Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

9 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

No need to remind or tell us... WE KNOW!!

And one thing you can count on in the new version... I'm TOTALLY mixing in the original "THUUUUMP!" tripping sound! 

I've been using a lot of the original sounds and mixing them in to others to update them but still giving the original vibe.  Skiing, Night Stalker, Moon Patrol, Shark! Shark!, etc.  All utilize some original stuff. 

 

 

Now THAT is friggin' cool!  The quick game shots on the latest video were not enough to push me over the top, but this is a good sign of things to come.  Well done sir! 😁

On 9/9/2019 at 1:12 AM, Tommy Tallarico said:

So far, the 3 games that they have showed and demoed on Stadia were complicated and violent M rated games.

the point is: will stadia be any different from owning a ps4 for a person that play games in the living room (I mean in terms of portfolio, obiously I dont care about temporary call of duty clones exclusive) 
Amico offer IS different.... so having a ps4/ps5 looks kind of mandatory today (even if I stopped playing my ps4 since long time because of the complexity of game controls) and to wide the choice Amico would be a significant offer, not stadia (more of the same)

 

11 hours ago, popsicle said:

That is THE COOLEST.

 

Please tell me the fishing sound effects in Utopia are employed as well.

 

Oh heck yeah!!!

I even used those sounds when I referenced Utopia in the original Amico trailer! 

Set your DVR's for tomorrows Jay Leno's Garage where you'll see Jay Leno interview us and talk about Intellivision and our BurgerTime Porsche Boxster that the Intellivision race team created and used in one of our races! Jay was looking to join our race team! Find out if he does tomorrow Wednesday 9/11 at 7pm PDT / 10pm EDT on CNBC. Kudos to Intellivision COO and 2009 Porsche Cup champion Nick Richards for creating such a masterpiece. Admittedly NOT the best aerodynamics, but this particular race is more about endurance than our wiener aero.

4 hours ago, vprette said:

 

That is... the ugliest car I've ever seen! 😂🤣😂

Here's an interview with Metal Jesus Rocks and portions of the Amico are discussed from the 10min mark to the 22min mark.

Short version: he had fun playing it at E3 but is cautious about it (has some concerns but it also might succeed)
 

43 minutes ago, Lathe26 said:

Here's an interview with Metal Jesus Rocks and portions of the Amico are discussed from the 10min mark to the 22min mark.

 

Short version: he had fun playing it at E3 but is cautious about it (has some concerns but it also might succeed)
 

 

Interesting video, thanks for sharing that!  Noticed right away that the host couldn't even pronounce Amico right, lol.  Also, Metal Jesus couldn't really answer some of the questions since he doesn't have kids and doesn't know what kids like to do, or not do, these days so it was a lot of conjecture on his part.  I don't think he is able to relate to the current family dynamic at all, and I don't mean that in a negative way, it's just the truth.  Tommy is tapping into something that Metal Jesus is not really familiar with.  He seems to have too many question marks in his head right now, but he does seem very interested in how it will turn out.  It was good to see that he wasn't bashing it without knowing much about it, and at least keeping an open mind.  Just my take on it.

Intellivision Amoco... it's a gas, gas, gasss!   🤣

1 hour ago, IntyFanMatt said:

Interesting video, thanks for sharing that!  Noticed right away that the host couldn't even pronounce Amico right, lol.  Also, Metal Jesus couldn't really answer some of the questions since he doesn't have kids and doesn't know what kids like to do, or not do, these days so it was a lot of conjecture on his part.  I don't think he is able to relate to the current family dynamic at all, and I don't mean that in a negative way, it's just the truth.  Tommy is tapping into something that Metal Jesus is not really familiar with.  He seems to have too many question marks in his head right now, but he does seem very interested in how it will turn out.  It was good to see that he wasn't bashing it without knowing much about it, and at least keeping an open mind.  Just my take on it.

