Atari BUYS Intellivision - What Does This Mean?! 

What do you think of this Intellivision sale to Atari? Do you think Atari will be a good shepherd of the Intellivision brand and its games? Let me know what you think!

Tommy's mother ain't gonna be pleased with him about this

I cannot wait for 10.10.2020 to play Earthworm Jim 3 on my Amico!!!

I love how Larrys money is still sitting there.

At long last, Atari won the original console war! And Tommy made it happen!

Hey Pat it's Tommy. Let's catch up and grab a slice some time, maybe some pasta. We're Paisan after all!

My prediction is Intellivision becomes a glorified secondary brand and the Amico is officially shelved for good by the end of this year.

If I remember those Amico documents that were released, Tommy's end goal was getting bought out. Some how I don't think this is how he envisioned it

What does it mean? _It means we laugh_ 😆🤣

Okay I do enjoy seeing Ian as a force ghost over Pat’s shoulder. Can we do something like put him in Jedi robes or virtually project him onto the set when he’s doing remote podcasts?

THIS ENTIRE saga should have started and ended with Tommy buying Intellivision, and then repackaging as much of it's library six-ways-to-sunday for modern audiences to learn about. It should have been sold as Tommy trying to educate modern generations about a piece of videogame past, that they are almost certain to not be aware of - by making these titles available digitally on as many platforms as possible, and wrapped in educational material (like Atari 50th). He could have made a nice bit of coin doing that way, drummed up a tiny bit of conversation about the brand, and maybe some young people (even if it's 0.001% of Gen Z Gamers) might learn something. I was shocked at how viral the _Atari 50th_ went, and how many people were streaming it.... including really young people who progressed thru the collection, not as people enjoying the gameplay - but rather as folks watching the videos, playing a bit, and pacing thru the Atari 50th collection like there were visiting the National Videogame Museum. I promise you that no person under 40 is going to find anything on the Intellevision even remotely engaging to actually play... BUT most people *WOULD* sit thru a two hour guiding interactive museum with videos, and gameplay segments that took you thru the timeline of Intellevision and their console, and probably be fairly entertained in the learning aspect. The problem is that Tommy and the 200 old men on the planet who still think about Intellivision, couldn't understand that without nostalgia - these games are not worth a single cent to people who were not alive then... let alone $300 for a dedicated platform, and $10-15 a game. The past is in the past. Intellivison and all these old platforms that relied on primitive graphics and a lot of licensed titles based on IP that haven't been relevant in 35+ years - have no inherit draw or engagement method for today's core marketing demographic (18-34). My teenage son does not care about _Tapper, Burgertime, Smurfs, Carebears, Flintstones, Gi Joe, Shark Shark, Centipede, etc_ ....he has never heard of those titles in his life. To him, the *PlayStation 2* is a "really old retro console", and *Hannah Montana* is just a meme of _" some old show from along time ago"._ I have literally heard these word come out his mouth. And I'm a 38 year-old man myself who was too young for the Intellevision.... I didn't even know it existed until many years later, when the internet happened. I thought the Atari 2600 was it (I had one) and the then the Mastersystem/NES followed. It's part of the reason why no matter how many DJC podcasts/livestreams he did espousing that _"Amico is bringing back family fun"_ bit that Tommy came up with, and no matter how many Amico Cult Member's (or even Tommy himself) tried to paint anyone who criticized the Amicos marketability, as 'haters' and people who just did not understand families.... I, a lifelong gamer with a kid (vs. Tommy who is not, and doesn't), know that it was all BS. Even in 2019, Gen Z was already getting to the age where they would be starting families and taking over the market as the main demographic. Elder Millennials barely knew what this stuff was, and barely find these old games enjoyable for even a few minutes.... what hope did a 26 year-old mother born in 1997, with a kid born in 2012 have of liking them? Could you imagine trying to sell a $300 device to a woman whose family plan includes a bunch of $1000 smartphones, and a endless supply of modern multiplayer games they don't need tethered to play? I can tell you that when I play games with my son, it's often Minecraft (which we play together), stuff on his switch, PC games like Fortnite/Roblox, and call of duty mobile. He would literally laugh at me if I tried to give him Burgertime on Intellevision. lmao. He doesn't even like his games to be 2D, because he was he can't understand how to play them. I don't know what Tommy was smoking, or what Meds he was neglecting to take.... honestly I think it was just pure greed on his part. And a bunch of out-of-touch old fools, saw a chance to feel special and dream for a few years there that it was actually possible to feel like they did at 10-years-old in the 1970s. Maybe it was just a bunch of nostalgic old men having mid-life crisis, and a silver-tonged Pied Piper come in with his _Ferrari_ and _Spider-man Room_ ....and made them feel like the dials of time COULD be turned back, and they would sit in their living rooms again with their enthralled kids, and play endless hours of Frenzy huddled around the television without a single interruption, like it was them in their pajamas with a bowl of Franken Berry, glued to the soft glow of that fuzzy Magnavox console unit, and laying on the shag carpet of a wood paneled room in their childhood home. Absolutely delusional thinking on every single person's part... Especially those who funded the venture (looking at you Smash JT), supported the business decisions, and came to bat endlessly for the console concept after Tommy made it crystal clear that it was offering little that the original hadn't already minus "NFT" technology (lol) and cosmetically improved variation of mostly old games. Some people just can't accept that they are old, and they fall for this nostalgia bait hook line and sinker. Say what you the Colleco Chameleon... but at least that scam was promising a modern console with modern games for modern audiences, that didn't rely on nostalgia or limitations of gimmicks from the 1970s. The puff of smoke BS around it, had them talking about how the Chameleon wasn't for the older guys who grew up with it, but rather their kids. This thing was doomed from the start. Like I said: Tommy should was just licensed the library to every platform possible, and focused on finally offering a definitive way to play all of them in one place, and educate people - on the folks who made those games and brought to market that platform. That would have been more profitable, respected modern audiences, much faster and efficient (cheaper too), and honored the platform/people for whom Tommy pretends to have a great deal of love for. In my opinion, the holding company with also owns right now Atari, will probably just licensed off all these games, and release collections anyway. So good job Tommy, your scheme bit EVERYONE in the butt.... well expect people like Phil Adams (who got his parachute) and the de-facto supreme leader of the amico cultist _DJC GAME STUDIOS_ .....who somehow avoided jail time for being an accomplice to fraud, being sued by the people he lied too/defrauded for years, and for whom he himself probably made some small profit from the sell of Intellivison (as he was allegedly gifted a share in the company).... plus he got his Amico 'test unit.'

