Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

On 6/12/2020 at 12:17 AM, martianman2012 said:

Here's something that's been on my mind and I don't believe answered yet... How will the Amico's physical media register with the console? I know there was mention that there would be swag to collect (sounding a bit like Amibo figures for Nintendo that have NFC chips). Judging by the current layout it appears there is no slot specifically for this, but I think there could last second by re-routing a USB port from the back to the front, allowing the game to run from the 'cart' via usb like a hardware license dongle as long as connected. If this wasn't the case then there could be a generic slot the size of the 'cart' that allows a 'cart' to be placed there (making an NFC connection), and granting user ability to play the game. I only say this because initially Tommy had mentioned in a 2018 interview stating that it was all digital and now close to release date it looks still like that. Looking at the TG16 mini I think my second idea would work perfect. 

 

 

This is a hardball question, but all out of love of course What do you guys think? Tommy?

All will be revealed by the end of summer.

On 6/12/2020 at 6:16 AM, GrudgeQ said:

Since I know everyone here loves stats *cough*, just one one more. This is from the ESA's latest 2019 gaming report. Notice any trends between the Amico's software mix and the most popular games types among the male/female distribution?

 

Hmmm.... isn't that interesting!

I might be on to something here.

On 6/12/2020 at 7:31 AM, LePionnier said:

The greatest thing from all the great stuff would be Tommy telling us they can work again from the office and that they can test everything related to Amico with their partners ! 😃

I wish this too!!

Unfortunately it still isn't the case.

On 6/12/2020 at 8:14 AM, Nolagamer said:

@Tommy Tallarico thought  you were supposed to announce a major kids license this week?? Or are you moving to next week due to the ps5 press?

PS5 moving, rioting in the streets, cancel culture everywhere, killer hornets, earthquakes... you name... we got it!

😱😱😱

18 hours ago, GrumpyOl'Guy said:

 

Nothing puts a smile on your face more than a @AtariSociety Amico video!  Especially when it's a musical!!

45 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Thanks!  Trying our hardest.  And every week there seems to be some new horrifying out of the blue challenge the universe throws at us.  One of the companies we're working with had to shut down because of the riots, another got slammed by an earthquake out towards Bakersfield, CA last week!  Ya can't make this stuff up!  Crazy.

But it all doesn't matter.  We keep plowing through and figuring out alternative ways to make it happen.  In the end... all that really matters is that it comes out and it's successful.  And although I'd be the one who is most disappointed it didn't come out on time... I'm also NOT going to sacrifice the quality just to "hit a date" that could be taken out of our hands and beyond our control.

But as of today... it's still possible to hit 10/10.  The number of units to be manufactured by then shrinks every day.  Waiting for things like compliance testing is just one of the many challenges that are currently out of our control.  The ability to purchase simple components is another as well as "waiting in line" for the other big companies to catch up on their manufacturing as they've taken over all of the best high quality places. 

If things aren't ironed out and fall into place by middle or end of July... it will be near impossible to get it out by 10/10.  Remember it takes 1 month just to ship from China to the U.S. (or Europe).  So everything would need to be packaged and on a boat by the latest... September 1st.  That means manufacturing must start on August 1st just to get a mere 35,000 units produced.  But if compliance isn't met and components aren't available... then all we can do is wait. 

 

Everything will be fine no matter what.  We've restructured our entire pre-revenue business plan just in case.  We actually did that back in February as our CFO and manufacturing partners saw the potential of something bad happening to the entire manufacturing and supply chain.  Super KUDOS to our incredible team for "reading the tea leaves" and preparing us ahead of time.  This is why it's so great to have so many talented folks on the team!

 

There's nothing we can't accomplish and we're all so passionate about making this dream a reality.  Nothing will EVER stop Amico from coming out!

 

 

 

Thanks Tommy,

It may be some additional work on your end, but if you wanted to maintain the release date and manufacturing ends up falling just a little short of the deadline, for myself think I would be willing to pay for air-shipment delivery and would assume many of the Founders and VIP Adopters may as well.
 

