Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

27 minutes ago, Michael Garvey said:

Lol that last video took over 6 hours to edit and we had to cut about 5 minutes or it would never get done.

 

I think I might start just video recording myself as editing is too time consuming. 

 

Lol

Dang that stinks. Sorry it took soo long. 

9 hours ago, theswede said:

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

There was a scene in "Your Friends and Neighbors" movie about that. Two guys meet at a bar and one guy shows up in a pink shirt. The other guy doesn't want to be seen with him. They have a discussion about his wide buying it for him and it is "salmon". He ends up with his friend making him wear his jacket.

9 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

No idea what you're talking about!

😂

 

 

 

 

Grooooovy! Keep on Truckin!

11 hours 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".

 

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.

LOL.  As a parent, I once used this to our advantage.
 

After my son destroyed 1 backpack and lost another in the same school year, we bought him a third; I then pointed to another backpack hanging on the wall and told him if he needs a fourth, he's getting that pink one.  

4 hours ago, vongruetz said:

So something like this, but with a better TV?  And I'm sure the console will look more authentic.

 

 

If they make one with a Curtis Mathes Cabinet TV, I'll buy two!

4 hours ago, RetroAdvisoryBoard said:

Sega’s heard us and is correcting.  
 

The load screen chimes in “Meeeegaaaa!”

Uses two 6V lawnmower batteries, not included.🤣

11 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

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.

 

 

5 hours ago, RetroAdvisoryBoard said:

Sega’s heard us and is correcting.  
 

The load screen chimes in “Meeeegaaaa!”

Sega would do this, actually...

2018:

and last year:

https://www.scoopnest.com/ja/user/SEGA_OFFICIAL/1111822989887074305-10001300-13151600-16151900-2019

21 minutes ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Sega would do this, actually...

 

2018:

 

and last year:

https://www.scoopnest.com/ja/user/SEGA_OFFICIAL/1111822989887074305-10001300-13151600-16151900-2019

If only my 3d printer was big enough🤔

1 hour ago, Relicgamer said:

Dang that stinks. Sorry it took soo long. 

No worries. I had fun doing it.

Just lots of picture and lots of editing.

My son and I are trying to double up the editing where he is working o. His computer and I'm working on my other sons computer. 

Still takes a long time 

Lol 

2 hours ago, Starpaddler said:

AARP?

Are you not 50 yet? Because when you close in on that number, they find you... oh yes... they find you.

They’ll wear you down. You’ll keep throwing the letters away, but eventually they’ll pry the $14 out of your wallet. You’ll justify it with the AARP discount you’ll get at Outback or some other place you go to every-now-and-again.

Then it’s a never-ending flow of insurance offers and magazine issues featuring people older than you who are likely far healthier than you are, and living a more exciting life.

You’ll see lots of ads for chairs that take you up and down the stairs of your home and you’ll start to think, “I’m healthy enough to walk up and down stairs on my own, but that does look really cool and perhaps I should start to take things easier and not risk falling.” Don’t even get me started on the walk-in bathtubs. 

And you’ll see scam alerts you didn’t even know about, making you more terrified than ever to answer your phone or open your door to strangers.

In truth, an article in the AARP mag would be great publicity. Tommy’s response to that doesn’t surprise me at all because, yeah... it would be something!

43 minutes ago, Relicgamer said:

If only my 3d printer was big enough🤔

Make a bunch of smaller pieces and attach them somehow!

18 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

No idea what you're talking about!

😂

 

 

 

 

Tommy, what the frick is that you're wearing in the first photo!?

Is that some sort of hybrid boot-suit? 

This Board/Card Game would be a perfect fit for Amico and his controller with touchscreen !

I remember 8 years ago playing a version of this game at someone houses and having great fun.

It's a long video, but just listening the first minute, you will understand how Amico can easily deal with this kind of game.

( No need to close our eyes...  etc )

What do you think ?

1 hour ago, LePionnier said:

This Board/Card Game would be a perfect fit for Amico and his controller with touchscreen !

I remember 8 years ago playing a version of this game at someone houses and having great fun.

It's a long video, but just listening the first minute, you will understand how Amico can easily deal with this kind of game.