I think this is the best thing for Intellivision fans. I can’t wait to see what Atari does next.

Remember when Tommy mouthed about how we wanted to fight Atari so he could kick their asses?

Already looking forward to this year's Christmas Special...

Metal Jesus will love this!

One of the AD&D game was renamed to Crown of Kings on my Intellivision DS collection

I've been waiting for this moment since I read the news the other day :). I was a big fan of the original Intellivision as it was my first game system growing up. I can sleep better at night knowing that Tommy Tallarico no longer has anything to do with Intellivision, I'm hoping with Atari running things, we can get something along the lines of the "Recharged" series for some of the Intellivision games, and something along the lines of the Atari 50 collection. I was interested in the original (wishcast) pitch of the Amico, and actually had one preordered at one point, but decided to ask for a refund when it looked like they were going less in the direction of a retro system with classic Intellivision games remastered, and more of the "Family Friendly" shovelware dump. Fortunately for me, I was able to get out before the bottom fell out and managed to get my $100 back without any problems.

“Atari reportedly bought the Intellivision library of around 200 games, and also, this can’t be right Pat, a life-sized Spider-Man statue.”

You two have been right about this entire fiasco. Its a shame the Intellivision name has been dragged in to the mud. When the small documentary is made about in this scam Pat and Ian must be interviewed. Keep up the great work.

The sports games are not a problem, because they later rereleased non-licensed versions of their sports games when it came time to renew those - not to mention that they later updated those games with one-player modes anyway. That includes things like the Chess, Checkers, and Backgammon games. When I was actively collecting Intellivision, I regularly came across those variants.

*"Oof!"* The Tommy Tallarico Story.

When Pat corrctly states Atari had consoles and arcades, Atari also were a success in home computing, especially the Atari St. So Atari had lots more to offer than Intellivision for many more years.

Just waiting for the Emperor Palpatine to visit Talarico saying, “Goooood. Now your journey to the abject failure of Intellivision is complete.”

I wonder how the Amico frauds took this news lmao 🤣?

This is a good decision and this should finally end the Amico for good

Phil, Tommy and the weird mustache guy wished they could have slipped this news past Pat and Ian by getting it announced after this week’s CUPodcast, but Atari doesn’t give a crap about their egos and just dropped the press release as soon as the deal was done.

I saw comments elsewhere online like “This is insane! This would be like Sony buying Microsoft!” Some very eye rolling comments going around like that.

We need a response from "a certain individual" ASAP!

The real question is...who owns the HyperScan rights?

where can I find and listen to the full podcast, audio? I do not understand why people still think the Amico will come to light or be anything even remotely successful.

My God Ian looks more like Unibomber every day, congrats Ian 👏

His mother is very proud

With all the problems with Atari releasing the VCS, at least it took Atari a fraction of the $17 million to release the console and they still support it, new games still come out. Maybe the few Amico games will come out on the VCS which would be funny 😂

What’s next on the list, Colecovision, Tandy?

This was such a pleasure to watch😅 Atari needs to play into the console wars thing to sell Intellivision as it's biggest early rival.

