Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

10 hours ago, Lord Thag said:

I just think constructive criticism is more valuable than rampant positivity

I would have agreed, if it weren’t for the fact that it is very hard to give valuable constructive criticism until you can experience the final product, since so many factors are still unknown, including how many of the games will look and play. And just because you prefer the Cloudy Mountain style over Astrosmash, doesn’t mean that the rest of the world does, so that is more a personal opinion than a constructive criticism. No individual game or art style will make or break this console’s success, it will be the unique gameplay experience that will either succeed or fail to appeal to the non/casual gamers, if it also manage to appeal to the hardcore gamers is a bonus.

10 hours ago, CurlyQ said:

 

 

I don't know if this is just coincidence, but intellivision baseball was given a credit on that album.

19 hours ago, woobman said:

I have brought the subject of the sometimes pushed to the back, but never forgotten, soundtracks that we will be getting when the Amico's come our way. While listening to two different OST's yesterday, it got me to thinking about the Amico's sound hardware.  Can anything be said about what the capabilities are? Anything cool features that can be reveled?

 

To to put it out of your mind, I was listening to Guacamele and Braid.  and No, not at the same time.   

 

PS Two good games that would be excellent to add to the Amico library.

PSS - For the included OSTs Any chance of physical copy's? OR are you doing something special? Not unlike the Physical Media for the Amico?

 

 

 

Will try to answer all the current questions while I still backtrack the 20 or so pages I'm behind. 

 

Nothing special about the audio chip for Amico.  It's capable of doing 5.1 but we don't use it as it would bring the files sizes way up (if used for music) and would also crush the frame-rate if we were using it as real-time 3D audio effects.  And the reason it's not important in regards to Amico is that our games our mostly 2D or 2.5D, so the action is typically always in front of you.  No reason to know there is an enemy behind you with an audio cue (so you can turn around to confront them) when we don't really have games like that. 

This all might sound strange coming from the "audio" guy, but frame-rate and gameplay will always take precedent over 3D audio.  There may be certain instances where it might be cool (3D roar of a crown in baseball), but not if affects the frame-rate.

 

Yes!  I plan on doing physical soundtracks!  Night Stalker anyone?  

 

Love the soundtrack to Braid! 

6 hours ago, martianman2012 said:

Their constant little attacks remind me of Fox news against Obama ("OMG he didn't wear his us flag pin today. His shirt is blue! How un-patriotic!"😆). Their basis is 'when you don't have content to report you have to create crap'.

Is this political enough? Can I comment on the factual coverage statistics of media outlets in the Amico thread?

6 hours ago, martianman2012 said:

I agree. I will get so busy for 3 days and it takes forever to barrel through the main thread to catch up. Perhaps breaking up into 3 to 4 threads different though streams could be organized? One main benefit is that sometimes we original IE fans will get to reminisce for a couple pages and that creates a lull for the newer fans that perhaps never played or had interest in the original (the projected target audience per say).

Anyone who wants to is welcome to create new Amico threads.  It would help to keep this thread focused on Q&A, and as you say, it would mean less catch-up reading for everyone to do.  When and if we finally reorganize the Amico discussions into a new subforum, I'll move the threads as needed.

6 hours ago, Swami said:

Perhaps still a point of contention, but I don’t think the motion plus controller needed the sensor bar anymore from a discussion in the Wii sub forum once it got both accelerometer and gyroscope. TPS and FPS were always a cursor affair since how would it be able to tell a 72 inch screen from a 17 inch. The Wii U still used it to be compatible with the original Wiimote games with just the gyroscope. 

Although I am not an expert in motion controls I have played around with gyro mouse controls (or 'air mouse' as it is often called) using things like development boards and some phone apps. The problem isn't that it doesn't work at all, but that it works worse than you might expect. The reason is that the internal gyro get saturated easy (which means they an be overwhelmed by input, so you have to move irritatingly slowly if you want any sort of precision), even then aren't very precise in their measurements and since they have no point of reference (like a sensor bar) to reset their values, their tracking errors compound over a short time.

