Independent Amico Discussion Thread

[Juice]

1 hour ago, MarioMan88 said:

Im like you beefy, ignore them and let the cream rise to the top. Intellivision need not stoop to that level. P&I have their audience and that audience doesn’t care if they quote the price wrong or miss a detail or two. My advice was like yours when it blew up originally, just let them be and don’t waste your time. I don’t know how this continued YouTube interaction helps them with their mission. To be clear, Tommy seems to be done with them and their channel. Other YouTubers probably love all the drama and viewers it brings.

problem is it isn't just pat and Ian lthey've been talking about amico since pretty much the beginning. I'm talking about there's this whole community of drama YouTubers that I've noticed have set their sights on the thing. even people Tommy is sided with are drama YouTubers, like smash JT and that group you even have people like Darius truxton and Canadian gamer those guys are bad news we're talking doxxers. they go where there's drama and I guess because of pat and Ian and the review Tech USA thing, that kind of opened the floodgates of drama.

Edited March 29, 2020 by Juice

[MrBeefy]

2 hours ago, MarioMan88 said:

Im like you beefy, ignore them and let the cream rise to the top. Intellivision need not stoop to that level. P&I have their audience and that audience doesn’t care if they quote the price wrong or miss a detail or two. My advice was like yours when it blew up originally, just let them be and don’t waste your time. I don’t know how this continued YouTube interaction helps them with their mission. To be clear, Tommy seems to be done with them and their channel. Other YouTubers probably love all the drama and viewers it brings.

Tommy has posted quite a bit and referenced them recently, so I don't think that helps. One of them was in this thread yesterday or the day before. So that doesn't seem done with it.

 

I think it keeps getting kicked up by other tubers for clicks now. I'm not saying they aren't pretty over it either but I think Smash recently 'made fun' of Ian over a GoFundMe his boss started to help his employees. So, yeah... they aren't the only problem.

[MrBeefy]

1 hour ago, Juice said:

problem is it isn't just pat and Ian lthey've been talking about amico since pretty much the beginning. I'm talking about there's this whole community of drama YouTubers that I've noticed have set their sights on the thing. even people Tommy is sided with are drama YouTubers, like smash JT and that group you even have people like Darius truxton and Canadian gamer those guys are bad news we're talking doxxers. they go where there's drama and I guess because of pat and Ian and the review Tech USA thing, that kind of opened the floodgates of drama.

Yeah, I didn't know many of these people until people started posting their videos. Pat and Ian were the first I saw but that was because people posted their vids in the taco thread making fun of the VCS.

 

They all seem to have their own drama and hyperbole. It isn't just CUPodcast.

[MrBeefy]

Tweaked some things in first post. Nothing major just switched Burgertime and ToeJam and Earl to being worked on. Waiting for the next 'Meet Amico'!

[MrBeefy]

Added the Meet Amico video to the first post. SideSwippers demo.

[SoloZolo]

I understand all the footage shown is work in progress (I fully expect the frame rates to improve) and we haven't seen everything, but few of the games showcased to date have impressed me. I feel like a lot of them come across as '00s casual PC web-portal/XBLA in scope. Production values do not look high. Given the price point for the games, I guess I shouldn't really be surprised. I'm just not sure that'll get people excited enough to buy new hardware. Breakout, Night Stalker, Dungeons and Skiing have potential.

 

I'm disappointed by what appears to be unlicensed takes on other gaming properties. I don't know what they have the rights to, but the "Bomberman" game doesn't look official. It's sad when garage devs copy someone else's design. It's worse when a company filled with industry vets trying to sell a new platform do the same. Joe Q. Public won't care, but I think it does stink of App Store behaviour.

[MrBeefy]

6 minutes ago, SoloZolo said:

I understand all the footage shown is work in progress (I fully expect the frame rates to improve) and we haven't seen everything, but few of the games showcased to date have impressed me. I feel like a lot of them come across as '00s casual PC web-portal/XBLA in scope. Production values do not look high. Given the price point for the games, I guess I shouldn't really be surprised. I'm just not sure that'll get people excited enough to buy new hardware. Breakout, Night Stalker, Dungeons and Skiing have potential.

 

I'm disappointed by what appears to be unlicensed takes on other gaming properties. I don't know what they have the rights to, but the "Bomberman" game doesn't look official. It's sad when garage devs copy someone else's design. It's worse when a company filled with industry vets trying to sell a new platform do the same. Joe Q. Public won't care, but I think it does stink of App Store behaviour.

Yeah I haven't been a fan of the recent trailers. I do think the SideSwipers was one of the better ones in that it looked fairly complete and they looked like they were having fun playing. Missile Command did not look as though they were having fun and was more frenzied mayhem.

 

Breakout might be the best footage they've shown in my opinion. If I had to go by what we have so far I would rank these as their top 5.