As if a thousand shills suddenly screamed out in terror...and were then silenced.

Welfare check on Tommy pls

VR B-17 Bomber

Man, when Tommy said he would kick Atari's butt. I didn't realize he was saying that on the set of "You can't do that on Television" on Nickelodeon, and it was the Opposite Sketch.

Mattel = “1” console named Intellivision + “1” afterthought computer named something or other ATARI = numerous arcade machines* + numerous consoles* + numerous computers* WINNER** = 🎮🕹ATARI🕹🎮 *including pinball & handheld & portable **then & now

This is great, but why do I now think of Coleco and the Jaws theme at the same time. 😂

Attaboy Tommy! 😂 What should've happened a long time ago before the INTV IP ever got in his hands! Not that 2024 Atari is special, but at least they have an actual track record of releasing real products and recharged/upgraded games.

Well the vcs is still alive and well. Around 170 games and counting and Atari is still supporting it. Not dead yet. 3+ years.

I would say Intelivision is in good hands now. Lets hope Atari buys the missing games. RIP Keith Robinson

BurgerTime keeps getting re-released so that's some sort of continued connection to Intellivision. That was one of 3 games I remember playing on my Intellivision, the other 2 being Tennis and Baseball.

Do most people even know that this Atari is not really the 80s Atari?

Sidenote. This is the prelude to an AMICO bankruptcy in 6 to 9 months. They know the hardware is not coming and the games are already ported elsewhere.

Wow, this is pretty neat! Reminds me of Sega going to Nintendo, but not exactly the same.

Let's be real, this is a company in an intensive care unit buying another company that's on life support.

Yeah I wonder if the Aquarius, the Computer add on for Intellivision and the INTV is part of all that, if so INTV had some really cool games and then you have prototype that have never been released.

You guys are right. Atari now stewards pre-NES gaming. They should buy the Vectrex library too, and maybe even Maganvox and Fairchild too. I's suggest Colecovision too, but I believe almost all of Coleco's library is licensed.

I think it would make sense for Atari to look to acquire the libraries from classic home computer game companies, such as: Broderbund, DataSoft, Sierra. One classic arcade company library I think would fit very well with Atari: Cinematronics. Imagine a Star Castle Reloaded.

I saw the news the other day and I could picture Pat falling off his chair.

I really do think that Atari would've ended up buying the Intellivision rights from Keith Robinson's estate eventually, in the alternate universe where Tommy just simply continued cataloguing his Spider-Man comics

Wow, in the end, Atari won. . I mean, we knew Atari won way back then, but this is something else. . .

Atari needs to buy Coleco next.

Its on the launchpad!!

In safe hands with Atari, something we’d never expect to hear. Hope they parcel it out to some the real players in this market.

Atari also owns Nightdive Studios, who've been doing a lot of early FPS (and 1 TPS) remasters. I would like to see both Digital Eclipse and Nightdive Studios (separately), work on some of those old IPs. What they call Cloudy Mountain (and Treasure of Tarmin, which could be renamed) now could be remade into something new and exciting for people looking for a classic action/rpg! Night Stalker could be a new survival horror type of game! ... I don't know many of their other titles though lol.

pat and ian have been edging us all on the obligatory amico victory lap for like 2 1/2 years now. i don't know if i'm going to have the stamina to make it to the actual legitimate victory lap. lolz

I didn't know any of the intellivision games, I knew some Apple games, 2600 games, and Commodore games, and arcade games, until the NES came out I only knew those video games.

Now all they need to do is get ColecoVision as well as interplay, and they got themselves a solid library that they can use

Tommy’s not mad, he’s disappointed….

All I want is an Intellivision flashback or clone console with micro sd card slot and touchpad controller.

Maybe a Dave & Buster's arcade Star Strike for 2-4 players - mindless shooting gallery type thing. Other than that maybe Thunder Castle, Tower of Doom and like you said, Cloudy Mountain. But is it worth bothering with Hasbro/WoTC to get the D&D license? Maybe if there's another D&D movie they can do a collab or something off the wall. A modernized Utopia Civ game for the PC might be cool to play. Maybe condense it down for mobile. There's really not much else to plum that isn't tied up under another license. Stadium Mud Buggies lol. Tron Deadly Discs could be amazing for VR and other platforms. If you've played Discs of Tron in the arcade, you can see what I mean about the VR potential. But Disney is greedy so good luck with that license.

I think that "200 games" figure also refers to the M-Network games, the ports of Intellivision games Mattel made for the Atari 2600. Many of these had different names to the Intellivision originals. Maybe they could release Astrosmash under the M-Network name "Astroblast"...

