Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

3 hours ago, mr_me said:

That's  got to be 1983.

I think it would be a much bigger discount if it was from '83, like 90% off... right next to all the unsold 2600 pacman carts!

24 minutes ago, ArcadeJunkie said:

I think it would be a much bigger discount if it was from '83, like 90% off... right next to all the unsold 2600 pacman carts!

A lot of the stuff there wasn't available in 1982.  And it says the order cutoff was dec 31, 1983.

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By the way, the guy that designed the intellivision graphics chip mentioned the Amico in this interview.  I wonder how he found out about it.

https://thegeekiverse.com/interview-stephen-maine-early-video-game-pioneer-creator-intellivision-graphics/

1 hour ago, mr_me said:

A lot of the stuff there wasn't available in 1982.  And it says the order cutoff was dec 31, 1983.

 

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By the way, the guy that designed the intellivision graphics chip mentioned the Amico in this interview.  I wonder how he found out about it.

https://thegeekiverse.com/interview-stephen-maine-early-video-game-pioneer-creator-intellivision-graphics/

I think so. We paid $179 for out 2600 on sale at a discount department store (Pamida, kind of like K Mart) in 1982 and the one in the catolog is about $149.

7 hours ago, Albert said:

 

Ha, that was fun to see, the Dallas offices were just nuts.  Very cool work environment on the top two floors of the Chase tower!  Looks like you did get down to Austin -- when was the interview with Warren filmed?  I may have already left to go to work at TiVo in California, but the whole tech bubble burst when I was out there (I managed to survive the first round of layoffs that took one-third of the company) but came back after about a year and a half and then got to work on the PS/2 version of Deus Ex (it basically had to be completely rewritten).

 

 

Awesome, I'll watch this later, glad you guys enjoyed the game!!  I still prefer single-player games versus online multi-player, for the most part.  We'll have to see if the Amico changes my mind on that at all.

 

 ..Al

The interview with Warren would have been 2002.

To clarify... Amico doesn't offer online multi-player... just couch co-op.

1 minute ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

The interview with Warren would have been 2002.

I would have been there.  Why didn't you come to my office to say hello?!?!!  I feel dissed. 

But, hey, I can type faster than you! 

 ..Al

Just now, Albert said:

I would have been there.  Why didn't you come to my office to say hello?!?!!  I feel dissed. 

 

But, hey, I can type faster than you! 

 

 

 ..Al

Damn!!!  You da man!  And 97% accuracy!  Very impressive.  

You should start a message board or something.

7 hours ago, AtariSociety said:

Surprised you reached out for the meat stick.

TJ

That was my pre-vegan days.  Didn't meet my wife Shannon til 2008.  It's all her fault. 

2 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

To clarify... Amico doesn't offer online multi-player... just couch co-op.

Good, that's the best kind! 

Man, we played the hell out of Unreal Tournament at Ion Storm.  LAN-based games when you're playing with a bunch of coworkers and/or friends were always the best!  Great memories of waging war against one another from our individual offices, with a litany of non-stop profanity!

 ..Al

5 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Damn!!!  You da man!  And 97% accuracy!  Very impressive.  

You should start a message board or something.

 

The best class I took in high school was typing!!  And it was an elective then, not sure if it's a mandatory class these days.  Given what I see on the internet, I'm going to guess no, and that English isn't taught, either.

 ..Al

8 hours ago, ASalvaro said:

which one do you like TJ? it's a toss off for me between the 2 girls on the right! 

Definitely the one on the right.  That sheer, see-through fabric would accentuate my shoulders.

6 hours ago, bigdaddygamestudio said:

Its poorly written.

 

off the top of my head using my old ad copy skills wouldnt the following sound more professional ...

 

We are proud to announce that the world's largest retail gaming destination Gamestop has joined Amico's worldwide chain of leading retailers and online partners. Coming later this year Gamestop will offer 3 different styles of Amico along with a timed exclusive, The Amico Galaxy Purple Limited Edition. Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.

That rewrite sounds great for a press release.  But this was a social media post by me and that's not really the way I talk.  Trying to break the mold of sounding corporate and having my personal language written by PR professionals.  That isn't a knock on you at all (please don't take it that way), I'm just letting you know my personal thoughts on the matter (as well as our marketing & PR folks) and why I chose to write/post like I talk.  It's on purpose.  

Whenever there is an official post... they are written more professionally.  But for a social media post, I prefer to keep my own personal down to earth style vernacular.   

Hope my explanation doesn't come across as confrontational or dismissive of your thought and opinion.  Not my intention.

27 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

...Amico doesn't offer online multi-player... just couch co-op.

...but will it ever, or someday soon? Thought it was said that if there's enough interest, but how is that gauged? Think I can speak for most of us here at AA when I say we'd surely appreciate such a feature.  

6 hours ago, mr_me said:

That's  got to be 1983.

It was listed as Sears 1982 on the website.

