Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

One of my pet peeves about the Switch is how the calibration of the joy-cons can go out of whack right in the middle of a game, whether i'm playing Zelda or Splatoon 2. I dont know if I'm the only one complaining about this, but this has bothered me from the get-go.

@Tommy Tallarico I would imagine the Amico will have some sort of auto-calibration for the controllers. How will this work?

9 minutes ago, atarifan88 said:

I've never heard of fatigue issues using the disc.  However, if you had an INTV2 like me, those side buttons are murder on your fingers!

I had found this neat little trick back in the day: we used to put little pieces of scotch tape on the tip of our fingers to continue playing! But I agree: those side buttons were tough!

1 hour ago, Urlu Berlu said:

One of my pet peeves about the Switch is how the calibration of the joy-cons can go out of whack right in the middle of a game, whether i'm playing Zelda or Splatoon 2. I dont know if I'm the only one complaining about this, but this has bothered me from the get-go.

 

@Tommy Tallarico I would imagine the Amico will have some sort of auto-calibration for the controllers. How will this work?

I do not believe this will be an issue with Amico because the input technology is completely different. On the Switch, the joy-con (and all other joysticks) provide a 2-axis positioning input (L/R & U/D) across the entire range of travel, believe utilizing some sort of rheostat to provide a variable voltage.   Amico’s disc is more a direct contact based technology, and so long as the contacts remain good and the disc physically pops back up to not ride on any of the contacts when not commanding an input, I don't see there being any similar issues.

1 hour ago, Urlu Berlu said:

I had found this neat little trick back in the day: we used to put little pieces of scotch tape on the tip of our fingers to continue playing! But I agree: those side buttons were tough!

Ergonomics wasn't a covered word in in the Word Fun library back in the 70’s, nor was it when the NES was designed. 
 

Electronic devices were just being designed for the masses use back then and the associated repetitive type discomfort and injuries were not a known thing, as these types of movements (and volume of them) had not been required previously.  
 

Like the hack. I don't recall an issue when I played as a kid, but do find myself getting a little sore these days when I break out the FB. 

On 9/11/2020 at 1:15 PM, bigdaddygamestudio said:

but those arent really needed unless you are a hard core gamer playing 3 to 4 AAA titles at the same time. Not many do that, and even fewer less hard core players do. To simply keep a game locally on a drive in case you want to come back in a month or so and start playing it again, you can use the USB 3.0 port just like always.  So as we mentioned this looks to be an entry level machine, not a hard core one.

I don't think the target are going to think about it initially, but I do think they aren't going to like not having ready access to the games and having to swap them in and out between on board memory and a USB, especially given the several GB size that could take many minutes for each transfer in addition to the updates. I knew a female gamer who said she usually just plays on her phone because it's too much trouble to get her PS3 going.

6 hours ago, Urlu Berlu said:

One of my pet peeves about the Switch is how the calibration of the joy-cons can go out of whack right in the middle of a game, whether i'm playing Zelda or Splatoon 2. I dont know if I'm the only one complaining about this, but this has bothered me from the get-go.

 

@Tommy Tallarico I would imagine the Amico will have some sort of auto-calibration for the controllers. How will this work?

Wii has the same problem

9 hours ago, atarifan88 said:

I've never heard of fatigue issues using the disc.  However, if you had an INTV2 like me, those side buttons are murder on your fingers!

No thumb joint issues back in the day of marathon 8+ hour Intellivision gaming, it was the ridge around the disc which hit me just below the fingernail (when probably pressing like a maniac). I think people's varied experience may have been how they held played the disc or how that ridge height hit them, but either way I am happy the ridge is no more on the Amico. That ridge was my only issue and even then it didn't crop up until after marathon sessions.

On 9/11/2020 at 6:40 PM, Urlu Berlu said:

@Tommy Tallarico my wife wants to know where you got that Willy Wonka book!

The one Tommy has is from The Coop Store and it doesn't seem to be available anymore. It does appear to be floating around eBay and used book store sellers on Amazon and other places, Google "The Coop Willy "Wonka Bar" Journal"

FYI on the new day for The Amico All Access podcast, it is live in about 40 minutes (7 PM Central, Sunday 9/13/2020)

Good interview Tommy.

Tommy,

Any chance of there being a 2D/2.5D Lord of the Rings game on Amico?

56 minutes ago, Intellivision Master said:

 

One of my favorite games on the Atari.  Please don't got this route... The official remake of Yar's Revenge from Atari:

It's nice looking. But it's not Yar's.

1 hour ago, woobman said:

One of my favorite games on the Atari.  Please don't got this route... The official remake of Yar's Revenge from Atari:

It's nice looking. But it's not Yar's.

Excellent point, the new Yars may be a great game - but it is a new game and isn't really Yars. I like the direction Intellivision has gone with Moon Patrol, it feels close to the the original to me, just with better graphics & updated game play levels and challenges. I think the key is the baseline control mechanics, are you still using the same basic mechanics that respond in the same way? If yes, then the game is a true successor otherwise it is a re-invention or 'inspired by'.

A really good video Anthium.  Well done!

So what's the latest with this? I thought in October these were supposed to be shipped out for preorders but haven't heard anything new. 

15 minutes ago, TandyVision said:

So what's the latest with this? I thought in October these were supposed to be shipped out for preorders but haven't heard anything new. 

Intellivision decided they couldn’t make the original 10/10/2020 date due to Covid delays and releasing later this year pushed them into the overpriced Christmas advertising market, so they have pushed the date to 4/3/21 for preorders and 4/15/21 for retail deliveries.

New release date is the first thing in their faq on their web site.

https://www.intellivisionamico.com/faq/#about-the-console

Ughhh.... so what exactly did COVID do to hinder the release date? Did they say? That really sucks shit.

Product safety certifications offices closed or backed-up.

2 hours ago, TandyVision said:

Ughhh.... so what exactly did COVID do to hinder the release date? Did they say? That really sucks shit.

The 50 certifications they have to get from other companies in order to sell in the different companies those companies are closed or backed up and I also feel sure the driving up of components didn’t help and probably the factory operating at 60% or so slowed things as well 

5 hours ago, TandyVision said:

Ughhh.... so what exactly did COVID do to hinder the release date? Did they say? That really sucks shit.

Agreed, it sucks.  Tommy said it impacted them on all business fronts, from compliance testing and production; but I look at it as some things are worth the wait. 

On 9/10/2020 at 3:52 PM, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

Look outside your window... it's on your doorstep!

 

 

Dammit, I think OEB Pete took it off my porch