Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

4 minutes ago, Ez G said:

@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????

From investors like nearly all companies 

12 minutes ago, jaybird3rd said:

… one appearance by Tommy on "Ellen" will get ten times as many eyeballs as every retro gaming podcast put together.

Excellent last couple of posts, but I disagree with the above (kind of jokingly eheh). Replace ten times with hundreds if not thousands an many eyeballs.  We aren't the target audience (as a whole) and we are just a drop in the friggin bucket. Once stuff like Ellen drops, aside from Ellen's exposure the international press is likely to pick up on it some more.

This is just the beginning and news like the euro distribution deal is big news that shows they are on the right path.   Yet in understanding where we are at (which again is before a single ad $ has been spent) , there are still some who put Amigo in the same lane as the Chameleon.  Seriously??

45 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 am fairly convinced you are just trolling this tread to get a rise out of the posters here, but on the off chance you are not I will take a shot at answering this.

Amico is finding its place in the gaming world, while there is some content for the retro-gamers (which is a group I am in), the main focus for the console is in being family friendly, easy to play, and offering couch co-op. It is not just another retro-console, and Tommy is working very hard to avoid his system being pigeonholed and misidentified as being just another retro console.

Which brings us to point two. Tommy is not attacking Nintendo. What he is attacking is the repeated statements that Nintendo is already family friendly, and offers good couch co-op, making the Amico redundant. I am certain there is a fair bit of content that meets these two criteria, but there is also a lot of M-content games, single player and online-only multiplayer games. Meaning parents still have to sort though and vet what their kids are playing and seeing from Nintendo.

The Amico is 100% E or E10 games only. Which is a huge difference from Nintendo. So there is no worry about a kid somehow viewing or accessing mature content; it is impossible because there not any to be had on an Amico.

He also has never changed the definition of an exclusive game. Right from the start he said a title is either exclusive to the Amico, or it will offer exclusive content only available to the Amico. At no time did he say there would never be ports, only that there would never be ports without some content exclusive for the system.

He is trying to market to soccer moms. Which is exactly why he is vocal in taking on comments stating his console is just another retro machines, or that Nintendo already does everything he is offering. He is trying to bring something new and different to the console market. If it is to succeed he needs to highlight what the Amico offers that the 'competitors' do not. Correcting misinformation and willful misunderstandings being put out there is not attacking anyone.

Otherwise when he does start the advertising in earnest, he will be fighting existing wrongful preconceptions that the Amico is just another flashback or a console for playing flash mobile games.

31 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.

 

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.

Most people prefer a 3rd Party review and for the millenial generation thats coming via youtube, ppl don't really trust IGN, Kotaku, Gamespot, etc as they have all been proven to be payed off. The cheaper the product the less research ppl will do before diving in but generally anything over 50 bucks i'd watch a youtube video to see what its like before just buying.

For your Neo Geo have you considered that big card that accepts an SD card.

@relic gamer Or, Tommy will use a combination of crowd fund money & investors money???

24 minutes ago, jaybird3rd said:

one appearance by Tommy on "Ellen" will get ten times as many eyeballs as every retro gaming podcast put together.

I dont think anyone would disagree but I know in recent months she has gotten a bad rap for being terrible to her employees

Of course i am aware business is business

I wouldn't negate youtube influence as im pretty sure one pewdiepie vid gets more or around the same viewership as her show and the audience is gamers

3 minutes ago, Ez G said:

@relic gamer Or, Tommy will use a combination of crowd fund money & investors money???

Well from how I understood it is that you invest and you would get profits from that investment.  That doesn't sound like crowdfunding.  Crowdfunding you dont get returns. You are not owning a stake in the company. Big difference.  And yes in any investment they use that money to build that company.  To pay the bills.  And in any investment there is risk. 

9 minutes ago, Dorkalicious said:

 

I dont think anyone would disagree but I know in recent months she has gotten a bad rap for being terrible to her employees

 

Of course i am aware business is business

 

I wouldn't negate youtube influence as im pretty sure one pewdiepie vid gets more or around the same viewership as her show and the audience is gamers

The moment Pewdiepie starts calling Tommy a raving lunatic censorship self-referenced god, then I'll agree with your statement. Until then, we have some youtubers with their current sphere of influence vs Tommy so we gotta use examples reflecting this.

edit: perhaps I'm misunderstanding your post?

@Loafer See that is what is frustrating. Tommy has stated in several interviews that Nintendo has a new business model in regards to mature games. Tommy knows that this is not true. Tommy and Victor Lucas reviewed Conker's Bad Fur Day almost 20yrs ago.

