Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

10 minutes ago, Swami said:

Yeah, you pay like $100 to get an extra 32MB-64MB of storage on your phone and it's not easily upgradable. There are a lot better ways to store games, which makes me wonder why people see loading up your phone with games as a better alternative to the Amico. And the phones where never designed for gaming. The best phone games shoe-horn their style to the phone, so trying play those games directly on a TV is where devices like the airbox and even the Ouya failed.

Yup and some of my apps wont allow me to move them to the sd card. And I like storing music on my phone because I'm working on different locations every week and the signal may not work.  So if I want to listen to a pod cast I like to download it. Its just a mess. I tried doing it and its more work to keep up with. I have a vita, psp,2ds, gamegear, gbc, gba, nomad,and a lynx even a microvision lol. So when I think of using a cellphone phone to play on the go I say to myself what the hell is wrong with you.  Why did you buy all of these cool handhelds you moron lol. 

hey tommy sorry been away had dad things to do like rebuild a rear end, clean house and cook. are we still all okay? as far as i am concerned, the amico and your fine fellows at intellivision are awesome. 

No matter what you have my support. 

5 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

It must be pushed down to engage.  But doing "spinning" type things could easily be accomplished on the touchscreen if we wanted.

 

 

Or you could use the disc as a spinner by pushing and spinning with your thumb.  The intellivision disc only had 16 points so there wasn't enough resolution to make it work well as a spinner.  The Amico disc having 64 positions might work as a spinner for tempest.  

4 hours ago, Relicgamer said:

Sooo basically its a cellphone playing games and mirroring it on a tv.  I think its a cool idea and some of the games look good. But I cant say much more than that. Im also not crazy about using cellphones to store and manage games. I use my phone alot and storing large files just eats up memory. I tried playing fortnite on my phone and it worked. Bit good lord it took alot of memory.  And I've been in situations where I wanted to film something cool and was limited because of those damn games. So now I only have breakout on my phone. I know I should delete some stuff but I dont like these games eating up a bunch of memory. This airconsole lol I can just imagine my phones memory gone. I have several handhelds systems I'll just use those. No I want my experience to be on a dedicated console not some setup that trys to cheat by using your phone as a console.  Rant over lol

With Airconsole, the phone is only used as a controller and your computer/smartTV web browser or androidtv runs the games.  It's cloud based, so your game library is not stored locally.  It uses webRTC to connect controller app and game player through the LAN.  If webRTC is blocked, controller input would go up and down the internet.

Remaking R-Type Delta (awesome PS1 game that today looks not so good with its polygon graphics) is a very very good idea. Really like it!!

But the time before R-Type will be released there are now already a lot of games I will buy for the amico. Maybe Hockey, Soccer, Bomb Squad and AD&D Cloudy Mountain but 100% i will buy Auto Racing, Evel Knievel, Moon Patrol, Pong, Bi-Plane, Missile Command, Night Stalker, Armor Battle, Breakout, Frog Bug, Centipede, B-17 Bomber, Side Swipper and Dynablaster and ....

With R-Type, maybe Contra and Castlevania you will have 3 Ips that are awesome reasons for Hardcore Players also to buy an amico.

Thats an awesome youtube video on Konamis Contra Series.

I still love to play Contra Rebirth from M2 (awesome Retro Game Developer) on my Nintendo Wii.

I think if you bring a Contra and Castlevania to the amico then M2 is a perfect developer for this games I think.

14 minutes ago, speedy-a said:

Remaking R-Type Dimensions (awesome PS1 game that today looks not so good with its polygon graphics) is a very very good idea.

I think you meant R-Type Delta. It's also pretty expensive, from what I remember.

37 minutes ago, Steven Pendleton said:

I think you meant R-Type Delta. It's also pretty expensive, from what I remember.

Yes Delta not Dimensons (thats the PC, Switch, Xbox360, PS4... Port of R-Type 1+2) Thanks!

8 hours ago, CurlyQ said:

Jar Jar Binks is the best argument yet *against* local couch coop. There defiantly would be a terrible lightsaber accident if he came over to play. 😉

Geez, that franchise went downhill in a big way.

