Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

17 hours ago, NTV said:

Tommy, Will the FE and the VIP's ship at the same time or will the VIP's ship later?

VIP's ship later.  Founders shipped first.

17 hours ago, NTV said:

It's getting really hard to keep up with all of these YouTube podcast as they are coming faster than I can consume. I have started to strip them from YouTube and download them to my "podcast" phone so I can listen to them on the road. Makes for great travel entertainment. Also I want to say thanks to all who provide them as I am sure they take a lot more time to plan, record, edit and post than we realize. Thanks guys (and gals). 

 

Oh, and a special thank you to Tommy for all the time he dedicates to YouTube interviews. It's amazing how I can hear him discuss the same things over and over again in different interviews but it always seems fresh, entertaining, exciting and fun! His passion just oozes out of my speakers. 🔊

Thank you for your support!!!!!!

You are a true trooper to be able to listen to all those interviews!  Hahhaha!   I try to keep them as fresh as possible, but hard sometimes when a lot of the same questions are asked... which I don't mind... but I'm sure some of you have heard the answers about a thousand times by now.

Hi Tommy.  2 minutes ago, I was looking my son playing Snafu.

And something come to mind. (That's why I am here right now ! lol ).

It could be cool to have one mode in Snafoo, where instead of winning rounds, that the total length of the snake will be taken into account to determine the winners at the end of all rounds ?

Just an idea like that. The idea came to my mind because I asked Antoine my son : "You didn't manage to block his way to win right away ? "

He replied that he was doing it on purpose because he wanted to let him live longer ! lol

So I said to myself that it should pay more to eliminate a player earlier, because the length of the snake that he allowed his opponent to increase could cost him the victory when all the rounds will be finished  !

16 hours ago, RetroAdvisoryBoard said:

You're right.

 

Intellivision will release its trailers, its announcements, its digital engagements as it sees fit.  Pat will work in his comments as he likes.  

 

Tommy will no doubt respond in kind, but now is about the time he said Intellivision would be moving into its next awareness phase - some of which might be delayed if the console gets pushed back, but I'm sure there's enough prep work to do for announcements, and less free time to trade jabs with a barking sideshow act.  

 

Is it defamation?  Yeah, it'd pass the legal standard in several states for review if damages could be shown.  May not prosecute, much less likely a win, but they could build if that’s where they wanted to spend resources.  "Imputing that an individual committed a crime". "Imputing that a person is unable or lacks the integrity to perform one's employment duties".. seems familiar.  Maybe more prudent to approach YouTube and its community standards, but even there it’s grey.  But as you state, it'd be a PR headache, an uphill battle and suddenly make Pat the martyr.  Some of you reading this when you come up for air from the YouTube comments may have got a little excited - whoa there, put some ice on it, I don't see that happening.

 

This comes out.  In three months, four, six or eight.  Don't know the timeline with the world upside down, not going to pretend I do.  But when it does, you get get a few hundred let's play videos, people encouraged to film fun moments.  Then there are the communities who have an interest in playing games (and not just congealing for the odd conspiracy theory).  They either have fun with the system and talk about it, or they don't.  If they don't, well, the Amico doesn't have much of a lifespan.  But if they do, if some amount of people are enjoying themselves and promoting this little system, what's the counterargument?  That the system sucks?  The people playing it and loving it are a video suggestion down.  No amount of spam videos are burying that.  That was the narrative with the Switch - the system sucks, it has no games - but people were playing it, having fun, sharing their experience and word of mouth plus advertising set it off.  This ain't the Switch, but it ain't exactly the "Super Footbath" - it'll sell enough to generate it's own narrative on its own terms, and Pat and Ian's weekly narrative.. kinda fizzles away.  I don't see big YouTubers jumping on board.  I don't see more than a modest increase in views or likes per video - they're appeasing that segment of their crowd, and that's that.  An irritant, a thorn in the side, not exactly the baseball bat to the knee.  

 

Intellivision can move on, Tommy will move on (though likely slap back every few insults).. but get to the premieres, to the digital events, to launch, and leave Pat and Ian (and the traveling flea circus) behind.  

Totally agree!

And again... nothing we would really persue in regards to a lawsuit or cease & desist.  They aren't worthy or important enough for that kind of attention.  I can think of a lot better ways to spend Intellivision money!  

There are government organizations that deal with this kind of thing.

7 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

Totally agree!

 

And again... nothing we would really persue in regards to a lawsuit or cease & desist.  They aren't worthy or important enough for that kind of attention.  I can think of a lot better ways to spend Intellivision money!  

