Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

5 minutes ago, Ez G said:

I am not hoping that the amico fails. However, if you continue to act like this I wouldn't be surprised.

umm, some of the most fiscally successful companies in the world are run by much bigger jackoffs than Tommy T.  (umm that may not have come out right  lol)  Anyway the point is, CEO douchebaggery ratings Im afraid have NOTHING to do with financial success, so whether you like Tommy or not really isnt relevant.  

Well, if you are a small startup company trying to sell family friendly. Yes, it does

Just now, Ez G said:

Well, if you are a small startup company trying to sell family friendly. Yes, it does

Hes not 22 years old making this in his garage with a friend. Its a multi million dollar company created and run by many of the biggest names in gaming history. I dont think you guys get that.  This isnt some shady ass kickstarter, this is a company of whos who of the gaming industry. 

1 minute ago, Ez G said:

Well, if you are a small startup company trying to sell family friendly. Yes, it does

Things begin discussed on YouTube is hardly going to effect the target audience for this system.  They are not likely to see the videos. And if by chance they did I believe it would sell even better. Because the haters would only help his image. Plus intellivision has already gotten a pretty decent preorder. So theres that as well. 

That's where you are wrong. All because you change kickstarter to fig.co their is still crowd funding involved. Not that I mind crowd funding but don't change a web site and say it is different.

No matter how many talented people you have working for you, if the person in charge is not solid it will fail. Just like the old saying "a fish rots from the head down".

1 minute ago, Ez G said:

That's where you are wrong. All because you change kickstarter to fig.co their is still crowd funding involved. Not that I mind crowd funding but don't change a web site and say it is different.

 

No matter how many talented people you have working for you, if the person in charge is not solid it will fail. Just like the old saying "a fish rots from the head down".

Lol well their target on fig was a buck so yeah big crowdfunding campaign lol

@relic gamer. Their is no way a soccer mom will watch some of Tommy's interviews and say. Oh, I need to buy my kid that console over the Switch. Plus, these videos will hurt Tommy because if he starts to turn off retro gamers. 

Then Tommy has to face the chain reaction. You know "one person tells 4 people etc, etc

2 hours ago, Dorkalicious said:

Yes we all have blinds spots, i 100% agree, however there are no exceptions including both yourself and others present here, would you agree to that?

Of course.  This is why, contrary to what you may have been told, we actually invite different opinions and different points of view here (again, as long as everyone is respectful and stays within the rules).  Discussion threads like this one mostly tend to attract enthusiasts—which is unsurprising, since the Amico has not been released yet, and the people following it at this early stage would naturally be the ones most enthusiastic about it.  But we certainly don't want to create an "echo chamber" where everybody always agrees and nobody is allowed to say anything critical; if nothing else, that would quickly become terribly boring.  We've been accused of doing that anyway, usually by those (very few) people who could not remain respectful or within the rules, but the fact that we're having a peaceful discussion right now should put the lie to that.

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I get it, that said, saying the most extreme thing on a podcast where we all need to acknowledge only hardcore gamers listen to gaming podcasts will no doubt elicit an angry reaction, is that the intention? cause a stir? I get some content isnt for everyone, but those who dont enjoy it (for example the last of us which features violence and a young girl throw into a horrible scenario) people will no doubt hear these extreme opinions and take issue. Would you agree?

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I personally had the feeling when i heard about the censorship for amico that what the heck, however after i spoke with Tommy i understood what he meant, that said, the way its conveyed in the podcast comes across more as gaslighting the viewers for enjoying violence or 18+ content. You dont have to take my word for it, watch the live chat and people getting upset.

 

The critics in my opinion have this reaction because of the comments gaslighting hardcore gamers who are the only people listening to a gaming podcast, This is likely the blindspot you mentioned, no one is immune

 

There is nothing wrong with the vision, but if you rib the hardcore gamers, expect a visceral reaction, you gotta remember they've had people since the 90s like Jack Thompson going after them trying to take away gaming freedoms. People are very protective.