14 minutes ago, GrudgeQ said:

Jar Jar Binks is the best argument yet *against* local couch coop. There defiantly would be a terrible lightsaber accident if he came over to play. 😉

Geez, that franchise went downhill in a big way.

Jar Jar got me thinking, people dislike him and wouldn't want to play with him on the Amico.  It probably why there is haters they know that if people had to be with them in person no one would want to play with them either.  But in Jar Jars defense hes not a prick.

Just to play devils advocate, how do you plan on doing this?  At this point without an actual Amico to compare against you don’t know how the Amico controls are going to work.  You obviously mean when the Amico comes out you do a comparison....

13 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

I think there may be a bit of confusion and I believe you're taking the comment too literally and out of context.

 

It's the concept and idea behind that kind of hyper-casual experience that he was talking about (and what I agreed with).  @RetroAdvisoryBoard correct me if I'm wrong, but that's how I read your comment.  You were merely stating that one hyper casual experience is not the same as an entire console that focuses almost every game on those kinds of experiences (as well as gamer experiences as well).

 

Hyper-casual is an after thought for Nintendo.  That's not saying anything bad against them... it's just a fact.  I really wish folks would stop trying create drama around this.  I started by saying I think the game is cool and has lots of value.  I praised it.  Then gave my opinion on why I'm not "concerned" about it.  How is that tearing down Nintendo or the Switch in any way??

 

I didn't see me or RetroAdvisoryBoard tear down the Switch in this argument.  I'm curious to know if you felt differently... and why you felt that way.

 

Thanks!

 

For me this whole discussion all comes down to 'fitness for purpose'. XBox & PSx are fast, powerful machines but mostly single player experiences - kind of like sports cars. The Switch is lower powered but still sporty like maybe a little two door sedan. The Amico is all about local multiplayer coop, kind of a like a van. Tommy loves sports cars but even he would probably agree they aren't the best for hauling kids to soccer practice or picking up groceries for a family of 6 (however Tommy's answer could be it is actually fine, I will just make multiple trips, very, very fast ). And sure that Switch two door can seat 4, maybe 5, just fold down the seats and everyone climb in the back to the bench seat. The Amico isn't about zero to 60 times, nor is it as nimble as the Switch BUT it seats 1 to 8 comfortably. It also has that big sliding door so aunt Martha can get in easily and everyone gets their own cup holder. However the Amico-mobile is terrible in a race and yeah it isn't easy to move around as the little Switch sedan. You could argue anyone one of these 'vehicles' is the 'best' and it will do what each of the others can too. But we all know in the real world Aunt Martha isn't comfortable crawling in the fold down front seat of the Switch mobile to sit on the bench in the back nor is she happy squeezing into the side bucket racing seat of Tommy's Ferrari. That doesn't mean any of these are bad or great, they are all just different and useful for different purposes. They can all partially do things the other can do, there certainly is overlap, just with varying degrees of practicality (and focus from the manufacture) at various tasks.

On 5/22/2020 at 10:31 AM, Relicgamer said:

I was thinking of buying it to see how the games played then do a video sharing thoughts on how the Amicos controller would make the games different than playing on a traditional controller.  

Sorry, this is what I was talking about in that last post.....

14 hours ago, gogamego said:

This is no afterthought for Nintendo. You can tell from the videos they put a lot of time and polish into this game. And they are really pushing it. They have posted several trailers and videos. It even was the focus of the latest Nintendo Minute. I really think this will be a huge hit for Nintendo.

I'm a huge Nintendo fan and a proud Amico Founder's Edition pre-orderer. I pre-ordered Clubhouse Games on day one and the Amico on day one. I love the Switch and I'm sure I am going to love the Amico based on everything I have seen.

Plenty of room in the video game world for both of these systems. No one needs to tear down the Switch to justify the Amico. The Amico can stand on its own just fine. And I look forward to it as my most anticipated hardware of 2020.

Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
 

Figured by stating upfront that I'm both happy this is coming out and will buy it that I was pretty clear I'm not hating on it.  I can add any credentials as a proud Nintendo fan but don't think it matters - there is a critique to be made here and that isn't tearing down Nintendo - a company that has put out more unique concept games, beloved IPs, focus on gameplay and cost-conscious game-making and consumable goods than any other video game manufacturer to date.  Full stop.  