 

If you want a hands on demonstration, download the app (android or IOs) at http://remotemouse.net/ (free with ads). It lets you turn your phone into a trackpad/slide show/keyboard controller AND an air mouse (you have to activate Gyro Mouse in settings & hold an on screen button to activate the air mouse part) to control your Windows/Mac/Linux PC. Try swinging the phone back and forth an equal distance at moderate speed a few times in air mouse mode and notice your mouse pointer start and end vary each time. Basically you lose the feeling of one-to-one pointer to movement relationship. Just try it out and if you are like me, you will vastly prefer the trackpad in the app over struggling with the air mouse.

 

A gyro and acceleremeter work great in measuring rougher movements, but maybe because we are spoiled with high precision mice & trackpads, they seem irritating as a mouse (at least for me).

11 hours ago, CurlyQ said:

 

 

Ged never looked better, CurlyQ!  Good stuff!

Factor 5 brings back Turrican. They will be at the Gamescom Pre Show. I don`t know if they made a remake or a new one or an emulated version. Publisher is Strictly Limited. Platforms I think will be Switch and PS4 cause there the Publisher released all their games.

 

https://twitter.com/RealStrictlyLTD/status/1298588645922951174

 

Webpage: https://www.strictlylimitedgames.com/

 

Turrican games that would have been something for Amico also. 

 

But who knows... They searched long for a possibility to bring it back and seems now its happening. 

 

 

 

Edited August 26, 2020 by speedy-a
typing error

53 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Yes!  I plan on doing physical soundtracks!  Night Stalker anyone?

Yes, please.  Make it happen Tommy.  

15 hours ago, Lord Thag said:

Let me preface this by saying I'm taking the time to respond because I am very much a fan, I just think constructive criticism is more valuable than rampant positivity. 

 

Yo!,

 

Thank you for taking the time to respond.  I believe it's fair to say that I take the time to respond to everyone as well, and that by doing so with people who may have different opinions or likes/dislikes doesn't mean that it should be perceived as criticism.  It's just expressing our opinions to one another and someone doesn't need to be right or wrong.  I answer questions simply for people to understand WHY we chose to do things the way we do.  More times than naught (and I'm saying you are doing this) when people have a different point of view than I do and I try explaining the reason why... I'll be attacked for "not being able to take criticism".  That's not it at all.  I'm just explaining why we do things the way we do and why we believe what we believe.  With that in mind, let me explain a little more about our approach to graphics.

 

 

15 hours ago, Lord Thag said:

I make no claims on being any sort of market expert either, but I can say this: being involved with the convention scene (I used to be one of the original organizers for PRGE), I have watched the rise and fall of a LOT of projects like this, whose fans were rabbidly enthusiastic, and whose creators were just as passionate about their product. They all failed. So take this for what it is: friendly advice from someone who is every bit the fan that others here are, but who does have real concerns. 

When you say a LOT of similar "projects like this" have failed, can you tell me the ones that have 40 full time employees worldwide, 5 offices around the world, 50+ developers working on games, major distribution in almost every big box retailer in North America & Europe, a focus on co-op and family, in house full-time engineering team, over 600+ years industry experience on the executive team, etc.

 

My point being, I don't actually think you've seen projects like ours.  The closest one may be Ouya, but they were crowdfunded (i.e. didn't need to rely on "real" retail at first), didn't have worldwide offices, didn't have a full-time in house engineering team, weren't paying the kind of money we are for developers, no family focus, didn't have many exclusive games and certainly didn't have the years of winning track records and industry experience that our team has, didn't have the appropriate market research and focus group testing that we have, etc.  (I could go on).

Atari?  One employee, a rented PR company, crowdfunded, no in-store distribution, no family focus, very little to none developers working on exclusive games, etc.

Honestly... those "other" folks and projects aren't even in the same ballpark.

And no offense, but I completely REJECT your advice that we might fail.

