Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

Tommy,

Have you ever heard of Gaplus?  It's the sequel to Galaga.  The gameplay is similar.  Would you consider having either one on Amico?

Sorry if this was already asked before.

7 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

Explain to me how I'm taking it personal.  Just curious.

 

Maybe some folks dont get the East Coast Italian vernacular.  Oh well.  It is who I am.  Not going to be a phony.  If it rubs some folks the wrong way... so be it.

 

 

 

 

I've just never been a fan of someone taking comments from one platform and putting them on another you could have had this conversation on his YouTube channel I don't understand why it had to be brought here. I thought this was a Q and A thread? 

speaking of east coast italian..i had my first Jersey Mikes Italian sub yesterday...very good! i'm in NC now and i was missing Italian subs like i used to get in Chicago

26 minutes ago, Juice said:

I've just never been a fan of someone taking comments from one platform and putting them on another you could have had this conversation on his YouTube channel I don't understand why it had to be brought here. I thought this was a Q and A thread? 

I'm not a fan, either; in fact, I earlier asked everyone to avoid the temptation to do that.  As I've said before, AtariAge is not the place to relitigate feuds and drama from other venues, but anyone who wants to come here in good faith to have a reasonable discussion is free to do so ... as long as they can keep it respectful, on-topic, and in agreement with our community guidelines.

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

What is your favorite game so far?

I never had one either!  Couldn't afford it at the time.

What should I be on the lookout for!

"vigilante."   it really should have been on the mini. it's like kung-fu master, but even better.

 Hey Tommy.  So if in the future im in this interview I have to say Ive got a fun surprise lol and it will rock the Shrill world

1 hour ago, Intellivision Master said:

Tommy,

 

Have you ever heard of Gaplus?  It's the sequel to Galaga.  The gameplay is similar.  Would you consider having either one on Amico?

Sorry if this was already asked before.

I always enjoyed Gaplus!

2 hours ago, Dorkalicious said:

You literally say your console is safe while others are not, thats called using fear

 

You specifically bring up blood,guts and gore, porn, nudity, etc when this shit was happening in snes games.

Hey there, just curious to know what you mean by the point about the adult content, and that you would not allow/want your kids to be exposed to it, but you don’t think IE should push/market the fact that they would be the only console without M-rated content, didn’t you say it should be the parents choice (which they ironically don’t have at this point since all current consoles allow that content)?? The main target audience for Amico is families with children between 3-7 years old, and for many of those parents, the “All games are kids friendly” is the number one selling point, exactly how would pushing this USP be something “evil”?

Something I haven't previously posted about but I have been starting to become a little concerned with is the fact that when the wii was released, there weren’t as many entertainment choices as there are today (YouTube, Netflix/Hulu, mobile, etc.), and how this aspect could be a possible detriment to the overall success of Amico.  
 

I guess it is good news that video games in general have seen a noticeable uptick (probably understated) as we are all home more these days, but that is probably true for all forms of home entertainment.  
 

I guess a good indicator would be how much mobile is played in the home, vs. just as convenient time sink in slack time while out (i.e., passenger in a car, while the wife (or husband) is in the dressing room at the mall (when things were more normal anyway), etc.).  For myself (before Covid) I’d put it at about 50/50, which if close to typical, should bode well to alleviate this concern, but not sure what that typical ratio is.
 

I am curious if there is any data on this ratio for the typical person; and I am not considering those here as typical, or even the average Amico consumer (at least I hope not).

Tommy, has any of this been addressed by your market research?  Do you feel this is a legit concern or has your market research already taken this all into account?  The pre-sales are impressive, but until the target consumers start to buy in, this might be a bit of an unknown. 
 

I do find it funny that Amico pre orders have done so well in the more-gammer community and with out any real money invested (I do consider your time to have a monetary value), and yet I generally consider the elitists comments of doom and gloom to be more focused to this same more-gammer crowd; so 1 point for team Amico.  I generally give less credence for their opinions as related to the hyper casual gammer community (Amico’s true target audience). 

6 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

I also watched parts of a video the other day where they were trying to tear down @Michael Garvey and his videos.  HOW DARE ANYONE LIKE SOMETHING THAT IS DIFFERENT THAN THEY DO!!!  

😅🤣😂🤣😅😆😂

I just watched that video. And I couldn't stop laughing. 

My kids and I couldnt breath afterwards. 

Too funny

Stay tuned

6 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Most of the super talented players the Expos had and traded because they couldn't afford them ended up going to teams that won the World Series anyway!

 

 

(too soon?)