Certainly not here to tear down another system - I'm pretty well device agnostic, including phone, and even go so far to say a few times here that there's room for more to do and occupy a similar space in the market that Intellivision wants to occupy (maybe for Intellivision's sake they can wait a couple years, but.. definitely plenty of room to occupy what they're trying to do) - so please don't confuse critique with defensiveness or some need to tear down one to build another up.  There's always room for more, and video game companies, by and large, put out entertaining products most of us adore.  But where distinctions are to be made, I'm fine in making them.  And I feel there's a reasonable distinction to be made here and what Clubhouse Games is, and what it isn't.

As to an afterthought?  Yes.  I'll stand by that and then some.  It's now May 2020.  Nintendo's been pushing its publishers to create games for its flagship Switch since at least summer 2016.  We heard murmurings from the first leaked publishers (Ubisoft, Capcom) that porting games and creating games for the Switch was not difficult and surprisingly efficient - back in Nov 2016.  So the memo and their dev kits went to publishers nearly four years ago, and they couldn't put together a card game, or series of card games, or collection of casual games, for four years?     

You'll forgive me if I can't quite endorse how this must be something Nintendo was all that focused to produce or passionate to get out.  Perhaps now it's of more importance to them as there's a casual system on the horizon and they're addressing gaps in an otherwise rich library.  Otherwise, this looks like most later-library budget titles of card and simple mini game collections we've seen quite often on many platforms.  And the limited animation sequences, lack of any perspective or movement to most objects and muted background stills don't look any different than the same games I can pull up on my phone.  All of the marbles have no movement or differentiated alignment, they're all clones of one another, the card flop has about 4-5 frames of animation, the dice have a couple dozen frames of animation when rolling, then magically glitch from where they land to align in a row showing the reveal or have an unnatural slide across the playing surface to suggest physics weren't fine-tuned, the pencil on Dots and Boxes uses the same pencil sprite moved frantically left and write to simulate scribbling, no roll of the pencil to suggest different frames of the object were created, no differentiated sprite objects from other perspectives to simulate real movement or physics, along with the same scribble graphic used in that game.. it's the same shortcuts to create you see with tens of thousands of inexpensive mobile games.  Which come across as a bit cheaply done.  You have physical object representations in Hare & Hounds - yet the pieces don't have any additional perspective, even when shaken to highlight a victory, just the same snapshot of the sprite waggled in space.    

I don't see anything that is a particularly different conceptually here - nearly every system has a collection of smaller casual games, a collection of card games, some budget addition to its library.  Sony and Microsoft typically bury them in their digital stores now, Nintendo often has a physical release (or 40 physical releases in the case of the Wii - no dig at the Wii - I still play and love the system, shovel ware and all, but it's hard to see how more than a couple of those little recreational games were up to par). 

It's a collection of mini games for the Switch, and Switch owners to have an option to play familiar classics on their system.  It's fine for what it is.

But our mobile phones have hundreds of identical games to these - still backgrounds, limited animations, almost no object animation- just movement from location A to B, tap and place games.  I'm patently aware that this is the very argument being made against Amico's games.  The difference is we know something of what the designers are purporting to do with Amico games, we see snips of it with Missile Command and SideSwipers and Tommy nearly daily telling us conceptually what they're trying to do with these games.  Make them unique, go back to the drawing board and see what else can be adjusted, added, altered by additional players, to focus on the interactive experience we have in person.  Preface every game with a series of brainstorm session to see what might make it a better experience.  And that isn't what we see with most mobile games or budget eShop games on Switch or Steam or elsewhere - we get a lot of mediocrity.  And in Clubhouse Games, it looks to me like we get a straight execution of what the game is.  Connect Four is Connect Four - maybe there isn't much creative outlet to see that game adjusted with a different rule set.. But maybe there is?  Maybe there's a four player version where you need only Connect Three and that's a playable option.  Nintendo didn't showcase it, and this game is being marketed for sale just around the corner.  So I presume it's not there.  I trust the studio tapped to create a Connect Four by Intellivision to be tasked with thinking about those things, to be on the call with Intellivision to brainstorm and get back with the early game design in progress follow-ups.  Maybe there's no variation of Solitaire or Chinese Checkers.  But can you change up the backgrounds?  Can you adjust the board?  Can you incorporate fun details into the marbles?  I don't think the small studio tapped by Nintendo to create Clubhouse games was tasked with any creative adaptions of these games.  I think they've got straightforward renditions of classic games.  Which is fine.  These are fun games.  

