Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

1 hour ago, martianman2012 said:

That is a solid video. I tried interjecting some perspective, but I guess it may have not been welcome 😆 #shill2020 #itried

 

 

 

 

Yeah unfortunately to communicate you both have to have someone willing to speak but also someone willing to listen - and that just ain’t ever going to happen

7 hours ago, MASTER260 said:

Oh, wait, I forgot to mention Night Stalker lol.

I think my list is pretty similar but I would throw in Utopia and I am getting more and more interested in Bomb Squad. The cooperative play is looking really interesting. Really surprising the number of games that are pulling me in - skiing probably being the most unusual considering what I normally like in games. 

On 8/14/2020 at 8:09 PM, Tommy Tallarico said:

Hi Folks!,

 

Still a LOT of pages and questions and comments to get through.  Unfortunately it may take me awhile as I'll be going on vacation starting tomorrow for 9 days.

 

Will try to stop by when the insomnia kicks in.  

 

In the meantime... here is the most epic video you'll see all week.

 

 

Great video with only one problem; it tries to to employ sense and logic with response to the comments.  All rings true to me, but figuring that may not be the case for those that made the comments. 

This might be a cool game to have on Amico.  Or perhaps the Vectrex that Tommy wants to bring back.  By the way this game is a prototype but looks interesting and it's unique.

The EWJ4 trailer has reached 125K views. Combined with the event video, Tommy has placed 2 videos on the top 5 most watched in their channel over the last 7 days. (the channel has more than 10 videos, but somehow Youtube only shows 10 today when you select "most viewed" due to some bug).

Fun fact: apparently, a new job listing has been posted:

https://jobzhq.com/jobs/senior-firmware-quality-engineer_e2e05e3c0d018378_0_0

From what I can read, it looks like Intellivision is looking for someone who is good at testing and debugging electronics....kinda like the testing reasons they've given for the Amico's delay? Maybe it's good to believe them sometimes 

44 minutes ago, Battlefish said:

Fun fact: apparently, a new job listing has been posted:

https://jobzhq.com/jobs/senior-firmware-quality-engineer_e2e05e3c0d018378_0_0

 

From what I can read, it looks like Intellivision is looking for someone who is good at testing and debugging electronics....kinda like the testing reasons they've given for the Amico's delay? Maybe it's good to believe them sometimes 

There are three jobs listed there for the Amico. I notice the wording is a bit different from the jobs listed on LinkedIn's website. The one for an embedded Android software engineer (URL here) requires someone who "will take on a senior software development position ... to develop system-level Android software to make the system run." That job listing was posted 6 days ago. I'm a little concerned about the "to make the system run" statement which sounds like the system doesn't run. It didn't say "to make the system run better". Hopefully Tommy can explain this better. The good thing is they have 48 applications for that position already.

13 minutes ago, インテレビジョン said:

There are three jobs listed there for the Amico. I notice the wording is a bit different from the jobs listed on LinkedIn's website. The one for an embedded Android software engineer (URL here) requires someone who "will take on a senior software development position ... to develop system-level Android software to make the system run." That job listing was posted 6 days ago. I'm a little concerned about the "to make the system run" statement which sounds like the system doesn't run. It didn't say "to make the system run better". Hopefully Tommy can explain this better. The good thing is they have 48 applications for that position already.

Those appear to be the same as a couple of ZipRecruiter listings from a few months back. I believe Tommy has addressed them in an earlier post:

58 minutes ago, Battlefish said:

Fun fact: apparently, a new job listing has been posted:

https://jobzhq.com/jobs/senior-firmware-quality-engineer_e2e05e3c0d018378_0_0

 

From what I can read, it looks like Intellivision is looking for someone who is good at testing and debugging electronics....kinda like the testing reasons they've given for the Amico's delay? Maybe it's good to believe them sometimes 

The job description was about firmware and middleware testing; not electronics.  Software like that can always be improved and updated even after the product ships.  The reason given for delays was government compliance testing which has to be done by approved third parties.

