Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

Well either Tommy is going to be on the Ellen show to pitch the Amico or we are getting a TMZ article on "Video Game Celebrity Arrested For Trespassing On the Set of Ellen".

No such thing as bad publicity, right Tommy

6 hours ago, Intymike said:

 

So little time, so much to see.

 

 

Die sehr alt Historie.

22 hours ago, Papy said:

The lack of tactile feedback is also my biggest concern.

Don't worry. 

All I can say right now.  Sorry I can't say more.  Patent stuff.

On 9/19/2019 at 5:20 AM, Swami said:

8:45 a couple Tommy references. I think you've improved their vigilance in being accurate, at least for this video.

I'm again flattered.  They make reference to me in every video the do now.

Once again proving whose obsessed with who. 

I must have really hit a sore spot. 

20 hours ago, Intymike said:

 

Great video. It shows that you are really one of us.   I even spotted an Interton box.

Look at my avatar. It's the Brown Box from the videogame museum in Berlin.

Yeah!  I noticed that a few months ago.  Great one!

19 hours ago, Intymike said:

 

So little time, so much to see.

 

btw. Now we all know who is always bidding against Cmart.

Hahahaha!  Damn... is he the one who I keep pissing off with 5 seconds left in an auction?

SORRY!!!!!!!!!!

18 hours ago, GrudgeQ said:

Well either Tommy is going to be on the Ellen show to pitch the Amico or we are getting a TMZ article on "Video Game Celebrity Arrested For Trespassing On the Set of Ellen".

 

No such thing as bad publicity, right Tommy

Big things happening!!

I can't give details at this point.  More info coming in 2020. 

38 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Big things happening!!

I can't give details at this point.  More info coming in 2020. 

 

First good luck on any Ellen related activities, my wife loves her so that would grease the way when my Amico order shows up at the door 😉

Won't ask about your visit but are you just double finger gunning the sign or trying to hold back the full reveal of the final controller design?

4 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Hahahaha!  Damn... is he the one who I keep pissing off with 5 seconds left in an auction?

SORRY!!!!!!!!!!

Lol. I get outbid all of the time in auctions, sometimes even on things I really want. Part of the fun of collecting. I've won the odd one here and there along the way. 😉

I just love the fact that someone who genuinely loves the Intellivision is in charge of preserving the name and ensuring it has a future and I'm here for it. 👍🏻

5 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Don't worry. 

All I can say right now.  Sorry I can't say more.  Patent stuff.

If you have a solution to the problem of a lack of tactile feedback, then Amico will indeed be a game changer. Not just for family gaming, but for video games in general.

.

Tommy has referred to these a few times, but in a new Smash JT video he included a shot of the "Intellivision 10 Commandments of Game Design". He may have used this shot in an earlier video but I just noticed it in this one.

BTW this video deals with "he who shall not be named" and I am sticking with a no-comment policy here and I hope you do too. Link provided only as a reference to source.

30 minutes ago, GrudgeQ said:

Tommy has referred to these a few times, but in a new Smash JT video he included a shot of the "Intellivision 10 Commandments of Game Design". He may have used this shot in an earlier video but I just noticed it in this one.

 

BTW this video deals with "he who shall not be named" and I am sticking with a no-comment policy here and I hope you do too. Link provided only as a reference to source.

 

Very good rules to have. I'm glad the first one was changed. 

#1 I am the Lord, Thy Tommy! Thou shalt have no other Tommy before me... in line at Wendy's.

#7 I don’t agree with but all others are super fine.  For #7, this would exclude Mario 64 type of games.  There’s nothing inherently difficult or complicated with Mario 64, but I gather two issues could come up:

- the controller could make it difficult to control the camera which is important in that type of game.

- how do we Incorporate couch multiplayer in a game like that?

Ie not excluding because of genre but because of possible technical issues? Also let’s say the above is correct, if someone comes up with a free roaming 3D game that does not conflict with the rest of the 10 intv commandments with no technical limitations, are exceptions possible?