 

There are government organizations that deal with this kind of thing.

I'd laugh at the thought of Pat and Ian's snake pit of followers shelling out cash for their legal fund, except I'd be worried Pat and Ian would misappropriate it.

17 hours ago, NTV said:

It's getting really hard to keep up with all of these YouTube podcast as they are coming faster than I can consume. I have started to strip them from YouTube and download them to my "podcast" phone so I can listen to them on the road. Makes for great travel entertainment. Also I want to say thanks to all who provide them as I am sure they take a lot more time to plan, record, edit and post than we realize. Thanks guys (and gals). 

 

Oh, and a special thank you to Tommy for all the time he dedicates to YouTube interviews. It's amazing how I can hear him discuss the same things over and over again in different interviews but it always seems fresh, entertaining, exciting and fun! His passion just oozes out of my speakers. 🔊

I lost count during the last few months. I miss my roller coaster rides! Dang Virus!!! 🥵

So I've been watching virtual rider videos on YouTube so I can pretend I'm riding them on my TV. Not the same I know. 

But this one is sooooooooo cuuuute! I am just covered with whatever Aunt Jemima's new syrup name is gonna be from it. 

15 hours ago, Jake67 said:

Today is 7/10/20.

 

I wish we were, for sure, celebrating a 3-month countdown to 10/10/20 today.

Me too!

Not looking good here in California.  COVID cases are up and getting worse, compliance companies are still backed up, full Intellivision team still not back in the office, components still backed up.

We are still hanging in there, but each day that passes gets tougher and tougher to make it happen.  Will know by the end of the month. 

We've been working with our retailers, distributors and manufacturers for the past 2 months to come up with an "alternate plan" if needed.  I'm only a part of the decision making on this.  Literally hundreds of people are being consulted.  Launch is very important.  Doing it half-assed is NOT an option!  Retailers & manufactures have some great ideas and timelines that would make a LOT of sense if 10/10 isn't possible.

By the beginning of August we'll all have the answer and will be sharing it with everyone.  Transparent as we've always been. 

14 hours ago, Swami said:

Hi Tommy, Any news releases or videos for new games, etc. this week?

Things have been shifting like crazy from week to week... but I believe one of our big press releases will be coming out this week.  Lots of great stuff.  Then a video to come out the following week.  I'm about 95% both of these things will happen in the timeframes I've just given.

The press release and news cycle with the world the way it is has been a little insane since March.  And we have so many partners in these things that getting everyone on the same page as the landscape changes is sometimes challenging.  But can't wait for folks to hear what we have planned.  Very cool stuff!

2 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Not looking good here in California. 

There is only one state where infections have gone down. New Hampshire. 

14 hours ago, wolfy62 said:

Tommy,I was curious if you dont mind me asking-how is Gamestop doing so far with their preorders?

I am a numbers guy so I am always wondering about that stuff.🤔

They are very happy considering no one has spent any money at all on advertising.  They are very excited about the potential possibilities.  The Galaxy Purple is outselling the Black & White versions by 7X's!!

Rigid Force Redux is also a great Shmup from Germany that came out 2 weeks ago on Switch and the XboxOne. With all these games on the Eshop, Steam and ... those good games really often get ignored cause there are to many new games every week.

Soon it will also come out on the PS4 and the older version is still avaible on steam were it only sold 3000 copies.

The Game is made by mostly 1 person in 7 years. Before he worked on the Anno series (Blue Byte).

Even one person of Factor 5 contacted him after the steam release and said a very good game.

Its a hommage on the games of the 80s... R-Type, Katakis, Gradius and Parodious....

14 hours ago, Kiwi said:

He won't get much money from them.  It takes way too much time and money to file a lawsuit.  They still treat Tommy like he don't know what he is doing.  I watched the latest 2 videos.  Almost had me with the latest one until I saw Smash JT's newest video.  I do recall from the other videos, he have shown the Amico and shown the back of the unit.  Gotta wait til Tommy's to be allowed to show more information.  They do have the hardware guy and have piece together what the system going to be.  I think hardware guy knows how to program drivers for the hardware, so I think that's done.  More programmers on hand is a good thing.  I think they are grasping at straws trying to bash this system.  I think there's plenty of time to mass produce unit before launch date.  And Tommy has to make time to sign 2600 founder's edition Amicos.

Yeah... maybe I'd get his stuffed animals and his Cabbage Patch doll collection that he has behind him.  