As far as the system running, we've seen Amico being played in at least three seperate videos and by others as far back as summer 2019.

Just now, mr_me said:

The job description was about firmware and middleware testing; not electronics.  Software like that can always be improved and updated even after the product ships.  The reason given for delays was government compliance testing which has to be done by approved third parties.

 

As far as the system running, we've seen Amico being played in at least three seperate videos and by others as far back as summer 2019.

I was actually affirming that! That does line up with what we've seen and been told 

8 minutes ago, Battlefish said:

Those appear to be the same as a couple of ZipRecruiter listings from a few months back. I believe Tommy has addressed them in an earlier post:

 

Thanks for the reference. It's hard navigating all these pages (almost 900 now). I am curious now about what these "accessories" are. We know it's not an Intellivoice component! As I understand it, there's the amico itself (master component?) and the controllers. I'm sure Tommy is focused primarily on getting the amico released so any accessories must be a later release.

6 minutes ago, インテレビジョン said:

Thanks for the reference. It's hard navigating all these pages (almost 900 now). I am curious now about what these "accessories" are. We know it's not an Intellivoice component! As I understand it, there's the amico itself (master component?) and the controllers. I'm sure Tommy is focused primarily on getting the amico released so any accessories must be a later release.

Yeah, I'll admit it can be confusing sometimes. Maybe there should be a fansite or wiki with this info!

14 minutes ago, Battlefish said:

Yeah, I'll admit it can be confusing sometimes. Maybe there should be a fansite or wiki with this info!

That would be useful for latecomers like me. I did find this nice summary of the first 200 pages of this thread by LePionnier: 

24 minutes ago, Battlefish said:

Yeah, I'll admit it can be confusing sometimes. Maybe there should be a fansite or wiki with this info!

We've discussed putting together a FAQ, with the questions that have been asked here and the most current answers.  Since the release date has been pushed back, it probably won't happen right away, but I'm sure we'll revisit it as the date approaches.

11 minutes ago, jaybird3rd said:

We've discussed putting together a FAQ, with the questions that have been asked here and the most current answers.  Since the release date has been pushed back, it probably won't happen right away, but I'm sure we'll revisit it as the date approaches.

Whatever became of the Amico subforum in the Modern Gaming area?

Having individual topics and threads would be better than having 900 pages of intermixed conversations

Or was it decided to wait until the actual release, ya know, just in case it doesn't actually get released 

5 minutes ago, fdr4prez said:

Whatever became of the Amico subforum in the Modern Gaming area?

 

Having individual topics and threads would be better than having 900 pages of intermixed conversations

A new subforum was another idea, and perhaps the FAQ would be part of that.  We haven't discussed these ideas recently, and ultimately it would of course be up to Albert.  I brought it up only because I'm aware that the Q&A thread can be unwieldy, like any thread of this size.

5 minutes ago, fdr4prez said:

Or was it decided to wait until the actual release, ya know, just in case it doesn't actually get released 

No, I think it has more to do with waiting until the release is close enough that any information posted is less likely to significantly change.  We last discussed this idea months ago, prior to COVID-19; if a FAQ had been written then, much of it would have had to be revised or thrown out because of everything that has happened since.

i dont think there is a need for any subforums with regard to this thread, Intellivision has a nice FAQ page on their official site. All main questions are answered there. 

1 hour ago, jaybird3rd said:

A new subforum was another idea, and perhaps the FAQ would be part of that.  We haven't discussed these ideas recently, and ultimately it would of course be up to Albert.  I brought it up only because I'm aware that the Q&A thread can be unwieldy, like any thread of this size.

 

No, I think it has more to do with waiting until the release is close enough that any information posted is less likely to significantly change.  We last discussed this idea months ago, prior to COVID-19; if a FAQ had been written then, much of it would have had to be revised or thrown out because of everything that has happened since.