Its not perfect, but it may allow for a way for IE to cement the date in the history books. 
 

All I’d need is a quote 🤑

16 hours ago, CurlyQ said:

 

Amico Live Streams are always Sausage Parties...

 

Dictionary Definition:

 

sau·sage par·ty

noun: sausage party; plural noun: sausage parties

    an event or group in which the majority of participants are male.
    "ignore the RSVP list as it looks like a sausage party"

 

 

I'm with @Juice on this one, let's make it a point to get some women on these live streams. It would be nice to get some female perspectives. 💋🚺♀️

 

 

Holy CRAP that is creepy!

And yes... I agree.  Would be great to include more women.  There are definitely a handful out there who have interviewed me in the past.  They are all super cool and I'm sure would love to join!

 

11 hours ago, oelli said:

Just comes to my mind: I hope the Amico will use some kind of virtual keyboard on the touch-screen of the controller to enter the WLAN password not some annoying and slow left, right, up, down selection thing. 

Yep!!  Sure does!

Yet another unique advantage we have over all the other home consoles. 

1 hour ago, Intellivision Master said:

 

That was fun.

@OEB_Pete SHILL IN DA HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!

🤑

55 minutes ago, Starpaddler said:

Willy Wonka Tidbit for Tommy. 
 

https://apple.news/AhvdJoJ4KR-WAZDrwL3ATVw

Yeah... very familiar with that story.  Great one!!

43 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

Nothing puts a smile on your face more than a @AtariSociety Amico video!  Especially when it's a musical!!

 

 

 

me me me me me.....

Do-Re-Mi.....

Man my voice is hurting today after I did the Esteban Tyler song... I think I really did screw up my laranx!

Ha ha

TJ

34 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

That was fun.

 

@OEB_Pete SHILL IN DA HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

🤑

This is for Tommy or anyone who knows...

While I love Cloudy Mountain (which you guys talked about in the video), I equally love Treasure of Tarmin. 

I can’t recall if there’s been any mention of that one being re-imagined. I would think we’d get the original down the line when original versions of Intellivision games are released, but I’d be really happy with a re-imagined version, too. 

2 minutes ago, Jake67 said:

This is for Tommy or anyone who knows...

 

While I love Cloudy Mountain (which you guys talked about in the video), I equally love Treasure of Tarmin. 

 

I can’t recall if there’s been any mention of that one being re-imagined. I would think we’d get the original down the line when original versions of Intellivision games are released, but I’d be really happy with a re-imagined version, too. 

Wouldn't that be something?

4 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Yeah... I played Zelda BOTW for about 2 weeks straight... then it just started to get too complex as I needed to get all this other "stuff" in order to pass a boss (yes, I know there are extreme hardcores out there who can pass a boss with the stick... but that isn't me!).  I had great fun with it while I played it... then when the gameplay got to a point where it seemed like a major uphill climb and lots of backtracking or potion cooking to get advantages... I decided to put it down and call it a day.  Great game, but not one that I was interested in finishing.

 

I had the exact same experience. I bought the Switch and that game in the midnight release, started off for the story, got completely sidetracked, went crazy on the potions, explored for 40 hours, tried to get back on track to beat the game, and just put it down. Love the game, but open world = ADHD for me. Same reason I never beat GTA5 and just defaulted to online play. I think Zelda 1 is the perfect formula for adventure games (action-explore-progress-finish).

4 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

If you guys have wired cable instead of satellite I can always bring back the PlayCable as well!

 

 

 

This makes me wonder: Since you can provide dev kits for programmers to third parties, will you be interested in providing dev kits to hardware third parties for special peripherals such as an original cart interface or unique arcade controller that may appeal to a smaller audience?

3 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

All will be revealed by the end of summer.