 

 

I wonder if Vlad would of had a full season in 1997...  Would they have tried to keep Pedro?

As a Red Sox fan, I feel truly blessed to see Pedro pitch many many times at Fenway.

But what an amazing year Pedro had in 97.

Pedro Martinez had a perfect game when he entered the tenth frame, but he gave up a lead-off double to Bip Roberts. Martinez lost his bid for perfection, lost his "official" no-hitter, and was replaced on the mound by Mel Rojas courtesy of his manager (Felipe Alou).

Did you know that Pedro Martinez threw just ninety-six pitches during this game and sixty-seven of them were strikes?

Only forty-one days later, Pedro Martinez's brother Ramon Martinez threw a no-hitter versus the Florida Marlins.

11 minutes ago, 1980gamer said:

I wonder if Vlad would of had a full season in 1997...  Would they have tried to keep Pedro?

As a Red Sox fan, I feel truly blessed to see Pedro pitch many many times at Fenway.

 

But what an amazing year Pedro had in 97.

Pedro Martinez had a perfect game when he entered the tenth frame, but he gave up a lead-off double to Bip Roberts. Martinez lost his bid for perfection, lost his "official" no-hitter, and was replaced on the mound by Mel Rojas courtesy of his manager (Felipe Alou).

Did you know that Pedro Martinez threw just ninety-six pitches during this game and sixty-seven of them were strikes?

Only forty-one days later, Pedro Martinez's brother Ramon Martinez threw a no-hitter versus the Florida Marlins.

 

I really respect your knowledge of Baseball and I am well aware of how absolutely passionate and crazy you folks are for your Sox!

Congratulations on the city and team getting over the hump and winning those Championships for the sake of everyone! 👍

See how gracious I am even though I am a lifelong Dodgers fan?😄

Hey,might as well chat about Baseball because its gonna be a very long summer until the Amico comes out.

3 hours ago, Dorkalicious said:

Im not comfortable giving you all my family details as i dont know why you need this information

 

But i have a 5 year old

 

Im not saying anymore since im unaware what this information will be used for

No worries.  Nothing nefarious.  Just wondering which games the 3 of you played on the Switch and at what age did you introduce your 5 year old to games.

No need to answer if you feel uncomfortable.  Was just trying to change the subject with you.  But if you're not interested in engaging I understand.  Was just trying to have a more civil conversation is all.

3 hours ago, Intellivision Master said:

Tommy,

 

Have you ever heard of Gaplus?  It's the sequel to Galaga.  The gameplay is similar.  Would you consider having either one on Amico?

Sorry if this was already asked before.

We've been talking to Namco for over a year.  Not familiar with Gaplus. 

2 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

We've been talking to Namco for over a year.  Not familiar with Gaplus. 

 

 

Good to know.  Yeah, Gaplus is not as well known like Galaga.

The Dodgers had some great years.  Mostly in Brooklyn!  LOL  Just kidding.

They also had some incredible talent over the years.

Donny Drysdale was awesome, but really never got a lot of support.

Sandy Koufax was also incredible, but a fairly short career.  Still a No Doubt Hall of Famer.  Cannot believe some people question this?

These guys were before my time.  When I really LOVED baseball.  I was a Fernando Valenzuela fan.

As you can see I value Pitching.  And Yes, I think a guy that plays 1 in 5 games can be MVP.

I look at it this way.  I good starting pitcher has 200+ innings, 3 outs per.  600+ at bats (faced)  same as any other everyday player.

I watched the Red Sox try to slug their way to winning seasons throughout my youth.  But could not get over the hump.  In 86, they had very good starting pitching and should have beat the Mets.   

The Mets also had very good pitching at that time.

Oh and thank you Dave Roberts for taking your best bat out of the lineup!  What a head scratch-er.

25 minutes ago, 1980gamer said:

I wonder if Vlad would of had a full season in 1997...  Would they have tried to keep Pedro?

As a Red Sox fan, I feel truly blessed to see Pedro pitch many many times at Fenway.

 

But what an amazing year Pedro had in 97.

Pedro Martinez had a perfect game when he entered the tenth frame, but he gave up a lead-off double to Bip Roberts. Martinez lost his bid for perfection, lost his "official" no-hitter, and was replaced on the mound by Mel Rojas courtesy of his manager (Felipe Alou).

Did you know that Pedro Martinez threw just ninety-six pitches during this game and sixty-seven of them were strikes?

Only forty-one days later, Pedro Martinez's brother Ramon Martinez threw a no-hitter versus the Florida Marlins.

