Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

2 hours ago, GrudgeQ said:

@Saldo killed it in these last posts. I would only add that the need for "advanced graphics" doesn't even apply to games in general. Sure Exploding Kittens is popular, but what is more popular is just playing cards. Catan is awesome but checkers is still hanging in there after centuries. I would even argue that 'gamers' who are obsessed with pixels and gigaflops aren't even gamers. They are tech enthusiast who also enjoy gaming. People who play games for fun, and don't care what form they find it in - those are true gamers. Advanced graphics can add to the fun but they certainly don't make the game fun by itself.

 

 

 

I 100% agree. Tommy said enthusiast when discussing a person that plays everything. But that to me is only half of it. A true gamer finds enjoyment in all forms of gaming. If you have to the most cutting edge graphics then your not exactly a gamer. Just a tech junkie that enjoys certain games. IMHO.  

1 hour ago, GrudgeQ said:

Sure that rainbow unicorn cupcake may look adorable but if you spent more time on the decorations than the cake (a trap I think a lot of game companies fall into), then you end up with some overly sweet gummy mess that is only good to look at and not eat - the same with games.

 

I think the genius of the whole retro-reimagined concept is that Intellivision has the benefit of hindsight to find great games. Assuming they don't mess up the base mechanics, which made these great in the first place, but maybe just throw in some nuts to the batter to spice up the original game play and then re-frost that cake with some nice graphics & sound, they are onto a winning formula.

Absolutely agree 100%!

Hey Amazon just announced it new game streaming service Luna. I guess I will have to launch Grudge Stream next week (I mean isn't everyone going to have a steaming service now?). Fortunately for Intellivision it is the same ol' crap - dual analog stick, a few AAA, mostly a little older big games, something for retro heads and casual gamers so we can say it is for 'everyone' - and by everyone we mean the XBox crowd. $6 a month intro price, 2 devices at once, 1080p (4K coming 'soon'), optional Ubisoft plan coming soon (I am assuming on an upsell).

1 hour ago, Relicgamer said:

If you have to the most cutting edge graphics then your not exactly a gamer. Just a tech junkie that enjoys certain games. IMHO.

I agree with what you said up until this sentence.  I am a gamer that likes cutting edge graphics but if the game play sucks than all the pretty graphics isn’t going to help the game one bit.  Having a PC that can play the latest games and not crawl to a stop is par for the course. When building a PC you buy the best components at the time that you can afford to future proof the build as far as possible.  It doesn’t mean that I’m a tech junkie, but hey I would say most of the people on Atari Age love their tech!  There are tons of Indie games that are fantastic games that are not high res in the graphics arena but are great fun games.  Having the equipment to be able to play games from every era past and present is the goal for me.  From being able to emulate all previous consoles and play current games.

3 hours ago, Saldo said:

I only bring up the graphics issue because after 935 pages I kept reading about how graphics are not important, but to some people they are and I am one of them and I am sure there are plenty of others on here.

I agree.  I want beautiful graphics, but not necessarily the most advanced technology !
I prefer to play Mario All stars more than the original. But I don't need Ray Tracing ! That's me.

I think what people are saying about graphics is similar to when people say it's better to live with a respectful and kind person rather than a beautiful one !

What we mean is that beauty is not the priority, but yes, I think a respectful and kind person will also be beautiful ! 😀
The same goes for graphics. It's not the priority, but it's nice to play with something pleasing to the eyes ! 🙄

4 minutes ago, LePionnier said:

I agree.  I want beautiful graphics, but not necessarily the most advanced technology !
I prefer to play Mario All stars more than the original. But I don't need Ray Tracing ! That's me.

 

 

It really is a mix. I prefer Intellivision Football over Atari's version. I prefer Tecmo Bowl over Intellivision Football. But if you were to ask me to choose between Madden 2020 and Tecmo Bowl... I'd probably choose Tecmo. There's a level where the graphics are good enough, but the complexity of the game becomes too much. That's why I'm hoping that Amico Baseball plays like the original Intellivision Baseball, but with some better graphics. It doesn't need to be realistic to be fun.

17 minutes ago, LePionnier said:

I think what people are saying about graphics is similar to when people say it's better to live with a respectful and kind person rather than a beautiful one !

What we mean is that beauty is not the priority, but yes, I think a respectful and kind person will also be beautiful ! 😀
The same goes for graphics. It's not the priority, but it's nice to play with something pleasing to the eyes ! 🙄

Ha! LOL, very well stated!

