Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

On 9/13/2019 at 6:44 PM, ColecoJoe said:

Same here in Los Angeles. I never see anybody in the gaming section and the inventory is pretty sad. 

I frequent the Walmart in Burbank and it's virtually impossible to even find an employee to unlock the case if you wanted to purchase a game or console there.  I've always heard the claim that Walmart is the largest video game retailer in the world, but at least in the stores I regularly visit, I rarely see anyone buying anything in that category, except for Black Friday.  I wonder if a lot of that category is purchased using store pickup now or mostly online as not only don't I see anyone there, but I noticed that a lot of the cover art for the games is starting to fade as a result of the lights in the lock up cases.  

11 minutes ago, bojay1997 said:

I frequent the Walmart in Burbank and it's virtually impossible to even find an employee to unlock the case if you wanted to purchase a game or console there.  I've always heard the claim that Walmart is the largest video game retailer in the world, but at least in the stores I regularly visit, I rarely see anyone buying anything in that category, except for Black Friday.  I wonder if a lot of that category is purchased using store pickup now or mostly online as not only don't I see anyone there, but I noticed that a lot of the cover art for the games is starting to fade as a result of the lights in the lock up cases.  

I'm wondering if those sales numbers are including online sales?  Wal-Mart does a huge amount of business online as well.

19 minutes ago, bojay1997 said:

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.  

Their sales are down and they did a big asset write down recently but this is their first annual loss so, for me, overall their numbers look worrisome but not disastrous. I would bet on on a sale vs any sort of complete closure and certainly not in a couple of years. Game Stop on the other hand probably shouldn't bother ordering 2020 calendars for the office ;).

35 minutes ago, bojay1997 said:

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.  

They'll do fine.  Here's a recent and informative story in Forbes.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/warrenshoulberg/2019/06/07/with-at-home-and-bed-bath-beyond-struggling-is-the-home-business-flatlining-dont-bet-on-it/#3405a74b3215
 

Bottom line... they are profitable with little debt and a big fan base.  Some growing pains going on while they look for a new CEO.

Interesting side note:  Intellivision had an exclusive deal with both Bed, Bath & Beyond and Walmart for the Intellivision Plug & Play devices.  We did over 4 million units across both of those stores!  Which is about the same number as the NES & SNES Classics (although the pricing of the Intellivision stuff was much cheaper... still impressive numbers though).

 

OK I promise to stop beating everyone down with business/marketing stuff for a while after this - just thought it was interesting how people in the Heartland of the US view the purchase decision differently than Coastal people. According to this survey of 1800 people across America:

1. Heartland people tend to value purchases made from "made in America" and/or "family values" companies more than Coasters do
2. Rural people are more concerned about price and less concerned about brand than urban/Coasters
3. Heartland purchases are much more influenced by friends, family & social media than Coasters are
4. Heartland people are more likely to purchase in-store than Coasters

In my personal experience (I come from a long, in-bred line of Hillbillies - yeah I know that explains a lot) this is pretty spot on. There is a whole other 'rural world' out there with crazy cable channels like RFD-TV that actually has Polka music, Hee Haw re-runs and FarmHer about female farmers (yes really).

So this means that a family friendly, low cost console like the Amico might be more welcome in a rural or Heartland household, especially if Uncle Karl gets one and recommends it to the rest of the family.

2 hours ago, GrudgeQ said:

OK I promise to stop beating everyone down with business/marketing stuff for a while after this

Joey & Ross are now slipping into a coma 😜

Smash JT posted some more info on his website:

https://www.smashjt.com/post/tommy-tallarico-changed-my-mind-on-the-intellivision-amico
 

Some cool questions/answers in this SmashJT follow up: 

5 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Some cool questions/answers in this SmashJT follow up: 

 

https://youtu.be/O-QKAq-wVaE

Nice video, but I was distracted through most of it.

Keep your hands on the wheel! I'm begging you.😳

15 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Some cool questions/answers in this SmashJT follow up: 

 

 

Liked the video Tommy, thanks for posting!  Great launch, smooth shifting... Wow that Spider (or Italia) sounds like a beast and I can imagine rides on rails.  Beautiful car... Oh, yeah.. sorry... The Amico information was very informative as well... 😅

Hi Tommy I have a few questions.  First ,I I love that you plan to sell outside of traditional stores with doing bed bath and beyond as well as qvc.  But what about drug stores (cvs , Walgreens, rite aid).  Supermarkets ( Winn-Dixie, Kroger Albertsons, trader Joe's, Walmart neighborhood markets, and whole foods (especially with them being owned by Amazon)    also major movie theatre chains such as AMC and regal ..especially for any movie the ins.    And you can call me crazy but what about Lowe's and home Depot (us guys shop, but women do for interior decorating as well ).   