While the vision is fine it may be wise to not engage in these type arguments on a gaming podcast, other places im sure it would go over better

I understand, and perhaps this is another example of the kinds of "bubbles" or "blind spots" that I mentioned.  I find that people who have these kinds of disagreements don't actually disagree as much as they think they do; they're usually just triggered by the way something was said, or by the implications that they see in what was said, or else they're just talking past each other without taking the time to listen.

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On an unrelated note, I always took more issue with the violence then when people have a visceral reaction to adult content in games, if its rated accordingly and only dispersed as such, it seems more acceptable then blowing people away in shooting games considering Adult only content(again 18+) are in our genes.

Yes.  Video game ratings exist for a reason; they're ostensibly there to help consumers identify the categories of games which would (or would not) appeal to them, so they can choose accordingly.  Adult-only or 18+ is a highly restrictive category, by definition and intention.  I don't personally enjoy those kinds of games, so when I see that label, it's a sign that this is a game that is probably not for me—but I don't resent that, because I recognize that there is a market for those games, and I'm also a big believer in "live and let live."  The Amico seems to trigger resentment in hardcore gamers, as if they see its very existence as some sort of repudiation of the kind of gaming they enjoy, but the Amico's family-friendly category of games is actually the most inclusive of all.  Someone in the Amico's target market would never buy an 18+ game; they'd rather play Night Stalker or Skiing.  But on the other side of the coin, there's nothing preventing a hardcore gamer who loves 18+ games from also enjoying Night Stalker or Skiing.  I see more choices as being a positive for everyone; introducing more choices for a segment of the market that had no satisfactory options before need not diminish any other choices.

@jaybird3rd I always try to stay respectful yet it is some of the people here that needs to be reminded that fact.

Don't worry you I won't go into a profanity tirade with racist comments

3 minutes ago, Ez G said:

@relic gamer. Their is no way a soccer mom will watch some of Tommy's interviews and say. Oh, I need to buy my kid that console over the Switch. Plus, these videos will hurt Tommy because if he starts to turn off retro gamers. 

 

Then Tommy has to face the chain reaction. You know "one person tells 4 people etc, etc

So what do you propose?

@relicgamer I wonder, will Tommy stop taking money after that $1 donation from the fig.co account. Because if he is still taking money than it is a crowd funding site.

@juice What I propose. Let J Allard do the PR work for the amico. He has years and years of experience. Tommy should work with game developers and retail stores.

15 minutes ago, Ez G said:

All because you change kickstarter to fig.co their is still crowd funding involved

I can go right now and preorder all sorts of games and so forth from all the Devs, so is everyone "crowd funding"?  You need to understand what crowd funding is, because what they are doing is not it, it's pre ordering.

Also perhaps you are correct and Amico doesnt catch on with the Moms, I'll grant you that,  I personally think their market demo is going to turn out to be grandparents.  We are all the OG of gaming, we started it, and the Amico is the perfect machine to play with our grandkids when they come over etc.  

4 minutes ago, Ez G said:

@relicgamer I wonder, will Tommy stop taking money after that $1 donation from the fig.co account. Because if he is still taking money than it is a crowd funding site.

Typically crowdfunding you slap money down and expect to receive a product end of transaction.  Fig allows people you invest in smaller amounts to receive money vack on there to investments. Or at least that show I understood it. So if you put money it you make profits later down the road. But I could be wrong. You can ask Tommy to clarify it 

6 minutes ago, Ez G said:

@relicgamer I wonder, will Tommy stop taking money after that $1 donation from the fig.co account. Because if he is still taking money than it is a crowd funding site.

Its pre orders .  Its not crowd funding.  You ate just paying the base ore order orive but getying $25 store credit as a bonus.  You can invest in the company as fig is an investment site. 

