Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

1 hour ago, Intellivision Master said:

 

Lots of cool and unique questions in this one.  Let me know if anyone has any follow up to anything I said.

6 minutes ago, GrudgeQ said:

For me as a Nintendo fan (I have mad respect for them, I think they have created/been a part of more enduring iconic gaming franchises than any other company) I am glad. I haven't heard much about Animal Crossing Pocket Camp, but there was a significant backlash against Mario Kart Tour placing people on the typical mobile micro transaction, pay to win train. For me that cheapens a company's image and I think they need to either just price the games higher & stay out of the muck or just stay out of the mobile business generally.

I really don't like pay to win, it should be based of skill not how much money you want to spend. I've never experienced it personally cause usually if I play a mobile game I only play it for maybe a second or two before I go mehhh

Hey heres a question to Tommy and everyone here. Maybe its just YouTube's algorithm.  Recently I've been noticing when you do a search on YouTube for Amico the 1st ad at the top of the search is one from Nintendo its a ad.  Do you believe this is a sign of them seeing you as competition?  

54 minutes ago, Juice said:

Not sure but this is what Tommy said

 

"Some games may only have VERSUS as opposed to Co-Op... but all will be able to be played in a room together.

 

Skiing is an example that comes to mind.  There is no "co-op" mode really.  Just a couple of different ways to play VERSUS against each other.

Couch Co-op is a general term to mean people playing in a room together.  But the term should really be Couch Multiplayer.  Some call it "Local Multiplayer" but I'm not a fan of that term because it confuses non-gamers.

 

I personally don't like the term Couch Co-op either... but it's the one everyone knows and uses.  But yes... there is a difference between something that is "Co-operative" as opposed to challenging against each other in a Versus mode.

Every game will have at least one of those"

Couch co-op

Cooperative games designed to be played by multiple players on the same display screen have come to be known as "couch co-op", "local co-op" or "single-player co-op" games.

It doesn't matter the "type" or "style" or "mode" of gameplay. 

Very simple.  Zero controversy. 

1 minute ago, Relicgamer said:

Hey heres a question to Tommy and everyone here. Maybe its just YouTube's algorithm.  Recently I've been noticing when you do a search on YouTube for Amico the 1st ad at the top of the search is one from Nintendo its a ad.  Do you believe this is a sign of them seeing you as competition?  

Yes, those Nintendo ninjas are watching.  Lol.

3 minutes ago, Relicgamer said:

Hey heres a question to Tommy and everyone here. Maybe its just YouTube's algorithm.  Recently I've been noticing when you do a search on YouTube for Amico the 1st ad at the top of the search is one from Nintendo its a ad.  Do you believe this is a sign of them seeing you as competition?  

1 hour ago, Relicgamer said:

Be careful these guys are watching😳 you lol. They get triggered pretty quickly

Frankly, I do not care what they think or how "triggered" they get.  The fact that the "bacon thread" existed at all—not just once, but twice!—shows how far we went to accommodate those people, bending over backwards on multiple occasions to ensure that whatever "concerns" they claimed to have were voiced and addressed, while staying within the bounds of our community guidelines.  They blew every opportunity they were given to be taken seriously, and in the most blatantly disrespectful and ungrateful ways possible, until they simply ran out of chances with us.  Whatever it was about this project or the people involved that originally stuck in their craws, it created so much festering resentment that it drove some of them completely off the rails—and as much as they like to blame Tommy or me or whoever else, they did it entirely to themselves.  Months later, even after everything else that's happened in the world, they still haven't gotten over it.  They're still at it now, in fact, posting trolling comments on every Amico-related YouTube video they can find, and refreshing this thread every five minutes so they can take selective screenshots and respond with their nasty little quips and barbs and amateurish memes on their anti-Amico blogs.  (I know of a few of them, and I have a pretty good idea of who's doing it.)  I suppose they truly have nothing better to do with their time and energy.  Fortunately, nobody outside of their miserable little circle jerk is paying them any attention, and I think it should stay that way.  Let's just ignore them.

6 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

Couch co-op

Cooperative games designed to be played by multiple players on the same display screen have come to be known as "couch co-op", "local co-op" or "single-player co-op" games.

 

 

 

 

Very simple.  Zero controversy. 

 

 

Who said there is controversy? These terms are confusing I always think of either playing single player, vs, or cooperative. I don't know about online terms I just like things simple which is why this appealed to me in the first place.

4 minutes ago, Juice said:

Who said there is controversy? These terms are confusing I always think of either playing single player, vs, or cooperative. I don't know about online terms I just like things simple which is why this appealed to me in the first place.

Go back and re-read the initial post that you responded to.  @Swami asked a question.

A certain group of folks ("trolls" as Swami mentioned) is trying to turn this into a controversy when clearly there is none.

14 hours ago, Craig Parker said:

That’s what I plan on doing. The other reason why I wish there was a physical box copy of every game is because there MIGHT be a perception that if there isn’t a physical box copy of the game, then the game must not be that great. It may divide the game catalog into two classes of games:  awesome and not-so-awesome. 