Department stores like Macy's , jc Penney, Marshalls, khols

These are places where outside of a holiday  retro console with built in games for sale. I don't expext to see video games, but I totally expect families and even the women of the house hold to be and even guys who would be interested as an impulse. 

The movie theater and supermarket seem the most obvious as families shop together or go to movies together l...imagine seeing a demo station  and playing the system only to see a sign saying we have these for sale now. 

 Sorry for so much in first question.

Next I started recently reading this Atari age forum after watching the pat and Ian video.    I listened to a podcast you did last year Tommy, and you mentioned that all original intellivision ROMs will be available for free to download or built into system...with a few possible exceptions of games that you guys might need to license which would be priced cheap like $2 or bundled for cheap just to cover the license cost... . I have seen posts that talk about possibly showing up after launch as bundles for $5.99.   So is that an.official change  to where the old games won't be free or is this just for the license games??

Last I seen a YouTube reply you did for a video, where you said no online multiplayer  at launch as you want to put focus on couch co op.  My question is will online multiplayer eventually come to the console and will all games get support for online once it happens.??   I'm def getting for local multiayer with friends but I also have real.lffe friends out of state who plan to get an amico and would love to have C's at online with them.or. Two teams of local couch co.op vs one another online. 

I said I wasn't going to take an opinion on this till I saw the finished product, and I won't, but I gotta say as a 30+ year veteran of marketing and advertising, I see a number of things being floated that will not bode well for any lasting success of a consumer electronics device. It sounds like there's a lot to like with this thing, so it would be a shame to see it fizzle out without a fair shake. Just a couple freebies off the top of my head:

1. Where you retail a product will speak volumes about the public perception of the device. (Good/Bad/Elitist/Seasonal/Flash in the pan/Idle amusement/lasting impact/Serious entertainment appliance/etc.)

2. What context and settings you use to present the product are also key to its overall brand image. (Serious/quality/flippant/childish/hi tech/low tech/authentic/credible/etc.)

I would strongly suggest everybody take a breath and the developers consider a much more heads down approach and a much greater focus on branding and messaging. In all seriousness, my ad hoc services are available on a limited contracted basis if they're interested, but understand, I'm in no way pushing for a gig. It's just apparent to me the project needs some guidance in those areas, and as Pops always said, "If you're good at something, never do it for free." I'll go back to my corner now.     

4 hours ago, JBerel said:

...Where you retail a product will speak volumes about the public perception of the device.

...

Bed, Bath & Beyond

8 hours ago, Nolagamer said:

But what about drug stores (cvs , Walgreens, rite aid).  Supermarkets ( Winn-Dixie, Kroger Albertsons, trader Joe's, Walmart neighborhood markets, and whole foods (especially with them being owned by Amazon)    also major movie theatre chains such as AMC and regal ..especially for any movie the ins.    And you can call me crazy but what about Lowe's and home Depot (us guys shop, but women do for interior decorating as well ).

I understand why people want to see Amico everywhere, but I agree with JBerel. If Amico is sold in very peculiar places, then the brand might suffer from this.

If I look at the flyers I receive every week, I often see Maxi (a local supermarket chain) or Jean Coutu (a local drug store chain) advertising TV or other electronic products. However, it is generally a one-time deal with one particular (generally ultra-cheap) model. It's more like Groupon than a true electronic retailer. When everyone knows what Amico is, maybe it would make sense to make one-time special deals with those kinds of stores, but I'm not sure it would be a good thing at launch. But then, I'm not a marketing person, so maybe I'm wrong.

So much of these retail suggestions would turn this new machine into nothing more than a "As seen on TV" aisle throwaway, right next to the flow bee and slap chop.

This isn't a rubber octopus that crawls down walls.

Do you want a family style game machine or a salad shooter?

For me it seems that so far the marketing that Tommy has described really isn't going too far off the original Wii marketing plan except for Bed Bath & Beyond. Of course no surprise since the people who ran the North American Wii marketing campaign are still on the job. As far as BB&B, with the Wii's sales base tending towards the female & casual demographic this hardly looks like a bad thing.