 

 

 

15 hours ago, Lord Thag said:

I think the main gripe I have, stated generally (and this has been echoed by many I've spoken with) is that a lot of the games look like mobile apps, in other words, visually bland/generic, and not something that would convince someone to buy an Amico instead of spending $50 (or whatever) more for a Switch, which also has tons of easy to play couch co op games, as well as Zelda and Mario.

 

In regards to Switch.  There are way more awful looking games on Switch than will ever be on Amico.  I don't feel comfortable calling any of them out as there are a lot of indie developers making things for the Switch an it would be unfair of me to pick on them.  Just go to the "bargain" part of the e-shop and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about.  But that isn't really a good counter-point to your thought because most people will never see those games or even know they exist.  I just wanted to point out that there are a lot more that are a lot worse that appear on the Switch.

My counter-point would be this.

If 3 billion people love Rock 'n Roll music and 200 million people like Jazz, why would my rock band want to put out a jazz album?

You mentioned that a lot of the games look like mobile apps and because of that, it isn't going to convince someone to get an Amico.  In fact though... its one of the reasons they will!  The graphics are not complex, yes, they may be "simple"... but that's the point.  People sometimes equate graphics to the power and success of a machine.  That isn't the case.  Mobile is popular and dominates partly BECAUSE of the simplicity and convenience of the gameplay and graphics.  What people HATE is the micro-transactions, the controls and the inability to play with one another.  We take all of that away.  Throw in a focus on group play and all family friendly content with games at an extremely affordable price... that is Amico.

 

 

15 hours ago, Lord Thag said:

 

Take Astrosmash, since you mentioned that specifically. I can jump on the google play store and find any number of similar looking games like, say: Space Inversion 2. Which is fine and all, but hardly something that's going to suggest to the average consumer stumbling on the Amico in a Gamestop to drop $250 or so on one, when they could have something very similar for free on the phone in their pocket, or on Switch for $10.

 

Space Inversion 2 looks nothing like any Amico game you've seen.  Not even close.  All our of games are more impressive graphically than that.  I would agree that the "average consumer" wouldn't pay $250 for Space Inversion 2.  But that isn't what we're offering.  And what about Tetris?  One of the biggest selling video games of all time.  Graphics don't matter to the average person.  It's the uniqueness and simplicity of gameplay, good quality and value that the "average consumer" cares about.  We will be offering that.

 

 

15 hours ago, Lord Thag said:

Now, of course, it's the multiplayer/couch co-op focus that makes the Amico really a cool idea, I get that. It's why I'm planning on getting one. But I'm concerned that the look of many of the games is visually indistinguishable from the mobile marketplace, and that sort of impression has most definitely affected game/console sales in the past. It's not that the game PLAYS badly, it's that it looks terribly generic. You have a great idea in a tough market, particularly with the switch having really expanded it's couch co op offerings since your launch announcement. Generic isn't going to sell that idea. 

 

 

Generic won't... but our value proposition and simplicity will.  You keep referring to the Switch.  3 billion gamers... 60 million Switches.  That's 2% of all people that play video games are playing on Switch.  Why would we be scared or not try to offer something different and unique than something that only has 2% of the total market share?  And how about PlayStation vs. XBOX?  Should one of them not exist because they do something similar?  There are currently only 5 major choices for gaming (there are more but I'm talking about the overwhelming majority).  PC, Xbox, Nintendo, PlayStation and mobile.  Should people only be able to buy and drive 5 different types of cars?  Should they only be allowed to watch 5 different genres of movies or listen to 5 different types of music?  We offer something very different than the Switch and there are enough interested people in the world playing where both can exist.  Now, if there were only 70 million gamers and 60 million of them had switch... then that is another story.  It would be MUCH more difficult.  Look at Sony & Microsoft!  Remember... 200 million hardcore gamers and Sony did the following numbers:

 

PS2 - 155 million units

PS4 - 110 million units (and counting)

PS - 102 million units

PS3 - 87 million units

 

They absolutely DOMINATE home console gaming over the past 25 years.  Yet Xbox still exists and is still very successful.

