Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

29 minutes ago, theswede said:

So you are saying you are not getting enough information regarding the product, and that makes you doubt? Is there any product that you can take as an example that has been doing more effort to give updates, information and answering concerns during the development and launch process? 

I think people including me have gotten used to these almost daily updates, answering questions etc .....and it’s  not realistic to continue this way until launch because it must be exhausting for Tommy and if there is a choice between tons of updates , YouTube interviews etc .... or actually spending that time on the console , games , launch plans etc I think we should be ok if things are quiet for awhile. Don’t forget it’s not the norm to give all of this information during the development process. It’s a BONUS 😊

4 minutes ago, Cranker said:

I think people including me have gotten used to these almost daily updates, answering questions etc .....and it’s  not realistic to continue this way until launch because it must be exhausting for Tommy and if there is a choice between tons of updates , YouTube interviews etc .... or actually spending that time on the console , games , launch plans etc I think we should be ok if things are quiet for awhile. Don’t forget it’s not the norm to give all of this information during the development process. It’s a BONUS 😊

Yes, that’s the point I’m trying to get across. We are all used to having the Meet Amico videos drop every now and then and very frequent updates. Now that there hasn’t been anything really substantial in a while, I’m wondering why there hasn’t been. I guess I was expecting this to continue until launch. 

51 minutes ago, Craig Parker said:

Good point. I just don’t see it both ways. Either they are going to need to start spending marketing dollars now, or delay the launch. I just don’t see them having a successful launch if they hit the 10/10 date with little to no marketing. 

Hi Craig ! If I remember well, Tommy always said the Marketing will only begin between one and two months before launch date. So nothing to worry ! 😃

28 minutes ago, Intellivision Master said:

 

Is it just me, or does Jeremy look more like Atari Society’s avatar then TJ?

9 minutes ago, Craig Parker said:

Yes, that’s the point I’m trying to get across. We are all used to having the Meet Amico videos drop every now and then and very frequent updates. Now that there hasn’t been anything really substantial in a while, I’m wondering why there hasn’t been. I guess I was expecting this to continue until launch. 

They ran out of juice.  

4 minutes ago, Craig Parker said:

Yes, that’s the point I’m trying to get across. We are all used to having the Meet Amico videos drop every now and then and very frequent updates. Now that there hasn’t been anything really substantial in a while, I’m wondering why there hasn’t been. I guess I was expecting this to continue until launch. 

Here’s my thinking CP...I’ve followed this thread for a while now, watched a lot of Tommy’s vids on some YouTubers, watches the meet Amico vids and really anything I can get my hands on. Getting hooked on finding out all I can. I’m invested like most of us all here, got $600 bucks into 2 Founders Edition for myself and my brother who was diehard Intellivision fan...but I’m gonna check out a bit. Don’t mean in in a bad way, and i have been coming here less and less since Covid hit and watched less and less of the live-streams.

Why you ask? I know the situation is fluid and will probably change and 10-10-2020 may not make it, and I’m ok with that. Really main reason is I wanna be old school surprised whenever the new Intellivision lands at my door step. I want that exciting surprise find from first opening the box. First Easter egg either myself or my brother finds and we chat about it. Playing games and uncovering hidden secrets. Just like I did in the 80’s! 
 

Old school in a new non normal world. I’m in, 100% and waiting to just experience what comes along when Amico does arrive.

29 minutes ago, Cranker said:

I think people including me have gotten used to these almost daily updates, answering questions etc .....and it’s  not realistic to continue this way until launch because it must be exhausting for Tommy and if there is a choice between tons of updates , YouTube interviews etc .... or actually spending that time on the console , games , launch plans etc I think we should be ok if things are quiet for awhile. Don’t forget it’s not the norm to give all of this information during the development process. It’s a BONUS 😊

Yea, I more then get it.  I’m on here several times a day looking for any little new nugget (cause I’m too impatient to just wait and hear about it from OBE Pete), but I know Tommy’s time not spent here is in my overall best interest as far as getting Amico in my “grubby little hands”.  

Have to remember that Tommy is running a company, designing, testing and working to launch a new console all while having the added duty of trying to duck and weave what the world is throwing out these days.  It sucks the information flow seems to be at a slow crawl these days, but it feels even worse than it is because of our excitement for the system. 

