Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

On 4/11/2020 at 2:13 PM, Tommy Tallarico said:

Yeah!  Hans & them have been talking all day!!

 

Rush Rush Rally Racing is awesome on the Dreamcast!

Two questions that killed by (were killed by) the Search feature in the board since there were so many matches.

1. Can you share any more public info about the final price point yet? When I talk about the console to people I want to be more accurate about $179/$249/etc.

2. How soon will there be a golf game that beats the one on the Wii? That is very much needed in these COVID-19 times. We definitely need some games that are easy to play during video conf calls! 

6 hours ago, bigdaddygamestudio said:

i guess we will indeed agree to disagree, imho, he is no more that character than are the hundreds of people who portray 'annie' each year in the musical productions throughout the country. They arent annie just as hes not some computer animated fictional underwater alien character with dialogue written entirely by other people.

Exactly! 

This is the Real Indiana Jones!

The Real Han Solo

And the REAL Willy Wonka

11 hours ago, CurlyQ said:

Cheers @Zeptari1, for me, half the fun of creating something is the brainstorming and gathering of ideas. Sometimes, I get carried away with too much content/design and it ends up having a visually negative effect. Short and sweet is often times the best way to go. A blank canvas can be overwhelming at times (especially when you have a client, a deadline to beat and a bad case of artistic brain block (hate that!)). Glad to hear you have been inspired! You are only limited by your imagination! Keep it up! 😁👍

 

Zaxxon took A LOT of my quarters as a kid. It's probably only one of the very few games that I never really got that good at. Might of had something to do with the 3D isometric perspective that threw me off. There wasn't many games back then that had the look and feel of Zaxxon (which also had a very visually appealing logo).

 

 

I wish this could be re-imagined for the Amico.  "Wouldn't that be something!"

On 5/22/2020 at 8:28 PM, gogamego said:

If we are talking about hyper casual games being an afterthought on the Switch, then yeah, I agree.

Cool.  Yeah, that was my only point.

On 5/22/2020 at 8:28 PM, gogamego said:

My point about tearing down the Switch may have sounded too harsh. My point was, the Amico is its own thing. Filling a niche the other three systems don't do. I don't need to compare Clubhouse to any games on the Amico. I just don't see the comparison. For $40, Clubhouse games is going to provide a lot of hours of fun with a variety of games. I'm not expecting that on the Amico. I am expecting smaller fun game experiences for a lot less money. And that is exactly what I want from the Amico.

Totally!  That was my point as well.  To compare the 2 experiences is a bit silly IMO. 

The argument they try to make is them wanting to suggest that Amico is done for because of this game.  It's an absolute ridiculous "opinion".

We see these same folks declaring all the time that "Tommy doesn't think there are co-op games on the Switch!!  He's so out of touch!"

As anyone with half a brain and clear thinking knows... I've never said anything like that... yet the same 4 or 5 silly un-self-aware bullies and egomaniacs (no one can have a different thought than we can! Anyone who likes Amico is dumb!) will have conversations back and forth patting each other on the back in YouTube comments or message boards because at this point they just need to make up lies in order to have any kind of semblance of not looking like complete fools at this point.  Facts don't fit their narrative... so they'll just make up their own at this point while they spend literally every day reading this thread in hopes to keep their failing narrative alive.  Sucks for them. 

On 5/22/2020 at 9:38 PM, Ramey butler said:

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. 

Thanks!  Yeah... everything going slower than expected, but doing our best considering the circumstances.  Hoping that California gets back to work by June 1st so we can work our asses off in hopes of hitting the 10/10 release date!

On 5/22/2020 at 11:58 PM, CurlyQ said:

HAHAHHAHAHAHA!!!

CurlyQ never ceases to amaze me!

On 5/23/2020 at 6:35 AM, Intellivision Master said:

 

GREAT video!

23 hours ago, Saldo said:

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....

But I know.  

22 hours ago, RetroAdvisoryBoard said:

 

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. 

Perfectly stated IMO.

20 hours ago, Cranker said:

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. 

This was one of my points as well.  Does it have couch co-op possibilities?  Yes. 

Is it the same EXPERIENCE and TYPE of Couch Co-op that Amico is offering.  No.

Simple.

20 hours 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 wouldn't say it's disingenuous. 

I know that from my standpoint it is quite easy to see and tell the difference between the two. 