 

 

15 hours ago, Lord Thag said:

Of course, I'm only talking about SOME of your game demos. Compare Astrosmash with your Cloudy Mountain demo, which looks great. That demo uses a retro pixel art style combined with neon colored 'intellivision man' character graphics. It nails having a visually distinct style that also advertises your brand. If I'd had no idea what this was, I would immediately have pegged this as an Amico game based on looks alone, as it's appearance and gameplay look fun, advertise that it's an Intellivision product, and a new take on a classic game. It looks exactly like what you've been promising to deliver.  It's visually attractive and visually distinct, and the graphics and UI are not generic in the sense that it looks like any number of similar games on my phone. It stands out. 

 

Your point is again well taken... and again... done on purpose to attract a wider audience.  You personally love the look of Cloudy Mountain and (I'm assuming) Night Stalker, Skiing, maybe Breakout, etc.  You're clearly a retro gamer (you mentioned attending PRGE many times).  So we have multiple games that ARE appealing to you graphically.  And you may not fall into our target market audience (I don't know if you're married and/or have kids in your household, etc.).  And while you personally love the look of Cloudy Mountain and Night Stalker... casuals, non-gamers, mom's, etc. HATE it!  Too much going on, too complicated, etc.  So you see us doing games like Cornhole, Spades, Farkle, Blank Slate and many many more which are appealing to our demographic.  And kids between the ages of 3 - 10 don't really care about graphics at all.  Fact.  One only has to watch a kid play Minecraft or Roblox to know that.    And the younger kids (3 - 7) don't even have a history to compare graphics to.  So anything you put in front of them is acceptable as long as they understand it and are having fun.  I'm positive you're going to HATE our Sesame Street graphics... I can tell you that they look NOTHING like Cloudy Mountain or Night Stalker.  And that's okay. 

 

The good news is that the games (as a retro gamer) that you are interested in... you like!  And that's the point.  We don't want all of our games to look like Cloudy Mountain and Night Stalker because if our only appeal is going to be to retro gamers... we'll eventually fail.  And that isn't our intention and it isn't our target market.

 

 

15 hours ago, Lord Thag said:

I'm saying stuff like Astrosmash should strive to have a 'look' (graphics, style, UI) that sets it apart from the glut like the Cloudy Mountain demo does. 

It absolutely does, and as I've shown... the overwhelming majority seem to like the graphic style of that particular game.

 

 

15 hours ago, Lord Thag said:

I'm not saying all of this to be negative. I was at the launch event, and the Amico remains my most anticipated indie console, well, ever. But browsing this thread and youtube, I'm getting the sense that you might be a little to inclined to see the positives of what you're doing and gloss over constructive criticism, which is what this is trying to be. I may totally be wrong, which is fine, in fact, I hope I am. But I've seen a lot of consoles like this fail due to passion by the creators and hype from fans drowning out legitimate concerns. Take is as you will. 
 

 

It's sometimes hard to have these types of back and forths over typing because some of my answers may come off as being combative or not taking criticism.  Again... NOT my intention.  This is one of the reasons I do so many video interviews.  So everyone can hear and see the nuances of what I'm saying and how I'm saying it.

I don't think you are saying things to be negative at all!  We are just 2 folks having a conversation and I'm explaining the reasons why we are approaching things the way we are.  You may still completely disagree with everything I stated and said... and that's fine.  But just because other people are excited about what we're doing doesn't mean I'm too inclined to see the positives and gloss over criticism.  Especially when the overwhelming majority of people who are our target audience absolutely LOVE our product, value proposition, uniqueness, focus on family friendly content and cooperative play.  We may have a difference of opinion regarding the style of graphics for every game and who our target market is.  I don't disrespect your opinion... I merely disagree with it... just like you may disagree with mine. 

 

And if you don't agree with my counterpoints... I wouldn't say that you can't take constructive criticism. So please don't do that same to me.  I would just say that we may have a different point of view.