It's a little more complex than one hardware guy.  We have a huge team of folks.  2 just on the main hardware.  Teams of firmware people, mechanical engineers, OS engineers, etc., etc... these are all full time employees with full benefits... most of which have been working internally for over a year.  We also employee and contract many big outside organizations to do some of the firmware programming as well.  Hiring more internal people (instead of using expensive contracting companies) is a sign of GROWTH.  

Hey Tommy, what do you mean with government organizations that take care of this? Has your team contacted them and do you think they will take action?

1 minute ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

They are very happy considering no one has spent any money at all on advertising.  They are very excited about the potential possibilities.  The Galaxy Purple is outselling the Black & White versions by 7X's!!

That's great news!!!

I wanted to say thanks to you and your entire team for reimagining the Intellivision and dreaming up the Amico on such a grand scale.

I am always impressed and amazed by anyone's efforts for a new homebrew game or even collectibles based on the Intellivision.

The Amico is something way beyond my wildest dreams and obviously it wouldn't be happening without your incredible vision and passion for it.

A million thank yous to you and everyone involved in the process

of this very exciting project!👍😊

13 hours ago, RREDDWARFF said:

If he started signing those consoles today, he would have to sign at least 30 consoles per day in order to have them ready in time for launch. I hope for his sake he's already been able to start. Lol, otherwise he's got some serious cramming to do.

After the various Kickstarters I've done and 550+ Video Games Live post show meet & greets with anywhere from 500 - 1,000 people... I can easily do around 750 - 1,000 in one hour. 

13 hours ago, RREDDWARFF said:

Right on, you're probably right. The thought just made me laugh. I was imagining myself back in high school and college, frantically trying to get stuff done at the last minute. 

There's even been talk of having me go to China and sign them all in the factory to save shipping everything to the Intellivision offices!!  No joke!
 

Just now, Tommy Tallarico said:

After the various Kickstarters I've done and 550+ Video Games Live post show meet & greets with anywhere from 500 - 1,000 people... I can easily do around 750 - 1,000 in one hour. 

 

 

Listen to you! Turning autograph talk into a locker room brag. 😜

2 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

There's even been talk of having me go to China and sign them all in the factory to save shipping everything to the Intellivision offices!!  No joke!
 

 

 

4 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

After the various Kickstarters I've done and 550+ Video Games Live post show meet & greets with anywhere from 500 - 1,000 people... I can easily do around 750 - 1,000 in one hour. 

 

 

Tommy is Speedy Gonzales.  Lol.

9 hours ago, Nolagamer said:

 

@Tommy Tallarico

Interesting isn't it.

Maybe we do know what we're doing after all.

3 hours ago, GrudgeQ said:

I had Tommy sign some merch I bought at a Video Games Live show and I can confirm he is super quick with the signatures. Still with 2600 units I think he may personally refer to the Founders as the Writers Cramp Edition

You also saw the long line behind you too!

2 hours ago, GrudgeQ said:

Great! A wanking game narrowly missed getting on the eStore after backlash on social media. Definitely  one of the best videos from ReviewTech in a while - bottom line is there is no quality control on the Eshop store. Not only does this mean you potentially get crappy games and porn games, but worst of all - crappy porn games. 
 

Of course Nintendo noticed and backtracked after “Don’t Get Caught” started trending on social media and they were even called out by NintendoLife (read the original below the amendment) but this isn’t the first time and public scandal backtracking isn’t quality control in my book.

 

Nintendo is going to get burned when a major news outlet like Fox or comedy roast show like Late Night Tonight picks up one of these blunders and toasts them for having to backtrack on a wanking game coming to the platform. Nintendo should be better than this.

Curious to know if all the hardcore elitist Nintendo fanboys who call me out for "censoring" are now going to complain that Nintendo is censoring stuff.  Seems to be their big argument against me.  Wonder if it goes both ways?  

29 minutes ago, Swami said:

I'd laugh at the thought of Pat and Ian's snake pit of followers shelling out cash for their legal fund, except I'd be worried Pat and Ian would misappropriate it.

They'd probably just promote a GoFundMe like they've done in the past.

29 minutes ago, Blarneo said:

I lost count during the last few months. I miss my roller coaster rides! Dang Virus!!! 🥵

So I've been watching virtual rider videos on YouTube so I can pretend I'm riding them on my TV. Not the same I know. 

 

But this one is sooooooooo cuuuute! I am just covered with whatever Aunt Jemima's new syrup name is gonna be from it. 

 

 

This is the GREATEST thing I've seen today!  Must share!!!!!!!!