I’m curious who approached who to get the deal going … and was the BBG sale a “smash glass in a case of emergency - need cash ASAP” or BBG was offering a hugely inflated amount for Shark!Shark! and Astrosmash

I want to see two games out of this deal. First one can lean into "The First Console War" and the George Plimpton ads by pairing Atari and Intellivision games together. Make it a smaller digital title that leads into a standalone Intellivision 50th compilation.

My band is playing CGF this year and Brett Weiss is back...again. I should wear an Atari shirt.

It was amusing to see the people with poor reading comprehension skills posting “I’m so excited! Atari is going to get me my Amico console!”.

Gosh it's so darn cute how you use the word "there" ya know... tickles me pink!!!!

Pat, do a funny skit about this, drive the final nail in the coffin of the Amico.

Quick someone check if the buyout page from that one slide had Atari listed

Hoping they create one of them "Atari 50th" type games with a load of Intellivision's best and some of those interviews and history knowledge. The Atari one is great value /cue Pat, "the valuue"

Didn’t think I could get hopeful for the brand ever again but this is about as positive a development as anyone could hope for.

Atari is trying to rebuild it's gaming empire by buying old and forgotten brands, games, etc and trying to make a profit with it.

Almost all of the sports games released by Mattel were already renamed by INTV Corp., so those would be easy to release. The AD&D games have already been rereleased without the AD&D license also.

You guys are the best.

Atari is also kind of run incompetently but at least they put out products and Atari 50 was an amazing collection with a lot of heart. Pixel Ripped 1978 was pretty great too if you’re into VR.

I can see Disney wanting to rerelease the Tron games for the release of Tron Ares next year, since they rereleased Discs of Tron for the release of Legacy in 2010, but that’s a big maybe

I love that Pat went over an double checked the count to. I knew my number was smaller because I didn't count sequels and I lumped all the sports games together, but there was no way even WITH all the licensed stuff Intellivision first party made it to 200 games.

I think this is pretty cool. Instead of Amico, I'd be happy with another Atari/Intellivision that just had the pretty lights. The online spin was always crap, these mini consoles are best sold preloaded. Leave the online sales for the establishment platforms. This actually could be a gold mine. If priced right, there still is a market for novelty type items.

So is this the victory lap?

atari could go after and acquire commodore. Hyperion filed bankruptcy who was making amiga os and cloantro who owns all the trademarks and ips isn't in a good spot. I'd like atari to get commodore and coleco.

Now that Freddy is long gone, I think Atari has (mostly) been on an up-swing, which is both somewhat surprising and nice to see. The Atari VCS might have been an hilarious failure, but they've put that behind them and focused on their forte (I still have zero interest in tacky merchandise though). On the other hand, the idiots in charge over at Intellivision were only going to continue parting it out and stringing people along, so this is probably for the best.

i seriously picture atari trying to do this in like 1982 or 1983

It's kinda funny that the Evercade is basically what the Coleco Chameleon was wanting to be. Except real and mostly decent. It's sad that Tall Tales Tommy basically killed what was left of Intellivision as a brand and a collection of IP anyone might care about. Like combined the original Colecovision and Intellivision machines sold around 3 million units apparently. That's a really small number and of an age group that's in the 40-60 year old region which isn't one that's exactly gonna be hardcore into this stuff anyhow outside of no life types like me. Now thanks to those two ding dongs both machines are now just jokes. Great job.

My dad had the colecovision so maybe that next . Those games look good actualy .

The video that we've been waiting for =).

These will be games that will end up in flashback and my arcade consoles and that is it. Thats been the business model it works for Atari now they have some now games to keep that going a little while longer and that will be it.

Apparently they're in "Quiet Time" again. Avocado is using the rebranding as an excuse not to give any new updates. Lol. Keep in mind four more games were supposed to be released by now.

Tron Deadly Discs Recharged!!!!! Pinball Recharged!!! Super Pro Wrestling Recharged!! Hover Force Recharged!!! Treasure of Tarmin Recharged!!!

I would consider buying more physical cartridges, but they are always sold out. Because of this, I can't get behind anything they do. It's like they are a business...but they don't seem to sell the things I want to buy.

Three weeks later and the Intellivision branding is still all over the Amico/Intellivision Entertainment website, so it looks like Phil, John, and company may have just pulled the eject lever, collected their money, and abandoned the website/Amico project (unless they licensed the Intellivision brand from Atari, which would in itself would be hilarious).

What about an Intellevision classic mini?

Two words.

Infogrames brand looks like it is making a come back. Atari has the rights to Astroblast, which is 2600 Astrosmash, so... Astroblast Recharged.

This means some of those titles will appear on the Atari VCS instead of the Intellivision Amico.

Atari's got to bolster that portfolio any way they can so they can be acquired before having to fold. And to think, without their acquisition of Nightdive, we never would have gotten such a definitive edition of the perennial classic "PO'ed" that everybody wanted.

It was weird like a week ago this shit popped in my head again after not really thinking about it for a couple years and then boom.