Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

4 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

Parents are buying for kids at that age.  Parents are making the decisions... not the 4 or 5 year old.

not in my extended family  LOL.... anyway, you have already done the one thing that will make you successful.  You are lean and mean and with such a low B/E you cant help but be fiscally successful. The only real question is " how successful" which is a good thing.

Silly question of the day -  Is the USB-C connection on the back of the Amico Power only? Or Power/Data?

4 minutes ago, bigdaddygamestudio said:

not in my extended family  LOL.... anyway, you have already done the one thng that will make you successful.  You are lean and mean and with such a low B/E you cant help but be fiscally successful. 

Hahaha!  Fair enough.  

We find that the kids look up to their parents at those ages though... and if the parent likes it... they will like it as well.  And the average non-gaming parent LOVES the system and everything we stand for.

Yeah... lean and mean is one huge key to our success.  Especially within the investor community!  And without that... we wouldn't exist.

1 minute ago, woobman said:

Silly question of the day -  Is the USB-C connection on the back of the Amico Power only? Or Power/Data?

Power/Data.

1 minute ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Yeah... lean and mean is one huge key to our success.  Especially within the investor community!  And without that... we wouldn't exist.

its really interesting and Im excited for you guys. Im mean I can realistically see this selling anywhere for 2 million to 100 million units. Its just just how successful you will be.  Fingers crossed for the higher numbers.   

Freakin COVID is not doing anyone any favors, but again, being mean and lean and therefore flexible in times like these is a HUGE advantage after everything is said and done. Looking forward to these next few years.

5 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

7 minutes ago, woobman said:

Silly question of the day -  Is the USB-C connection on the back of the Amico Power only? Or Power/Data?

 

Power/Data.

 

OOOO That brings possibilities.. Thanks Tommy!

When the marketing and TV commercials begin for the Amico, there could be a phrase like Intellivision Amico can what Atari VCS can't.  

What I Would Love to See From the Amico

Here are some games that would make an amico a day one buy for me and have a style that i think fits the overall aesthetic.

- Hyperlight Drifter

a fantastic zelda-like game

- Pyre

from wikipedia: "the game's combat system which was described by Marty Silva of IGN as a mix of Defense of the Ancients, Rocket League, and Supergiant's previous game, Transistor."

Pyre with a couch co op mode would be fantastic. E10+ rating but is a game adults and kids would love.

- Duelyst

A very tactical card game and possibly the best ccg or tcg i have played, and ive played them all. Has some beautiful 2d sprites that evoke the 8 bit look. Couch co op is easily a possibility as this game is played on a board. Often called a hearthstone/chess hybrid. The game servers were shut down this year. A ccg would be amazing with the amico because of the potential of having physical cards scanned into the game with rfid. Counterplay games' first game was a critical darling but failed due to its increasingly pay to win gacha mechanics. They sold the rights to bandai namco and abandoned the game to make their next project Godfall. This game has amazing lore and a fleshed out world. Incredible sprite artist Glauber Kotaki (Rogue Legacy) did all the sprites for this game.

- Netrunner

Another card game that is widely regarded as one of the best paper tcgs. Its also been discontinued but still has a rabid fan base. From the creator of Magic: The Gathering Richard Garfield, this game is his magnum opus and fits petfectly into amicos tron inspired themes. Has never had a digital game surprisingly.

- Magi Nation

A canadian media franchise from the early 2000s aimed at kids that really should have taken off. Had a short lived cartoon, a gameboy color game, and one of the best card games ever made. This would be a great fit for the younger audience of the amico and has the potential to be a huge franchise. Toys, merchandise, and other types of games as well. This franchise was aiming for the three-pronged attack of the japanese invasion of the mid 90s. Tv show, video game, card game. Still rife with potential and would not be expensive to buy the rights for i would imagine.

- Monster Rancher style game

Because of the rfid scanning potential of the amico, a new monster rancher style game could make a revival. I played monster rancher with my 8 year old nephew recently and he was completely blown away by the concept. It broke the 4th wall between game and reality and seemed like magic to him every time a new cd or dvd made a new monster. Could use the microphone to give it battle commands. " [Monster name] Fireball!" " [Monster name] Tail Attack!" Would seriously blow pokemon out of the water if you can do that. 

