Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

5 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

I don't think so. 

 

That would also be a little tough for me considering I'm a big supporter of animal rights.

I understand that games like Duck Hunt are all in good fun.  So there may be something out there that could fit.  Just nothing on the plate right now.

 

Shooting extremely huge spiders in Night Stalker or rats/snakes in Cloudy Mountain is one thing... it's "fantasy". 

 

Hunting for ducks or deer is something different (for me anyway).  I understand my views on this subject are not the norm.  It's just a personal thing for me.  A "hunting" game would be tough for me.

 

 

 

Nothing planned just yet.  Schedule is still way up in the air with all live entertainment due to COVID.

 

HECK YEAH!!!

 

 

Dinosaur hunting.  Where the prey also hunts you.....its multiplayer 

4 hours ago, Juice said:

So here is something that is a big issue for amico that I'm curious what the answer to it will be. I was talking to the owner of a pawn shop this weekend, and he said parents are always buying Wii's and PlayStation 3's for their young kids. You can buy both for under $50 and you can buy the games 2 for $5. So this is a lot cheaper than the amico, and even though the games are old they are new to a 4/5 year old. And z lot of people have these consoles and just buy the games. What is the advantage of these parents buying an Amico over older consoles with more in depth games that also don't feature DLC or have to worry about them downloading mature games? These pawn shops have tons of these games to choose from at the same price point. To me this is where graphics do matter because why not just play older simpler cheaper consoles?

I would rather say that people who had or have a wii would be very attracted to the Amico system, and I dont get your argument of why someone would buy an Amico if there is a used market for older games/consoles to similar or lower cost?? Same reason people are buying any new video game system, because they want something new and/or different. And it’s very different if you speak of a parent that buys a video game for their children, or a non gamer parent that buys it to play with their children (and/or other family members), that’s where I personally think that Amico are in a different league compared to any other system.

31 minutes ago, theswede said:

I would rather say that people who had or have a wii would be very attracted to the Amico system, and I dont get your argument of why someone would buy an Amico if there is a used market for older games/consoles to similar or lower cost?? Same reason people are buying any new video game system, because they want something new and/or different. And it’s very different if you speak of a parent that buys a video game for their children, or a non gamer parent that buys it to play with their children (and/or other family members), that’s where I personally think that Amico are in a different league compared to any other system.

Yeah, I don't get what he's saying either.  Parents these days usually get kids Switches, not Wiis, much less so PS3s.

Once the TV commercials begin for Amico, maybe J. Allard can be in a couple of them.

8 hours ago, Juice said:

So here is something that is a big issue for amico that I'm curious what the answer to it will be. I was talking to the owner of a pawn shop this weekend, and he said parents are always buying Wii's and PlayStation 3's for their young kids. You can buy both for under $50 and you can buy the games 2 for $5. So this is a lot cheaper than the amico, and even though the games are old they are new to a 4/5 year old. And z lot of people have these consoles and just buy the games. What is the advantage of these parents buying an Amico over older consoles with more in depth games that also don't feature DLC or have to worry about them downloading mature games? These pawn shops have tons of these games to choose from at the same price point. To me this is where graphics do matter because why not just play older simpler cheaper consoles?

The pawn shop business has no effect on the overall new consumer electronic products market, or most any retail.  Pawn shops comparatively spend somewhere along the lines of 1/20th to almost half a percent of the money on television marketing that comparative retailers spend in local television marketing.  This fluctuates but it gives some idea of where pawn shops are on the consumer radar.  400 miles off-screen  And they don't spend much on print, online or radio marketing either.  Consumers know second-hand shops exist, they just elect to shop at retailers offering new products.

The entirety of the US pawn shop industry in FY 2020 brought in about $2.8 billion USD.  During that same fiscal year, Wal-Mart brought in $524 billion USD.  Target brought in about $75 billion USD in revenue, Best Buy $40 billion USD and Amazon about $160 billion.  Out of a total US retail market of about $4 trillion USD in revenue.  My math may be off but that is about 1/15th of one percent.  It just doesn't register.  