 

I truly hope our interaction doesn't piss you off or make you not want to engage with me or the folks in this forum any more.  I DO like the discussions (for or against) which is why I just took the time to answer you.  If I didn't care and was in my own little bubble of positivity... then the last thing I would do would be to put myself out there as much as I do, to do as many interviews and answer as many questions.  Would be very easy for me to ignore the criticisms... but instead... I face them head on and give my thoughts and opinions on each one.  I'm not perfect, I'm not going to get everything right.  We will continue to make mistakes and fall down... but we will ALWAYS get up, hopefully learn and be able to adjust.  And that's the BIG difference between us and those others you've seen fail in the past.

 

Thanks for the conversation.  Please feel free to keep in going.

 

 

 

15 hours ago, IMBerzerk said:

I had it on both the Amiga and PC.  It was actually better on Amiga.  It ran smoother on PC, but sounded awesome on Amiga.

A lot of Amiga games sounded AMAZING for the time!  Super talented composers/audio programmers on the machine back then.  Mostly out of Europe.

12 hours ago, CurlyQ said:

 

 

 

Hahahhha!

Gotta love CurlyQ!!!!!!!!!

 

The best!

 

 

 

11 hours ago, Bloodfire said:

One of my favorite pieces of video game art, when it is my turn to put the kids to bed, I tell a pirate story that the kids act out and they can't get enough.  They love the Secret of Monkey Island.  I wonder if there would be a way to make a Monkey Island type game that would be multiplayer and have something like that on the Amico?

 

 

We've kicked the idea around about having a co-op point and click story driven type of experience.  Nothing on the drawing board just yet, but something we are interested in doing at some point and have let a few of our Indie developers know about it.

9 hours ago, bigdaddygamestudio said:

I mentioned a couple weeks ago I think Bill Tiller looks to be available and would be a great get for IE

 

Who is Bill Tiller?

 

 

2 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

Who is Bill Tiller?

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Tiller

 

I think it's this guy ^

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-08-26-fall-guys-is-now-the-most-downloaded-playstation-plus-game-ever

 

In regards to concerns over Amico and its graphics capabilities, I would just like to point out that Fall Guys just became the most downloaded PS Plus game ever. More than Call of Duty. More than NBA2K or Rocket League. Fall Guys is sweeping the world and the internet as one of the most talked about and played games. 

 

As for its graphics?  Dare I say, that it looks like a mobile game. It's colorful and simple. Yet people don't mention the graphics, only that it's incredibly fun to play. While many hardcore gamers may think that graphics make or break a game, the success of a small game like this seems to say otherwise. It would appear that in general, people care more about how much fun a game is rather than how high-end its graphics are.

7 hours ago, martianman2012 said:

I saw that! John Riggs is a solid dude. Everyone knows how honest he is so that helps extinguish the candle fire PU podcast tried to light. Their constant little attacks remind me of Fox news against Obama ("OMG he didn't wear his us flag pin today. His shirt is blue! How un-patriotic!"😆). Their basis is 'when you don't have content to report you have to create crap'. Watch their clicks go way down after Amico's end up in tons of households. 🤘😎🤘

 

Yeah.  John is the real deal.  Super great guy and not someone prone to over-hyping or "shilling" anything.  It's part of the reason I wanted to show him Amico very early on.  He is very credible.  And he saw and played it in person well over a year ago (2019 E3 in June)... so you can imagine how far we've come in that amount of time.   He was there with Metal Jesus Rocks as well.  Side note:  MJR really LOVED the Amico Event on August 5th and spoke publicly about it.

 

Because we're on the subject, I can also tell you that a handful of people who are friends with Pat and who have played Amico have told him that he has it all wrong and that he should just take me up on my offer to see it and play it behind closed doors as his perspective would probably.  Those people told me he rejected the idea and had zero interest in doing that.  Gotta ask yourself "why"?  Interesting response considering they do videos about us every week now... or at least try to reference me at least once a week in some other topic.  So clearly they ARE interested.  But only in trashing us.   They have made it personal at this point... and all because of ego.