Below is the in-depth video I watched last month.  It's almost an hour long and goes through and shows each game.  It's easy to see the difference between what that game offers in regards to depth, gameplay, animations/polish, audio, multiplayer capability (a bit, but not all), etc. 

Now of course I have more knowledge about Amico than any person on the planet.  But I think enough people in here (especially someone like @RetroAdvisoryBoard who has done so much research including an hour long documentary) get the idea behind Amico and what makes it different than this game.

Again... not saying it's a "bad" game.  Just pointing out the differences.  Does Amico and Clubhouse 51 appeal to the same audience of people?  ABSOLUTELY!!!  Are they the same experience and should I be "concerned"?  Heck no.

Example:  Does anyone think the "audio" in our games are going to be better than this?  Can someone make a decision about that just by hearing some of the stuff we've already released in our gameplay trailers?  (Night Stalker, Breakout, Missile Command) and then hearing the games in this video?  The word "afterthought" again pops into my mind.     It's easily possible for anyone who has watched those Amico gameplay videos and then watched this video to deduct that Amico will SOUND better than this.  And if that is pretty obvious... no reason why the "design, depth, co-op/versus", etc. can't be challenged as well.

19 hours ago, ASalvaro said:

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

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

Developers are in B.C., Canada.  We may or may not know them.

5 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Developers are in B.C., Canada.  We may or may not know them.

 

 

 

Wait. Am I supposed to be working on a baseball game? A little heads up would have been nice! How much time do I have? 😂

14 hours ago, bigdaddygamestudio said:

HOLD THE PRESSES.. I have found what has to be Amico's first accessory.  Tommy needs to grab his Wonka pad and write this down 

 

https://gizmodo.com/this-lickable-screen-can-recreate-almost-any-taste-or-f-1843609903

Hahahahaa!!!  Awesome!!

Now that's a new one!

I wonder if the snozberries taste like snozberries?!?!?

 

12 hours ago, RetroAdvisoryBoard said:

 

Then maybe we're taking the wrong lessons here?

 

Every single one of us has opinions on things we haven't tried.  Confession: I've never ridden a donkey to work.  Not once.  But I am going to step out on a ledge and form an opinion that I don't think it'd be comfortable or very pleasant, based on observations and existing knowledge.  That's not a stretch, and it's probably something most of you can read and afford the benefit of the doubt to that non-trialed opinion.  I still could be wrong of course.  And if there's a body of knowledge out there pointing out the creature comforts of donkey-delivery systems that I'm not looking at, well, maybe my point isn't well educated or well-informed. 

 

We have other metrics of observation and comparison than trial.  Tommy's point to "non-believers" has been to "wait till you try it before you crap all over it".  Which is kind of a stretch ask, but I take what he's saying, before you condemn something that you don't have an existing comparison to, try to keep an open mind.  Because in the case of the Amico, they're drawing conclusions, and Tommy's banging his head up against the wall, "that's not it!" 

 

Take the typical dismissal:  "These are mobile games! [ergo trash, ergo nobody should want this]"

Tommy: "But they're different than mobile - these are well-designed by seasoned game designers, not Fly-By-Night Inc. and Look-Ma-I-Shat-Out-a-Match-Three-Game, LLC", or "This is not a mobile play experience, there are buttons and external controls to take away that headache", or "You're not thumbing through 45,000 games in an app store" or "Mobile games are particularly solitary, these are communal by design, from conception to final product!" ... he has a ton of arguments why it's not what said nay-sayer is putting it down for, and they don't appear to grasp the product or the rationale behind certain decisions.  He could argue all those points with them, and sometimes does.  Or, he could say, "before you dismiss it as utter crap, why not try it first?" 

 

Because there often isn't much of an argument objectively about what's seen or missing, but a lot of presumptive arguments with conclusions that arguer couldn't know (this'll never sell, nobody wants this, that controller is going to be miserable), or a dismissal based on conjecture or assumptions when information exists that may refute what they're saying. 

 

I don't think I've heard anybody saying, "I don't like games that have this aesthetic, this isn't for me" - a fair argument based on observation of what's been seen and not really missing big details, and Tommy or somebody arguing for the Intellivision interjecting, "don't make that observation until you play it in your hands!"  By all means, people making observations and conclusions based on those observations seem fair as part of typical discourse.  People making some unfounded statement or assertions that don't reflect the facts out, like "Playing on that disc is going to be like having my teeth pulled".. maybe their point isn't really founded?