 

Totally sat down to post something completely different, then saw this. Brought back a lot of memories. Baseball is still one of the things that tends to take top priority for me (though, not as much these days). I swear the Little League fields were a second address for me as a kid.

Anyway, the thing: I forget who had brought up possible issues with a high score leaderboard for AD&D, but the thought had stuck in the back of my head for a few days now. Maybe it would be possible to do something like the end screen of Tower of Doom, where it shows a players Treasure score, as well as Experience gained through the run. The thought of a 'fastest run' category (sorted by difficulty) also came up in my head, but seemed like the procedural generation of the dungeons may play too big a factor in speed running. Perhaps some kind of composite score, based on the three? However it works out, I'm excited for when it comes out. It'll be like inviting my friends over to play Gauntlet II (one of the rare times I was the 'cool kid', as my dad sprung for a Four Score when he got the game) all over again.

9 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

We've been talking to Namco for over a year.  Not familiar with Gaplus. 

 

 

Awesome.  I like a lot of Namco stuff!

4 hours ago, Juice said:

I've just never been a fan of someone taking comments from one platform and putting them on another you could have had this conversation on his YouTube channel I don't understand why it had to be brought here. I thought this was a Q and A thread? 

When we're talking about things like the merits of the Montreal Expos and Bip Roberts...  I think it's probably fair to say that the thread goes a little beyond Q&A. 

This thread has become a community for folks to discuss all sorts of stuff.  Especially when I'm not here.  So no... I wouldn't say that this is merely a Q&A thread at this point.  Started out that way, but has turned into something a bit cooler in my opinion and more community orientated.

I don't comment to the 5 same hater trolls on YouTube that got banned from here because they couldn't follow simple forum rules and find joy (and lots of spare time) attacking me while they hide behind avatars.

To be fair... I was only pointing out this particular video and my response to tell folks in here that everything they say (especially me of course) is being watched and deciphered on a daily basis in hopes that there is something controversial or offensive.  As I mentioned in my response...  I didn't bring the conversation here.  I wasn't giving counterpoints to all of the wrong and misleading information in the video.  No sense.  Any counterpoint made or given is returned with "you can't take criticism" without ever actually addressing the facts given.

I totally get that it's not your thing... and that's fine.  But you said I was taking it personal and I asked you what I said specifically that made you feel that way.  Was there a particular line or word?  I'm just curious.

No need to answer if you don't want to... I was just interested in knowing specifics because I don't see a single thing I said as taking anything personal.  Having a respectful disagreement with others isn't taking anything personal.  It's just giving thoughts and opinions.  Isn't that the whole idea behind message boards?  Anyway... no need to continue the conversation if you don't want to.  I was curious is all.  No disrespect to you.  I wasn't trying to be confrontational and certainly don't feel anything I said was taking anything personal.

3 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

 

No need to answer if you don't want to... I was just interested in knowing specifics because I don't see a single thing I said as taking anything personal.  Having a respectful disagreement with others isn't taking anything personal.  It's just giving thoughts and opinions.  Isn't that the whole idea behind message boards?  Anyway... no need to continue the conversation if you don't want to.  I was curious is all.  No disrespect to you.  I wasn't trying to be confrontational and certainly don't feel anything I said was taking anything personal.

Good Lord,  Its like we are in an episode of the Twilight zone. This world has gone to Hell and a handbasket.

Subject A is a entrepreneur named Tom, works hard loves what he does has big dreams of making other people happy through creative  interactive images on a tv screen where people can control these images. Called Video Games. But tonight this entrepreneur Tom and creative mind is facing a up hill battle because hes in the future where there are these people that find fault in everything and stop at nothing to crush Toms dreams. Where egos and lack of imagination are king in this world we know as the.............. Twilight Zone

2 hours ago, theswede said:

Hey there, just curious to know what you mean by the point about the adult content, and that you would not allow/want your kids to be exposed to it, but you don’t think IE should push/market the fact that they would be the only console without M-rated content, didn’t you say it should be the parents choice (which they ironically don’t have at this point since all current consoles allow that content)?? The main target audience for Amico is families with children between 3-7 years old, and for many of those parents, the “All games are kids friendly” is the number one selling point, exactly how would pushing this USP be something “evil”?