He lies to anyone who will listen saying that I never e-mailed him and that I just attacked him out of the gate (that's what this thing is really all about).

 

The reality is that I left him very nice messages on his YouTube channel and kindly gave him information on a few of the facts that were a little incorrect (screen shot below).  The post immediately received around 50 likes and no dislikes.  He promptly deleted it.  I left the message again.  It immediately received about 20 likes and no dislikes.  He deleted it again.  I left it a 3rd time and it was deleted again.  I then e-mailed him.  No response.  I didn't know much about this guy so maybe someone else curates his YouTube page comments?  (which I now know they don't... it's him).  Maybe he doesn't read his e-mails?  So I kindly approached him on Twitter (tweet below)... and that's when all hell broke loose.  I'm guessing that in his mind I crossed the line because I was correcting him publicly.  He clearly saw that a lot of people liked my comment on his YouTube page and he clearly must have felt threatened by it.  So he deleted it... multiple times.  After I tweeted him the response and told him I left it once again on his YouTube comments page... he left it.  That was about 2 years ago and the last time I checked (about a year ago when I made the response video to them) it had 89 likes and no dislikes.  Isn't it interesting that he will say that I'm the one taking this personally?  Nah... unlike him, I'm not afraid to speak with anyone (including my detractors) in person, over the phone/video and have invited him to have a conversation and see Amico for the past 2 years. 

Even made them an hour long unlisted video with comments turned off (did this because I wasn't interested in drama or clicks).  I even apologized if they took anything the wrong way.  All they did was made fun of my video on their show a few days later.

Have I since called him a lazy hack and coward because of all this.  Yeah... guilty as charged.  Probably shouldn't have gone that low and "wrestle in the mud with the pigs" as they say.  So you won't be seeing me name calling at this point.  Not worth it.  I think it's what he wants at this point.  He's admitted (while discussing Amico) that his show earned the most money and got the most views when he was trashing the Coleco Chameleon.  That and MUCH MUCH more was documented recently in @RetroAdvisoryBoard's recent video that I would highly recommend folks checking out if they are interested in going further down the rabbit hole (video below).  

I will however continue to point out facts when prompted.  We're going to put out an amazing and successful product.  I guess at that point they'll be the Coleco Chameleon of retro YouTubers. 

 

Wouldn't That Be Something?™

 

 

 

So there you have it... the unabashed truth.

For the documented record, all references and proof below:

 

Here is the 1st comment I left them that they he eventually didn't delete (it may be deleted by now, not sure).  Again, notice 89 likes and zero dislikes.  Did that upset his ego?

 

 

 

1st tweet to Pat.  Never attacking him.

 

 

 

1st and only interactions and tweet to Ian:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

E-mail to Pat he said I never sent and he never responded to:
 

 

 

 

 

Pat declaring I never e-mailed him.

 

 

 

 

And here's the 50+ minute initial video response to them.  Apologizing for any miscommunication or misunderstanding (which is exactly the reason it's better to talk to folks in person or over the phone as opposed to Twitter!).

 

 

 

@RetroAdvisoryBoard video:
 

 

So tell me...  do the facts and data line up to their narrative?

Nope.  Not even close.

 

 

Folks, can we put this one to rest?

 

Next subject please.

 

 

 

3 hours ago, GrudgeQ said:

Although I am not an expert in motion controls I have played around with gyro mouse controls (or 'air mouse' as it is often called) using things like development boards and some phone apps. The problem isn't that it doesn't work at all, but that it works worse than you might expect. The reason is that the internal gyro get saturated easy (which means they an be overwhelmed by input, so you have to move irritatingly slowly if you want any sort of precision), even then aren't very precise in their measurements and since they have no point of reference (like a sensor bar) to reset their values, their tracking errors compound over a short time.