Just not fundamentally different than anything that isn't already out there in 14 mediums.  

Which I forthrightly admit isn't saying anything bad about the game Nintendo's putting out here.  These are mostly classic board, card and strategy or reflex games that are fun to play.  Again, I'm buying this title for the Switch.  But it isn't different, at all, than what I see on mobile.  Except that by being on the Switch platform, I do get to use my Joycon (better than my phone) to cycle across the board on Hex or not inadvertently place a chip in the wrong slot in Connect Four/4-in-a-Row.  I can use multiple Switch screens if my friends have Switches to make a longer slot car track.  That's cool.  The graphic design looks about on par with what the corresponding mobile app games are, so that's good, and 51 games for presumably $29.99 or $39.99 is value I'm willing to pay.  And the games are on a platform I trust more (Nintendo Online's environment) than some random mobile publisher's server to play against others online.  

Nintendo has a fun little party game pack here and I hope it does well, it may sell a couple million with the number of Switch owners and at a lower tier cost.  But it'd be disingenuous if I didn't point out that, the games look less polished than I'd hope to see, the comparison to mobile equivalencies is pretty high for several of these, and while it's hitting some of those casual boxes and boxing up several classic games for a fun experience, it's quite different from what Intellivision's approach to casual games appear to be, and very much ancillary and less polished. 

16 hours ago, Jake67 said:

It’s safe to say there’s pressure to get every game right, but Tempest is one that if the controls aren’t just right, the fun of playing it drops to just about zilch and becomes one of those games that’s the first to go if storage is getting tight on the console

13 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

I agree.

 

We have something special in store.

 

 

I have a version of Tempest  on just about every system released. I've even played some of the games that were obvious clones. I can say if the controls are done right, no matter what, it will be a fun game. You can tell the difference between the controls on Tempest X3 for the PS1 and Tempest 4000 on the PS4. Not just the graphical upgrade. Heck Even with that horrible controller on the Nuon, I still enjoy Tempest 3000. For those of you who have been here a while, I sound like a broken record.

I even purchased the Replicade Tempest Cabinet.  Much better than the original Arcade 1up. version.

Each one of those versions would have been better with a spinner. The replicade is spinner "like" but it's clicky style rotary control, not free spinning. So I'm looking sooooo forward the "something special"!!!

1 hour ago, Saldo said:

Sorry, this is what I was talking about in that last post.....

Well I'm referring to how the clubhouse game namely how the card games work. I dont need the Amico to compare because we already know the Amico will come with controllers with individual screens on them. Something the clubhouse games wont be able to duplicate 

14 minutes ago, woobman said:

 

I have a version of Tempest  on just about every system released. I've even played some of the games that were obvious clones. I can say if the controls are done right, no matter what, it will be a fun game. You can tell the difference between the controls on Tempest X3 for the PS1 and Tempest 4000 on the PS4. Not just the graphical upgrade. Heck Even with that horrible controller on the Nuon, I still enjoy Tempest 3000. For those of you who have been here a while, I sound like a broken record.

 

I even purchased the Replicade Tempest Cabinet.  Much better than the original Arcade 1up. version.

 

Each one of those versions would have been better with a spinner. The replicade is spinner "like" but it's clicky style rotary control, not free spinning. So I'm looking sooooo forward the "something special"!!!

I have the original tempest arcade1up cabinet I love everything about it, its pretty much dead on except that crappy spinner.  So I just ordered a proper spinner so it should be pretty close to the original. I never played the replicade now I will have to get one. But I do have the nuon with tempest 3k love it. But what I especially dislike about it is using the controller. Heres why, the play field on certain levels turns upside down which means your controls are reversed.  I believe this would work alot better with a spinner. Some have built a new controller from an original one to male it a spinner.  I want to do this but I only have 1 controller and just cant butcher it for the 1 game. 