All the talk of the Xbox reminded me of this tweet 😂

Hello everyone!

Been a while since I've posted. Occasionally been popping in, but missed quite a bit of conversation. Hope everybody's doing well out there.

I'm afraid I don't have anything of any import to say (a streak I've been maintaining for my entire existence on this forum), but... I've got this strange desire to ask...

Tommy, any news on baseball? I know my past questions have dealt with game features and the sort, but today, I'm thinking more about the fine-tuned game play.

What makes a baseball game good to you? For me, it's got to be the hitting. I've found myself simply not enjoying baseball games in the past simply because the hitting was off. The 'World Series' titles for the Genesis were an example of that. My brother and I quickly found out that home runs on that game were just about automatic with a checked power swing, and games just got into a tedious, solo home run slog. After a while, we just started playing the Home Run Derby (classic rules, always liked the 3 outs/inning rule), since that's what our games turned into anyways.

Also, on an unrelated note: recently played some Missile Command. REALLY looking forward to what the touch screen can do in terms of aiming. D-pad was... lacking in precision for me.

6 hours ago, Saldo said:

I agree with what you said up until this sentence.  I am a gamer that likes cutting edge graphics but if the game play sucks than all the pretty graphics isn’t going to help the game one bit.  Having a PC that can play the latest games and not crawl to a stop is par for the course. When building a PC you buy the best components at the time that you can afford to future proof the build as far as possible.  It doesn’t mean that I’m a tech junkie, but hey I would say most of the people on Atari Age love their tech!  There are tons of Indie games that are fantastic games that are not high res in the graphics arena but are great fun games.  Having the equipment to be able to play games from every era past and present is the goal for me.  From being able to emulate all previous consoles and play current games.

I think you might have missed my point. "If you -have to - cutting edge graphics. Meaning if you have to have, as to this being the only way to enjoy games and that its all you focus on. 

Like music, there are many forms. Classical, jazz, blues, contemporary, classic rock,  modern rock, country, etc, do see where I'm going with this? 

Video gaming is rather young medium of entertainment.  And like music each person has their likes and dislikes.  You might like a couple of them or only one of them. But as regards to games its not how they are made its whether or not you enjoy it. Plenty of simple 2600 games that sucked just as current games with cutting edge graphics will never be as good or remembered as pac-man.  

But when people tear down a console because it doesn't fit into their preconceived notions of what is entertaining solely based on one element of gaming,  in this case graphics,  without even giving it a try then are they really a true gamer? To me I say no. 

4 hours ago, vongruetz said:

It really is a mix. I prefer Intellivision Football over Atari's version. I prefer Tecmo Bowl over Intellivision Football. But if you were to ask me to choose between Madden 2020 and Tecmo Bowl... I'd probably choose Tecmo. There's a level where the graphics are good enough, but the complexity of the game becomes too much. That's why I'm hoping that Amico Baseball plays like the original Intellivision Baseball, but with some better graphics. It doesn't need to be realistic to be fun.

Give me nfl 2k series if i wanna enjoy a sim style football

8 hours ago, GrudgeQ said:

Hey Amazon just announced it new game streaming service Luna. I guess I will have to launch Grudge Stream next week (I mean isn't everyone going to have a steaming service now?). Fortunately for Intellivision it is the same ol' crap - dual analog stick, a few AAA, mostly a little older big games, something for retro heads and casual gamers so we can say it is for 'everyone' - and by everyone we mean the XBox crowd. $6 a month intro price, 2 devices at once, 1080p (4K coming 'soon'), optional Ubisoft plan coming soon (I am assuming on an upsell).

 

I have gamepass but use it to try out games. If I like them I get a physical copy. One thing I miss about video rental stores is that you could usually find a rare movie or even tv series.  But now you have to join a streaming membership and even with that you dont get full access or a full library.  And often I find you cant rent but only buy. And lately they will show it available but its not. Not available for rent or buy.  A all digital future leaves you at the mercy of what the corporation wants to make available to you. And in some cases games developed by defunct developers shut down due to bankruptcy and licences that weren't sold can often cause the online stores to no longer be available and may never be available in the future.  

Imagine games in the future that never had a physical copy or digital download getting lost forever when its removed from every estore due to a lawsuit on the developer. Or a company buys out the rights and wants too much money for the right to sale it or to just stream it. Or like tv and movies you have to have one of these new streaming services to play a certain game.