 

If you want a hands on demonstration, download the app (android or IOs) at http://remotemouse.net/ (free with ads). It lets you turn your phone into a trackpad/slide show/keyboard controller AND an air mouse (you have to activate Gyro Mouse in settings & hold an on screen button to activate the air mouse part) to control your Windows/Mac/Linux PC. Try swinging the phone back and forth an equal distance at moderate speed a few times in air mouse mode and notice your mouse pointer start and end vary each time. Basically you lose the feeling of one-to-one pointer to movement relationship. Just try it out and if you are like me, you will vastly prefer the trackpad in the app over struggling with the air mouse.

 

A gyro and acceleremeter work great in measuring rougher movements, but maybe because we are spoiled with high precision mice & trackpads, they seem irritating as a mouse (at least for me).

Now that you mention it, it was actually in the Switch sub forum as we were talking about how the one joycon has motion control, but there is no sensor bar. There is a sensor camera in the left joycon that has motion control, so that may be necessary for long term precision/accuracy. The camera can also be used like the kinect in some games. 

8 hours ago, martianman2012 said:

Yes! I used to love playing all the Lucas Arts point and click games! I can only imagine how great these would play on amico. The touch screen could emulate a mouse cursor control.  How about Maniac Mansion?

 

Another idea... @Tommy TallaricoTallaricoTTallTallarTallaricoTallaricoTTallTa

 

Any chance you'll add a sensor bar like the Wii and include the tracing pointer control like the Wii mote? I was sad to see the Wii U pull away from it.

No sensor bar on Amico currently.  Too costly to add at this time.  Maybe something we could add later though.  It's not impossible.  Could be an add-on.  The original Intellivision was certainly known for that!  

 

 

15 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

So tell me...  do the facts and data line up to their narrative?

Nope.  Not even close.

 

 

Folks, can we put this one to rest?

 

Next subject please.

 

 

 

Others have pointed out that it's obvious P&I are just trying to gain more money and followers through hating on the Amico similar to how they found success trashing the Chameleon.  They want to replicate that "I told you so" moment by having the Amico fail so they willfully ignored any and all outreaches by Tommy to have a civilized discussion on it.  Honestly I'm done with those 2, I don't even bother reading up on what they have to say cause honestly they're far from honest so why bother listening to them?  Their followers need to wake up.

On 8/25/2020 at 6:42 AM, IntelliMission said:

I have good news and bad news about Pat & Ian.

 

The good news is that they just discovered that there are 3 billion gamers out there (they previously described that as a "niche").

 

The bad news is that, according to a nonexistent research they just pulled out of their asses, "they're not going to pay hundreds of dollars to play".

 

In each of their videos, they have to repeat that there is no market for "some new console for casual gamers".

 

It looks like someone is salty.

Damn... well that subject didn't stay dead for long.

 

Thanks for the link.  Just watched.  As always, they once again got a LOT of things wrong in that video.  Once again they referenced me (which is the only reason I'm responding to this).  He says "certain CEO's think just because the average spend on mobile is $93 means everyone does that".  Then goes on to explain that I must not understand math and how it works.  This of course after complaining the NFC report is $3,000 (i.e. he doesn't even know the breakdown and what the report or statistics are).  Well buddy... I have the report and many others like it and know exactly what it says and how it breaks down.  I legally can't publish the material, but I can tell you that most of what he declares as fact is nothing more than his misinformed opinion. Like usual, he reads a story on the internet in real time and without doing any research what-so-ever just starts mouthing off as if he's an expert before taking some kind of cheap dig at me and Amico. 

Here's a comment someone sent me a few months ago...

 

 

 

So, what everyone has known for 6+ years and he denied... now he walks back and moves the goalposts.

 

Kinda like when he said Amico will never be able to get game developers, Amico will never sell more than 5,000 units, Amico will never have major distributors and sold in retail, Intellivision doesn't have a working machine that shows people playing our controller with a game, etc., etc.

