Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

On 9/4/2019 at 2:42 PM, ASalvaro said:

the Amico is just what i've been looking for and it will sit right next to the PS5 and will probably get a lot more play 

 

That would be amazing!

Tommy I am very glad you are going to stay here, honestly it is your passion and your genuine openness that I and I am sure others found so great about this thread.  

I have worked in the games industry people, I used to be a middleware sales engineer for Gamespy / IGN and the amount of transparency Tommy is showing us by far outstrips what even a "partner" would often get from another game company that was integrating the tools we licensed.

I have pointed out a few times in this thread but it bears repeating, Tommy being here answering our questions and giving us his personal insight SIMPLY DOES NOT HAPPEN, in the games industry.

I and I am sure others have become Amico supporters because of this amazing level of involvement he has.

On 9/4/2019 at 3:00 PM, Blarneo said:

The thing is, I never had Shark! Shark! as a kid. I remember having Feeding Frenzy on Xbox 360, which I assume is a lot like it. Not a bad game, but it's no RType. Now, if they turned Dragonfire into a Ori style Metroidvania, I'd be slobbering on those red carbon controllers.

Pat knew to pick a game he could mock based on numerous clones of the same type of game.

But he still hasn't played the new one and seen what we've done with the screen on the controllers and how it interacts with everyone.  I reached out several times (including in my video today) and wanted to talk to him or show him what we were doing so he could be more informed... but so far, he hasn't agreed to speak with me.  I hope he changes his mind.  Then he'll see what the others have.  Check out the John Riggs video if you haven't already!  He never played the original Shark! Shark! yet he absolutely LOVED the new one.  Not sure if he ever played Feeding Frenzy on the Xbox... I'll have to ask him next time I talk to him.

On 9/4/2019 at 3:21 PM, jesusc said:

To be fair, right now it has no games on it. 

Also, to be fair- every comment based on opinion is going to have a bias. It's sorta how that works...

To be fair... it actually has 22 games on it and 25 more on the way by the beginning of the year.  You just haven't seen them all.  But you have seen 17 if you saw the latest trailer.  Those were playing ON the actual hardware. 

On 9/4/2019 at 3:44 PM, jesusc said:

The Amico isn't going to live or die based on Pat's potential quarter million viewership. 

I agree 100%!

But I do want to at least make sure that the info we are putting out there is getting communicated properly.  And for folks like them that have hundreds of thousand of followers... I only wanted to give them more inside info so they would understand why we can and can't say or put out certain information at this point.

That's fair isn't it?

On 9/4/2019 at 4:01 PM, jesusc said:

Anyway, I hope it does as well as you all hope. I just don't see it happening. 

Thanks for wishing the project well.

I personally didn't think the Wii was going to be as big as it was either!  I would have bet my life (before it came out and I had a chance to play it) that it was going to fail.  Same thing will happen with Amico.

People who may be skeptical now will just need to play it and then make a decision.  I'm sure even when it's out... people will hate it.  Just like folks hate the Switch, the PS4, the Xbox, PC gaming, Mobile gaming, etc. 

As long as we hit our goals... we're going to make a lot of family & friends happy... and that's my main goal.

On 9/4/2019 at 4:26 PM, mr_me said:

According to that podcast nobody reads press releases, even though they are linked on the IE web site.

The funniest part to me of Pats comment about press releases is that was exactly what his entire first video of Amico was last year.  Him reading every line of our entire press release. 

That line almost confused me as much as the "I'm more famous on YouTube than Tommy is". 

Yikes!  Someone isn't very familiar with my career with Electric Playground/Reviews On The Run/Judgement Day (all on YouTube), the tens of millions of YouTube views of Video Games Live or any of my music and sound design on YouTube.  Someone should have forwarded him this: https://www.tallarico.com/bio

In fact, the latest single I released on YouTube 4 months ago (Pokemon remix) has more views than their entire podcast does this year.  I didn't want to say anything back to him about that as I really do want him to hopefully see that I'm not trying to attack them.  But that comment was a bit cringy.  Note... when you start a statement with "I'm not trying to be arrogant or anything..."  the WARNING lights and alarm should go off.

Enjoy the tune! 

11 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Thanks for wishing the project well.

I personally didn't think the Wii was going to be as big as it was either!  I would have bet my life (before it came out and I had a chance to play it) that it was going to fail.  Same thing will happen with Amico.

People who may be skeptical now will just need to play it and then make a decision.  I'm sure even when it's out... people will hate it.  Just like folks hate the Switch, the PS4, the Xbox, PC gaming, Mobile gaming, etc. 

As long as we hit our goals... we're going to make a lot of family & friends happy... and that's my main goal.