Nothing against pawn shops and flea markets - it's how my family could afford systems and games in the 80s and 90s.  I've almost never bought games new, so there IS some customer base who elects to shop that way and I'm there to count myself in that audience.  But it doesn't turn the economic meter much at all, and it's a folly for any manufacturer to NOT produce a product because the second-hand market exists.  I know a couple podcasters dialed into Amico coverage dismiss "why get an Amico when you can get a used Wii or PS3 for $50?  THAT'S the competition for this thing" ... Because the shopping patterns of 370 million in North America and 400 million in Europe just doesn't reflect any appetite for second-hand purchases to meet the demands for ANY consumable or durable good beyond housing and cars.  And even those high-value items they show a distorted preference for "new".  

That Wii at the pawn shop.. does it work?  Will it have issues?  Does it smell like it's spent the last decade absorbing the essence of an ashtray?  Where exactly has that silicon sleeve been and is it supposed to be that sticky?  Is there even a Wii for sale at Harley Kwin's Cash4Gold & Pawn?  Will that pawn shop take it back beyond 10 days?  Will they have many games to purchase with it?  Where then do I get the variety of games?  GameStop seems to have nothing PS3 or Wii in stock any longer, and major retailers don't stock the older systems inventory beyond the 20 copies of Just Dance 2019 alone in the case.  Pawn shops are hit and largely miss in the public eye.  And the local retro game stores I frequent.. 4 times out of 5 when I stop in, I don't see families or solitary women shopping there, so if there's a family audience frequenting them, that audience has been escaping me.

Something like the Amico stands a healthy chance of success precisely because of the void in retail product, which is the working market.  It should be standout enough from comparative video game systems in the games it promotes and messaging, and consumers encountering it aren't weighing it against a used Wii or PS3.

5 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Happy to announce that the winner of our Moon Patrol high score contest is Susan Segers! And incredible score of 37,250! It was so cool to receive high scores from so many female players. Congrats to Susan!

 

We also had a runner up who submitted the same exact score right at the end of the competition. Randy Voss had the same score so we gave him runner up status and we'll be sending him something as well.

 

Thank you to everyone who played and submitted!

 

I was able to reach 37,000 at one point last week but could never get over 36,000 after that 😭.

Congrats for that amazing score! 

23 minutes ago, RetroAdvisoryBoard said:

  Does it smell like it's spent the last decade absorbing the essence of an ashtray?  Where exactly has that silicon sleeve been and is it supposed to be that sticky?

Are these my two favourite back to back sentences that I've read today? Why yes, yes they are. 😂

@RetroAdvisoryBoard's post is so informative that I'm pretty sure it's even offensive for some people.

4 hours ago, theswede said:

I would rather say that people who had or have a wii would be very attracted to the Amico system, and I dont get your argument of why someone would buy an Amico if there is a used market for older games/consoles to similar or lower cost?? Same reason people are buying any new video game system, because they want something new and/or different. And it’s very different if you speak of a parent that buys a video game for their children, or a non gamer parent that buys it to play with their children (and/or other family members), that’s where I personally think that Amico are in a different league compared to any other system.

Weird you use the word argument, when I wasn't arguing with anyone. It was as Tommy said a fair question. It was based off my own experience at a store where I realized I could get a Wii with an extra controller plus 40 games at the same price as an Amico. Also the older systems the games have no DLC and you don't have to worry about your young kid downloading mature content. Affordable, safe, and simple is a selling point of the Amico and shares similarities to why parents will buy their younger kid the older systems and keep the PlayStation 4 or 5 to themselves. When my question is answered in a civil way without any smartass remarks you'll see there is no pushback from me. There is no arguments just discussion, and thanks to those you gave well thought out replies.

^ I think you might be misinterpreting his use of the word "argument."  To say that you are making an argument is not to say that you are arguing with anyone, or being argumentative.

7 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

I believe the winner is the wife of one the folks here.  I don't want to say in case they aren't comfortable bragging.

 

 

 

My wife Susan won. Super excited and we've been battling at Moon Patrol since I got her to download it about a month ago. She’s been trying to get the high score to help win the prize for me because she knows that I’m such a big supporter (but, she gets the bragging rights 😁).  Her winning just shows that Amico games are truly for everyone as shes not typically one to play video games, but quickly got hooked on Moon Patrol.

Maybe we'll get an special Amico video around Thanksgiving.  Also, I can't wait for the AARP article on Tommy and Amico next month.

