Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

22 hours ago, Alpha82 said:

Interesting Amico being the mascot for itself but definitely in line with things Tommy has said in the past such as wanting Amico to be like a tomigotchi (I feel positive I butchered the spelling of that one) or a furby so that the system is interactive like those is my guess. Also that Amico is friend in Italian I feel sure plays into this. Tommy also describes Amico as a cross between a puppy and R2D2 so seems it might also have a bit of personality and finally he mentioned that original Intellivision will be part of its history so it will be like having memories of sorts there is going to be a lot of fun had with that it feels like  

All will be revealed in 2020! 

A lot of folks are going to look back on this thread and find a lot of subtle "hints" I've been dropping all year.  

 

18 hours ago, cmart604 said:

If there is anything good and just in this world please make Paul wear the mascot outfit at E3 next year. 🙏🏻

DONE! 

14 hours ago, Papy said:

I don't know what Barnes and Noble's stores look like in the US, but our equivalent in Québec, Renaud-Bray (and Archambault stores that they bought a few years ago), would also be a great place for Amicos (can I say Amicos?). Unlike Chapters/Indigo, Renaud-Bray doesn't sell video games yet, but they do sell kids' toys and board games, as well as movies, music, and all kinds of useless "gift ideas" that women love to buy (that I also buy from time to time myself, but since I'm a masculine man, I'd never admit that). They are pretty much the entertainment store for middle-class women and their family.

Great idea!  I'll mention it to our sales team.

13 hours ago, Alpha82 said:

This is something I've had floating around in my head I just wanted to do for fun but for health reasons it took me a while to get around to.

Wow!  That image gave me goosebumps and chills!!

Thanks for posting.  It really means a lot!

11 hours ago, Alpha82 said:

I’m not obsessed or anything I swear I only look for new videos about Amico or new posts on here multiple times a day lol that’s how I ran across this change of heart video 

 

Thanks for posting!  You beat me to it!   Yesterday we had our Intellivision Family Picnic at my place so I was a little late on seeing this. 

JT was a really great and knowledgeable industry guy.  He grew up in Mass. and is Italian as well... so to say we kinda hit it off is a bit of an understatement.    So glad that he now feels differently about the system once he heard more and asked all the tough questions.

Everyone should post this video on Pat & Ian's social media and tag them.  Maybe they'll start to understand how unfair they've been and will stop spreading LIES and misinformation about me and the console. 


 

Hey Tommy, the youtuber downphoenix, author of the video "Why the Intellivision Amico will flop", has made the following comment on Smash JT's video:

He seems to imply that he had an "experience" with the Amico, but what he speaks in his video and wrote in the comments section is totally different:

Do you remember if this guy has tried the Amico?

31 minutes ago, IntelliMission said:

Hey Tommy, the youtuber downphoenix, author of the video "Why the Intellivision Amico will flop", has made the following comment on Smash JT's video:

 

 

He seems to imply that he had an "experience" with the Amico, but what he speaks in his video and wrote in the comments section is totally different:

 

 

Do you remember if this guy has tried the Amico?

Yeah... he's twisting his words.  He never saw the system and is only trying to imply that he did to look cool.

I already responded to his comment on JT's video and gave him a little crap as he is constantly speaking badly about us (even though he was trying to be nice when he responded to me).  He's a negative and uninformed guy in a car that has around 100 views per video.  Means nothing.  He has ZERO audience.  And if you can stomach any of his videos... you'll understand why. 

3 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Yeah... he's twisting his words.  He never saw the system and is only trying to imply that he did to look cool.

I already responded to his comment on JT's video and gave him a little crap as he is constantly speaking badly about us (even though he was trying to be nice when he responded to me).  He's a negative and uninformed guy in a car that has around 100 views per video.  Means nothing.  He has ZERO audience.  And if you can stomach any of his videos... you'll understand why. 

 

Looks like my comment is hidden from the public for some reason.

This is what I said...


@Stephen .Daniels No. He's never played it. Not sure why he would chose to word his response the way he did. He made a video ripping the hell out of the system and calling it a major disaster. He gave a lot of wrong information in his video and never did a follow up correcting all of the mistakes (even though I reached out to him and gave him more info in his comments). Not cool that he spread bad information and continues to keep the bad info on YouTube. The video has a LOT more dislikes than likes and most of the comments on the video are negative towards his coverage. So it's good to know the word is getting out there.