Even the Wii had Mature rated games. So where is this whole idea that Nintendo is taking a new approach to mature content. I remember Madworld, Dead Space & other games on this console. And if Tommy had problems with this content why wait now to talk about it. Why didn't he bring these things up when he was on tv???

Also, why single out 2 or 3 games on the Switch, when the console has well over 2,400 games. That's not even 5% of the games with this content. And why not talk about content on xbox/ps4. I can play simulated sex scenes in almost all of the God of Wars games, yet Tommy has not mention that. He is only focus at throwing shade at Nintendo. I wonder why?????

5 minutes ago, Loafer said:

Excellent last couple of posts, but I disagree with the above (kind of jokingly eheh). Replace ten times with hundreds if not thousands an many eyeballs.  We aren't the target audience (as a whole) and we are just a drop in the friggin bucket. Once stuff like Ellen drops, aside from Ellen's exposure the international press is likely to pick up on it some more.

 

This is just the beginning and news like the euro distribution deal is big news that shows they are on the right path.   Yet in understanding where we are at (which again is before a single ad $ has been spent) , there are still some who put Amigo in the same lane as the Chameleon.  Seriously??

I was just trying to be generous to the podcasters.    But yes, your numbers are probably much closer.  As much as I love the work that podcasters do, their output will be dwarfed by more mainstream outlets, just because of sheer numbers.

I don't get the Chameleon comparisons, either.  Certain people here have been so insistent about squeezing the Amico into that mold (so to speak) that they went completely berserk.  Fortunately, most of the world has never heard of the Chameleon, and you'd lose most peoples' interest in about five seconds if you tried to explain it to them, so I don't think it will hurt in the long term.

Just now, Dorkalicious said:

I dont think anyone would disagree but I know in recent months she has gotten a bad rap for being terrible to her employees

True, but I was just using her show as an example.  I never watch these shows myself, so hers was the first that came to mind.

1 hour 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.

I am sorry but you completely incorrect and really have no idea what you are talking about. Fig.co is currently doing two activities related to Intellivision Entertainment: first they are taking pre-orders with a fully refundable holding deposit. This is called a pre-order, and the fact the holding payment is both partial and refundable means it isn't being used to finance the development & delivery of the product (i.e. Kickstarter crowd funding). The second is Fig.co is acting a investment firm. That mean you can invest money in a company in hopes of a return like participating in a stock offering on Wall Street. I am sure you will be surprised to learn that Fig.co asks potential investors questions about their income in order to determine the maximum level they can invest at. If you have enough assets & liquid equity you are considered an "Accredited Investor" under SEC guidelines and can invest more. Doesn't sound like Kickstarter does it? Did you also know they are heavily regulated by the SEC (the Securities & Exchange Commission) as an investment firm? Doesn't sound like Kickstarter does it? Did you also they issue offering circulars with the SEC on their offerings like this one: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1658966/000121390016017201/f253g2092916_figpublishing.htm

Doesn't sound like Kickstarter does it? Sounds a lot like a Wall Street investment firm doesn't it? That is because it is - just on a smaller scale.

I bet you didn't know that Intellivision Entertainment has gone through several round of funding (here you can find out about their initial seed round - Series A): https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/intellivision-entertainment#section-overview

Individuals could have also invested in that round or the several rounds after that - is that crowd funding too? Then every single corporation on Wall Street is crowd funded by your definition.

If you want to be mad at Tommy, that is fine, however please educate yourself on what you are talking about before making incorrect claims because you don't understand the concepts of a pre-order or investing.

2 minutes ago, Ez G said:

@Loafer See that is what is frustrating. Tommy has stated in several interviews that Nintendo has a new business model in regards to mature games. Tommy knows that this is not true. Tommy and Victor Lucas reviewed Conker's Bad Fur Day almost 20yrs ago.

 

Even the Wii had Mature rated games. So where is this whole idea that Nintendo is taking a new approach to mature content. I remember Madworld, Dead Space & other games on this console. And if Tommy had problems with this content why wait now to talk about it. Why didn't he bring these things up when he was on tv???

 

Also, why single out 2 or 3 games on the Switch, when the console has well over 2,400 games. That's not even 5% of the games with this content. And why not talk about content on xbox/ps4. I can play simulated sex scenes in almost all of the God of Wars games, yet Tommy has not mention that. He is only focus at throwing shade at Nintendo. I wonder why?????

Again, I think you're getting stuck on minutiae here.  To the Amico's target audience, it does not matter whether Nintendo's stance on mature games is new or whether they've had mature games on their platforms for years, or whether those games represent a tiny fraction of the Switch's library or not.  The fact that those kinds of games are on the Switch at all is a total dealbreaker; for them, to buy a Switch is to potentially open doors that they don't want their kids to go anywhere near, which is more than enough of a reason for them not to buy it.