 

If I die... someone please make sure that J Allard hires this guy!

12 hours ago, RetroAdvisoryBoard said:

I've never ridden a donkey to work.  Not once.  But I am going to step out on a ledge and form an opinion that I don't think it'd be comfortable or very pleasant, based on observations and existing knowledge. 

Full disclosure. 

I have in fact ridden a donkey to work... and it sucks.

2 hours ago, First Spear said:

Two questions that killed by (were killed by) the Search feature in the board since there were so many matches.

 

1. Can you share any more public info about the final price point yet? When I talk about the console to people I want to be more accurate about $179/$249/etc.

MSRP for Glacier White & Graphite Black are $249.  MSRP for Limited Editions (Vintage Woodgrain, GTO Red & Galaxy Purple) are $279.

Consoles come standard with 2 touchscreen controllers (with the ability to hook up 6 more mobile devices for free), all digital games are $9.99 or less and the system will come packed with at least 6 games although that number may rise to 7 or 8 before launch.

As with all electronics and video game systems, the price of the system will come down over time and I feel the "magic" number for the console will be $199 for the base units and $249 for the Limited Editions.  Would love to see that pricing by the end of 2021 if at all possible.  If not... the year after.

Quote

 

2. How soon will there be a golf game that beats the one on the Wii? That is very much needed in these COVID-19 times. We definitely need some games that are easy to play during video conf calls! 

 

 

Golf & Bowling are 2 very important sports for us!  We have an AMAZING and VERY experienced developer working on both. 

In regards to Golf specifically though... we will have different variations of this sport.  Same with Football.  The differences would be that one version could be more arcadey and simple as opposed to more simulation.

Thanks!

2 hours ago, Blarneo said:

And the REAL Willy Wonka

16 minutes ago, cmart604 said:

Wait. Am I supposed to be working on a baseball game? A little heads up would have been nice! How much time do I have? 😂

4 MONTHS!!   GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

34 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

I wouldn't say it's disingenuous. 

I know that from my standpoint it is quite easy to see and tell the difference between the two. 

 

Below is the in-depth video I watched last month.  It's almost an hour long and goes through and shows each game.  It's easy to see the difference between what that game offers in regards to depth, gameplay, animations/polish, audio, multiplayer capability (a bit, but not all), etc. 

Now of course I have more knowledge about Amico than any person on the planet.  But I think enough people in here (especially someone like @RetroAdvisoryBoard who has done so much research including an hour long documentary) get the idea behind Amico and what makes it different than this game.

 

Again... not saying it's a "bad" game.  Just pointing out the differences.  Does Amico and Clubhouse 51 appeal to the same audience of people?  ABSOLUTELY!!!  Are they the same experience and should I be "concerned"?  Heck no.

 

Example:  Does anyone think the "audio" in our games are going to be better than this?  Can someone make a decision about that just by hearing some of the stuff we've already released in our gameplay trailers?  (Night Stalker, Breakout, Missile Command) and then hearing the games in this video?  The word "afterthought" again pops into my mind.     It's easily possible for anyone who has watched those Amico gameplay videos and then watched this video to deduct that Amico will SOUND better than this.  And if that is pretty obvious... no reason why the "design, depth, co-op/versus", etc. can't be challenged as well.

 

 

 

 

 

If this was a demo of the Amico I would ask you to refund my money on all 4 of my pre-orders immediately. A lot of those games are totally 100% garbage.

Disclaimer - No, I have not played any of these games yet.

And I never will.

9 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

 

4 MONTHS!!   GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

@cmart604 I can help you, I got a good feeling about this, Expos are back baby!

26 minutes ago, cmart604 said:

Wait. Am I supposed to be working on a baseball game? A little heads up would have been nice! How much time do I have? 😂

When a Canadian starts to work on a Baseball game it turns out to be Ice Hockey.

In my effort to spread Amico and Intellivision love everywhere, it seems I may have a problem.  No matter what show or video I am doing Amico is on my mind.  Also I talked to Joe Rogan and he was honoured I stole his idea . LOL jk

3 minutes ago, Intymike said:

When a Canadian starts to work on a Baseball game it turns out to be Ice Hockey.

All sports are Hockey, it is better that way