Nintendo did several unconventional marketing things for the Wii including mall kiosks, use of celebrity endorsements & radio ads for certain games. In fact software developers who didn't heed the Wii casual gamer buyer demographic suffered while other excelled. Note the Ubisoft & Hudson Soft games that did well on the Wii - very Amico like.

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/21/technology/21wii.html

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2012/09/feature_nintendos_celebrity_commercials_the_good_bad_and_cringeworthy

http://mentalfloss.com/article/64245/9-bizarre-celebrity-product-endorsements

Retailing at BB&B alongside WalMart/Target/Amazon isn't going to negatively impact the brand. It's not like the home furnishing retailer is Sharper Image or Radio Shack or something like that.

Apologies if this was already mentioned, but I believe Toys R Us is going to be doing kiosk and pop-up shops around the holiday season, as part of its efforts to stay relevant. That seems tailor made to get the product out in front of people.

Some of Amazon's brick-and-mortar outlets are designed to facilitate trying out devices, and getting out on a few of their Treasure Trucks would be a huge deal, too.

On 9/17/2019 at 10:46 AM, Nolagamer said:

Hi Tommy I have a few questions.  First ,I I love that you plan to sell outside of traditional stores with doing bed bath and beyond as well as qvc.  But what about drug stores (cvs , Walgreens, rite aid).  Supermarkets ( Winn-Dixie, Kroger Albertsons, trader Joe's, Walmart neighborhood markets, and whole foods (especially with them being owned by Amazon)    also major movie theatre chains such as AMC and regal ..especially for any movie the ins.    And you can call me crazy but what about Lowe's and home Depot (us guys shop, but women do for interior decorating as well ).   

 

Department stores like Macy's , jc Penney, Marshalls, khols

 

These are places where outside of a holiday  retro console with built in games for sale. I don't expext to see video games, but I totally expect families and even the women of the house hold to be and even guys who would be interested as an impulse. 

 

 

The movie theater and supermarket seem the most obvious as families shop together or go to movies together l...imagine seeing a demo station  and playing the system only to see a sign saying we have these for sale now. 

 

 

 

 Sorry for so much in first question.

 

 

Next I started recently reading this Atari age forum after watching the pat and Ian video.    I listened to a podcast you did last year Tommy, and you mentioned that all original intellivision ROMs will be available for free to download or built into system...with a few possible exceptions of games that you guys might need to license which would be priced cheap like $2 or bundled for cheap just to cover the license cost... . I have seen posts that talk about possibly showing up after launch as bundles for $5.99.   So is that an.official change  to where the old games won't be free or is this just for the license games??

 

 

Last I seen a YouTube reply you did for a video, where you said no online multiplayer  at launch as you want to put focus on couch co op.  My question is will online multiplayer eventually come to the console and will all games get support for online once it happens.??   I'm def getting for local multiayer with friends but I also have real.lffe friends out of state who plan to get an amico and would love to have C's at online with them.or. Two teams of local couch co.op vs one another online. 

 

Hi!,

Thanks for the questions and interest!

It's good to see folks coming here from the Pat & Ian video and finding out more info.  I'm glad that their misinformation and lies about me attacking them didn't turn you against me or the system.  You'll find this place to be a positive and respectful outlet for discussion rather than the toxic environment they have created in their comments sections within their Amico & Tommy bashing videos.  

We have no plans to be at places like drug stores and movie theaters.  Those types of places don't tend to sell $200 items with the kind of margins the video game industry does (which is VERY different than things like make-up, medicine, food products, etc.).

We also don't want Amico to be seen as a "gimmick" and I think putting the actual product in those places would make it seem that way.

HOWEVER!!!!!!  One thing that we WILL be doing in all of those types of stores are giftcards for the system!  This is something that you see all game companies doing (as well as Ebay, Netflix, Amazon, etc.).  Grocery Stores are the biggest outlet for these.  We will be there with gift cards... but don't have any intention on selling the console in grocery stores, etc.

In regards to your other questions...

Initially we were planning to include as many of the original games as possible with the system (we own the rights to over 80 of the original games), however... after doing more research and seeing how folks reacted to our 1st trailer (thinking we are just a "retro" machine)... we decided against launching with any of the original stuff so that we don't confuse the marketplace.  This is a great example of why it was important for us to come out with info so early.  So we can get a feel of what people will say or think... which allows us to adjust our messaging even before our marketing even starts (which will be summer of 2020).  As you heard in one of my other interviews or Q&A's...  we intend on putting together packets of the original games... but only after the system has been established for what it truly is.  So those packs probably won't happen until 2021.  We don't feel that many people will be purchasing the machine to do that.  The Flashback exists for folks to do that now if they'd like (even though a lot of the emulation is crappy).  I didn't have anything to do with that product and although AT Games wanted to do a 2nd version of it... as soon as I became CEO I killed any potential possibility of that happening because we need our messaging to be perfect at launch and don't want to confuse the marketplace.