I also don't see why it's such a big deal that Tommy "always" picks on Nintendo (if that is indeed what he's doing).  He's making a larger point about adult content in video games; who cares whether he cites Nintendo or Sony or Microsoft as an example?

40 minutes ago, Dorkalicious said:

Most people prefer a 3rd Party review and for the millenial generation thats coming via youtube, ppl don't really trust IGN, Kotaku, Gamespot, etc as they have all been proven to be payed off. The cheaper the product the less research ppl will do before diving in but generally anything over 50 bucks i'd watch a youtube video to see what its like before just buying.

Yes. I am speaking super-ultra generally, though, and I do have a professional education in business.

For what it's worth, I personally do not trust ANYONE on the video games part of Youtube aside from Game Sack, Voultar, My Life in Gaming, RetroRGB, and John Linneman, and those guys are mostly on the tech/hardware side anyway, so I just buy random games without doing much research as long as they look interesting to me. I realize that I am the exception, but that's how I am, and I've only bought maybe 1 trash game in my whole life (Turning Point: Fall of Liberty).

40 minutes ago, Dorkalicious said:

For your Neo Geo have you considered that big card that accepts an SD card.

Yep, I am absolutely going to get one of those, but they're pretty expensive at a little over $600 for the best one. That's a lot of cash, and it's actually more than one month of rent + water bill for me, but it saves money the instant I put something like Twinkle Star Sprites or any of the Metal Slug games on there. I do like real games, though, so I'm going to buy some of the cheaper games that I'm interested in for AES and probably also get one of those MVS to AES converters so I can play MVS games on my AES. It's actually really cool having a real arcade machine in my house that plays 100% real arcade games. What a beautiful, unique, and awesome video game system.

47 minutes ago, Relicgamer said:

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.

Yep. The consumers the thing is targeted at do not yet know it exists, so they can't look for it. Maybe they want a family-friendly video game system and have searched for or heard of such a thing or perhaps the Amico itself, but these types will be the minority by far. Besides, all of the videos that are out now about the Amico will be buried by the Youtube algorithm when the thing launches/is close to launch and people make newer videos about it anyway.

7 minutes ago, jaybird3rd said:

Again, I think you're getting stuck on minutiae here.  To the Amico's target audience, it does not matter whether Nintendo's stance on mature games is new or whether they've had mature games on their platforms for years, or whether those games represent a tiny fraction of the Switch's library or not.  The fact that those kinds of games are on the Switch at all is a total dealbreaker; for them, to buy a Switch is to potentially open doors that they don't want their kids to go anywhere near, which is more than enough of a reason for them not to buy it.

 

I also don't see why it's such a big deal that Tommy "always" picks on Nintendo (if that is indeed what he's doing).  He's making a larger point about adult content in video games; who cares whether he cites Nintendo or Sony or Microsoft as an example?

The world has just changed so radically and we're all running to catch up, I don't want to jump to any conclusions but look, intellivision and Nintendo two consoles separated by generations has just suddenly been thrown back into the mix together, how can we possibly have the slightest idea of what to expect?

@grudgeq What you don't comprehend is that when you crowd fund with kickstarter the person that is funding the product is expecting something of value at some point. When you invest in a company you expect a return on your invest i.e. value. 

The is not the Red Cross. People giving money to both of these entities have an expectation of getting something at the end of day. Notice that I never brought up preorders! You see one can be disappointed with Tommy and still carry a thought. What a unique concept.

5 minutes ago, Ez G said:

@grudgeq What you don't comprehend is that when you crowd fund with kickstarter the person that is funding the product is expecting something of value at some point. When you invest in a company you expect a return on your invest i.e. value. 

 

The is not the Red Cross. People giving money to both of these entities have an expectation of getting something at the end of day. Notice that I never brought up preorders! You see one can be disappointed with Tommy and still carry a thought. What a unique concept.

Not sure where you are going with it. But @GrudgeQmade it pretty clear. So can we move on? You have anything else you want to address? 

1 hour ago, Ez G said:

 

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

VCs

24 minutes ago, Ez G said:

@grudgeq What you don't comprehend is that when you crowd fund with kickstarter the person that is funding the product is expecting something of value at some point. When you invest in a company you expect a return on your invest i.e. value. 

 

The is not the Red Cross. People giving money to both of these entities have an expectation of getting something at the end of day. Notice that I never brought up preorders! You see one can be disappointed with Tommy and still carry a thought. What a unique concept.