6 minutes ago, Ez G said:

Because if he is still taking money than it is a crowd funding site.

pre-order site.  This money is not needed for any development ie. There is nothing to fund

23 minutes ago, Ez G said:

As someone that thought the Amico could be a good idea. Find a place in the gaming world. Be something good for retro gamers.
 
Your behavior has shown that all the promises that this system had, cannot be achieved. This is why you feel the need to attack Nintendo. But then say they aren't your competition. If Nintendo is not your competition than why do you feel the need to go into detail about their content. Why are you only aiming at Nintendo? Why haven't you aim just as much criticism at sony/microsoft. 

 

Why are you changing what the definition of an exclusive game is. Why on the Vara Dark interview am I hearing more ports of games from other devices. 

 

You are the CEO of a company. Why are you attacking youtubers like a common fanboy. You are trying to market to soccer moms. How are they going to feel if the ceo of the company behaves like this. 

 

I am not hoping that the amico fails. However, if you continue to act like this I wouldn't be surprised.

I don't know if he's aiming at Nintendo but it's very fair to mention Nintendo because of what they used to represent THEN and NOW.  At the moment, a parent who is looking at a gaming platform that falls within their own personal definition of "family friendly" may have to look elsewhere.  That, along with the fact they are aiming at a more "casual" market means one of the major jobs currently is to show what differentiates Amico with the "video game" competition.  no one and I mean no one will mistake Amico with Xbox One/series and PS4/5. They are not aimed at the same market at all. There are boundaries overlapping with the Nintendo Switch though. Although I think today from what we've seen, nothing will compete with some of Nintendo's stellar first party games (like Mario), there is the very real label attached to Nintendo of family friendly that they will compete with and frankly as it has been shown, it's a label that is more historical than current.  This label is VERY FAIR GAME.  It doesn't mean Nintendo is a bad company, a bad gaming company, an adult only company and a leech and scum of the earth company... but it does meant that maybe for a good chunk of the "family friendly" audience, they can't guarantee that label is fair, that little Timmy or Little Louise won't have access to titles that may not be illegal but doesn't fit into the type of games that a great many families would rather not. 

Why would people take insult with what I've just said?  It's not wrong for Nintendo to choose whatever type of games they want for their customers to play on their platform.  I would also be ahead of the line defending them if any church group tries to force a change on Nintendo through some bullshit law.  I suspect as he's said in other post, Tommy would be leading the charge too.

the moment Tommy says "Man, you guys are disgusting to support the Nintendo switch" I'll be on board the "tar and feather Tommy" mission.  As it is, he's saying "hello world, this is the current state of affairs, this is what is played on other "family friendly" consoles, in particular the Nintendo Switch.  I'm offering this, buy doing this and limiting access of this on Amico.  If you feel you have the same desire of family friendly, then come along for the ride".

for the Intellivision Amico to be successful, this is EXACTLY what Tommy and the company needs to do to be successful at reaching out to this audience.  This isn't berating the enemy, it's identifying your lane and who occupies it

26 minutes ago, Relicgamer said:

Things begin discussed on YouTube is hardly going to effect the target audience for this system.

Look, I found someone who understands!

The thing that people who have not studied business do not realize is that the average consumer DOES NOT KNOW THAT YOUR COMPANY AND YOUR PRODUCT EXIST most of the time before they go see it on the shelf at a store or at random on the internet (due to whatever contributing factors, whether it's suggested products from Amazon, Google showing you stuff that you might like because it spies on you, etc.). That's why, when people use internet searches trying to find a thing that they desire but are not sure of exists, they enter vague words like "best camera under $500" or "restaurants within (number) miles" or whatever. They're not aware of what exists, or they would look specifically for that one thing. Nobody on this website is the average consumer, as I have also said before.