In regards to Online Multiplayer... we are taking a "wait and see" approach.  We need to see if a percentage of our customers will want that and how important it is to them.  Keep in mind... most parents hate the idea of their young kids going online and interacting with folks they don't really know.  So if we do it... it will be more like a Friend Request type of list as opposed to anyone jumping on and competing with anyone else.  But it really depends on how many people in our community will want it.  Does it hurt or enhance our message?  Does the cost of doing online multiplayer make sense financially when the games are $9.99 or less?  Adding Online Multiplayer typically DOUBLES the budget of a game... so it may not make sense from a financial position.  But again... we're leaving it all open and not really committing to anything at this point.  I'll be able to better answer that question by the beginning of 2021.

Thanks again for the questions and I hope you stick around! 



 

On 9/17/2019 at 11:53 AM, JBerel said:

I said I wasn't going to take an opinion on this till I saw the finished product, and I won't, but I gotta say as a 30+ year veteran of marketing and advertising, I see a number of things being floated that will not bode well for any lasting success of a consumer electronics device. It sounds like there's a lot to like with this thing, so it would be a shame to see it fizzle out without a fair shake. Just a couple freebies off the top of my head:

 

1. Where you retail a product will speak volumes about the public perception of the device. (Good/Bad/Elitist/Seasonal/Flash in the pan/Idle amusement/lasting impact/Serious entertainment appliance/etc.)

2. What context and settings you use to present the product are also key to its overall brand image. (Serious/quality/flippant/childish/hi tech/low tech/authentic/credible/etc.)

 

I would strongly suggest everybody take a breath and the developers consider a much more heads down approach and a much greater focus on branding and messaging. In all seriousness, my ad hoc services are available on a limited contracted basis if they're interested, but understand, I'm in no way pushing for a gig. It's just apparent to me the project needs some guidance in those areas, and as Pops always said, "If you're good at something, never do it for free." I'll go back to my corner now.     

Hi,

Thanks for the concerns and comments.  Please don't take anything I'm about to say with any kind of disdain or dislike.  It's hard to give a counter-point by typing and without hearing my inflections.  So please don't take any of this as being confrontational at all. 

We haven't started any of our marketing yet.  So commenting that you are seeing things that aren't going to "bode well" is an unfair statement to make considering that no one has seen any of our marketing yet.  That won't start until the summer of 2020. 

You may disagree that releasing trailers here and there or doing interviews is considered marketing.  And typically you may have a valid point.  But we haven't spent any money on advertising at all.  We are putting out information here and there to see how gamers and other targeted demographics (retro gamers) respond.  We are doing market research 2 years out in order to best "hone" what are messaging will be to different types of folks.  We have learned a lot already... and better to make a few mistakes now while no one is really watching (because we haven't started marketing or advertising) than to do that on launch.  We don't have the advantage of hundreds of millions of dollars for marketing like the other big 5 companies in this space (Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Apple & Google) and we also don't have the advantage of having TENS OF MILLIONS of people on our mailing lists and social media like all those other companies do.  So we are doing things different from them.  Much different.  But make no mistake... we haven't started doing anything in regards to marketing.  The main folks who will be buying Amico don't even know we exist yet.  When our marketing "machine" starts we will have millions of views on our videos and millions of people on social media and our mailing list.  Right now we have less than 20,000 on social media so it allows us an opportunity to find out what our "core" folks are interested in.  Most of the behind the scenes focus testing (with our real target market) is sometimes much different than what folks on Twitter or YouTube say or think.  And that's good info for us to know.