( No need to close our eyes...  etc )

What do you think ?

 

Also give a big thumbs up for a werewolf type game. There are a ton of these secret identity games like Werewolf (or Mafia), One Night Werewolf (a shorter version so players don't get eliminated and have to sit around bored) and even one called Secret Hitler. They are all a great fit for the Amico with everyone having a shared screen and an individual screen for hidden information & silent input which could pretty much fix all of the problems with these games. The big downsides are having to close your eyes (as as @LePionnier mentioned), drum your fingers on the table to drown out sounds of cards turning without the phone app you have to have a 'moderator' to secretly instruct players what to do and in the longer version, killed (eliminated) players having to sit around. Despite these downsides these games are amazingly popular party games, especially for the 20 something, nerdier crowd.

Here is a nice article about the history of Mafia (these games are all kind of spin off of that one I believe) & rules:

https://www.kqed.org/pop/10178/how-to-play-mafia-an-in-depth-guide-to-the-perfect-holiday-game

12 hours ago, Stillagamer said:

Hey Tommy, Ive been paying attention to the launch of the amico and have some questions and thoughts just from an average gamer perspective.

Hi!  Welcome to AA and the Q&A thread!  Always great to see new faces.  Hope you'll stick around. 

12 hours ago, Stillagamer said:

 

Will there be a monster collecting game on the amico? I think it would be awesome to shout commands into the mic on the controller and see the monster do what you tell it on screen. I think a monster rancher style game would be awesome on the amico with the ability to scan things that have rfid.

I totally agree.  I think it would be really cool.  Currently we don't have a game like that, but I'm definitely on the look-out for things like that... so if you know of any Steam, Mobile or Switch games that are similar, please give me links so I can check them out and have our team approach the developers to see if they would like to make something for Amico.

12 hours ago, Stillagamer said:

 

Another game genre im interested in is trading card games. Again because of the rfid scanning i think theres a lot of potential there. Making it 2 player versus could be easy if you use a board with visible units like Scrolls, Duelyst, or Shardbound. Magi Nation was a canadian "triple threat" media franchise (cartoon, video game, collectible card game) that had huge potential but missed its audience because the card game was a little too complex for kids. Would love to see something similar to that on the amico a triple threat franchise like the pokemon company.

We are working on something similar to this.  Won't be ready for launch... but there is something cool in the works.

12 hours ago, Stillagamer said:

 

Last thing im wondering is will the amico have games like Dust: An Elysian Tail in terms of graphics/production quality?

 

 

Dust is really awesome!  And I love the graphic style.  I'm not 100% sure if Amico could do that level of special effects they have going on so I don't want to say "yes" or "no"... because I just don't know.  One of our platform games that we're working on is somewhat in that style... but more cartoony. 

Thanks again for the questions. 

 

12 hours ago, Michael Garvey said:

Lol that last video took over 6 hours to edit and we had to cut about 5 minutes or it would never get done.

 

I think I might start just video recording myself as editing is too time consuming. 

 

Lol

Yeah.. I think just showing you talking and then once in awhile cutting in footage or pics would be totally fine.

10 hours ago, Swami said:

Grooooovy! Keep on Truckin!

FAROUT man!

Hey Tommy, I mentioned this in Pete’s podcast yesterday to you and want to mention it again here. Michael Mullis was pretty adamant about having the release of original Intellivision games at launch and I agree with you that it could send a message that the Amico Is just another retro flashback console. 
 

However, wouldn’t it be something that every reimagined Intellivision game came with the original game and it could only be unlocked by performing a certain achievement?  For example, if you kill the final boss in the reimagined Astrosmash, you will unlock the original Astrosmash!
 

Wouldn’t THAT be something????

9 hours ago, Jake67 said:

Are you not 50 yet? Because when you close in on that number, they find you... oh yes... they find you.

 

They’ll wear you down. You’ll keep throwing the letters away, but eventually they’ll pry the $14 out of your wallet. You’ll justify it with the AARP discount you’ll get at Outback or some other place you go to every-now-and-again.