 

Breakout, SideSwipers, Skiing, Moon Patrol, and maybe Cornhole. Conhole was pretty incomplete though.

[+Tommy Tallarico]

13 minutes ago, SoloZolo said:

I understand all the footage shown is work in progress (I fully expect the frame rates to improve) and we haven't seen everything, but few of the games showcased to date have impressed me. I feel like a lot of them come across as '00s casual PC web-portal/XBLA in scope. Production values do not look high. Given the price point for the games, I guess I shouldn't really be surprised. I'm just not sure that'll get people excited enough to buy new hardware. Breakout, Night Stalker, Dungeons and Skiing have potential.

 

Graphics are not the most important thing for having fun. 

 

 

13 minutes ago, SoloZolo said:

 

I'm disappointed by what appears to be unlicensed takes on other gaming properties. I don't know what they have the rights to, but the "Bomberman" game doesn't look official. It's sad when garage devs copy someone else's design. It's worse when a company filled with industry vets trying to sell a new platform do the same. Joe Q. Public won't care, but I think it does stink of App Store behaviour.

Actually, you're incorrect.  That game is a very popular franchise that his been around for years.  Very popular in Europe. 

When you say things like...  "It's worse when a company filled with industry vets trying to sell a new platform do the same."  You sound to me like you're just here to cause problems.  Have fun with that.

 

 

[MrBeefy]

I think the franchise is Dynablaster!

 

https://dynablaster.com/

 

💣💥

[+Tommy Tallarico]

24 minutes ago, MrBeefy said:

I think the franchise is Dynablaster!

 

https://dynablaster.com/

 

💣💥

Exactly!  Its a 28 year old property.

And was even the DOS port of Bomberman on the TG16 back in 1992.

 

Oh well... so much for that "gotcha" moment. 

 

I wonder if @SoloZolo is going to apologize and admit he made a mistake?

 

 

[+cmart604]

I'm starting to think there's no way the graphics on the Amico are going to be better than the PS5 and the new XBox. 😐

[MrBeefy]

3 minutes ago, cmart604 said:

I'm starting to think there's no way the graphics on the Amico are going to be better than the PS5 and the new XBox. 😐

Oh ye of little faith!

 

If you need PS5 graphics there's been a possible leak that the PS5 might be just under/at $400.

[+Tommy Tallarico]

9 minutes ago, MrBeefy said:

Oh ye of little faith!

 

If you need PS5 graphics there's been a possible leak that the PS5 might be just under/at $400.

 

Then it would go back up over $650 for 4 player mode once you add 3 more $80 controllers and the $60 games.  

 

Those Sony guys just can't catch a break.

 

 

 

[MrBeefy]

1 minute ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Then it would go back up over $650 for 4 player mode once you add 3 more $80 controllers and the $60 games.  

 

Those Sony guys just can't catch a break.

 

Nah I like playing my Playstation in my mom's basement while eating froze  burritos. Only one controller needed.

[Steven Pendleton]

3 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Then it would go back up over $650 for 4 player mode once you add 3 more $80 controllers and the $60 games.  

That's assuming they make local multiplayer games, which really are becoming increasingly uncommon.

[+Tommy Tallarico]

3 minutes ago, Steven Pendleton said:

That's assuming they make local multiplayer games, which really are becoming increasingly uncommon.

 

Will be interesting to see how many couch co-op games will be launching with the 2 new big systems this year.

 

Traditionally there hasnt been many on launches for awhile.

[+Tommy Tallarico]

9 minutes ago, MrBeefy said:

Nah I like playing my Playstation in my mom's basement while eating froze  burritos. Only one controller needed.

 

Hopefully surrounded by stuffed animals and NES carts too.  

 

 

[Steven Pendleton]

Just now, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

Will be interesting to see how many couch co-op games will be launching with the 2 new big systems this year.

 

Traditionally there hasnt been many on launches for awhile.

Yep. I've mentioned it before, but one of my friends lives ~10 minutes away from me and every time he comes to my house to play video games he's always like "why the hell do you have barely any local multiplayer games?" and my answer is, invariably, "because they don't really make those anymore." Will be solving that soon with the Neo Geo (on its 30th birthday, hopefully!) and Amico once it ships.

[SoloZolo]

1 hour ago, MrBeefy said:

Yeah I haven't been a fan of the recent trailers. I do think the SideSwipers was one of the better ones in that it looked fairly complete and they looked like they were having fun playing. Missile Command did not look as though they were having fun and was more frenzied mayhem.

Sideswipers does look like fun, but I question for how long. We've only seen one track, so hopefully more variety is introduced later on.

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Graphics are not the most important thing for having fun. 