Another reason to do certain things the way we are is because of investors.  Investors seeing our video trailers with hundreds of thousands of views (without spending a dime) and very small UNLIKE percentages is HUGE in the gaming community.  Our Earthworm Jim announcement had tens of millions of views around the world... and we didn't spend a single cent.  On a much smaller scale... we are accomplishing something that Google hasn't been able to!  Look at their Stadia announcements.  Read the comments and look at the DISLIKE percentages, look at all the negative YouTuber videos.  And although folks like Pat & Ian may think they "know it all" and that the system will fail and no one except hardcore retro gamers will buy it.  They would be better served to actually READ all of the comments on our videos and other YouTuber videos (or actually talk to me... but we all know they think they are too good for that).  And those positive comments and videos are from gamers!  The idea of Amico even among the hardcore folks who have heard about it... is a very positive one.  That is a VERY difficult thing to do and a hard crowd to please.  Yet every time we give a little more info it gets better and better and more and more positive with those sometimes hard to please folks.  And again... we haven't even started.  I bet Google & Atari wish their messaging and overall positivity was as good as ours at this point. 

To your 2 suggestions...

1.  Yes.  You're absolutely correct.  And we already have that.  We not only have the biggest brick & mortar big box retailers in the world selling it... but some other HUGE retailers that are very "mom" oriented that the others aren't in.  A few examples would be places like QVC & Bed, Bath & Beyond.  I'm not confirming nor denying those 2 outlets.  Just giving them as big examples.  

2.  We have already created this as well.  And no one will be seeing it until 2020.  We are very aware of the importance of our Go To Market Strategy and that fact that we have major investors and bankers backing us... should signal that we've done our homework and those folks believe in the vision and plan as well.  So many huge surprises coming within the next year.  Looking forward to sharing more with folks.  Last week Jay Leno featured the Intellivision logo in a few different parts of his show and we're 13 months out.  We will be EXPLODING a LOT more fun things like this and on a much bigger scale with even bigger people and more about the messaging and machine (as opposed to just a logo).

Future is looking GREAT for Intellivision!!!

Taking a "heads down" approach for a company like ours would be a HUGE mistake.  I'm guessing that although you mentioned you have 30 years marketing experience that you may not have started a business with investors.  Much different game, timelines and "proof of concept" in small portions that need to happen. 

In all honesty... and I don't mean this to come across as rude in any way... we actually don't need guidance in the areas you suggested... (gosh... that sounds so negative... but I don't mean it that way... only trying to give you info)... mostly because of all the reasons I stated above, and also because we have already built an incredible plan and amazing team that has been down the road we're traveling many times before... and more successful than almost every game company in the past (in their past positions). 

Looking forward to sharing more info with you in the future and to get your thoughts on our marketing strategy once you've had a chance to see it.

Thanks!
 

50 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

...
HOWEVER!!!!!!  One thing that we WILL be doing in all of those types of stores are giftcards for the system!  This is something that you see all game companies doing (as well as Ebay, Netflix, Amazon, etc.).  Grocery Stores are the biggest outlet for these.  We will be there with gift cards... but don't have any intention on selling the console in grocery stores, etc.
...
Initially we were planning to include as many of the original games as possible with the system (we own the rights to over 80 of the original games), however... after doing more research and seeing how folks reacted to our 1st trailer (thinking we are just a "retro" machine)... we decided against launching with any of the original stuff so that we don't confuse the marketplace.  This is a great example of why it was important for us to come out with info so early.  So we can get a feel of what people will say or think... which allows us to adjust our messaging even before our marketing even starts (which will be summer of 2020).  As you heard in one of my other interviews or Q&A's...  we intend on putting together packets of the original games... but only after the system has been established for what it truly is.  So those packs probably won't happen until 2021.  We don't feel that many people will be purchasing the machine to do that.  The Flashback exists for folks to do that now if they'd like (even though a lot of the emulation is crappy).  I didn't have anything to do with that product and although AT Games wanted to do a 2nd version of it... as soon as I became CEO I killed any potential possibility of that happening because we need our messaging to be perfect at launch and don't want to confuse the marketplace.

...

Thanks again for the questions and I hope you stick around!

The giftcards are an interesting idea. In some ways might be good advertising to bring up brand name awareness & of course to grease the skids for Amico product gift giving.

Really sad to the see the classics are going to get pushed into 2021 🙁. I totally understand from a marketing standpoint - keep the message as clear and simple as possible. However for all of the retro-heads here how about this idea: Amico's own website's limited edition (I am guessing the gold & woodgrain version) is kinda down our alley anyway. Probably going to be a few more bucks for the limited edition anyway - maybe $200. Soooo how about you sell them normally on the website BUT have a 'secret link' or something for a $250 "Super Retro" version with ALL of the OG Intellivision games bundled in at launch (it basically is just a switch in the download store anyway). You get your .50 per game and an extra few bucks for the hassle & you sell out a lot of the retro games market you are going to sell. No market confusion because it would just get passed around places like here by people who know what it means. For the plebes that miss out and don't want to pre-order - wait until 2021. Just an idea - had to make a pitch for us.