1 hour ago, Starpaddler said:

My wife Susan won. Super excited and we've been battling at Moon Patrol since I got her to download it about a month ago. She’s been trying to get the high score to help win the prize for me because she knows that I’m such a big supporter (but, she gets the bragging rights 😁).  Her winning just shows that Amico games are truly for everyone as shes not typically one to play video games, but quickly got hooked on Moon Patrol.

That's really cool!

Congratulations to her.

It gives me extra hope and incentive to get my Wife to play Amico games with me.😊

29 minutes ago, wolfy62 said:

That's really cool!

Congratulations to her.

It gives me extra hope and incentive to get my Wife to play Amico games with me.😊

Thanks!  When all this separation stuff ends, we’ll have to do dinner and have an Amico Party.  We’ll get her interested; after all, IE’s done all the hard work.  Think We’re about 40 minutes south of you. 

On 10/19/2020 at 10:08 PM, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

Did your "hardware guy who knows a lot about this stuff" take this pic?

🤣🤣🤣

Especially when the hardware guys says you can just pull the cpu and swap it with a snapdragon. But then you realize your hardware GUY is 16 and that cpu is soldered to the mainboard 🤣🤣🤣

On 10/20/2020 at 2:17 AM, GrudgeQ said:

Epic pownage begins at 2:22:20 and then at 2:26:30 Tommy drops a friggin nuke to end the discussion.
 

Watch that if you don’t watch anything else

Im late to this, so sorry, but that was a epic moment.  Facts are facts....

3 hours ago, Starpaddler said:

My wife Susan won. Super excited and we've been battling at Moon Patrol since I got her to download it about a month ago. She’s been trying to get the high score to help win the prize for me because she knows that I’m such a big supporter (but, she gets the bragging rights 😁).  Her winning just shows that Amico games are truly for everyone as shes not typically one to play video games, but quickly got hooked on Moon Patrol.

Congrats on Your Wife, Susan's, win! You are a VERY lucky man to have SUCH a special woman who would take time out of HER hobbies to try and win You a goodie like that!  I sincerely hope that Y'All get many years of enjoyment ahead out of it!

My wife, Susan, CAN'T WAIT for some of the new retro-reimagined, and the re-issues of the old games to come out, so we can play them alone, and together, in all their big screen glory! 

I've got an FE on order for our house, and a Black on order for my In-Law's as backup for their slowly dying Wii. I haven't been able to talk her into getting the Galaxy Purple one so she can play on the other big screen that we have in our master bedroom when I want to play something solo on the one on the big screen in the living room.

Hee Hee Hee

Wishing You and Yours Happy, healthy, and safe holidays ahead, and a prosperous New Year there!

B

6 hours ago, Juice said:

Weird you use the word argument, when I wasn't arguing with anyone. It was as Tommy said a fair question. It was based off my own experience at a store where I realized I could get a Wii with an extra controller plus 40 games at the same price as an Amico. Also the older systems the games have no DLC and you don't have to worry about your young kid downloading mature content. Affordable, safe, and simple is a selling point of the Amico and shares similarities to why parents will buy their younger kid the older systems and keep the PlayStation 4 or 5 to themselves. When my question is answered in a civil way without any smartass remarks you'll see there is no pushback from me. There is no arguments just discussion, and thanks to those you gave well thought out replies.

Well, english isn’t my native language, there must have been a misunderstanding as I ment “argument” as in your proposition/idea. 

16 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Happy to announce that the winner of our Moon Patrol high score contest is Susan Segers! And incredible score of 37,250! It was so cool to receive high scores from so many female players. Congrats to Susan!

 

We also had a runner up who submitted the same exact score right at the end of the competition. Randy Voss had the same score so we gave him runner up status and we'll be sending him something as well.

 

Thank you to everyone who played and submitted!

 

Congrats to Susan! Any chance Tommy of a histogram of the high scores? I'd love to see the range of scores and what most people achieved.

This is a quiet week with not too many news (that can be discussed in this forum), so I figured I'd open a controversial poll/thread which has potential: Atari 2600 Vs Intellivision: Which one was better?

20 hours ago, Pac in Blac said:

Hi all! New to the forum, super excited for the return to the roots of video gaming and every bit of news/updates on Amico!