What you don't comprehend is that I just explained how Fig.co *is* an *investment* site. You put money in for an equity return on investment, that is it's primary function. I can't get much clearer than that. The other thing they are doing is pre-orders. You certainty were not clear on what part of fig.co you thought was like Kickstarter, so I covered both. Are you referring to the fact that Fig.co has the ability to donate money to projects? If that, then you are being beyond ridiculous. That is a standard feature of their website which applies to all projects on there. In no way has Tommy asked for donations and if you think somebody chipping in a un-asked for buck is some how breaking the 'not crowd funded' rule you are grasping for straws way beyond me respecting you in any possible way. You do realize that Intellivision Entertainment is capitalized to the tune of $20 to $30 million dollars - any Fig.co donations won't add up to the salary time it takes to process that amount by the accounting department. My advice is to stop embarrassing yourself on this topic.

For anyone who wants to see  how the world of software works, Watch Silicon Valley.  Yeah its over the top, and takes some big leaps for comedy sakes, etc etc, but at the core of it all is the truth of how this world works, thats what makes it so damn funny.

@jaybird3rd I does matter. It shows consistency. If you see a problem why wait 20 years, to talk about it. Yes, it does matter if you are going to point to 2 -3 games out of 2,400 than that means that you are fear mongering. And all the stuff you said against Jack Thompson was BS. You are throwing away years of representing the game industry against people like Thompson just because you have a new game console. Ok, I hope it is worth it. 

Also, it does matter the fact that Tommy is focusing all his attention on Nintendo. For one, he often claims that they are not in direct competition with Nintendo. Good than what they have on their console is none of your concern. Or, they are your competition and instead of showing games unique game play. Your have to scare people away from the console. All of which is surprising since Nintendo posted record sells for the Switch. 

Oh, and this whole idea of preventing kids from going into a door that is scary. Parents had their kids go right thru that door with the Wii. Over 101 million times to be exact. They were so successful that Tommy is using them as the template for the amico. Why would Tommy use the Wii as a template if they had these deviant games on their console. Why not use the NES they had couch co op and none of their games were rated mature. 

20 minutes ago, Ez G said:

@grudgeq What you don't comprehend is that when you crowd fund with kickstarter the person that is funding the product is expecting something of value at some point. When you invest in a company you expect a return on your invest i.e. value. 

 

The is not the Red Cross. People giving money to both of these entities have an expectation of getting something at the end of day. Notice that I never brought up preorders! You see one can be disappointed with Tommy and still carry a thought. What a unique concept.

Is your point that Intellivision will not deliver a system? (If it isn’t, who cares one iota about the semantics of crowd funding?). If that is your point, wanna bet it gets released?

15 minutes ago, Ez G said:

Also, it does matter the fact that Tommy is focusing all his attention on Nintendo.

None of what your saying though is relevant unless when Intellivision comes out with its multi million dollar advertising campaign it goes after Nintendo, which Im sure they wont. So whats your point?  Tommy T is a vocal gaming legend and CEO of Intellivison who actually takes the time to communicate with his customers etc. Again IMHO thats a GIANT positive thing. SO even if you may have some points, and some I may even agree with, your conclusion that this in anyway dictates the future of Amico are way way off base.  The Amico will live and die with its games, its accessibility, and its ease of use.  Tommy calling a few nintendo games rapey plays no part in the future of amico success or failure.

@grudgeq Let me be clear. People on kickstarter expects value in return for their money i.e. whatever they funded. Fig.co investors expect something in return for their money i.e. equity. Neither party are just giving their money away.

No I am not grasping at straws because Tommy said several times he is not the Ouya he is not asking money from the general public. Then don't. Just take preorders only. Tommy is the one grasping at straws complaining about a few mature games on Nintendo, making it out to be the norm.

And the fact that Tommy was able to raise 20-30 million dollars is great. But don't make it out to be some phenomenal feet. On CNBC American Greed, people raise money like that all the time. And no, I am not saying Tommy is conning his investors like they do on that show.

1 hour ago, Dorkalicious said:

Most people prefer a 3rd Party review and for the millenial generation thats coming via youtube, ppl don't really trust IGN, Kotaku, Gamespot, etc as they have all been proven to be payed off. The cheaper the product the less research ppl will do before diving in but generally anything over 50 bucks i'd watch a youtube video to see what its like before just buying.

Sorry to double quote you, but I forgot to mention this last time, and it's something that's actually relatively important to the discussion.

https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/micro-moments/2011-winning-zmot-ebook/

https://ssl.gstatic.com/think/docs/2012-zmot-handbook_research-studies.pdf

As much as I hate Google, they did describe the Zero Moment of Truth very well. Recommend that you (or anyone else who is interested) read these 2 books. I'm sure Tommy has probably read these already... right?

Like I said, you're not wrong, but there is more to it than just Youtube.