I'm curious what you mean by "current family dynamic"?  Are you saying that all families and kids are the same and that a one-size-fits-all approach is what is needed in family oriented gaming?  I mean I have kids and they couldn't be more different from one another.  One loves classic video games, tablet gaming and the Nintendo Switch, one loves Xbox sports games and PC gaming (admittedly mostly Minecraft and other games that involve world building or strategy) and the third is a bit young for gaming, but he refuses to watch anything on a television and will only watch on a tablet.  Despite their different interests, the two older ones enjoy gaming together at times and play a lot of Switch and Xbox One cooperative games.  They also like watching each other play games and like watching Youtubers uncover secrets in various games.  I mean even having kids, I have questions about how interested they would be in Amico.  Heck, I am a lifelong gamer myself and I"m not even sure that the Amico will be something I will be interested in.  Having said all that, I agree that a wait and see approach is best.          

21 minutes ago, bojay1997 said:

I'm curious what you mean by "current family dynamic"?  Are you saying that all families and kids are the same and that a one-size-fits-all approach is what is needed in family oriented gaming?  I mean I have kids and they couldn't be more different from one another.  One loves classic video games, tablet gaming and the Nintendo Switch, one loves Xbox sports games and PC gaming (admittedly mostly Minecraft and other games that involve world building or strategy) and the third is a bit young for gaming, but he refuses to watch anything on a television and will only watch on a tablet.  Despite their different interests, the two older ones enjoy gaming together at times and play a lot of Switch and Xbox One cooperative games.  They also like watching each other play games and like watching Youtubers uncover secrets in various games.  I mean even having kids, I have questions about how interested they would be in Amico.  Heck, I am a lifelong gamer myself and I"m not even sure that the Amico will be something I will be interested in.  Having said all that, I agree that a wait and see approach is best.          

No, of course I am not saying all kids and families are the same, not sure why you would suggest I was saying that.  I have 2 kids myself and they are each different and like to do different things.  The only thing I was saying by "family dynamic" is that since Metal Jesus DOES NOT have kids, then he really can't answer to how he feels the Amico would fit as a console in his home, or maybe with other families with kids.  You can tell that by his "non-answer" to that question in the video.  He just couldn't provide much insight since he hasn't had that experience.  That's all I meant.

7 hours ago, vprette said:

 

the point is: will stadia be any different from owning a ps4 for a person that play games in the living room (I mean in terms of portfolio, obiously I dont care about temporary call of duty clones exclusive) 
Amico offer IS different.... so having a ps4/ps5 looks kind of mandatory today (even if I stopped playing my ps4 since long time because of the complexity of game controls) and to wide the choice Amico would be a significant offer, not stadia (more of the same)

 

Stadia will be different from PS4 in that the games will be laggier, and you’ll likely have to go over your internet provider’s data cap to use it even modestly.

38 minutes ago, IntyFanMatt said:

No, of course I am not saying all kids and families are the same, not sure why you would suggest I was saying that.  I have 2 kids myself and they are each different and like to do different things.  The only thing I was saying by "family dynamic" is that since Metal Jesus DOES NOT have kids, then he really can't answer to how he feels the Amico would fit as a console in his home, or maybe with other families with kids.  You can tell that by his "non-answer" to that question in the video.  He just couldn't provide much insight since he hasn't had that experience.  That's all I meant.

To be fair, Tommy doesn't have kids as far as I know and he's answering to the family dynamic? 

12 minutes ago, ColecoJoe said:

To be fair, Tommy doesn't have kids as far as I know and he's answering to the family dynamic? 

Certainly seems like he is appealing to families.  Couch co-op for the whole family is a main goal.  Tommy seems to understand what's going on in the industry.  My comment was related to Metal Jesus.  He didn't have much to say in that video...I thought.

52 minutes ago, ColecoJoe said:

To be fair, Tommy doesn't have kids as far as I know and he's answering to the family dynamic?  

That is a valid point but also Tommy talks a lot the desire to be able to play with his mom, dad or other family member. IntyFanMatt and I both kinda focus on the children aspect probably because it is the most directly applicable to us and also I see it as the largest market for the Amico (could be wrong there of course). However I think Tommy is looking at family & even extended family, who he seems very close to, when he thinks of people playing the Amico.

3 hours ago, Lathe26 said:

Here's an interview with Metal Jesus Rocks and portions of the Amico are discussed from the 10min mark to the 22min mark.