I believe i said i would not allow my child to play gta at the age of 8

That said i believe parents should have the freedom to choose without needing multiple consoles but i put that belief aside after my first discussion with tommy

I believe Amico should stand on its own as a good console and not need to play into the idea of putting others down to lift yourself up which i felt was occurring

Amico has potential and i think the rhetoric should focus there and not on what others do bad

Again maybe i am to easy going in thinking we should not put others down to get ahead

Im sure that makes me a bad business man

5 hours ago, Dorkalicious said:

You literally say your console is safe while others are not, thats called using fear

 

You specifically bring up blood,guts and gore, porn, nudity, etc when this shit was happening in snes games.

 

Thats called trying to insight fear in people

2 hours ago, theswede said:

Hey there, just curious to know what you mean by the point about the adult content, and that you would not allow/want your kids to be exposed to it, but you don’t think IE should push/market the fact that they would be the only console without M-rated content, didn’t you say it should be the parents choice (which they ironically don’t have at this point since all current consoles allow that content)?? The main target audience for Amico is families with children between 3-7 years old, and for many of those parents, the “All games are kids friendly” is the number one selling point, exactly how would pushing this USP be something “evil”?

It's also complete and utter nonsense.  It's amazing to me that someone could think that what is happening in Switch games is on the same par as the SNES.  Completely not the case.  Not even close.  I was a game tester, game designer, producer & audio designer during the tail end of the NES days but definitely all the way through the SNES days.  I remember having to take out a small digital cross on the top of a church we had in the NES game Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.  That's how strict Nintendo was back in the day... and (for the record) all the way up til the Switch.

There was no full frontal nudity on the SNES, no scenes talking about and depicting rape, no vile language or children in compromising sexual positions where the goal is to rub their bodies.  I don't know... maybe anyone who says that forgot the huge Mortal Kombat SNES controversy where Nintendo insisted that the blood was taken out if it were to be put on their console (this was before there was even a rating system):  https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-04-21-boon-recounts-snes-mortal-kombat-outcry

Do folks remember the Madden Football controversy in 1992 when U.S. Senators and Congressmen were complaining because football players could get hurt in the game and an ambulance would come on the screen and take the player off!  OH NO!!!  THE HORROR!!!

The things that are being portrayed on the Switch (and important to note that some of those same things are NOT allowed and ARE censored on the PlayStation & Xbox) are 100% different than the SNES.  Again... that is a mind-blowing misinformed comment to make.

If he feels like pointing out facts when asked a specific question about some of the things that are UNIQUE about our console is "fear mongering"... well... that's his opinion and he's entitled to it.  And I'm certainly entitled to completely disagree.  

2 hours ago, Starpaddler said:

Something I haven't previously posted about but I have been starting to become a little concerned with is the fact that when the wii was released, there weren’t as many entertainment choices as there are today (YouTube, Netflix/Hulu, mobile, etc.), and how this aspect could be a possible detriment to the overall success of Amico.  
 

I guess it is good news that video games in general have seen a noticeable uptick (probably understated) as we are all home more these days, but that is probably true for all forms of home entertainment.  
 

I guess a good indicator would be how much mobile is played in the home, vs. just as convenient time sink in slack time while out (i.e., passenger in a car, while the wife (or husband) is in the dressing room at the mall (when things were more normal anyway), etc.).  For myself (before Covid) I’d put it at about 50/50, which if close to typical, should bode well to alleviate this concern, but not sure what that typical ratio is.
 

I am curious if there is any data on this ratio for the typical person; and I am not considering those here as typical, or even the average Amico consumer (at least I hope not).

 

Tommy, has any of this been addressed by your market research?  Do you feel this is a legit concern or has your market research already taken this all into account?  The pre-sales are impressive, but until the target consumers start to buy in, this might be a bit of an unknown. 
 

I do find it funny that Amico pre orders have done so well in the more-gammer community and with out any real money invested (I do consider your time to have a monetary value), and yet I generally consider the elitists comments of doom and gloom to be more focused to this same more-gammer crowd; so 1 point for team Amico.  I generally give less credence for their opinions as related to the hyper casual gammer community (Amico’s true target audience). 

Hi,

Good question.

Yes... this is very well addressed and spoken about. 

Here's an interesting statistic you may be interested in that relates to this.  COVID aside... the board game industry was seeing 40% growth each year over the past 5 years.  That is family & friends wanting to spend time in the same room playing games together.  So with all the other "noise" happening around them... human interaction in person and challenging each other with games of wit, creativity, etc. has GREATLY gone up.  Our research shows that a big reason for that is because the average person feels intimidated by the home console, modern controllers, etc.

1 hour ago, Michael Garvey said:

I just watched that video. And I couldn't stop laughing. 

 

My kids and I couldnt breath afterwards. 

 

Too funny

 

Stay tuned

You're famous!