Telling AT Games to take a hike 👍 - no matter what the reason. 😃

Based on what i seen here yesterday, i don't think Pat has even seen your apology video and is ignoring you all together and will only respond to marketing info you release later. I do believe he made fun of my twitter comment of him riding in your Ferrari. And someone made a joke of you picking him up in a van. So i say forget those guys. Pat is a super stubborn person. 

If this don't take you directly there fast forward to 14m28s

17 hours ago, Papy said:

I understand why people want to see Amico everywhere, but I agree with JBerel. If Amico is sold in very peculiar places, then the brand might suffer from this.

 

If I look at the flyers I receive every week, I often see Maxi (a local supermarket chain) or Jean Coutu (a local drug store chain) advertising TV or other electronic products. However, it is generally a one-time deal with one particular (generally ultra-cheap) model. It's more like Groupon than a true electronic retailer. When everyone knows what Amico is, maybe it would make sense to make one-time special deals with those kinds of stores, but I'm not sure it would be a good thing at launch. But then, I'm not a marketing person, so maybe I'm wrong.

Agree.  We definitely don't want the machine to be sold in drug stores, movie theaters and grocery stores.  But his point about being "in" those places is a great one and something we are doing through gift cards, etc.

 

5 hours ago, GrudgeQ said:

For me it seems that so far the marketing that Tommy has described really isn't going too far off the original Wii marketing plan except for Bed Bath & Beyond. Of course no surprise since the people who ran the North American Wii marketing campaign are still on the job. As far as BB&B, with the Wii's sales base tending towards the female & casual demographic this hardly looks like a bad thing.

 

Nintendo did several unconventional marketing things for the Wii including mall kiosks, use of celebrity endorsements & radio ads for certain games. In fact software developers who didn't heed the Wii casual gamer buyer demographic suffered while other excelled. Note the Ubisoft & Hudson Soft games that did well on the Wii - very Amico like.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/21/technology/21wii.html

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2012/09/feature_nintendos_celebrity_commercials_the_good_bad_and_cringeworthy

http://mentalfloss.com/article/64245/9-bizarre-celebrity-product-endorsements

Nailed it!

And remember... when the Wii came out there was NO social media advertising, no keyword marketing, no YouTube marketing, no social influencers, etc! 

Aside from the traditional in-store and mall tour stuff, we have so many approaches to get to the audience we need to get to that didn't even exist when the Wii was launched. 

1 hour ago, IntellivisionDude said:

Based on what i seen here yesterday, i don't think Pat has even seen your apology video and is ignoring you all together and will only respond to marketing info you release later. I do believe he made fun of my twitter comment of him riding in your Ferrari. And someone made a joke of you picking him up in a van. So i say forget those guys. Pat is a super stubborn person. 

If this don't take you directly there fast forward to 14m28s

 

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/482781338?fbclid=IwAR18eylzTdfQx-2V7Q6oJZTX39W33URzkTtovE8My18WZdRaucDqowcRFvY&t=00h14m28s

 

Unfortunately I think you are spot on. Pat & Ian definitely fall into that "I need to look perfect or I look bad" mindset, which for me works just the opposite way. There is a 500K sub tech YouTube channel called Gamers Nexus. Pretty serious guy who does super technical reviews & even sells PC disassembly tools. Once in a video he tried a couple of times to 'unscrew' some fake screws molded into the plastic of a video card. You could tell he was a bit embarrassed & flustered and he could have had his video editors cut that out, but he left it in - because he didn't want people to make the same mistake. Nothing but respect for that guy, and for the same reason, no respect for Pat & Ian's stance on this.

Thank for a answering tommy. Also no I didn't expect the cobse to be as in those stores beyond maybe holiday or a launch type plan.

Hopefully online becomes a thing. Maybe you guys could  give parents the ability to allow or block online play maybe it can work with real friends say via Facebook messenger or a future proof method although more limited. More old school direct up connection...which is great to have just for the slim chance  you guys fail...( I think you will be a mega success btw) or if you do online and cut servers for poor performing games over the years. 

Could eveb use the mic and require voice and keyed password to approve online for kids  .  Push it as a feature to.oarebts and have info clearly pushed to them about it. Unlike other consoles poorly advertised parental features.