 

Short version: he had fun playing it at E3 but is cautious about it (has some concerns but it also might succeed)
 

 

You know especially coming from his perspective of being an Atari kid, not liking the Intellivision controller coming into it and just being pretty far outside the demographic of what the Amico is really aiming at - I though he was cautious but respectful & willing to see where it goes. I respect that considering it is so easy to knee-jerk into the lazy "another Kickerstarter console that nobody needs" reaction so see so often. Quite frankly the Amico system ISN'T for everyone, especially the demographic of retro and console gamers that are mostly aware of it right now. Just being open minded or saying "maybe its for these people but not for me" is OK.

1 hour ago, The Strangest said:

Stadia will be different from PS4 in that the games will be laggier, and you’ll likely have to go over your internet provider’s data cap to use it even modestly.

You may be interested in this Inside Gaming Daily video where they question "who is Stadia for"? They even bring up Tommy's argument that a large portion of people who bought the Wii were casual gamers and therefore although it sold 100 million units things like samurai fighting games didn't sell nearly as well as you would expect from those numbers. Basically the market for the Wii was split between casual gamers and the typical Nintendo crowd. They also point out that 'hard core' console games ported to mobile just do "OK" because again they are trying to sell coffee to the tea crowd. Basically they are saying Stadia lowers the barrier to entry to consoles but hard core gamers are more concerned about lag, resolution & frame rates & don't bounce in and out of games a dozen times a day (which Stadia would excel at). In fact the only people who are attracted to easier to access, easy to hop in & out of games & less costly systems are more the casual gamers (i.e. the Amico crowd) which Stadia isn't targeting.

I just watched the metal Jesus video (never seen any of his streams, he's quite well spoken, so was the other guy).  Although it doesn't sound like a rousing endorsement, I think all that he says is fair, born out of the lack of answers on many questions that we will eventually get to (come E3 next year).

But you know what I got the most out of it?  The look on his face and his mannerism when he talked about his play time with moon patrol.  His hands were tied so he couldn't go into any significant detail but his facial expression translated well what his mouth couldn't say and that is he found it to be a really fun game and he'd go back to it when it's ready.

6 minutes ago, Loafer said:

But you know what I got the most out of it?  The look on his face and his mannerism when he talked about his play time with moon patrol.  His hands were tied so he couldn't go into any significant detail but his facial expression translated well what his mouth couldn't say and that is he found it to be a really fun game and he'd go back to it when it's ready.

I noticed the exact same thing, that was definitely a positive.  Hopefully that feeling translates to many more of the system's games.  Moon Patrol is a day 1 purchase for me along with the console (if it doesn't already come with it) and I'm excited to play it!

That video indirectly brought up one really important point.  Implementation is so important.  In the video Metal Jesus mentions he likes to play the 3DS with the 3D on, while I cannot think of many or any games where 3D was really required it was a thing. 

It seemed to me that consoles where the new selling point was not used well or enough seemed to suffer from under impressing or just not using said implementation, e.g. 3DS 3d screen was eventually removed.  The motion controls of the Move, Kinect did not really feel like strong connections to their games leaving customers and developers with a chicken and egg type of problem of to support or buy or not, eventually just dropping support for it. 

The Amiibo are such a broken promise and are mostly used to unlock hats and skins for your Mii.. ugh..  I am a fan of Nintendo but I also am a consumer and have to say while I appreciate their innovation I understand they are throwing spaghetti at the fridge door to see if something is ready or if it will even stick.

 I think if Amico can really push on requiring the uniqueness of the console and that the hardware feels tightly integrated and not just "tacked on" it will do great.  We gamers have been longing for new experiences and this console in my opinion just might be able to deliver it.

I myself can think of many ways sports games can use those controllers in such interesting ways and I am NOT even a sports gamer!

I know Tommy understands this and I hope his marketing and advertising focus not just on what you can do with Amico, but what you cannot do on any other console under any condition.

I can imagine seeing ads with people making plays, solving puzzles, helping / backstabbing their friends since the controller screens are private.

I would love and am hoping for this console to be the one that keeps the promise it makes.

4 hours ago, IntyFanMatt said:

Also, Metal Jesus couldn't really answer some of the questions since he doesn't have kids

Is it really relevant? I mean is Amico a kiddy console or is it a family console? From my point of view, the two are completely different. As a 50-year-old man who doesn't have children, I hope this console will also be for me. I hope this console will allow me to play games with both my niece and my mother. My hope is not simply to let my niece and other kids play video games while we, adults, talk about politics, it is to have something we can all do together while having fun (and precisely not talk about politics).