 

Here are some REAL facts.  A "whale" or "Big Spenders" as they are referred to in reports, are people who spend more than $25 PER MONTH on mobile.  That is $300 a year.  Those folks are a very small majority.  Under 3% of all mobile gamers worldwide (2.8% if you want to be exact).  Domestically here in the U.S., there are around 6.5 million people in that category.  So, do the simple math.  If there are 3 billion folks playing mobile and under 3% of them are spending currently around $400 ($400 is the average for a "whale).  How can anyone say that the other 97% of mobile players aren't spending much money?  How could the AVERAGE money spent per year per person on mobile be $90+ then?  His math (like most of his comments on the subject) aren't even close to adding up or making sense.  So whose the one that doesn't understand math and averages now?  

Again, he's just throwing out biased uniformed opinions about a subject matter he knows nothing about while scoffing at anyone who would be crazy enough to pay $3,000 for the professional report.

 

Here's something else you may not be aware of...

Globally, 67% of mobile Big Spenders are male with the majority aged 21-35. More interestingly, they spend big cross-screen, with 71% of them also spending big on console and 69% also spending big on PC. This is in stark contrast with the average mobile gamer, of whom 11% spend big on console and only 8% spend big on PC.

 

So... what else does this tell us?  That the overwhelming majority of "whales" are hardcore gamers.  And is Amico interested in targeting those folks?

 

No.  Not initially.

 

Do I think they will eventually get one?  There may be a good chance... especially if they view it as a 2nd or 3rd choice console (like the Wii was to hardcore gamers) that they can play when their non-gaming friends or family come over.

 

So there ya go.

 

Facts or misinformed biased opinions triumph again.

 

And just so I'm 100% clear.  I'm NOT saying that everyone who plays mobile spends money.  The majority do NOT.  They put up with ads and waiting for coins to fill up or deceptive gameplay because its easy and very convenient (i.e. in their pocket and accessible at all times).  But we're talking BILLIONS of people here.  Remember... Switch only has 2% of the game playing population in the world.  XBOX even less!  So if XBOX & Nintendo can be highly successful by owning 1% or 2% of people that play video games... could Intellivision be successful if we got one tenth of one percent?  That would be 3 million consoles.  I'd take that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

35 minutes ago, Swami said:

Now that you mention that it, it was actually in the Switch sub forum as we were talking about how the one joycon has motion control, but there is no sensor bar. There is a sensor camera in the left joycon that has motion control, so that may be necessary for long term precision/accuracy. The camera can also be used like the kinect in some games. 

I think you are right - the Labo uses tracking markers and the joycon camera for a lot of its tricks and I saw a light gun that used marks on the edge of the TV to orient itself and it seemed to work well in the demo. The “gyro drift” seems to be the issue. 

1 hour ago, vongruetz said:

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-08-26-fall-guys-is-now-the-most-downloaded-playstation-plus-game-ever

 

In regards to concerns over Amico and its graphics capabilities, I would just like to point out that Fall Guys just became the most downloaded PS Plus game ever. More than Call of Duty. More than NBA2K or Rocket League. Fall Guys is sweeping the world and the internet as one of the most talked about and played games. 

 

As for its graphics?  Dare I say, that it looks like a mobile game. It's colorful and simple. Yet people don't mention the graphics, only that it's incredibly fun to play. While many hardcore gamers may think that graphics make or break a game, the success of a small game like this seems to say otherwise. It would appear that in general, people care more about how much fun a game is rather than how high-end its graphics are.

 

Amazing!

 

 

Hey @Tommy Tallarico , here's the worst and, simultaneously, the best question in this thread so far:

 

- What would you do if J Allard approached you and said "we gotta redo the graphics in Astrosmash from scratch. Let's do it Vectrex style".

5 minutes ago, IntelliMission said:

Hey @Tommy Tallarico , here's the worst and, simultaneously, the best question in this thread so far:

 

- What would you do if J Allard approached you and said "we gotta redo the graphics in Astrosmash from scratch. Let's do it Vectrex style".

 

He would never say that knowing our timeline to complete and ship the pack-in games in order to start mass production.