 

Then it’s a never-ending flow of insurance offers and magazine issues featuring people older than you who are likely far healthier than you are, and living a more exciting life.

 

You’ll see lots of ads for chairs that take you up and down the stairs of your home and you’ll start to think, “I’m healthy enough to walk up and down stairs on my own, but that does look really cool and perhaps I should start to take things easier and not risk falling.” Don’t even get me started on the walk-in bathtubs. 

 

And you’ll see scam alerts you didn’t even know about, making you more terrified than ever to answer your phone or open your door to strangers.

 

In truth, an article in the AARP mag would be great publicity. Tommy’s response to that doesn’t surprise me at all because, yeah... it would be something!

Any paid membership club that has 40 million members in one of our biggest target demographics and has never been focused on in gaming is definitely something.

😇

2 hours ago, RREDDWARFF said:

Tommy, what the frick is that you're wearing in the first photo!?

 

Is that some sort of hybrid boot-suit? 

You kidding me?  That was ALL THE RAGE back in 72!

🤣

29 minutes ago, GrudgeQ said:

Also give a big thumbs up for a werewolf type game. There are a ton of these secret identity games like Werewolf (or Mafia), One Night Werewolf (a shorter version so players don't get eliminated and have to sit around bored) and even one called Secret Hitler. They are all a great fit for the Amico with everyone having a shared screen and an individual screen for hidden information & silent input which could pretty much fix all of the problems with these games. The big downsides are having to close your eyes (as as @LePionnier mentioned), drum your fingers on the table to drown out sounds of cards turning without the phone app you have to have a 'moderator' to secretly instruct players what to do and in the longer version, killed (eliminated) players having to sit around. Despite these downsides these games are amazingly popular party games, especially for the 20 something, nerdier crowd.

 

Here is a nice article about the history of Mafia (these games are all kind of spin off of that one I believe) & rules:

https://www.kqed.org/pop/10178/how-to-play-mafia-an-in-depth-guide-to-the-perfect-holiday-game

Totally!  We've had these types of games on our radar for over a year now.  Nothing to report just yet, but DEFINITELY on our "to do" list!

Exactly the type of game that could really shine on Amico.

9 minutes ago, Craig Parker said:

Hey Tommy, I mentioned this in Pete’s podcast yesterday to you and want to mention it again here. Michael Mullis was pretty adamant about having the release of original Intellivision games at launch and I agree with you that it could send a message that the Amico Is just another retro flashback console. 
 

However, wouldn’t it be something that every reimagined Intellivision game came with the original game and it could only be unlocked by performing a certain achievement?  For example, if you kill the final boss in the reimagined Astrosmash, you will unlock the original Astrosmash!
 

Wouldn’t THAT be something????

That would be pretty damn cool.

Something to think about for sure.

Great suggestion.

I was looking at some Wii games online and ran across Just Dance 2019 for the Wii. I remember that interview with Vara where you brought up that the Wii version was the best selling port and she was kinda pushing that people may have bought it as a joke. However, I see that on Amazon that the Wii Just Dance 2019 has a rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars based on 521 customer reviews, so, if everyone bought it on a lark, they seem to have all enjoyed it a lot.

39 minutes ago, GrudgeQ said:

Also give a big thumbs up for a werewolf type game. There are a ton of these secret identity games like Werewolf (or Mafia), One Night Werewolf (a shorter version so players don't get eliminated and have to sit around bored) and even one called Secret Hitler. They are all a great fit for the Amico with everyone having a shared screen and an individual screen for hidden information & silent input which could pretty much fix all of the problems with these games. The big downsides are having to close your eyes (as as @LePionnier mentioned), drum your fingers on the table to drown out sounds of cards turning without the phone app you have to have a 'moderator' to secretly instruct players what to do and in the longer version, killed (eliminated) players having to sit around. Despite these downsides these games are amazingly popular party games, especially for the 20 something, nerdier crowd.

 

Here is a nice article about the history of Mafia (these games are all kind of spin off of that one I believe) & rules:

https://www.kqed.org/pop/10178/how-to-play-mafia-an-in-depth-guide-to-the-perfect-holiday-game

I think all games need a single player mode. Could that be done with these types of games?