What I hope is that for Christmas 2020, when everyone is there, it won't be children playing games together, while adults are at the table having boring discussions, but instead it will be three generations of people having fun together. Maybe I'm a weirdo for hoping such a thing, maybe that's not what the majority of people want, but that's certainly what I want. So again, is it relevant if someone doesn't have kids on his own to be able to judge this new console?

From my point of view, what Metal Jesus is saying is that he doesn't know for sure what will happen. Even if he had kids, he still wouldn't be able to know the future. I certainly don't blame him for that. Personally, I think Tommy Tallarico's project has the potential to be very big, but then it could also completely crash and burn. No one knows for sure what will happen. I've seen business plans that were pretty much flawless and yet that completely failed because of a series of bad luck or unpredictable events.

27 minutes ago, imstarryeyed said:

That video indirectly brought up one really important point.  Implementation is so important.  In the video Metal Jesus mentions he likes to play the 3DS with the 3D on, while I cannot think of many or any games where 3D was really required it was a thing. 

 

It seemed to me that consoles where the new selling point was not used well or enough seemed to suffer from under impressing or just not using said implementation, e.g. 3DS 3d screen was eventually removed.  The motion controls of the Move, Kinect did not really feel like strong connections to their games leaving customers and developers with a chicken and egg type of problem of to support or buy or not, eventually just dropping support for it. 

 

The Amiibo are such a broken promise and are mostly used to unlock hats and skins for your Mii.. ugh..  I am a fan of Nintendo but I also am a consumer and have to say while I appreciate their innovation I understand they are throwing spaghetti at the fridge door to see if something is ready or if it will even stick.

 

 I think if Amico can really push on requiring the uniqueness of the console and that the hardware feels tightly integrated and not just "tacked on" it will do great.  We gamers have been longing for new experiences and this console in my opinion just might be able to deliver it.

 

I myself can think of many ways sports games can use those controllers in such interesting ways and I am NOT even a sports gamer!

 

I know Tommy understands this and I hope his marketing and advertising focus not just on what you can do with Amico, but what you cannot do on any other console under any condition.

 

I can imagine seeing ads with people making plays, solving puzzles, helping / backstabbing their friends since the controller screens are private.

 

I would love and am hoping for this console to be the one that keeps the promise it makes.

You are so right - the Amico is all about the unique controllers (and maybe some uniqueness in the base station to help out). However the feel and integration has to be 'tight' for the entire system to work correctly. Even though the games are casual the controllers can't lag or disconnect or just feel sloppy - that is so critical for game enjoyment and the perception of fairness. I think this is even more important than any hand cramping controller ergonomics that a lot of people are worried about. With casual games it is unlikely you will be playing 10 hours straight on an intense 'click now or die' sort of game (maybe in a puzzle or world building games - but those are far less intense). More likely you may engage your kids in a nightly after dinner round of Shark! Shark! for an hour or two before everyone heads off upstairs - way to short for bad ergonomics to kick in unless they are just horrid.

It sounds like Tommy and the team are leaning into these unique controllers and you are right - that is what will make this system special.

The touchscreen is genius for both the flexibility of the inputs it provides and the secret information aspect. Want to play a round of "Werewolf" with fellow party goers? Well you don't need a moderator - the secret information on the screen and the Amico can take care of it all. Secretly selecting a slant vs a draw play in football is no problem either. Also no need to wade through menus to select which upgrades are going into your race car - just pick "Engine" and then "Turbo Charger" in the next screen that pops up on the controller.

I am really hoping the Amico is a big success, not only because I think we desperately need a system for families with young children but also that will spark more and better games for the platform - which I plan on playing the heck out of myself.

15 minutes ago, Papy said:

Is it really relevant? I mean is Amico a kiddy console or is it a family console? From my point of view, the two are completely different. As a 50-year-old man who doesn't have children, I hope this console will also be for me. I hope this console will allow me to play games with both my niece and my mother. My hope is not simply to let my niece and other kids play video games while we, adults, talk about politics, it is to have something we can all do together while having fun (and precisely not talk about politics).