 

I loved seeing the controller on your video today! Even hearing the click from the disc was awesome I hope the controller doesn't change too much from where it's at now but I do understand it's tough to please everyone when it comes to controllers 

On 9/4/2019 at 4:32 PM, Blarneo said:

Oh' yeah... And Al Gore never said he invented the Internet. Ever.

Actually... he kinda did in a CNN interview in 1999.  

Here's a great video explaining the situation and how it was a bit misquoted.  But those words did come out of his mouth (as the video shows). 
 

On 9/4/2019 at 4:53 PM, jesusc said:

It's the same story every generation except the PS2 era. Whoever wins last gen think that success will carry them over into the next one automatically. 

Nintendo got arrogant with NES, Sega took over with Genesis. Sega got arrogant during that gen, and both Nintendo and Sega lost to Sony in the following gen (Sony entering the scene solely BECAUSE of Nintendo's arrogance). Sony got arrogant with the PS3 (people will get a second job in order to buy our system!), Microsoft took that gen (yes nintendo might have sold more wiis, but the attach rate sucked, and PS3 definitely made up lost ground at the end of the gen but in the US 360 won overall). Microsoft got arrogant thanks to 360's success, made it so all Sony had to do was say, "yeah, all that stuff Microsoft is doing? We're not doing any of that." Second best mic drop since Steve Race's "Two Ninety Nine" 1995 E3 Presentation. 

 

Wii/360/PS3 US sales source: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/06/analysis-xbox-360-poised-to-pass-wii-in-us-sales-by-years-end/

You're 100% correct!!

That's why things like Amico are going to be GREAT for the industry.  We'll make the competition stand up and take notice.  Maybe get them thinking a little differently about what their doing as well.

One things for sure though... if we ever are the ones on top... we won't get arrogant and turn our backs on developers and the folks that put us there. 

On 9/4/2019 at 5:22 PM, ASalvaro said:

Don't forget the most powerful system never ends up winning since the console wars started

FREAKING LOVE THIS QUOTE!!!!!!!

I'm totally going to use it!!!!!!!!

So true!  Never thought of that.

Thanks!

On 9/4/2019 at 6:18 PM, Papy said:

I believe Intellivision should try everything they can to convince Wal-Mart and other big chains all around the world to have prominent kiosks in their stores, each with a good animator allowing people in and out of multiplayer games (the animator is crucial). If they can do that, then the success of the console will be enormous.

DING! DING! DING!!

We have a winner!!!

On 9/5/2019 at 2:27 AM, IntelliMission said:

However, I have never played the system, so I wanted to ask you guys... how was having an Intellivision like? Were the games as fun as they look? Was the controller as bad as they say? I remember reading that you can not press a directional button AND another button simultaneously... is that true?

For a 12 year old kid and his brother and mom & dad... it was the greatest gift Santa ever gave us!

Yes!  The games were SUPER fan for the time.  And the graphics were unbelievable for a home system.

The controllers were NOT as bad as people say.  The ones who say that typically never played the original Intellivision when they were young.  Only after they grew up on other systems (or they had the awful Intellivision II controllers!).

Correct... you couldn't push the directional pad and another button at the same time.  But it didn't affect gameplay as much as you would think (except in Night Stalker!).  Needless to say... we fixed that in the new machine! 

 

On 9/5/2019 at 8:46 AM, Blarneo said:

Tommy seems to have gone radio silent in the last couple of days. He hasn't tweeted or responded here since before the "Completely Unnecessary Apologycast". Hope he's just busy making great games.

Super busy working on the LED ring and charging ports for the controllers.  And... I knew that video would cause a bunch of negative attackers in the thread... so I figured I'd wait to issue a video response and that hopefully the mods would clean it up so I wasn't subjected to the idiocy (which they thankful did). 

On 9/5/2019 at 10:18 AM, IntellivisionDude said:

I feel like Pat's video was uncalled for. And he took Tommy's tweets the wrong way. They didn't seem to be attacking Pat in my opinion. Tommy just has a certain way of talking mixed with a little sarcasm, maybe a little old school in your face, but with no ill intentions and i think Pat took it the wrong way. Nothing that deserved an attack video. I think Pat hinted that he would of preferred that conversation happen via email and not back and forth on Twitter. So i guess in his eyes that = i'm being attacked and i better make a video slamming him. 

 

Tommy might not be 100% innocent. You can't say that the real marketing hasn't started yet but go out of your way to correct people for wrong info. 

Correct.  I never intended any of my tweets to be attacking or negative.  As I showed in my video response today... all of my initial comments both on their YouTube page and Twitter were very civil and the opposite of insulting.  But yeah... I'm a short Italian from the east coast who doesn't appreciate being bullied.  I don't mind fighting back when I feel I'm being bullied.  Has happened my entire life.  I refuse to be a victim and I refuse to have people bully me either.  I think Pat is more like me than he thinks. 