Let's use another example. I just bought a Neo Geo last month and I have absolutely no idea what good games I should buy for it. So what do I do? I can't search for specific game titles because I do not know those titles exist yet. Instead, I search for crap like "best Neo Geo games" and go to various places on the internet that will teach me about Neo Geo games, like Game Sack and Anthony over in the Neo Geo thread here on AtariAge, who I know I can count on to educate me about games that I don't know about. Then I take the knowledge that I've gained and start looking for prices/availability of the games that I'm interested in. Mostly I get scared away because the games I want are all like $1000+ for AES and I don't have a converter to play MVS games, but I've bought three solid titles so far.

As I've said before, there's that moment when the customer finally realizes that you, your company, and your product/service exist, and that's also the moment where they'll decide, most likely within less than 2 or 3 seconds, if they are interested in your product. If so, they will stick around and read the box/listen to you talk/read the description on Amazon or wherever. Then, based on a few additional stimuli (cost, relevance to them, general attractiveness of the product after getting more information, etc.), they will do one of several things.

They'll either buy your thing, decide that it's not something they are interested in, or seek additional information related to your product/service/company.

The fact is that the AVERAGE CONSUMER IS NOT AWARE OF WHAT THEY WANT. Whose job is it to know what it is that the customer does want? Yes, that's right, the company that provides products or services. The company's job is to know what the consumer wants and to provide the consumer with a product that gives value to the consumer. Naturally, companies also use a form of what is literally brainwashing, which we call marketing, to brainwash the consumer into believing that they do not want, but NEED this product/service.

There's probably some crap that I forgot since it's been a while since I've talked about this crap, but this is how it generally works. I didn't sleep a whole lot and I've got crap to go take care of in Akiba today (returning this weird copy of Thunder Force V that I bought the other day), so I'm out for now to take a break and a shower before I go to Akiba.

@Loafer I have to disagree with some of your statements. I wouldn't mind if Tommy were to say," Hey we only have family oriented games on our console. The other consoles have Mature rated". That is fair enough.

However, when he starts saying," If you want to play games with rape, see genitals everywhere, children in compromising positions. I am sorry that is fear mongering. What is sad is that both Tommy & I lived thru the 90's- 00's. We heard this junk from people like Joe Lieberman & Jack Thompson. Now that Tommy is launching his console he is channeling their rhetoric so he can sell his new system. That's wrong on so many levels.

52 minutes ago, Ez G said:

That's where you are wrong. All because you change kickstarter to fig.co their is still crowd funding involved. Not that I mind crowd funding but don't change a web site and say it is different.

Fig.co is not crowdfunding; this has been discussed extensively before, both here and elsewhere.  If fig.co is "crowdfunding," then every preorder and every investment ever made would also be "crowdfunding," and the term "crowdfunding" would have no meaning.

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No matter how many talented people you have working for you, if the person in charge is not solid it will fail. Just like the old saying "a fish rots from the head down".

So it is your opinion that Tommy is not behaving in the way that you think a CEO should, and that this will be a turnoff to the Amico's target audience.  I think we get that; this isn't exactly the first time we've heard it.  But remember two things: one, Intellivision Entertainment has advisors and a board of directors who are industry veterans, and who all understand marketing better than most of us in this thread, including you and me.  If his board saw the same problems with Tommy's manner of engaging with the community that you seem to see, you may be sure that he wouldn't be doing it; a CEO of a corporation is not a lone wolf or a dictator.  Second, the people here on AtariAge—and in the audience of video game podcasts on YouTube—are most assuredly not the Amico's target audience; if we were, the Amico would be in big trouble, because we're not anywhere near large enough of a population to make a venture like the Amico viable.  It's easy for us to forget that sometimes, since we too are wrapped up in our little bubbles, but we're a vanishingly small segment of the total market.  Nothing that has happened in our little corner of the world will have any impact on the market's perception of the Amico; one appearance by Tommy on "Ellen" will get ten times as many eyeballs as every retro gaming podcast put together.

8 minutes ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Look, I found someone who understands!