Not having it downloaded into your drive because your streaming it and they decided to remove it. Then say bye bye. 

This article touches on this a bit. 

https://www.gamerghost.com/post/all-digital-consoles-are-a-trap

On 9/23/2020 at 8:08 AM, Loafer said:

Well... some sense of personal responsibility needs to be placed on the person/gamer too though right?  I get what you are saying but I Can’t see anything like that as dark or evil.  People need to just not buy DLC, not play X amount of hours to unlock Y.  

 

If we are going to look at this via psychology, fine I’m cool with that, but then I’d say there are a lot of people who feel rather empty inside and they seek to replace that emptiness with whatever they spend their money on that gives them some temporary fulfillment.   

 

I’m probably barking up the wrong tree and I don’t mean to belittle addiction because it’s real, but if we are going to throw around terms like “evil” to describe this, then it’s a loonnnng list that falls under that and it’s closer to home then all of you will like 

Agree 100%, but a person is smart; but as a people,... not so much. 

12 hours ago, GrudgeQ said:

I am probably guilty of over simplifying my real position and saying stuff like this, but bottom line I agree 100% with you. I like graphics, I like great graphics even better. I like sound and I like great sound even better. But both of those are icing on the cupcake. Sure that rainbow unicorn cupcake may look adorable but if you spent more time on the decorations than the cake (a trap I think a lot of game companies fall into), then you end up with some overly sweet gummy mess that is only good to look at and not eat - the same with games.

 

I think the genius of the whole retro-reimagined concept is that Intellivision has the benefit of hindsight to find great games. Assuming they don't mess up the base mechanics, which made these great in the first place, but maybe just throw in some nuts to the batter to spice up the original game play and then re-frost that cake with some nice graphics & sound, they are onto a winning formula.

Question, does anyone think some are blending graphics with perspective?  I remember growing up with Intellivision and enjoying the better graphics, and then got into computers and enjoyed the graphical improvements made there, and was always looking forward to the next improvement, but I lost interest soon after Doom because all the games started going 3d first perspective.  Sure I enjoyed the 1st person racing games and flight simulators, but they became less ‘game’ and more simulation.  Simulators are great, but think they lose some of the simple fun factor that 2d perspective and associated game mechanics bring. This all being said, you do not need great (or even good) graphics for a game to be fun and enjoyable.  I think the Amico graphics look really good, definitely good enough to not to detract, but rather enhance game play; but thats not to say that there cant be any room for photorealistic 2d games as well. The question then becomes do you want to pay for the increased development for that type of graphics, and do you want that to be the focus of the developers?  For myself, think Amico has found a sweet spot business model and look forward to seeing how thing play out for them. I myself think it will go very, very well. 

On 3/21/2020 at 7:52 AM, Tommy Tallarico said:

I LOVE your idea of a crap games!  I actually never thought of that.  Any "gambling" type of game is considered TEEN rated... but there are ways around that.  I think it's a cool idea... especially for a group co-op setting!  I've added it to my future "to do" list.  Thanks!

Hi Tommy, any update you can share on if Craps is, or soon will be, in work?

14 minutes ago, Starpaddler said:

Question, does anyone think some are blending graphics with perspective?  I remember growing up with Intellivision and enjoying the better graphics, and then got into computers and enjoyed the graphical improvements made there, and was always looking forward to the next improvement, but I lost interest soon after Doom because all the games started going 3d first perspective.  Sure I enjoyed the 1st person racing games and flight simulators, but they became less ‘game’ and more simulation.  Simulators are great, but think they lose some of the simple fun factor that 2d perspective and associated game mechanics bring. This all being said, you do not need great (or even good) graphics for a game to be fun and enjoyable.  I think the Amico graphics look really good, definitely good enough to not to detract, but rather enhance game play; but thats not to say that there cant be any room for photorealistic 2d games as well. The question then becomes do you want to pay for the increased development for that type of graphics, and do you want that to be the focus of the developers?  For myself, think Amico has found a sweet spot business model and look forward to seeing how thing play out for them. I myself think it will go very, very well. 

I think you hit the core of this discussion here, and I totally agree with all of your comments. I also grew up enjoying the technical leaps that came with each generation. But since the Wii/PS3, I haven’t seen any technical advances that would make me enjoy a game more until the Amico. Of course better graphics can enhance a realistic flight simulator/racing game, but it will not make a Mario kart style game more fun, because those are two completely different experiences, same as a ultra realistic sports game/simulator are a completely different game experience than a sports game like “Ice hockey” (NES) or Mario tennis, and people can like and enjoy both types of experiences. 