I never said otherwise. Video games are a visual medium and graphics are a good indicator of the level of polish behind a title. Unity asset flips aren't garbage because they look like trash, but looking bad suggests that they might be garbage.

 

Unlike what some other people are suggesting, my complaint has little to do with hardware prowess and more to do with production values. I thought the initial build of Astrosmash looked, if I'm being entirely honest, bad. Visually, the assets looked like a mish mash that didn't belong together. The newer footage has shown improvement but I still don't think it's a particularly decent looking production. Compare Wonder Boy III's remake or Monster Boy vs. Wonder Boy Returns. Those games are not really on the same level and that has nothing to do with the hardware. They're all available on the same platforms.

 

Quote

When you say things like...  "It's worse when a company filled with industry vets trying to sell a new platform do the same."  You sound to me like you're just here to cause problems.  Have fun with that.

 

That wasn't my intention. I chose to post my critique in this thread to make sure I wasn't raining on anybody's parade. I'm not saying things to be spiteful.

 

I've always felt that way about clone games. I thought it was really skeevy how Rolando won awards when it was just a LocoRoco bootleg. People gave PlayStation All-Stars hell. This isn't new or even unique to video games.

 

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Exactly!  Its a 28 year old property.

 

And was even the DOS port of Bomberman on the TG16 back in 1992.

 

Oh well... so much for that "gotcha" moment. 

 

I wonder if @SoloZolo is going to apologize and admit he made a mistake?

A clone that's using a discarded regional name for the real deal doesn't change my point. Bomberman didn't ripoff Dynablaster. It used to literally be Bomberman. Konami let that trademark lapse and some unrelated German company gobbled it up. If anything, that's misleading to those who encountered the real Bomberman under that title. People complain that Natsume is selling games called Harvest Moon when the series that used to be localized under that brand is still ongoing under a different name. It's like calling yourself Atari when you're actually the mummified remains of a software company based out of France ... 

 

Given the genre focuses on single-player, at least we can be sure there probably won't be a turn-based RPG on Amico called Dragon Warrior. Any future plans for Probotector? It was also popular in Europe and is great in co-op! Rogue Corps wasn't very good. I loved Hard Corps: Uprising and ReBirth, though. 

Edited March 31, 2020 by SoloZolo

[MrBeefy]

 

13 minutes ago, Steven Pendleton said:

That's assuming they make local multiplayer games, which really are becoming increasingly uncommon.

Yeah if I have 7 friends over it will deplete my frozen burrito package. Don't get me started about my bacon stash. Not sharing that.

 

7 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

Hopefully surrounded by stuffed animals and NES carts too.  

I have both of those. You say it like it's a bad thing. Plus some things I've made too.

 

[Steven Pendleton]

Is anyone else mildly concerned about the ability to dodge the traps in SideSwipers? Unless you can completely stop your car to make the person using it waste it (and it does not seem that you can do that).

[MrBeefy]

Just now, Steven Pendleton said:

Is anyone else mildly concerned about the ability to dodge the traps in SideSwipers? Unless you can completely stop your car to make the person using it waste it (and it does not seem that you can do that).

The wall one seems to flat out destroy you. It did have a timer above them when people used them. Not sure that's an active or cooldown time. Would seem very easy to gang up on one person.

[Michael Garvey]

@SoloZolo

 

I just have a few questions because I'm curious so please don't be offended or take them as an attack. 

 

You mentioned a Monster Boy 3 remake.  Do you know how much it cost to make?

 

I'm just asking because you are comparing it to Amico games which Tommy stated cost between $150k to $200k and working 6 to 9 months.

 

A simple search for the game you mentioned seemed to lead me to assess it took 3 years to make.

 

Can you let me know if that's correct?

 

Also, currently that game (which came out in 2017) is $20 on switch.  A 3 year old game for $20.

 

Tommy states that the maximum you'll pay for a game is $10.

 

Can you let me know how you can compare the two when they seem way off in my opinion?

[Steven Pendleton]

17 minutes ago, MrBeefy said:

The wall one seems to flat out destroy you. It did have a timer above them when people used them. Not sure that's an active or cooldown time. Would seem very easy to gang up on one person.

Yeah, the wall kills you. Seems to be a cooldown timer. I just don't see a way to get past the wall if you are on that part of the track and the wall is ready to be used unless the timing for the activation needs to be frame perfect.

[SoloZolo]

1 minute ago, Michael Garvey said:

@SoloZolo

 

I just have a few questions because I'm curious so please don't be offended or take them as an attack. [...]

I'm very much aware of that and in my first post I address it. "Production values do not look high. Given the price point for the games, I guess I shouldn't really be surprised." I think it'll be a tough sell to get people to buy a new platform filled with games on that level. More people will see footage of a game than the amount that ever get to play it. Nintendo hardware has been low end for a long time, but the games they produce are usually very well crafted in all aspects.