 

What I hope is that for Christmas 2020, when everyone is there, it won't be children playing games together, while adults are at the table having boring discussions, but instead it will be three generations of people having fun together. Maybe I'm a weirdo for hoping such a thing, maybe that's not what the majority of people want, but that's certainly what I want. So again, is it relevant if someone doesn't have kids on his own to be able to judge this new console?

 

From my point of view, what Metal Jesus is saying is that he doesn't know for sure what will happen. Even if he had kids, he still wouldn't be able to know the future. I certainly don't blame him for that. Personally, I think Tommy Tallarico's project has the potential to be very big, but then it could also completely crash and burn. No one knows for sure what will happen. I've seen business plans that were pretty much flawless and yet that completely failed because of a series of bad luck or unpredictable events.

I agree it’s not really relevant.  The console will be meant for EVERYONE. I was only addressing the point in the video when he was trying to answer how it will appeal to kids and he said he didn’t have any and didn’t really know. Just thought he wasn’t the best person to answer a question like that.  That’s all, please don’t read into my comment any further than that. I’m looking forward to the Amico’s release. 

1 hour ago, GrudgeQ said:

You know especially coming from his perspective of being an Atari kid, not liking the Intellivision controller coming into it and just being pretty far outside the demographic of what the Amico is really aiming at - I though he was cautious but respectful & willing to see where it goes. I respect that considering it is so easy to knee-jerk into the lazy "another Kickerstarter console that nobody needs" reaction so see so often. Quite frankly the Amico system ISN'T for everyone, especially the demographic of retro and console gamers that are mostly aware of it right now. Just being open minded or saying "maybe its for these people but not for me" is OK.

I personally think that not targeting the retro crowd or at least acknowledging that they will be a big part of the initial market is a huge mistake.  I'm not ruling out the possibility that families that are nostalgic for a certain kind of multiplayer experience could discover Amico on their own, but I think the more likely scenario is retro gamers introducing the console to their kids and family members and friends, some of whom may not be even casual gamers currently, and then those people becoming interested and purchasing one as a result.  I just don't think there is some huge contingent of people out there who will be persuaded to spend $150 or $200 for something against which they have no reference point and for many people, the best reference point will be friends who share it with them personally.  I know that kind of one-on-one marketing made a huge difference for the Nintendo Switch with kids as I recall the day my middle son came home from his friend's house and asked if he could get a Switch for his birthday.  Up to that point he literally didn't know what Nintendo was despite being a tablet gamer previously and living in a home with a pretty significant retro collection.   

3 hours ago, bojay1997 said:

I personally think that not targeting the retro crowd or at least acknowledging that they will be a big part of the initial market is a huge mistake.  I'm not ruling out the possibility that families that are nostalgic for a certain kind of multiplayer experience could discover Amico on their own, but I think the more likely scenario is retro gamers introducing the console to their kids and family members and friends, some of whom may not be even casual gamers currently, and then those people becoming interested and purchasing one as a result.  I just don't think there is some huge contingent of people out there who will be persuaded to spend $150 or $200 for something against which they have no reference point and for many people, the best reference point will be friends who share it with them personally.  I know that kind of one-on-one marketing made a huge difference for the Nintendo Switch with kids as I recall the day my middle son came home from his friend's house and asked if he could get a Switch for his birthday.  Up to that point he literally didn't know what Nintendo was despite being a tablet gamer previously and living in a home with a pretty significant retro collection.   

I totally agree and wasn’t very clear when I threw in the generic term “retro” gamer. I was actually thinking of a hard core collector who may not care about anything made past the Genesis era or is only interested in Atari, Nintendo or some other console or brand. That is a limited set of retro gamers - certainly not typical.

You are certainly correct that your typical retro gamer remember the pure, simple fun and head-to-head game play that sticks with us through our memories and which the Amico re-evokes.

4 hours ago, IntyFanMatt said:

I agree it’s not really relevant.  The console will be meant for EVERYONE. I was only addressing the point in the video when he was trying to answer how it will appeal to kids and he said he didn’t have any and didn’t really know. Just thought he wasn’t the best person to answer a question like that.  That’s all, please don’t read into my comment any further than that. I’m looking forward to the Amico’s release. 

Sorry if I read too much into your comment. I must admit I felt a bit attacked since I don't have children either.