On 9/18/2020 at 4:58 AM, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

This first hardware one is more about the "design" and how it's made.  Thought it would be cool to show folks all the "inner workings" and the why and how they were chosen.  This is focused on the hardware as opposed to showing games.  That will be our next video after this one (i.e. showing all the unique ways the controller interacts with games and how/why, etc.).

 

In regards to the Vintage Woodgrain finish, although "matte" was a leader during the live stream (and comments), overwhelmingly the "gloss" won hands down when people saw it in person.  The gloss really does make it look incredible and high end.

Yeah!  The exploded controller was actually won by the guy who did that hilarious Intellivision music video! 
 

 

Kept you waiting, huh?

...yeah, sorry, I had to say it. Yeah, I've not been terribly active recently, but thanks again, as always.  Interesting that the gloss won! Looking forward to seeing it as well as seeing whatever video you put out. Speaking of that, how has the death of Youtube email notifications affected your view counts?

On 9/22/2020 at 12:00 AM, Tommy Tallarico said:

You can't really do "light guns" on modern TV's because of the lack of scan lines of CRT's.  Would need a special set up and technology, which is why you don't see many in the marketplace anymore.  Also (unfortunately) I think it would quickly become a political issue as well.

Yeah, there are a few modern lightguns, like the Sinden Lightgun, but that's still in development, I think. I'm very interested in trying it, though. Not sure how it works exactly since I don't know much about it other than that it exists, but it's really great to see that lightguns have something of a future.

On 3/21/2020 at 9:52 AM, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

Yo Starpaddler! (cool name!)

 

Welcome to AA and the Amico Q&A thread!

Amazing that you've gone through the entire thread from page one.  That must have read like a novel of sorts. 

 

So I guess you realize by now that with your first post (supporting Amico) you have officially become a dumb brainwashed, Kool-Aid drinking Tommy fanboy Amico shill.  So CONGRATS on that!  You'll be receiving your cheap t-shirt and mug in the mail over the next few days as my payoff to you for being my mouthpiece.  Woo-hoo!   Hahahhaha! 

 

Seriously though... thanks for your post!  It really means a lot.  It's kinda funny how the haters will call folks who appreciate what we're doing a very small minority... they just don't realize that the majority of the world feels just like us and the direction the industry has decided to take.  Only the success of Amico will eventually change their minds... although most of the elitists will never change their tune.  They are too invested in hating the system and quite frankly... just not mature enough to admit they may have been wrong.
 

I liked your #2 comment about mobile.  I agree that even if a game is a 1:1 conversion... but can be played in a simple manner with others and with no ads, microtransactions, etc... that in itself would be a huge win.     There is a lot of really great stuff on mobile that no one have ever seen or heard of.  The Evel Knievel game is just one example (although our version will be a lot better).  You would think that people would applaud the fact that we are willing as a company to help fund independent developers... but instead, they get more joy from trying to tear us down in hopes to see us fail.  Shame on them.

 

I LOVE your idea of a crap games!  I actually never thought of that.  Any "gambling" type of game is considered TEEN rated... but there are ways around that.  I think it's a cool idea... especially for a group co-op setting!  I've added it to my future "to do" list.  Thanks!

 

Hope to see you around these parts more!  Thanks for stopping by!

Most gambling games i have played have been e rated i k ow the ceasers palace stuff was and i belive the hoyle games were.

Id love a more story ddiven adventure game mixed in a casino  gane. Think cegas stakes from nes plus vegas dreams on snes but on steroids...with more.of an adventure element.  The canceled ceasers  palace n64 game was going to be pretty ambitious  in that regard. 

7 hours ago, Relicgamer said:

Meaning if you have to have, as to this being the only way to enjoy games and that its all you focus on. 

Like music, there are many forms. Classical, jazz, blues, contemporary, classic rock,  modern rock, country, etc, do see where I'm going with this? 

Video gaming is rather young medium of entertainment.  And like music each person has their likes and dislikes.  You might like a couple of them or only one of them. But as regards to games its not how they are made its whether or not you enjoy it.