I know Tommy answered above but I just wanted to add that sometimes a great game may not have a huge audience (but they may be very passionate, just small) and sometimes the game just may not make an attractive physical game for the general customer. Remember you got to make a certain number (like tens of thousands) of units to stock a store like Walmart and each variant requires setting up a production line with large minimum costs. Often times, making 1 costs almost as much as making 10,000. That is why you might end up with a miniature Catan Jr box keychain physical game but not Cronkinole, even if people proclaim that the Amico version is the best Crokinole game ever and reviews are through the roof. Also a kid might buy a shark figurine for Shark! Shark! or a Big Bird character for Big Bird's Learning Fun but not an asteroid or generic looking space ship for Astrosmash. Just like Amibo sales are all over the place, Link characters sell out while some generic looking leaf Pokemon languishes on store shelves. Intellivision needs to make sure it just puts out the sellers and not the sitters.

4 minutes ago, GrudgeQ said:

I know Tommy answered above but I just wanted to add that sometimes a great game may not have a huge audience (but they may be very passionate, just small) and sometimes the game just may not make an attractive physical game for the general customer. Remember you got to make a certain number (like tens of thousands) of units to stock a store like Walmart and each variant requires setting up a production line with large minimum costs. Often times, making 1 costs almost as much as making 10,000. That is why you might end up with a miniature Catan Jr box keychain physical game but not Cronkinole, even if people proclaim that the Amico version is the best Crokinole game ever and reviews are through the roof. Also a kid might buy a shark figurine for Shark! Shark! or a Big Bird character for Big Bird's Learning Fun but not an asteroid or generic looking space ship for Astrosmash. Just like Amibo sales are all over the place, Link characters sell out while some generic looking leaf Pokemon languishes on store shelves. Intellivision needs to make sure it just puts out the sellers and not the sitters.

Also, to add to that... things like buy-backs, re-shipping, returns, etc. are also a big consideration.  So we just need to be super careful. 
 

Don't get me wrong... I'm hoping we have a TON of different things for all our games!  I'm just sharing reasons why it's better for us to walk before we run.  Unlike the big 3... we can't afford to make too many big mistakes!

10 hours ago, sanguinesonata said:

Those of us who understand what's really going on recognize that this is only just the beginning, and that it's going to get much, much worse from here on out.

I think it would be better if we avoided discussing COVID-19.  Discussing how it is impacting this project is one thing, but if the other COVID-19 threads we've had here are any indication, too many of us are not yet in a place where we can rationally discuss the subject directly, and I don't want it to derail this thread any further.

5 minutes ago, GrudgeQ said:

I know Tommy answered above but I just wanted to add that sometimes a great game may not have a huge audience (but they may be very passionate, just small) and sometimes the game just may not make an attractive physical game for the general customer. Remember you got to make a certain number (like tens of thousands) of units to stock a store like Walmart and each variant requires setting up a production line with large minimum costs. Often times, making 1 costs almost as much as making 10,000. That is why you might end up with a miniature Catan Jr box keychain physical game but not Cronkinole, even if people proclaim that the Amico version is the best Crokinole game ever and reviews are through the roof. Also a kid might buy a shark figurine for Shark! Shark! or a Big Bird character for Big Bird's Learning Fun but not an asteroid or generic looking space ship for Astrosmash. Just like Amibo sales are all over the place, Link characters sell out while some generic looking leaf Pokemon languishes on store shelves. Intellivision needs to make sure it just puts out the sellers and not the sitters.

Call me old school, but I really don’t have an interest in figurines, amibos, actual spaceships, etc. I just want to be able to play the games and have physical box copies. Just like the original Intellivision and the 125 boxed games. 

5 minutes ago, jaybird3rd said:

I think it would be better if we avoided discussing COVID-19.  Discussing how it is impacting this project is one thing, but if the other COVID-19 threads we've had here are any indication, too many of us are not yet in a place where we can rationally discuss the subject directly, and I don't want it to derail this thread any further.

Thank you for posting this.👍

7 minutes ago, Craig Parker said:

Call me old school, but I really don’t have an interest in figurines, amibos, actual spaceships, etc. I just want to be able to play the games and have physical box copies. Just like the original Intellivision and the 125 boxed games. 

Don't worry... lets just say...  I got ya covered.

25 minutes ago, jaybird3rd said:

Frankly, I do not care what they think or how "triggered" they get.  The fact that the "bacon thread" existed at all—not just once, but twice!—shows how far we went to accommodate those people, bending over backwards on multiple occasions to ensure that whatever "concerns" they claimed to have were voiced and addressed, while staying within the bounds of our community guidelines.  They blew every opportunity they were given to be taken seriously, and in the most blatantly disrespectful and ungrateful ways possible, until they simply ran out of chances with us.  Whatever it was about this project or the people involved that originally stuck in their craws, it created so much festering resentment that it drove some of them completely off the rails—and as much as they like to blame Tommy or me or whoever else, they did it entirely to themselves.  Months later, even after everything else that's happened in the world, they still haven't gotten over it.  They're still at it now, in fact, posting trolling comments on every Amico-related YouTube video they can find, and refreshing this thread every five minutes so they can take selective screenshots and respond with their nasty little quips and barbs and amateurish memes on their anti-Amico blogs.  (I know of a few of them, and I have a pretty good idea of who's doing it.)  I suppose they truly have nothing better to do with their time and energy.  Fortunately, nobody outside of their miserable little circle jerk is paying them any attention, and I think it should stay that way.  Let's just ignore them.