- Scribblenauts franchise

could work great with the amico touch pad.

I think the amico has huge potential to innovate in the game space. I can see it. Thanks for reading!

Just now, Intellivision Master said:

what Atari VCS can't.

whats an Atari VCS?  Atari is barely a company at this point. Amicos competition among the younger families I think is the Switch/Switch Lite.

5 minutes ago, Intellivision Master said:

When the marketing and TV commercials begin for the Amico, there could be a phrase like Intellivision Amico can what Atari VCS can't.  

Or...

Intellivision Amico can what Atari VCS didn't.

3 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Or...

Intellivision Amico can what Atari VCS didn't.

 

 

 

Unless your like me and you have a 3d printer then its "I did what atari couldnt lol

13 minutes ago, bigdaddygamestudio said:

whats an Atari VCS?  Atari is barely a company at this point. Amicos competition among the younger families I think is the Switch/Switch Lite.

The Atari VCS/Atari Box is that console that's been delayed many times.  I know their not much of a company anymore.  I was just having fun.  Because Tommy said if the Atari VCS comes out he would kick their butt with the Amico.

1 hour ago, bigdaddygamestudio said:

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

I'd say because I don't care what critics and reviewers think.  I only care what the people who will be buying it think. 

 

There isn't a single movie reviewer or critic on the planet I trust.  Not a single one.  I don't even trust the "average" Rotten Tomato scores from users or critics.  Critics will tear Amico part no matter how the options screens are set up.  But the folks we do want to care... our target audience... will marvel at the ease of use... not the complexity

I agree right now they dont matter, I disagree that they wont matter once this comes out.  Amazon ratings for instance matters a lot.   I think the  " is it cool in school" is gonna be the biggest hurdle you have for the millenial parent market. No parent will buy this if the "kids" even in grade school dont think its cool   Tough hurdle.

 

Hell I remember as early as 2nd grade, if my mom tried to buy me " toughskins" jeans..... hell now,, cant be seen in those.  Levi or Lees back in the day  LOL  and its only gotten worse, kids have their parents so tied around their fingers in embarrassing.

When I was about 14-16 years old, my mom genuinely bought a light pink sweater for me. When I gently refused to even wear it once, she argued that the sweater was not pink: she said it was "salmon".

How very little she knew that healthy, wild salmon meat is actually dark pink, and light pink salmon meat means the fish comes from salmon farming.

Back to the Amico, one cool thing for the Intellivision Theme Park would be a Safecracker Escape Room.

15 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

But more importantly... Millennial parents do not have 12 year old kids.  They have kids that are 1 - 7 right now.  21 million households in the U.S. with kids between the ages of 2 - 7.  21 million more in Europe and 20+ million more in Canada & Mexico.

If anyone ever has any doubts on Intellivision's main focus market I think everything is explained by their animated logo (an 11 on the 10 point cuteness scale). I wouldn't doubt the Amico becomes the first console for millions of kids. They may well graduate onto a Switch & then an XBox or PSx after that as they mature & their parents release more control, but think about the parent friendliness of the Amico. First kids play on the TV, which is a lot easier to monitor than a screen in front of their face. I know, I know you should always watch you kids at all times & be omnipresent in every way - but in the real world Dad or Mom has to stir that pot or dinner is going to burn. 100% family friendly means you don't have to know or research something especially when your kids blind side you with wanting to buy a game suddenly - you are guaranteed it can't be that bad, there won't be ongoing costs and there won't be any online danger 'gotchas' for your snap decision to bite you later. It is super cost effective if you have a couple of young ones. One thing that people overlook is every game being multiplayer also means every game can potentially be played by several kids from one copy (cutting the already cheap $6 to $10 down to a fraction of that cost). The same applies to the whole machine of course, it is meant to be shared. Plus the controllers are like $40 or $50. A lot cheaper than a Switch, phone or tablet to place in the accident prone hands of a 4 to 6 year old. Finally it is easy enough so you can play with the kids or even at adult parties after the kids have gone to bed. This is pretty much the perfect console for a cautious parent with young ones (and if you got young ones, you are generally pretty darn cautious - they will run into traffic with all the care of a squirrel crossing the road to the next tree).