 

Can't wait. Thanks @Tommy Tallarico

5 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

It's a good point.  And like I've said in the past...  They search every day for Amico content, watch and comment on every video, read every article, read every comment here, spend hours making videos, make fake accounts to have double and triple the voice, etc.  I don't know... sounds like a fan to me! 

 

Considered "negative" or "obsessed", but they are still contributing to the community pretty much on a daily basis at this point.  That's a huge sign of future success.  If we were boring or they weren't interested, they would say their peace and go away.  Instead, like you mentioned, they are really just upset that something they really like deep down isn't exactly the way they want it for themselves.  A sign of immaturity for sure... but also a sign that they care so much about it that they feel the need to discuss and think about to the point it consumes their daily life.  Sad in one regards, but kinda cool in another. 

 

 

This does remind me of Rob Reiner interview I saw many years ago. The interviewers had asked him something like 'Does it bother you at all over the hate mail you get for making your movies?' to which he replied 'Not at all. In fact, I would be bothered if I had just made a film and got no hate mail at all for it; then I would worry I just made a flop'.

It seems you both agree on that point. The biggest concern would be if absolutely no-one was discussing it at all, not that some minority of people are automatically hating it.

Call it a sheltered life, but up until recently I had never heard of cornhole. Since it was announced for the Amico, it’s like when you’re thinking of buying a particular model of car and suddenly you see it everywhere.

Well, now I’m keyed into cornhole and was just watching it on ESPN. It’s a sport where if you’re not a fan and stumble across it on TV, you think you’ll watch just for a minute, but you get sucked in and can feel the stress of a close game.

The commentary of this cornhole match made it sound like we were watching the Gretzky of cornhole. Sure enough... the guy seemed in a zone that his competitors weren’t going to reach.

Suddenly I’m looking forward to cornhole on the Amico.

38 minutes ago, Jake67 said:

Call it a sheltered life, but up until recently I had never heard of cornhole. Since it was announced for the Amico, it’s like when you’re thinking of buying a particular model of car and suddenly you see it everywhere.

 

Well, now I’m keyed into cornhole and was just watching it on ESPN. It’s a sport where if you’re not a fan and stumble across it on TV, you think you’ll watch just for a minute, but you get sucked in and can feel the stress of a close game.

 

The commentary of this cornhole match made it sound like we were watching the Gretzky of cornhole. Sure enough... the guy seemed in a zone that his competitors weren’t going to reach.

 

Suddenly I’m looking forward to cornhole on the Amico.

Still hoping for ladder golf in the future, as well! It's a popular outdoor game and would be the first for any system.

Hey Tommy the Vcs is here. Have you shaking in your boots lol. Next will be the internals. 

3 hours ago, Swami said:

This makes me wonder: Since you can provide dev kits for programmers to third parties, will you be interested in providing dev kits to hardware third parties for special peripherals such as an original cart interface or unique arcade controller that may appeal to a smaller audience?

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/288558-intellivision-amico-tommy-tallarico-introduction-qa/?do=findComment&comment=4303941

Wouldn't it be something if the Amico made a cool sound when turning it on and off?

5 minutes ago, Intellivision Master said:

Wouldn't it be something if the Amico made a cool sound when turning it on and off?

You're gonna make it difficult to sneak in middle-of-the-night gaming sessions. I like the idea so long as I can turn it off 😀

26 minutes ago, Intellivision Master said:

Wouldn't it be something if the Amico made a cool sound when turning it on and off?

https://www.101soundboards.com/sounds/170361-hello-commander-computer-reporting

On 6/9/2020 at 11:19 AM, haplo13 said:

I first heard about it from the Intellivision Productions facebook page and/or mailing list when it was announced Intellivision Productions was turning into Intellivision Entertainment.  BTW, I'm glad you didn't stick with the red logo that was in one of those original emails - reminds me of somewhere that isn't so SAFE.   🔥😈

I still have this image in my light-up chest display and show it at PRGE.

Here's an early version (logo above not included)