Playing devil’s advocate, I’d think we would have more to worry about Amico if Tommy was on here 24/7. 

12 minutes ago, MarioMan88 said:

Here’s my thinking CP...I’ve followed this thread for a while now, watched a lot of Tommy’s vids on some YouTubers, watches the meet Amico vids and really anything I can get my hands on. Getting hooked on finding out all I can. I’m invested like most of us all here, got $600 bucks into 2 Founders Edition for myself and my brother who was diehard Intellivision fan...but I’m gonna check out a bit. Don’t mean in in a bad way, and i have been coming here less and less since Covid hit and watched less and less of the live-streams.

Why you ask? I know the situation is fluid and will probably change and 10-10-2020 may not make it, and I’m ok with that. Really main reason is I wanna be old school surprised whenever the new Intellivision lands at my door step. I want that exciting surprise find from first opening the box. First Easter egg either myself or my brother finds and we chat about it. Playing games and uncovering hidden secrets. Just like I did in the 80’s! 
 

Old school in a new non normal world. I’m in, 100% and waiting to just experience what comes along when Amico does arrive.

If it arrives and you get a box of confetti that would be a surprise. Surprises are not always good. Pre ordering is a gamble and it's normal to be concerned.

6 minutes ago, Juice said:

If it arrives and you get a box of confetti that would be a surprise. Surprises are not always good. Pre ordering is a gamble and it's normal to be concerned.

I agree wholeheartedly, one reason I debated and ultimately decided against putting any dollars toward the AtariBox/VCS project. I even decided against a simple pledge for the new controller, which still really hasn’t been shown. Heck even in their own promotional videos what controller they do show is wired 😳

21 minutes ago, MarioMan88 said:

Here’s my thinking CP...I’ve followed this thread for a while now, watched a lot of Tommy’s vids on some YouTubers, watches the meet Amico vids and really anything I can get my hands on. Getting hooked on finding out all I can. I’m invested like most of us all here, got $600 bucks into 2 Founders Edition for myself and my brother who was diehard Intellivision fan...but I’m gonna check out a bit. Don’t mean in in a bad way, and i have been coming here less and less since Covid hit and watched less and less of the live-streams.

Why you ask? I know the situation is fluid and will probably change and 10-10-2020 may not make it, and I’m ok with that. Really main reason is I wanna be old school surprised whenever the new Intellivision lands at my door step. I want that exciting surprise find from first opening the box. First Easter egg either myself or my brother finds and we chat about it. Playing games and uncovering hidden secrets. Just like I did in the 80’s! 
 

Old school in a new non normal world. I’m in, 100% and waiting to just experience what comes along when Amico does arrive.

I couldn’t agree with you more with what you said. I just don’t know if I could check out a bit although I see your point!  

I jist dont think thats possible.  There is only so much info about this console and most have been explained to get more every day for the next 4 months is just not realistic.  Maybe more nm on games but that is all effected the current problems.  

34 minutes ago, Craig Parker said:

Word of mouth will be a strong start to a successful overall marketing campaign.

Absolutely ! If Amico reach all my expectations, count on me and a lot of folks here !

On my part, every friend of mine or my son, my family , people living near my house , etc will hear about Amico !

I will even speak to the manager of my son's school. If they don't have the budget for this year, I might even offer them one or two !

Everybody need to try it ! Because they will mostly like it and be happy, but also because more and more people will buy it,

we will increase the chances of revolutionizing the industry !

That can sound crazy, but there's more and more hardcore players (at least the older one like me and some friends) that are tired to pay much to high for games !

Tired to have a game that was rushed and uncompleted ! Tired that the only fun is looking at video reveals like the ones from Sony and Microsoft and try to guess
what's the game and what's the story ! Death Stranding was so hyped in trying to make us guess what we have to do. But when you know it, do you want to take

so much time of your everyday life to play the game ? It's cool they tried to make something new but at what cost !??

When developers will see that they have a window of opportunity with Amico, that their game will be the only new one available for 7 days on the system !

When they will be tired to lose so much money and so many times at making games !

