so even better than 70/30. Plus their development costs are low and they curate each game deal they do to maximize their chances of success. There is a LOT of financial genius going on here and it won’t take much for Intellivision to start pouring much, much more revenue into games and advertising to push it even farther. If they sell “hundreds of thousands” much less million they will be past the tipping point and generating lots of profits they can use to expand the business.

Some Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo fanboys are reacting to the Amico and Playdate with a very suspicious rage.

A couple of weeks ago, a major video game website in Spain forgot about the Amico new trailer, so I sent them an email. 10 hours later, they released a news article informing about this.

The other day I did the same with the Playdate: they also forgot about the console's appearance in the PAX West show, even if I my first email warned them about it. Next morning, the news article was there, this time thanking a mysterious nickname for the information (my gmail nickname).

I was glad to help this major video game portal focus on what they should, video games... They never forget to write an article about retarded youtubers or eSports players when they say something.

However, I was shocked to read some of the comments: on the Amico article, a Nintendo fanboy was making fun of the Amico logo, saying that it was similar to the McDonald's logo. No surprise there, as that user is known for his hate for everything outside of Nintendo, but what I wasn't expecting was one of the comments in the Playdate article: apparently, one of the users was actually angry and upset with the website because he didn't think this news article should have been written at all. "This again? Does this company pay you to write these news articles?". 3 users have upvoted the comment. If you check the profiles of these 4 users, one of them had Sony and Nintendo consoles, the other one had an Xbox One... All of them were fanboys of the "big three".

Combine this with the other attacks from youtubers spreading wrong info and what we have is a sense of... fear? Fear to the unknown, fear to another company selling more consoles than your favourite one, fear to have a company that you're not a fanboy of release something that looks fun and original... but fear, nonetheless.

1 hour ago, IntelliMission said:

If you check the profiles of these 4 users, one of them had Sony and Nintendo consoles, the other one had an Xbox One... All of them were fanboys of the "big three".

Uh... It's quite common for a gamer these days to own one of the three 'major' current systems, and that doesn't make them fanboys automatically. I own a PS4 and I surely am NOT a Sony fanboy... ^^

History of video games is paved with failures - unfair or not. Companies that succeeded in the past 30 years (Sony, Microsoft, Apple to some extent) were quite big and especially Microsoft spent a lot of money to succeed. So I think it is quite natural to be skeptical every time a new system is announced, especially coming from a smaller company.

But maybe by the end of 2020 you will find an Amico or a Playdate in the profiles of the 4 users you mentioned.

This is one of the may reasons I'm glad Intellivision is coming out with the Amico!  Back in the day when Atari-Intellivision-Colecovision ruled the video game scene, Nintendo came along and passed them all as each one fizzled out.  I tried the NES and didn't have as much fun as I did the other three.  When the SNES came along, the same thing happened except I preferred Sega Genesis.  Today I have regrets not giving the Wii a chance as I liked it when played at a relatives house.  Now with the release of the Amico on the horizon, it has the opportunity to be what the Wii could have been had they continued.  I'm just excited for this new system to bring back the fun I once had with those pre-crash systems!