5 hours ago, Cranker said:

If there is a delay, hopefully it will be out before Christmas 🎄 

Agreed.  The issue of course being that everything gets swallowed up by Black Friday.  Will be next to impossible to "make noise" with everything else in retail going on.  Yet another reason we loved the 10.10 date.  Gets out a month before all the Black Friday craze.  

3 hours ago, CurlyQ said:

 

 

You gotta tweet that to him and tag me & Intellivision!!

3 hours ago, Cranker said:

I just thought of something really cool. Since the games are all $10 or less, this will be the first system (except the N64 that launched with 2 games ..........lol) that I can afford  and WANT to buy all of the launch games on day 1 !!!

 

It would also be cool if there was a special day one  “press one button” special to buy all of the games at once. I’ll buy them all anyway 😜

Interesting idea.  If we end up with around 40 games it could get super expensive though... even if there is a big percentage off.

3 hours ago, Relicgamer said:

 Tommy heres a question.  Who was better at computer space on the set of Electric Playground?  And what happened to that arcade? 

Vic still has it!  I had the high score! 

2 hours ago, mr_me said:

A lot of the stuff there wasn't available in 1982.  And it says the order cutoff was dec 31, 1983.

 

------------

By the way, the guy that designed the intellivision graphics chip mentioned the Amico in this interview.  I wonder how he found out about it.

https://thegeekiverse.com/interview-stephen-maine-early-video-game-pioneer-creator-intellivision-graphics/

That makes sense.  Damn... the "crash" was months away. 

Just read that interview.  That was super cool.

He thinks the name of the company is Amico. 

Cool that he had heard about it though.

10 minutes ago, save2600 said:

...but will it someday soon? Been said if there's enough interest, but how is that gauged? Think I can speak for most of us here at AA when I say we'd surely appreciate such a feature.  

It won't be soon... I wouldn't expect 2020 or 2021, and my personal thought on it is that I'd prefer it wouldn't ever be supported. It drastically increases the development costs of games, and again it gets away from the mission of the console of bringing people together in the same room. Of course, if @Tommy Tallarico does want to do it, I'd be 100% behind it!

18 minutes ago, Albert said:

The best class I took in high school was typing!!  And it was an elective then, not sure if it's a mandatory class these days.  Given what I see on the internet, I'm going to guess no, and that English isn't taught, either.

 

 ..Al

I was the ONLY boy in my Catholic high school typing class in 1983!  Guys weren't into taking typing back then.  All my friends made fun of me because I had a class with all girls.  Until I reminded them... I'M IN A CLASS WITH ALL GIRLS!!!!!!

17 minutes ago, save2600 said:

...but will it someday soon? Been said if there's enough interest, but how is that gauged? Think I can speak for most of us here at AA when I say we'd surely appreciate such a feature.  

I'll need to make the decision if we see a great number of folks request it.  But need to always keep in mind our core audience.  A lot of negatives that come with it... but I'm open to the idea.

The issue is that the online games would be closer to $20 and we'd need to charge at least $10 - $15 per month for the data & servers, etc.  And then we'd need to worry about parents allowing their kids to sit in a dark room with their headphones on and not play with the family.

Not sure the positives would outweigh the negatives.  But again... willing to keep an open mind at this point.  A lot of focus testing would need to be done with our core audience.

5 minutes ago, RxScram said:

It won't be soon... I wouldn't expect 2020 or 2021, and my personal thought on it is that I'd prefer it wouldn't ever be supported. It drastically increases the development costs of games, and again it gets away from the mission of the console of bringing people together in the same room. Of course, if @Tommy Tallarico does want to do it, I'd be 100% behind it!

I agree.  I personally don't want it either.  But if the majority of our owners demand it... then yeah... maybe we would need to consider.  You're right... wouldn't be til at least 2022 the earliest.

18 hours ago, Blarneo said:

You can also hook up the HDMI through a sound system receiver. Everything I got hooked up runs through my Denon receiver & I use my surround system for sound. Don't even know what my TV's speakers sound like (Probably the usual crappy). There's headphone jacks and BT on the Denon if I want to use headphones. 

Yea, this was for my bedroom only. Our living room is run through a flagship Yamaha with Energy speakers, so I’m good there. Bedroom is run through a bookshelf, but not feature rich by any means. Why is there not a bookshelf av receiver available in the US?  Seems like that is only a UK thing.

6 minutes ago, Starpaddler said:

Yea, this was for my bedroom only. Our living room is run through a flagship Yamaha with Energy speakers, so I’m good there. Bedroom is run through a bookshelf, but not feature rich by any means. Why is there not a bookshelf av receiver available in the US?  Seems like that is only a UK thing.

Aiwa used to make some great bookshelf systems in the 90s. 

Then they just disappeared from the stores one day. Kinda like Panasonic.

That Atomic Arcade Pinball shown in those catalog shots reminded me I had something like that as a kid.

From Tommy's girlie magazine

Some auction site of what looks close to what I remember.