@Downphoenix: I hope you can keep an open mind in future videos and give proper info. You'll probably find that people won't dislike the video as much and that you'll get more positive comments when your coverage is fair and the info is true. It's okay to have a negative opinion of the console... but it's another thing to give out wrong information and call it a "DISASTER" based on not knowing about the console. Maybe saying "Potential Disaster" would have been a better approach... but instead... you made a judgement based on wrong info which you then proceeded to double down on in the comments section. I hope you'll get the opportunity to play the system and understand more before being so mean towards me, the system and all of the hard work and passion that our team of industry veterans pours into it every day for the purpose of getting family & friends together to play video games again.

Thanks Tommy, I'm glad I asked because I knew something was not right.

About his audience, the numbers are quite interesting because some of his earlier gameplay videos have tens of thousands of views, but the rest have less than 100 views... it's pretty extreme. Youtube is an unforgiving place, as Smash JT explains in one of his recent videos, and often youtubers fail to understand that, in order to get more views, they should offer something unique and sometimes they just keep talking boring stuff in front of the camera. I see a lot of people like this on the Internet, people that talk and talk and tweet and tweet and they get zero likes, and some of them literally spend the whole day there, they use Twitter like a chatroom.

Not everyone can be a star... But, at the same time, the fact that you, Tommy, and some other famous artists are open to answer direct questions from regular people on the Internet also makes you think that we, normal people, are closer to you guys than we think. We all could be stars if we tried hard enough.

I confess all these news about the Amico and the intense debate with youtubers have been entertainment to watch. As a fan of original music, I would choose the following soundtrack to these dramatic moments:

> Pat and Ian's fake apology: Ween - The Going Gets Though from the Get Go (Pat and Ian said that you attacked them "from the get go").

> downphoenix's video about the Amico: 311 - Beautiful Disaster (he said that the console is going to be "a disaster")

> The Amico's initial trailer: Ween - Friends (EP Dance Mix)

> Tommy's description of downphoenix as "a negative an uninformed guy in a car": The Astronauts - Devil Driver

> SmashJT's "conversion" video: Primal Scream - Movin on Up

Something just jumped into my mind that would please the masses (or st least me):

SAMBA DE AMIGO

Bring the digital maracas!

Was the Sears Super Video Arcade (Sears branded Intellivision II) any sort of inspiration for the Amico design? I picked this one up last night and can see some family resemblance.

19 minutes ago, The Strangest said:

Was the Sears Super Video Arcade (Sears branded Intellivision II) any sort of inspiration for the Amico design? I picked this one up last night and can see some family resemblance.

Hmm.. not directly from what I recall about the initial design meetings and ideas.  Maybe it was subconsciously though... Tommy?

If you are making videos in your car and not talking about what the French call a Quarter Pounder, then you're doing it wrong.

3 hours ago, The Strangest said:

Was the Sears Super Video Arcade (Sears branded Intellivision II) any sort of inspiration for the Amico design? I picked this one up last night and can see some family resemblance.

Side note: the Super Video Arcade was a Sears branded original Intellivision, not the Intellivision II, with a slightly changed ROM.  The boards between the SVA and the Inty 1 are physically compatible enough that you can swap them (not so with the Intellivision II).

43 minutes ago, Lathe26 said:

Side note: the Super Video Arcade was a Sears branded original Intellivision, not the Intellivision II, with a slightly changed ROM.  The boards between the SVA and the Inty 1 are physically compatible enough that you can swap them (not so with the Intellivision II).

Ah, gotcha. Thanks for the correction!

5 hours ago, The Strangest said:

Was the Sears Super Video Arcade (Sears branded Intellivision II) any sort of inspiration for the Amico design? I picked this one up last night and can see some family resemblance.

This is the one my dad and I had until rain got into my closet 3 straight storms and got water into the motor it died in college picked up a new Intellivision at a small retro games shop in town which is a Intellivision I

8 hours ago, IntelliMission said:

Thanks Tommy, I'm glad I asked because I knew something was not right.