 

The thing that people who have not studied business do not realize is that the average consumer DOES NOT KNOW THAT YOUR COMPANY AND YOUR PRODUCT EXIST most of the time before they go see it on the shelf at a store or at random on the internet (due to whatever contributing factors, whether it's suggested products from Amazon, Google showing you stuff that you might like because it spies on you, etc.). That's why, when people use internet searches trying to find a thing that they desire but are not sure of exists, they enter vague words like "best camera under $500" or "restaurants within (number) miles" or whatever. They're not aware of what exists, or they would look specifically for that one thing. Nobody on this website is the average consumer, as I have also said before.

 

Very good points. When I'm looking at something and want to see it in action I tend to find people using iy, not talking about it. So seeing that the Amico isn't out yet and ads haven't started. The target audience are not out yet looking for either. And when it does come out or just before it comes out, these people will be looking at game play footage not a bunch of old guys talking about a year before it came out lol.

11 minutes ago, Ez G said:

@juice What I propose. Let J Allard do the PR work for the amico. He has years and years of experience. Tommy should work with game developers and retail stores.

Tommy's constant engagement turns some off, but also gives many purpose and validation. there is a pile of people who you could tell get excited about making amico videos because they know Tommy is going to watch and a lot of times comment. He has helped ignite their passion and don't get me wrong I totally understand the criticism of it turning into some sort of cult, but really the amico is not going to hurt anybody. Not too long ago in the other amico thread that no longer exists I expressed my concern for Amico being involved with all those drama channels  that has kind of died down a little since pat and Ian kind of backed away. the problem with being so involved with  YouTube it's  a double-edged sword, great for promotion but there's also a lot of psychos on there looking for anything for clicks. 

4 minutes ago, Ez G said:

@Loafer I have to disagree with some of your statements. I wouldn't mind if Tommy were to say," Hey we only have family oriented games on our console. The other consoles have Mature rated". That is fair enough.

 

However, when he starts saying," If you want to play games with rape, see genitals everywhere, children in compromising positions. I am sorry that is fear mongering. What is sad is that both Tommy & I lived thru the 90's- 00's. We heard this junk from people like Joe Lieberman & Jack Thompson. Now that Tommy is launching his console he is channeling their rhetoric so he can sell his new system. That's wrong on so many levels.

I've read those Tommy posts and the context provided, that is not the message I got out of it. 

since you like comparing to Lieberman and Thompson (I'm 56 so I get what you are saying), ask yourself how often those guys credited the video game industry for anything. It was then vs the industry and specifically a few titles (GTA/DOOM/ETC).  Funny, I've seen more posts from tommy dictating both the respect he has for Nintendo of old and the understanding that although he doesn't agree with their current direction on some fronts (ie: they don't just do mature games) he also supports their decision making for what they feel is best for them.  That's something the dynamic duo fear mongers never did

This is part of the main issue here. People select very specific quotes as if it represents the main mission behind Tommy or Amico and that's just not how it works.  If you or others don't get that, IT'S OK!  But don't expect Tommy or others to just agree with your take or not respond to what he/we perceive as needing clarification. 

In other words, if you see it as Fear mongering, ok, done, I disagree for reasons I've stated, let's move on then.

@juice @relic gamer. If you take money from the general public. That is crowd funding. You can change the verbiage to investing. It is the same thing. For @bigdaddygamestudio the reason why Tommy is still taking money even thou development is done because he needs to raise money for future games.

Remember, potential game developers will have their games funded by Tommy. Where are those funds coming from????

On 5/25/2020 at 7:03 PM, bigdaddygamestudio said:

yep, Marbula One is awesome, we talked about it some on this thread back during the Marbula One season.  Team Oranger all the way

So does that mean John Oliver is an Amico fan and lurks on this forum? 

Oh my, I just figured it out... John Oliver is 1001 lives / Lord Rayken and is going to have a feature piece on the Amico and its Fandom!