 

To add my testimonial: I preordered the woodgrain VIP edition about a month ago but feared I may have missed an email from Intellivision about what to do next. I reached out via email and got a response that following business day from a friendly rep reassuring me I havent missed anything. Terrific customer service! Tommy, I am 100% here for the vision and integrity youve cultivated with Intellivision and I wish you and the company nothing but the best for the Amico launch! 

 

I did want to chime in and add that if it hasnt been discussed before...I know Dracula has been mentioned on the list of Imagic Intv. games to be reimagined for Amico. Had a cool thought...wouldn't it be something (TM) if the new game was done in a sort of storybook style, kind of like the cutscenes to the 16-bit Castlevania games? And to keep it E10+, maybe instead of biting people you drape your cloak over them and they become vampires themselves? Not to mention 4 player couch co-op turning each other into Vampires?? Lots of possibilities there.

Hi! 

Welcome!!  Always great to see new folks join in on the discussion and fun!

Thank you for recognizing our customer support folks.  Every part of our company is dedicated to making everyone feel like a part of the Intellivision family.  Trying to do things a little different than most big video game corporations out there.

I appreciate the kind words and support and seeing the vision, passion and integrity that we are putting into creating something really special and unique.

I totally love your idea about Dracula!  Definitely a great way to go!!  We could show vampires biting necks... as long as blood wasn't squirting out as it happened.

Thanks again for the great comment and I hope to see you around here more often.

23 hours ago, GrudgeQ said:

I just wanted to throw in my vote for an Amico t-shirt with a stylized picture of the console or at least some sort of slogan that describes what Amico is (maybe something like "Family Friendly Gaming"). The reason is that Amico isn't a known brand yet and it would be good to start linking those two things together. People may ask 'hey what is that thing on your shirt' or start associating the word Amico with family & gaming. At least it sounds like a good idea to me. At worse you would get two sales, me & Pete, so it wouldn't be a complete loss .

Noted in the Wonka book!!

22 hours ago, Juice said:

It's a fair answer,  I can just go by my own perspective as someone who doesn't spend time in video game stores or the video game section of Walmart but I do find myself in thrift stores and buy and sell shops, my last video game purchase was a GameCube at a thrift store. This is my reality but I can't argue with Walmart it would be foolish for me to say people don't spend a significant amount of time there.

I was actually really surprised myself when I found out how huge Walmart is.  And not only in the U.S., but around the world.  I think everyone just assumes (myself included) that Amazon is the top retailer on the planet, but it just isn't the case.  Interesting stuff when you start to study and understand the data and their market... and how you can use their marketing to really push a product.  Exciting stuff ahead!

One other super cool thing about Walmart & Intellivision is that they actually reached out to us first!  The folks in their gaming division had heard that we were going to be at E3 in 2018 and they asked if they could see the product behind closed doors as they were huge fans of what we were doing and knew that for the past 10 years customers have been asking about the "follow up to the Wii" as they put it.

Our 2 sales reps (who have been in the game industry for over 40 years) both said that in all of their years and experience, they've NEVER heard of Walmart reaching out to people like that.

Really cool stuff!

One final cool thing that folks might enjoy here.

Our mid-west sales rep is one of the folks with us that has been in the video game industry for over 40 years... his first job ever in the game industry?....

Sales & distribution for the original Intellivision!!

How cool is that!

22 hours ago, GrudgeQ said:

Currently the big push in innovation is probably VR/AR but it still seems to early for VR & AR, although personally I am a fan. Processors need to get even smaller & faster to really drive it properly.

 

If the Amico supports the Hot Wheels ID line of cars in Sideswipers that will be a really early example of non specifically made RFID products working in a game. Obviously Amiibos are built for the purpose so the innovation would be a cross brand synergy of products.

Wouldn't That Be Something?™

22 hours ago, Tavi said:

Which is also why I jumped on the chance to get in on a FE for the Amico. I don't care if new GPU XXX offers unprecedented rendering in 4K of a main characters nostril hairs with independent lighting and movement for each hair. What I care about is 'Will I have fun playing this?'. Looking at Amico titles the answer seems to be a resounding yes. This fun factor and replayability is something I find sadly lacking from most newer titles and systems.

Such a simple concept that some elitist hardcore folks just refuse to acknowledge or grasp the concept of.