I do see where you are going with this.  Your initial statement that if you have to have the latest cutting edge graphics then you are not a gamer was a bit direct.  Putting it the way you did with different genres of music makes your point a little more clear and I can understand what you are getting at.  I think different genres of games can be enjoyed regardless of the graphical fidelity.  I also like playing adventure games, going back to the original IBM (Microsoft) Adventure, Zork, and the other Infocom text adventure games.  These games had zero graphics but we’re fun to play and I spent hours and hours figuring them out. 

4 hours ago, Starpaddler said:

Sure I enjoyed the 1st person racing games and flight simulators, but they became less ‘game’ and more simulation.  Simulators are great, but think they lose some of the simple fun factor that 2d perspective and associated game mechanics bring.

I absolutely can understand this, however that is the whole point of a simulator, to simulate something virtually from the real thing.  Depending on what is being simulated things can get complex very quickly!  From a tractor trailer in Euro Truck Simulator to an F-18 in DCS World the complexity increases a hundred fold, as it should.  I’ll never get to fly an F-18 or drive a tractor trailer in real life so sims that get me as close as possible to doing that virtually as it is in real life is a thrill and definitely begin to be less of a game and more of an experience.

4 hours ago, Starpaddler said:

I think the Amico graphics look really good, definitely good enough to not to detract, but rather enhance game play; but thats not to say that there cant be any room for photorealistic 2d games as well.

I agree with this, I think Amico is poised perfectly for its intended target graphically and game play wise.  Just looking at the Moon Patrol demo there is a lot of things going on in the small graphical details.  The same goes for Skiing, the racing game, and even Breakout. 

11 hours ago, Relicgamer said:

I think you might have missed my point. "If you -have to - cutting edge graphics. Meaning if you have to have, as to this being the only way to enjoy games and that its all you focus on. 

Like music, there are many forms. Classical, jazz, blues, contemporary, classic rock,  modern rock, country, etc, do see where I'm going with this? 

Video gaming is rather young medium of entertainment.  And like music each person has their likes and dislikes.  You might like a couple of them or only one of them. But as regards to games its not how they are made its whether or not you enjoy it. Plenty of simple 2600 games that sucked just as current games with cutting edge graphics will never be as good or remembered as pac-man.  

But when people tear down a console because it doesn't fit into their preconceived notions of what is entertaining solely based on one element of gaming,  in this case graphics,  without even giving it a try then are they really a true gamer? To me I say no. 

I think the "gamer who is only fixated on graphics" theme is a popular one, but one that I don't think is based in reality. There have been plenty of cases of games over the decades with then state-of-the-art graphics getting critically savaged or selling poorly because the gameplay wasn't there to match. Flashy audio-visuals might get you noticed and might get someone in the door so to speak to try your game, but it's obviously not an indicator for success. Even using a classic example of a game like Dragon's Lair, which is still undeniably beautiful for obvious reasons, still has an argument to be made for its gameplay, such as it is. While there are plenty of other examples of games where you could argue it was flash over substance (Defender of the Crown, Shadow of the Beast, Battle Arena Toshinden, etc.), only in very few cases, say with a game like Rise of the Robots, could a pretty solid case be made that there are/were no other redeeming factors than its visuals (and the developers of Rise of the Robots learned that the hard way when people had already caught on by the time Rise of the Robots 2 came out - word DOES spread).

And then you only have to look at some of the most popular games today, like Minecraft, Fortnite, Rocket League, Dwarf Fortress, Grand Theft Auto V, Hearthstone, Civilization VI, etc., to see that gameplay still rules even if the visuals are not necessarily best-in-class. And when games like Flight Simulator 2020 do set new visual standards, there's often considerable depth underneath (or, similarly, enhanced visuals actually enhance the gameplay with things like improved draw distances, more in-game objects, etc.). So no, I don't think we've every REALLY had a flash over substance issue in gaming. It's just one of those tropes that gets repeated, particularly as an argument for when visuals are subpar or not aesthetically pleasing, that gameplay should rule. And of course, everyone agrees that gameplay should rule and it certainly CAN trump weak visuals, but at the same time, considering what even the most modest technology is able to display these days, subpar visuals or subpar aesthetics are hard to excuse. It's the classic, "Why not both?".

Ask Tommy Questions:

Are there any foreign language learning games in development?

Are there any edutainment titles geared towards adults? (exclusive info mention in the answer)

6 hours ago, Intellivision Master said:

 

I'm still waiting for the day Francois drops an Intellivision Amico video from inside a Quebec strip club.  "Excuse me miss, while I talk to these fine people about the Amico".  Aerosmith's Angel playing in the background, you know it's coming.