 

About his audience, the numbers are quite interesting because some of his earlier gameplay videos have tens of thousands of views, but the rest have less than 100 views... it's pretty extreme. Youtube is an unforgiving place, as Smash JT explains in one of his recent videos, and often youtubers fail to understand that, in order to get more views, they should offer something unique and sometimes they just keep talking boring stuff in front of the camera. I see a lot of people like this on the Internet, people that talk and talk and tweet and tweet and they get zero likes, and some of them literally spend the whole day there, they use Twitter like a chatroom.

 

Not everyone can be a star... But, at the same time, the fact that you, Tommy, and some other famous artists are open to answer direct questions from regular people on the Internet also makes you think that we, normal people, are closer to you guys than we think. We all could be stars if we tried hard enough.

 

I confess all these news about the Amico and the intense debate with youtubers have been entertainment to watch. As a fan of original music, I would choose the following soundtrack to these dramatic moments:

 

> Pat and Ian's fake apology: Ween - The Going Gets Though from the Get Go (Pat and Ian said that you attacked them "from the get go").

 

> downphoenix's video about the Amico: 311 - Beautiful Disaster (he said that the console is going to be "a disaster")

 

> The Amico's initial trailer: Ween - Friends (EP Dance Mix)

 

> Tommy's description of downphoenix as "a negative an uninformed guy in a car": The Astronauts - Devil Driver

 

> SmashJT's "conversion" video: Primal Scream - Movin on Up

Hahaha!  You'd make a good Music Supervisor! 

6 hours ago, First Spear said:

Something just jumped into my mind that would please the masses (or st least me):

 

SAMBA DE AMIGO

 

Bring the digital maracas!

Don't you mean...

SAMBA DE AMICO?

5 hours ago, nurmix said:

Hmm.. not directly from what I recall about the initial design meetings and ideas.  Maybe it was subconsciously though... Tommy?

No. 

I used a lot of design elements and curves from some of my favorite Ferrari's. 

And another big secret that will make a lot more sense on 10/10 2020. 

20 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Great idea!  I'll mention it to our sales team.

 

 

John Lewis would be a good to get Amico into over here Tommy 

4 hours ago, adam1977 said:

 

John Lewis would be a good to get Amico into over here Tommy 

What region/country?  UK?

14 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

I used a lot of design elements and curves from some of my favorite Ferrari's. 

 

And another big secret that will make a lot more sense on 10/10 2020. 

 

Hmm... I'm not even sure *I* know what secret you're referring to here...  unless it's that thing about doing something unique with that one item and those various guys who would probably like the thing better if it were that particular way?

9 minutes ago, nurmix said:

Hmm... I'm not even sure *I* know what secret you're referring to here...  unless it's that thing about doing something unique with that one item and those various guys who would probably like the thing better if it were that particular way?

 

I’m trying not to make a joke here but you’re not making it easy 😂

2 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

What region/country?  UK?

 

Yes the UK Tommy 

Also Argos, Sainsbury's and Tesco etc.

On 9/14/2019 at 6:33 AM, GrudgeQ said:

Sorry if this is turning into “the business news hour”, but I just wanted to focus a second on Bed Bath & Beyond which Tommy keeps dropping mentions on.

 

The people that shop there are pretty diverse but are strong in the mid and young demographic, which makes sense for their product line & furnishing new households. They do about $8 billion in sales and are profitable but aren’t growing and stock prices are down which means corporate managers are running around with their hair on fire trying to find a way to change that. 

 

Their CEO announced a 2 year plan through 2020 last year to try fix this. It is full of corporate BS speak but the “merchandising” section basically means they want more products that appear unique to them. They are also big into demoing and explaining to help separate their say, blenders, from other blenders.

 

So what does this have to do with the Amico? Well they are mostly a young family store under pressure to find unique products not saturated in the public’s purchase mindset. Plus they are open to in store demos and/or giving up some floor space for a demo unit or kiosk information displays (ie. explainer marketing). Much like the QVC example this is a very good fit for the Amico. Always good when you fit into the corporate plan of a motivated retailer.

Bed Bath and Beyond has actually carried plug and play systems over the years and I know they were selling those mini arcade enclosures that you could put a tablet into.  I think the biggest risk there is that the chain in general may not be around in another year or two.