The big 3 will not change everything from what they are doing right now, but they will change some things.

Is it crazy to pay the same price for a physical release and a digital version !? That could be one of the first thing to change.

And if Amico sells very well, do you think we could have new players in this new market that Intellivision Entertainment will have created ?

Don't forget, its billions and not millions of potential customers.

Not only Amico will be a winner, but more importantly, it will be the whole industry ! 😀

41 minutes ago, Cranker said:

I think people including me have gotten used to these almost daily updates, answering questions etc .....and it’s  not realistic to continue this way until launch because it must be exhausting for Tommy and if there is a choice between tons of updates , YouTube interviews etc .... or actually spending that time on the console , games , launch plans etc I think we should be ok if things are quiet for awhile. Don’t forget it’s not the norm to give all of this information during the development process. It’s a BONUS 😊

For sure, and don’t get me wrong, I’m equally eager to get more news about the Amico, but I’m not concerned that some videos or press releases are slipping/getting pushed forward from dates that have only been tentative. And I must admit that I couldn’t agree less on the “300-600 games a year is a must for Amico”, and that they need the AAA developers to succeed. I have never bought/played more than 10-20 new games a year for any video game system, so having a new game every two weeks will not be a problem for me, but hey, I totally understand that that is not the average among the “real” gamers (especially the people in here or Youtubers)

Looks like I picked a good time to step away for a couple weeks to recharge the batteries.  I am very excited for Amico already buying things for it I will need I like being prepared but I was definitely feeling some overload and needed a break so I focused on my other big upgrade I’m working on putting together a quality record player set up so I could take my mind away for a while but now I’m recharged and ready for the next step 

1 hour ago, Starpaddler said:

Is it just me, or does Jeremy look more like Atari Society’s avatar then TJ?

he is a mighty handsome fellow this Jeremy. 

TJ

1 hour ago, MarioMan88 said:

I may be wrong but I take it they won’t be needing to spend big advertising dollars since IE won’t have a big number of units to move. If they launch on 10-10-2020 they already have sold probably  the amount of FE, VIP, Fig and maybe even Gamestop preorders that they can realistically produce with all the supply constraints. 
 

Just me guessing Tommy and team play it as soft launch on 10-10-2020 with successful preorder campaign, delivering on the promises and building buzz excitement as the system won’t be readily available and ramping up real advertising dollars as they can supply more units heading into 2021.

 

Just my take...

That is also my take. Mass marketing would mean that stock manufactured would have to be pumped to meet the then demand. I learned this the hard way from Nintendo with the NES and SNES mini. I spent time trying to get an NES mini, got ripped off twice by fake units (one was returnable), and left a little broken hearted by Nintendo. I really don't want to see IE make that mistake. We are already off to a trust worthy start.

Since they won't start releasing original titles and they have a ton in the mix that wont be ready until after 2021 then I see this 2020 launch as mostly an initial launch for us geeks and then maybe a mainstream pumped launch Q1 2021? 

2 hours ago, Craig Parker said:

Good point. I just don’t see it both ways. Either they are going to need to start spending marketing dollars now, or delay the launch. I just don’t see them having a successful launch if they hit the 10/10 date with little to no marketing. 

What?!?, why spend marketing dollars on a product that hasn’t launched yet? People aren’t going to be happy to see an ad, click on it and it just says “Coming in October”. Nor will they remember that as several months later. Almost all marketing starts at or very near product launch. You do PR for the lead up - and that is exactly what Tommy has been doing for the last few years at this point. 

1 hour ago, Craig Parker said:

I couldn’t agree with you more with what you said. I just don’t know if I could check out a bit although I see your point!  

I agree as well but am still on here at least 20 times a day ! 😂 it’s always open on my browser on my phone !

1 hour ago, Craig Parker said:

Yes, that’s the point I’m trying to get across. We are all used to having the Meet Amico videos drop every now and then and very frequent updates. Now that there hasn’t been anything really substantial in a while, I’m wondering why there hasn’t been. I guess I was expecting this to continue until launch. 