25 minutes ago, bigdaddygamestudio said:

whats an Atari VCS?  Atari is barely a company at this point. Amicos competition among the younger families I think is the Switch/Switch Lite.

It's very interesting.  Our research tells us that most average parents resist buying a Switch for many reasons.  Most of all, it's not thought of as a family device.  I know that's going to throw the fanboy haters into a hissy fit.  But I'm only mentioning what the research and data shows.  This isn't my "opinion"... it's what our 3rd party data & research says.

The sales numbers easily mirror that data as well.  Out of the 4.5 billion people on planet Earth, 3 billion people play video games... but only 55M Switches sold.  That's around 2% of the 3 billion.  And just so it doesn't seem like I'm picking on Nintendo (we all know how it drives the fanboyz crazy)... it's even LESS of a percentage for XBOX One.

Here are some of the differences that research has revealed.  We appeal and focus on families and playing together.  The main focus of Switch is a great device you can play at home or on the road.  Switch has 2,400+ games with not much curation and TONS of shovelware (some have even said the vast majority).  We focus 100% on quality over quantity.  We have family games, educational games, gamer games, retro games, party games, hyper casual and even games for grandma and grandpa.  So although we may not have as many games... we are more diverse for the audience we are attracting.  Switch games are EXPENSIVE and need extra controllers to play as a group.  We are the opposite. 

Great value for an average casual or non-gaming family and a great 2nd or 3rd machine for the hardcore gaming family.

Our competition is more like puzzles, a deck of cards or Pictionary.  And by the time we come out... most families may be pretty sick of all those because it's all they've been doing during COVID.

Will be interesting to see how it all plays out.  I definitely like our chances.

9 minutes ago, Relicgamer said:

Unless your like me and you have a 3d printer then its "I did what atari couldnt lol

You gotta do it, throw a Pi in there and then make a video.  You'd get a million views!

14 minutes ago, GrudgeQ said:

If anyone ever has any doubts on Intellivision's main focus market I think everything is explained by their animated logo (an 11 on the 10 point cuteness scale). I wouldn't doubt the Amico becomes the first console for millions of kids. They may well graduate onto a Switch & then an XBox or PSx after that as they mature & their parents release more control, but think about the parent friendliness of the Amico. First kids play on the TV, which is a lot easier to monitor than a screen in front of their face. I know, I know you should always watch you kids at all times & be omnipresent in every way - but in the real world Dad or Mom has to stir that pot or dinner is going to burn. 100% family friendly means you don't have to know or research something especially when your kids blind side you with wanting to buy a game suddenly - you are guaranteed it can't be that bad, there won't be ongoing costs and there won't be any online danger 'gotchas' for your snap decision to bite you later. It is super cost effective if you have a couple of young ones. One thing that people overlook is every game being multiplayer also means every game can potentially be played by several kids from one copy (cutting the already cheap $6 to $10 down to a fraction of that cost). The same applies to the whole machine of course, it is meant to be shared. Plus the controllers are like $40 or $50. A lot cheaper than a Switch, phone or tablet to place in the accident prone hands of a 4 to 6 year old. Finally it is easy enough so you can play with the kids or even at adult parties after the kids have gone to bed. This is pretty much the perfect console for a cautious parent with young ones (and if you got young ones, you are generally pretty darn cautious - they will run into traffic with all the care of a squirrel crossing the road to the next tree).

 

 

There is a HUGE thing that we have yet to reveal about Amico and its family friendliness... especially when it comes to kids.

I think it's one of the biggest things in regards to gaining that audience...  but I won't reveal it until the machine is out.  Not even the day before.

It needs to be experienced during the box opening.  Anything less spoils the surprise.

Hey guys, I just opened a pretty cool topic for these times of chaos:

Imagine a Sega/Playstation/Xbox/Atari/Intellivision/other Theme Park: What attractions would you build?