One of the problems with this thread is that unless you follow it everyday it can be hard to participate, because it often moves so fast.  I doubt anyone will would go through it and extract the actual questions and answers.  Ideally, each question should be it's own thread, in a q&a sub section, under an amico section.  Also, it looks like most of the amico fans here don't participate in the intellivision threads and, to a lesser extent, many intellivision fans don't participate in the amico thread. 

3 hours ago, インテレビジョン said:

There are three jobs listed there for the Amico. I notice the wording is a bit different from the jobs listed on LinkedIn's website. The one for an embedded Android software engineer (URL here) requires someone who "will take on a senior software development position ... to develop system-level Android software to make the system run." That job listing was posted 6 days ago. I'm a little concerned about the "to make the system run" statement which sounds like the system doesn't run. It didn't say "to make the system run better". Hopefully Tommy can explain this better. The good thing is they have 48 applications for that position already.

3 hours ago, Battlefish said:

Those appear to be the same as a couple of ZipRecruiter listings from a few months back. I believe Tommy has addressed them in an earlier post:

 

 

Yeah that job posting has been bouncing around for many, many months - I believe I remember that exact posting early 2019. I think Intellivision has a standing offer for contract engineers and it is more dependent on who shows up vs the specific job at hand. Since the job offer is open you get it reposted again and again so it will always appear to be fresh.

I would look much more at the Software Quality position (full time and with benefits, not a 2 to 3 month contractor position ) - once you get your software features in you want to beat on it for quality & security. That is very indicative of a fully formed stack that needs recursive testing for validation.

Great interview Tommy.  I liked seeing the Amico standing up in the background.  

1 hour ago, mr_me said:

Ideally, each question should be it's own thread, in a q&a sub section, under an amico section.

Yes, this is what I was getting at when I mentioned the possibility of creating a FAQ.  The forum software has features somewhat like this (see our Forum Q&A section for an example); it would just be a matter of determining which would be the best fit for that format.

1 hour ago, mr_me said:

Also, it looks like most of the amico fans here don't participate in the intellivision threads and, to a lesser extent, many intellivision fans don't participate in the amico thread. 

Well, when this thread was started, the Intellivision subforum was probably the most logical place for it because of the brand lineage.  But as we know, the Amico isn't primarily a "retro console" (despite certain peoples' insistence on squeezing it into that mold), and the target audience for the Amico includes a lot of people who aren't necessarily interested in "retro gaming."  Creating a dedicated Amico subforum under Modern Gaming would make sense to me, but again, it's ultimately Albert's decision.

5 minutes ago, jaybird3rd said:

Yes, this is what I was getting at when I mentioned the possibility of creating a FAQ.  The forum software has features somewhat like this (see our Forum Q&A section for an example); it would just be a matter of determining which would be the best fit for that format.

 

Well, when this thread was started, the Intellivision subforum was probably the most logical place for it because of the brand lineage.  But as we know, the Amico isn't primarily a "retro console" (despite certain peoples' insistence on squeezing it into that mold), and the target audience for the Amico includes a lot of people who aren't necessarily interested in "retro gaming."  Creating a dedicated Amico subforum under Modern Gaming would make sense to me, but again, it's ultimately Albert's decision.

However, it is targeted far more towards retrogamers than modern gamers,  so it would not seem like a good fit for the modern gaming forum.

On 8/14/2020 at 8:09 PM, Tommy Tallarico said:

Hi Folks!,

 

Still a LOT of pages and questions and comments to get through.  Unfortunately it may take me awhile as I'll be going on vacation starting tomorrow for 9 days.

Take a breather!!!! Enjoy!!!

52 minutes ago, Swami said:

However, it is targeted far more towards retrogamers than modern gamers,  so it would not seem like a good fit for the modern gaming forum.

I suppose that an argument could be made either way.  The Amico spans multiple categories, so when the time comes, we'll have to consider all our options (with everyone's input, of course).  But nothing is going to be changed in the near future, and I don't want to sideline the thread any further.