1 hour ago, Relicgamer said:

Well I'm referring to how the clubhouse game namely how the card games work. I dont need the Amico to compare because we already know the Amico will come with controllers with individual screens on them. Something the clubhouse games wont be able to duplicate 

I agree and just to add the the discussion, out of the 51 games , only 3 will accommodate 3 players or more on one system. Even bowling is only 2 player. This is disappointing since not many people have 3 or 4 systems at home. That being said I will buy it because it looks fun. For those who say now Nintendo has this game so now the Amico is already obsolete, or that the 51 games covers what the Amico is doing is ridiculous !! Multiplayer  with more than 2 people is not easy for the average person, and families with one switch which is most I assume, 2 players is all you can do on most of the games. 

2 hours ago, GrudgeQ said:

For me this whole discussion all comes down to 'fitness for purpose'. XBox & PSx are fast, powerful machines but mostly single player experiences - kind of like sports cars. The Switch is lower powered but still sporty like maybe a little two door sedan. The Amico is all about local multiplayer coop, kind of a like a van. Tommy loves sports cars but even he would probably agree they aren't the best for hauling kids to soccer practice or picking up groceries for a family of 6 (however Tommy's answer could be it is actually fine, I will just make multiple trips, very, very fast ). And sure that Switch two door can seat 4, maybe 5, just fold down the seats and everyone climb in the back to the bench seat. The Amico isn't about zero to 60 times, nor is it as nimble as the Switch BUT it seats 1 to 8 comfortably. It also has that big sliding door so aunt Martha can get in easily and everyone gets their own cup holder. However the Amico-mobile is terrible in a race and yeah it isn't easy to move around as the little Switch sedan. You could argue anyone one of these 'vehicles' is the 'best' and it will do what each of the others can too. But we all know in the real world Aunt Martha isn't comfortable crawling in the fold down front seat of the Switch mobile to sit on the bench in the back nor is she happy squeezing into the side bucket racing seat of Tommy's Ferrari. That doesn't mean any of these are bad or great, they are all just different and useful for different purposes. They can all partially do things the other can do, there certainly is overlap, just with varying degrees of practicality (and focus from the manufacture) at various tasks.

your analogy nailed it

2 hours ago, RetroAdvisoryBoard said:

Nintendo has a fun little party game pack here and I hope it does well, it may sell a couple million with the number of Switch owners and at a lower tier cost.  But it'd be disingenuous if I didn't point out that, the games look less polished than I'd hope to see, the comparison to mobile equivalencies is pretty high for several of these, and while it's hitting some of those casual boxes and boxing up several classic games for a fun experience, it's quite different from what Intellivision's approach to casual games appear to be, and very much ancillary and less polished. 

Having played neither I fail to see how you can have such an opinion about comparison and polish.  Dont fall into the same trap as the ignorant Amico haters.  I suggest waiting til you actually played clubhouse and actually touched and own and played an Amico before comparing. Its just disingenuous, its tantamount to having an opinion about a restaurant you never ate at, or a car you never drove.  Just trying to keep it real. 

18 minutes ago, bigdaddygamestudio said:

Having played neither I fail to see how you can have such an opinion about comparison and polish.  Dont fall into the same trap as the ignorant Amico haters.  I suggest waiting til you actually played clubhouse and actually touched and own and played an Amico before comparing. Its just disingenuous, its tantamount to having an opinion about a restaurant you never ate at, or a car you never drove.  Just trying to keep it real. 

I think what @RetroAdvisoryBoard  was referring to was what he is seeing on the ad that is out. Where it shows game play.  And in that video it shows how the game works and can be compared to existing games on mobile. But you are correct we dont want to say this game isnt this or that without playing it.

Suggestion for @CurlyQ : Pat and Ian playing the tabletop Switch games, in a tiny table and with both heads touching to be able to see the screen. Insert Amico joke, such as "we told you Tommy, Switch does what Amican't!". Insert multiple details in the room such as dozens of actual board games on the shelfs.

i would love to see a baseball game like this on the Amico 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI_Pxxra9yA&t=313s

On 5/21/2020 at 3:24 PM, Tommy Tallarico said:

We had a free ad appear in Old School Gamer Magazine today!  It's in the middle and the back cover.

 

Obviously this was something super simple targeted to the retro audience, but just thought that I would share it with the group here.

 

What about the very early preliminary box art for Amico? Or maybe very late, look 9 games included! 😜