30 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Switch games are EXPENSIVE and need extra controllers to play as a group.  We are the opposite. 

the game cost themselves could be the big win for you. The reason I say the Switch is the main competition is because not only is it a gaming machine but its a portable baby sitter. Young kids under a certain age Mom needs to drag around with them all day, and the switch goes with them and baby sits them while mom does her errands.( Childcare is going to be a HUGE problem as most of these childcare places will not be reopening) It also connects to the TV not that kids are into TV any more. Its phone and if its a TV, its a big screen to play games.  Thing is disposable income is going to be very thin these next few years, so its going to be an all out battle for that large one birthday or xmas gift.  Hell lots of families are going to have a hard time just keeping the kids fed.  So I think Amico low priced games may be a real opportunity to penetrate the market.  

9 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

There is a HUGE thing that we have yet to reveal about Amico and its family friendliness... especially when it comes to kids.

 

I think it's one of the biggest things in regards to gaining that audience...  but I won't reveal it until the machine is out.  Not even the day before.

 

It needs to be experienced during the box opening.  Anything less spoils the surprise.

Just curious, how many total surprises can we look forward to before launch? 

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

We find that the kids look up to their parents at those ages though... and if the parent likes it... they will like it as well.

Unless kids are radically different today than they were when I was a kid or when my kids were little (certainly possible), if a kid with an Amico in the house gets hooked on just one game, it’ll be a system he/she loves.

We can talk about peer-pressure and kids wanting what’s cool or what their friends have (which is a legit discussion), but if their imagination is captured with some Amico game, they’ll play it no matter what, and will be very open to other games on the console.

At that point, it’s less about outsiders influencing them and more about what they’re experiencing themselves. And if the experience of a young kid includes being able to take on mom or dad in a balanced video game battle, so much the better in their eyes.

44 minutes ago, bigdaddygamestudio said:

the game cost themselves could be the big win for you. The reason I say the Switch is the main competition is because not only is it a gaming machine but its a portable baby sitter. Young kids under a certain age Mom needs to drag around with them all day, and the switch goes with them and baby sits them while mom does her errands.( Childcare is going to be a HUGE problem as most of these childcare places will not be reopening) It also connects to the TV not that kids are into TV any more. Its phone and if its a TV, its a big screen to play games.  Thing is disposable income is going to be very thin these next few years, so its going to be an all out battle for that large one birthday or xmas gift.  Hell lots of families are going to have a hard time just keeping the kids fed.  So I think Amico low priced games may be a real opportunity to penetrate the market.  

Yeah.  The portability of a Switch is definitely a big plus for the "babysitting" market for sure.  Tablets & old phones seem to be the majority of that space as well.  One of parents #1 concerns is too much alone screen time for their kids... so we get a big +1 in our corner for that one. 

I totally agree with you... disposable income is going to be at a premium over the next year.  Stacked up against our competition in the home console space... especially if parents start to do the math in their heads (extra controllers, $50 games, monthly subscriptions, etc.) I'm loving our chances.  And that WILL be focused on in our family marketing and I don't care if fanboys get upset because we compare our differences and advantages with everything else out there.  Smart marketing folks know what to do and how to position the message.  So don't worry... I'm not going to be screaming about rape and gaming racists on Ellen or in our TV ads.  

😁  

25 minutes ago, Jake67 said:

if a kid with an Amico in the house gets hooked on just one game, it’ll be a system he/she loves.

True but the family will have already had to buy the system for this to happen.  If the Amico is labeled and dismissed as a flashback console that will suck, but I think it will also suck if it gets labeled a " Fischer Price baby console" as well. As they say, 

it will be how the Amico responds , counter punches, and ropeadopes that will likely decide its fate. I like their chances

1 hour ago, IntelliMission said:

When I was about 14-16 years old, my mom genuinely bought a light pink sweater for me. When I gently refused to even wear it once, she argued that the sweater was not pink: she said it was "salmon".

Haha, my wife fooled me with that same “salmon-scam” 😣

49 minutes ago, NTV said:

Just curious, how many total surprises can we look forward to before launch? 

Big surprises?   For hardware... I'd say there are 3 pretty significant ones that will be revealed over the summer (and that doesn't include the family thing I was talking about above).