I just believe they read my messages the wrong way and decided to ignore all of the constant NICE things I was saying to them.

This is why I wanted to speak with them in person instead of online or e-mail. 

I hope it all becomes water under the bridge.  If not... fine... at least I tried.

On 9/5/2019 at 11:59 AM, Papy said:

It really depends on what you mean with "competition." Since the "Karma engine" will be at the heart of the system, I believe it is safe to say that Intellivision does not emphasize "competition," at least not in an arcade or e-sports sense.

 

What I expect of Amico games is to use "competition" as a "decor," not as a goal.

 

For example, I did play Carcassonne (the board game) with my mother a few times. It's one of the few board games she somewhat likes, but the difference in skill between me and her is enormous. I could utterly crush her every time if I wanted to. However, my goal when I play with my mother is not really to win, but simply to "connect" with her. To me, it's an activity I'm doing with her, not a competition against her.

 

That's what I want with Amico games. I don't want to play Amico games to prove that I'm better than my mother, my niece or my friends. I just want a tool I can use to connect with them.

 

Back in 2003, a friend of mine introduced me to a video game called Trackmania. He loved it and wanted to play it with me. I tried the game and I loved it too. The problem is I quickly became much better than him. He had absolutely no chance at all of winning any single race. Trackmania was a pure competitive game, so the result is we stopped playing that game together.

 

I don't want Amico games to be like that. It's OK to use competition superficially, but the emphasis should not be on competition.

We have a bunch of games where people don't even care about the score or points.  They are just playing to have fun.  It's really cool to see!

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

LOVE your work and I'm a big supporter!

Look what's sitting on my home desk right now!

 

I don't buy many books but I do have this one..great book! 

On 9/5/2019 at 12:46 PM, jaybird3rd said:

For whatever it's worth, I don't see how there is any but the most superficial resemblance between the Intellivision Amico and the Coleco Chameleon.  They're both projects with the stated goal of creating a game console, but that's about it.  When you look at the people involved, the years of experience and the expertise in relevant areas that they bring to it, the market research they've done, the clarity of their focus on the market and their target user base, the framework they've put together for managing game development projects and for attracting new developers, and just about any other basis of comparison, the Intellivision Amico project is so much more credible than the Coleco Chameleon could ever hope to be that they don't even belong in the same conversation.  I'm glad that people still remember the Chameleon as a cautionary tale, but at this point, those who are still making constant callbacks to it are only making themselves look willfully ignorant of what the Amico project is trying to do.  So, how about we stop "crying Chameleon" and give the Amico the benefit of the doubt and an honest chance.

 

I also don't agree that the Intellivision hasn't "earned a fan base," to paraphrase something that was said a few pages back.  The original Blue Sky Rangers are among those behind it, and they've spent many years successfully marketing the Intellivision library and properties in novel ways, from the "Intellivision Lives!" and "Intellivision Rocks!" collections to the various plug-and-plays to the Nintendo DS collection to the multiple versions of Intellivision games that have been released for phones and other mobile platforms.  Not all of those efforts have been equally successful, but the fact that they're still at it should be a sign that they know what they're doing and that they've successfully built and maintained a reliable fan base.  (That fan base would include me, even though I didn't grow up with the Intellivision and didn't play my first Intellivision game until my mid-20s.)

 I agree 100% and thank-you for pointing that out.

There is so much passion on the team and having some of the original Blue Sky Rangers working on this and in the office every day is so awesome and keeps the DNA alive.  Many days we'll go to them and ask how things were approached back then and why.  We have old Intellivision posters and games and systems EVERYWHERE around the office and I have a HUGE picture of Keith Robinson right outside my office that I look at every time I walk in or out of it.

 

On 9/5/2019 at 1:17 PM, squirrelgotdead said:

I suffered through the podcast, and someone used the word dismissive. . .and that's a perfect word for it. Have an opinion? Fine. State it. Want to rip a concept? Also fine, but back up your argument. But when every third phrase is "I don't know" and then you repeatedly state a talking point or two that is flat out wrong, that's something completely different.

 

And forget Shark! Shark! I'd pay $500 just to play a quality BurgerTime and Bump N Jump game again.

 

I LOVE both those games and they are BOTH being reimagined!!  Hoping to have them both on launch but not 100% sure at this point.  Will know by next summer for sure.

On 9/5/2019 at 2:47 PM, Lathe26 said:

I don't speak for the moderators, but I personally am fine with folks asking tough questions, offering criticism, or even saying they think there are serious issues.  As long as folks ask based off of the facts they know (can be very few facts) and don't resort to name calling.  The same applies equally to the replies and answers.  In the end, this is how Q&A often works, even if it gets messy sometimes.