1 hour ago, Loafer said:

There’s nothing inherently difficult or complicated with Mario 64

Actually, it is difficult and complicated! I'd even say the camera constantly rotating around your character makes Mario 64 downright confusing. For example, if I decide to press down (when seeing the back of Mario), the character turns around and starts running straight toward me ("me" being the player in front of the TV). But then, the camera rotates and while still pressing down on the d-pad, that is without changing anything on the controller, the movement of the character changes from running straight toward me to running in circles!

Sure, it is possible to adapt to this confusing design, particularly for people who are used to playing 3D video games, but it doesn't change that it is confusing. Most "older" people who never played video games will give up almost immediately on Mario 64.

Even 3D games where the camera position is fixed are still confusing. In those games, when you press left, we don't see the character moving left, what we see instead is the whole environment spinning counterclockwise. So "up" makes the character move forward, while "left" makes the world spin counterclockwise. Again, "older" people who never played 3D games won't find that intuitive at all. If they insist they will understand, but most won't insist.

The same is true of first-person perspective. "Older" people just don't get it. Coordinating the movement of the character with the "mouse look" is very difficult for them. I mean I've even seen young people who are used to play video games having difficulty doing circle strafing correctly.

I tried several 3D games with my mother, both TPP and FPP. For example, I tried to make my mother play Portal since it was mainly a puzzle game. She just wasn't able to move anywhere. It was as if I was asking to tap on her head with her right hand and to make circles on her stomach with her left hand. I'm sure after an hour or two she would get it, but she wasn't willing to train just to play a video game. So she gave up.

So personally, I fully agree with rule #7.

15 minutes ago, Papy said:

Actually, it is difficult and complicated! I'd even say the camera constantly rotating around your character makes Mario 64 downright confusing. For example, if I decide to press down (when seeing the back of Mario), the character turns around and starts running straight toward me ("me" being the player in front of the TV). But then, the camera rotates and while still pressing down on the d-pad, that is without changing anything on the controller, the movement of the character changes from running straight toward me to running in circles!

 

Sure, it is possible to adapt to this confusing design, particularly for people who are used to playing 3D video games, but it doesn't change that it is confusing. Most "older" people who never played video games will give up almost immediately on Mario 64.

 

Even 3D games where the camera position is fixed are still confusing. In those games, when you press left, we don't see the character moving left, what we see instead is the whole environment spinning counterclockwise. So "up" makes the character move forward, while "left" makes the world spin counterclockwise. Again, "older" people who never played 3D games won't find that intuitive at all. If they insist they will understand, but most won't insist.

 

The same is true of first-person perspective. "Older" people just don't get it. Coordinating the movement of the character with the "mouse look" is very difficult for them. I mean I've even seen young people who are used to play video games having difficulty doing circle strafing correctly.

 

I tried several 3D games with my mother, both TPP and FPP. For example, I tried to make my mother play Portal since it was mainly a puzzle game. She just wasn't able to move anywhere. It was as if I was asking to tap on her head with her right hand and to make circles on her stomach with her left hand. I'm sure after an hour or two she would get it, but she wasn't willing to train just to play a video game. So she gave up.

 

So personally, I fully agree with rule #7.

I've been playing video games since 1980 and i have a real hard time moving around in first person games..so much so I usually just give up because it's not worth the effort 

On 9/19/2019 at 12:17 PM, Intymike said:

 

btw. Now we all know who is always bidding against Cmart.

And some times they just bid up the price and both get to have one.....

4 hours ago, Loafer said:

#7 I don’t agree with but all others are super fine.  For #7, this would exclude Mario 64 type of games.  There’s nothing inherently difficult or complicated with Mario 64, but I gather two issues could come up:

 

- the controller could make it difficult to control the camera which is important in that type of game.

- how do we Incorporate couch multiplayer in a game like that?

 

Ie not excluding because of genre but because of possible technical issues? Also let’s say the above is correct, if someone comes up with a free roaming 3D game that does not conflict with the rest of the 10 intv commandments with no technical limitations, are exceptions possible?

I doubt it has anything to do with technical issues, the dogfight plane game showed the system is very capable of 3d and I am sure it has any console of that era well beat on specs. The controllers are not geared toward it but I am sure you could wedge a Mario 64 esque game onto the controls if you tried. However “wedge onto it” already is a bad sign for non gamers.