My estimation is because they are in crunch trying to finalize things and get ready for the match. Also little things like riots and Covid has made everything harder. Considering I know more about the Amico that may unlaunched product ever - I think I am OK with them saving up some stuff for a bigger splash at the end of July, as Tommy has mentioned a couple of times.

8 minutes ago, martianman2012 said:

That is also my take. Mass marketing would mean that stock manufactured would have to be pumped to meet the then demand. I learned this the hard way from Nintendo with the NES and SNES mini. I spent time trying to get an NES mini, got ripped off twice by fake units (one was returnable), and left a little broken hearted by Nintendo. I really don't want to see IE make that mistake. We are already off to a trust worthy start.

 

Since they won't start releasing original titles and they have a ton in the mix that wont be ready until after 2021 then I see this 2020 launch as mostly an initial launch for us geeks and then maybe a mainstream pumped launch Q1 2021? 

I am preparing for a 2021 launch but hoping for a 10/10 launch 🚀 

2 hours ago, Craig Parker said:

Good point. I just don’t see it both ways. Either they are going to need to start spending marketing dollars now, or delay the launch. I just don’t see them having a successful launch if they hit the 10/10 date with little to no marketing. 

All you have to do is figure the math. Tommy has said that their current production numbers are limited to 35k a month.  Then subtract that preorders. Combined they are reaching 20k. So to your comment that they need to do advertising now. For what?  To sell 10k units. The cost of advertising is really expensive. Till they can produce 50k or more units there absolutely no real reason to spend money advertising on something you cant deliver on. I feel a ad campaign around the month before launch or on launch would be the best timing. Because the 1st month is already sold. 

2 hours ago, Intellivision Master said:

 

Im with @OEB_Pete on this. A low number of solid games would probably be best. I remember the Mario 1/duck hunt combo. So much fun with 2. I also remember the 1-2 switch thing that had a bunch of stuff, but I only played for 2 minutes then of to Zelda.

2 hours ago, Cranker said:

I think people including me have gotten used to these almost daily updates, answering questions etc .....and it’s  not realistic to continue this way until launch because it must be exhausting for Tommy and if there is a choice between tons of updates , YouTube interviews etc .... or actually spending that time on the console , games , launch plans etc I think we should be ok if things are quiet for awhile. Don’t forget it’s not the norm to give all of this information during the development process. It’s a BONUS 😊

What if... these updates, appearances, interviews, and pop-in's ARE the marketing? What if this is the first time in history this was attempted? I've never seen anything like this and kinda hope my theory is true. The popularity base could be established in 2020 and then a couple ads here and there in 2021 about a new cool system on the rise with at that point a tons of games being ready. Just some thoughts.

#WouldThatBeSomething

or

#wtbs

😎🤘

56 minutes ago, Relicgamer said:

All you have to do is figure the math. Tommy has said that their current production numbers are limited to 35k a month.  Then subtract that preorders. Combined they are reaching 20k. So to your comment that they need to do advertising now. For what?  To sell 10k units. The cost of advertising is really expensive. Till they can produce 50k or more units there absolutely no real reason to spend money advertising on something you cant deliver on. I feel a ad campaign around the month before launch or on launch would be the best timing. Because the 1st month is already sold. 

24 minutes ago, martianman2012 said:

What if... these updates, appearances, interviews, and pop-in's ARE the marketing? What if this is the first time in history this was attempted? I've never seen anything like this and kinda hope my theory is true. The popularity base could be established in 2020 and then a couple ads here and there in 2021 about a new cool system on the rise with at that point a tons of games being ready. Just some thoughts.

 

#WouldThatBeSomething

or

#wtbs

😎🤘

@Relicgamer I think is spot on, since petty much day 1 Intellivision has said they have a real marketing budget (probably a little over $10 million is the guesstimate). As a result however @martianman2012 maybe mostly right as far as the PR cycle may be extended because there is no point of heavy advertising as long as production is heavily limited. A lot of what Intellivision may do is provide more classic marketing elements in conjunction with their store partners. Like in store marketing materials (think store shelf decorations) or cross promotional stuff like premium placement on the Walmart mail out circular. So I think there defiantly will be some “real marketing” but Intellivision will mostly keep their marketing money held back for when it can be spread over 100,000 units and not 10,000.