 

Note that YouTuber news-review-commentator personalities are held to higher standards than above.

 

As for comparisons to past retro consoles, unfortunately the comparisons are inevitable since there are so many that promised big but died.  Toss in the Coleco Chamelon mess and the retro community has justifiably become weary and skeptical.  That said, Tommy and crew have spent time studying the past industry failures.  In some of Tommy's early Amico  interviews, he walks though various consoles and explains what they did wrong and how the Amico will be different (ex: the Ouya, not using Kickstarter, missed opportunities admitted by the console companies, etc).  It is to be expect that some of the same questions will be asked repeatedly by different folks.

I agree.  I've always approached criticism here and other places.  Ian getting so upset and saying I can't handle criticism was so wrong and out of place.  He has no idea how wrong he was.  I welcome criticism and feedback and I like the challenge of trying to convince and show people what are goals are and why they make sense in the current market.

And yes... I intensely studied ALL of the failed game consoles over the past 40 years.  I made lists of what went wrong and why.  To ensure that I didn't make any of the mistakes they did.  And I learned a LOT from what they did.  I'm grateful for things like Ouya as I learned a lot about why they didn't succeed.  The same goes for Atari & Google Stadia now.  Their messaging is way off.  Very difficult to understand what their goals are.  I think they will both have an uphill climb, but I wish them both success.  More options in the current market can only be a good thing.  I'm getting pretty tired of the same old same old from all the biggest hardware and software companies.  Anyone looking to think outside the box is doing a good thing in my opinion.

On 9/5/2019 at 7:58 PM, Shawn said:

Are all the games shown in the video completed? Is the hardware and controller setup final? I'm gonna flat out say the controller looks like it's gonna miss the mark and I would like to know if there is a conventional controller available from launch. With 10 million going towards advertising alone, when can we expect to see more than a quick sizzle real?

No.  They are not completed.  Still have a year to go!

No, the hardware is not 100% final.  Still working on the LED & charging ports for the controllers.  But the hardware will be finalized by the end of this month with DEV KITS starting to go into production by November.

Don't judge the controller just yet.  You haven't seen in, held it or played it.  When you do... I believe you'll be impressed.

We haven't spent ANY money on advertising.  The advertising campaign doesn't start until the spring/summer of 2020. 

 

On 9/6/2019 at 7:28 AM, RetroAdvisoryBoard said:

No, these games are not completed.  They're far enough advanced in Unity to present a polished sizzle reel.

 

We're the percent of the market that is hyper-focused on a new console, on retro games.  Most Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft console owners are not watching Nintendo Directs or Sony Plays or keeping up with E3.  This sort of sizzle reel served two purposes - enthusiasm among the passionate early watchers, and, more importantly, a progression of development and reveals to buyers, developers, publishers and media, including social media influencers.  We're going to see a stream of more gameplay, more announcements, more refinement, more on the webpage.  Most products launched go through this upramp trajectory of exposure leading to launch.  Intellivision should NOT be spending their warchest in marketing at Gamescon or Portland Retro Gaming Expo - those are smaller milestones and markers.  Their money should be on general consumer advertising.  Kiosks in malls, at box retailers, getting Amico kiosks placed at airport gates, at state fairs next fall, and finally producing commercials showing where the Amico has a "Jump in, play with others" vibe.  It makes no sense to produce that kind of marketing dollars spent 14 months out.  The consumer isn't marketed holiday purchases until weeks before the holiday season.  Probably early 2020 they'll get the first dedicated commercials and those increase with frequency leading up to the first purchase date.

Damn... you're good! 
 

20 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

FREAKING LOVE THIS QUOTE!!!!!!!

I'm totally going to use it!!!!!!!!

So true!  Never thought of that.

Thanks!

 

 

Yup I'm trying to think when the most powerful system ended up selling the most 

Maybe the Colecovision outselling the 5200? (I liked the 5200 A LOT better btw)

But that's about it 

On 9/6/2019 at 11:35 AM, IntelliMission said:

I wish the Amico had come up with this:

 

 

This has just been revealed by Nintendo and I believe can be defined as the ultimate video game controller.

 

This will change the history of video games forever and the only question at this point is what are the other companies going to do now.

I'm not going to judge until I play it.

WHAT A CONCEPT!!!!!!!!




 

On 9/6/2019 at 12:44 PM, mthompson said:

I suspect @Tommy Tallarico will point out that every segment of the video shows a room full of people watching one person play a game, which is the opposite of what he's said the Amico is about.

You TOTALLY beat me to it!!