Mario 64 controller layout isn’t substantially different from Hitman or Doom at its core, the camera is just mapped to buttons instead of a joystick - simpler but not really simple.

I also agree with the prior comments that the core issue is the complexity of open 3d world usually requires a free floating camera for the player. I think for many this is just a bridge too far and is what is keeping a lot of people from gaming. Sure you can do a follow camera or something but those usually only work well part of the time and you still have to deal with the full 3d world. Something like a Crash Bandicoot with its fixed camera and a 3d world - but on rails - is probably what rule 7 is designed to limit you to.

I acknowledged the potential camera issue in my post.  Well it’s one of those agree to disagree.  I can appreciate the possible confusion but imho if you refuse a family oriented game that is of a quality akin to Mario 64 assuming as I stated that the open world platform could be done without camera issues, then I don’t think that’s a good thing for any system

this isn’t specific to Amico, but any system needs a system seller.  I don’t doubt there are several titles in development that the devs believe will fit that description.  Hopefully they are correct and personally I’m not worried at all, just curious how stringent that rule is considering there is always a game beyond the horizon that breaks the mold, that redefines what can be done and pushes the industry forward.  Even with Amico being targeted more to casual gamers, it doesn’t mean it can push boundaries   

Having a rule in place that puts a monkey wrench in the gears of development is risky.  I do get totally why it’s in place though 

3 hours ago, BSRSteve said:

And some times they just bid up the price and both get to have one.....

Lol! Are we talking about the thing that I won a little while ago? 😎

Hey Tommy! 

I'm curious what your thoughts are on Apple Arcade that just got launched.They're enacting a couple of platform rules that you focus on, like no in app purchases or loot boxes & a limited, curated library. They also claim many exclusive games (from Sega and Capcom too) Hopefully you get Sega & Capcom to make a few games for Amico.

Just wondering what you think of it. It's not the same as just the app store, which I originally thought it was.

4 hours ago, BSRSteve said:

And some times they just bid up the price and both get to have one.....

Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt (figuratively).

2 hours ago, Loafer said:

I acknowledged the potential camera issue in my post.  Well it’s one of those agree to disagree.  I can appreciate the possible confusion but imho if you refuse a family oriented game that is of a quality akin to Mario 64 assuming as I stated that the open world platform could be done without camera issues, then I don’t think that’s a good thing for any system

Super Mario 64 has camera issues, but that's not the reason many people would not be able to play the game. Many people really have difficulties controlling their characters in a 3D environment. Even if the game has no camera issue at all, they still won't be able to play the game simply because the 3D environment is confusing to them.

I tried for more than 20 years to find games that my mother could play on her computer. As far as I remember, the only 3D game she was able to play was Carmageddon (with a wheel). She wasn't good at it, but she certainly had a lot of fun with it. I tried several other 3D games, either FPP games like Portal or TPP games like Beyond Good and Evil and she was not able to play with them. (Maybe she could be able to play a 3D game like Legend of Grimrock, but I didn't try it because that game is really too nerdy.)

To me, a family-oriented game does not simply mean a game without violence and without "mature" elements, it's a game the whole family can play. This is not the case for a game like Super Mario 64 simply because of its 3D environment. You can qualify Super Mario 64 as a kid's game, but not as a family-oriented game.

Maybe after Amico is well established among casual gamers, Intellivision could create a special label for more "advanced" games, maybe at that moment the rule #7 could be removed, but I don't think it would be a good idea to do this at launch.

I don't see see why you can't have a "3D world" game with simple controls.  You don't need camera controls for a 3D world game especially if it's first person perspective. The no "3D world" rule mght have to do with avoiding comparison to big budget games on other systems.

My opinion about the 7th rule is an intelligent, middle-of-the-road approach:

- Don't release games where you need to control the camera, but release some simple 3D games with tank controls or multiplayer games that control like Wolfenstein 3D, with no option to look up and down (obviously replacing nazis with some kind of robots to make it E or E10, or make the game a water gun shooter). These could be "hidden gems" in the catalogue, especially created for more hardcore gamers that want to play the Amico also with their friends, not only with their families.