Its actually pretty funny to me. Some are actually afraid of me because I exposed their lies and their stance on a few topics that are extremely unfavorable in society and has ultimately gotten 1 of them booted from several YouTube videos.  Truth always overcomes the lies. 

16 minutes ago, Craig Parker said:

Call me old school, but I really don’t have an interest in figurines, amibos, actual spaceships, etc. I just want to be able to play the games and have physical box copies. Just like the original Intellivision and the 125 boxed games. 

Yeah I used the figurines as an example because I thought people could visualize why one might sell over the other better that way.

8 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Don't worry... lets just say...  I got ya covered.

I can't wait to see what physical media options are available. The nice thing is Tommy is a huge collector himself, that gives me a lot of faith there are going to be several cool ways to collect for the Amico - maybe some more kid/parent/gifting friendly and some more adult collector friendly.

2 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

It's more of a numbers game.  Meaning... if we have 30 titles on launch we just don't have the immediate capacity or will be given the shelf space to do them all.  Too risky a proposition for a company just hitting the retail market.  Best to take the "victories" and the ones we feel will make for a very nice special package.  Gotta pick our battles and spend manufacturing money as smart as possible.  Best to walk before we run and see what the market prefers. 

If everything goes as planned.. we can always revisit titles that were only offered digitally.  Better for us out of the gate to read the market as opposed to guessing.  We may find that only a certain demographic will want a physical version.  We won't exact know how that will play out until we're on the market.  Hard to distinguish these types of buying decisions through focus group testing.

I have one CONCERN about the Amico!

As I understand it by now:

New games are usually downloaded to the system from an online store. Like it is the case for example with the iPhone and the App Store (as an App developer for iOS devices I know the App Store best).

I am no collector per se; especially not of figures and merchandising stuff but I like to use and enjoy some devices after their supported live span is over. This is for example no problem with my Mattel Intellivision. I can today buy games for it I could never afford back in the days and play them.

On the other hand for my first iPod touch I can not install any new or old Apps because the current versions do not support the old device any more and the old versions that would run on it are not available any more. Even as a developer I can not create new Apps for this "old" device because that is not supported.

So now back to the Amico, my "concern", and the announced physical games:

From what I heard so far this physical games will only be some kind of trigger so that the Amico will download the actual game from the online store. This would mean, that even the physical games depend on the server infrastructure.

Of course this is the way most of the things are handled nowadays. What makes me a little bit sad is the fact, that with this dependency on the internet this great Amico console will also become more or less a "brick" as it is the case with my old iPod touch (and the PlayCable of the old Intellivision) when the online service is shut down.

Tommy, please resolve my concern and convince me that Amico is forever.

3 minutes ago, Intellivision Master said:

 

You beat me to it! Thanks for sharing.

On 6/19/2020 at 8:48 PM, martianman2012 said:

Judging by the negative consumer response to the disc-less XBox One S system I don't think it will stick. Ever notice how no one wanted digital media for PC games after steam? PC games initially started with CD media due to the size limitation of diskette plus the streaming of CD audio. After PC harddrives became a lot bigger games were able to offload all the content to the harddrive which decreased load times and rendered the disc not necessary to be present. The games still required the disc in the drive to check entitlement and prevent piracy. As soon as Steam gave us digital purchases with one account and unlimited re-installs we would never want to go back to a disc. It became nice and clean.

 

The video game consoles is the opposite. Video game discs seem to be treated the same are carts where players have more of a sense of ownership and collecting nature. If all consoles were digital only then GameStop wouldn't exist, swapping games with friends is out, and returns are gone.  I started to go all digital until I bought Resident Evil 7 and I hated it. I lost $60. That brought me right back to physical games for purchase security and I actually got more excited with building my collection (with the slight inconvenience of getting up and changing the disc).

 

Tldr: Console gaming majority prefers physical media - PC gaming prefer digital.

True, AD for consoles might not work out.  However, Sony is making a AD edition of the PS5 and it looks like MS is going to give another crack at an AD edition too.  Grant, AD editions may not stick, but PC gaming has pretty much gone AD (if I am not mistaken) and consoles look like they are trying to go toward that direction as well.  Moreover, isn't the Amico going to be digital to some degree as well?  Me, personally, while I do love physical media, it is sadly looking more and more like the ways of the past concerning things such as gaming, TV shows, and/or movies.

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

One of the greatest memes ever!

20 minutes ago, SuperJeremyWorld said:

You beat me to it! Thanks for sharing.

I am the master after all. Lol.  And you're welcome.

Oh' Mah GAWD!!!

I'm gone for a couple of weeks and there's like 50 pages of drama queens lecturing Tommy on how to run his business, and I can't get smart-assy cuz that would be re-animating zombies. Giant Crying Emoji that doesn't exist goes here.

Congrats Pete on 1000 subs! 👍