We discuss the Intellivision Amico console and its announcement. ✅Support the podcast @ / cupodcast ✅More info @engt.co/2yvaTlz #intellivision #amico #intellivisionamico
I am one of those people this is targeted to! I am not crazy about 3D games and have no interest in the Xbox and PS4. Sure I have the old systems still, but I am excited that new and old games will come out.
I have plenty of Intellivision consoles. I don’t need a port on the Amico to play my carts. I would lose out on the ability to plug in my multi-cart from LTO though!! I heard the extra expense doesn’t make sense for us 100 players who would want the cartridge port :) I do have every title ever made ... but again... I have an original console to play those games :)
Its fun coming back to this time when it was just about the idea of what the Amico is and as someone with a 5 year old I doubt he'd even touch this. We play Mario Kart 8 together which is very accessible to young children and now the new Kirby Forgotten Lands game and he loves it, all family friendly too
You guys should do a rise and fall of the amico documentary, or just do a giant cut of the podcast documenting every mention of the Amico so we have an easy access timeline to watch this thing fall apart
Honestly, Intellivision is making an astronomical mistake with the idea of them even thinking of releasing a console in a market saturated with them already,let alone only releasing games catered to kids completely. There are all kinds of folks out there that play games, and perhaps want different things in them, so theoretically a T-rated RPG with graphics similar to the original Intellivision wouldn't make it. They are reminding me too much of the Atari VCS, and the Coleco Chameleon in the aspect they are trying to market a "new" retro console when that has not really worked well at all, especially in the case of the Coleco Chameleon, when it turned out to be a SNES with circuit boards of a capture card slapped on top of a picture taken of the supposed "console" from a transparent plastic shell to cover up the fact that it was indeed a SNES console that was being used, instead of the supposed Coleco Chameleon. Only difference here is that the Amico is not crowd-funded, but still is such a horrible idea that I'm surprised that they are even wasting their time at all with another new "retro" console, when this idea has never worked, and probably never will.
Hoo boy what a saga this has been, it's 2021 and it still hasn't been released, a ton of the points Tommy announced was walked back and almost nothing they said was true lol
Do you think it's the KIDS who make money at work and go to the store to purchase consoles? Because I guarantee it's not. It's their overprotective, tech illiterate parents who don't want to worry that little Jimmy might accidentally see a male presenting nipple on his Nintendo Playstation 360.
I think there is a mistake aiming this at families. I understand why, I just don't think it's the best idea. I have young kids, and they really are not going to care. They are into tablet, Switch and a few PS4 games that I let them play. Why would I drop over $150 on this when I could just buy them games for the platforms they already enjoy? I hope it works out for the company, as the idea isn't to bad.
This is for parents who are afraid of modern consoles I guess. Not saying I agree, but given his blurb here they are aiming at people who are literally afraid of modern consoles.
I was at the public unveiling at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, and spoke at length with Bill Fisher, VP of Technology, and one of the original "Blue Sky Rangers"-- the team of game designers and programmers of the original Intellivision. ALL of the Blue Sky Rangers are involved in the development of this new console and of the games. Also, they didn't mention it publicly but this project has a real financial plan and is backed by venture capital-- it is fully funded and is NOT being crowdsourced. This makes it distinctly different from the other retro consoles that have appeared recently. With regard to the redesign of the games, Bill told me that they're making a real effort to not lose any of the "magic" of the old great Intellivision games, and that it's crucial to them that games have the same style and feel of play. For example, Astrosmash was a great game (basically, a frantic version of Space Invaders with Asteroids instead of aliens). With new tech, they can have a huge number of smoothly animated, flicker-free asteroids coming at you (anyone who played console games during the NES era became quickly familiar with flickering sprites when too many appeared on-screen simultaneously. This will be a non-issue with a modern 2D graphic chipset. You can have a beautifully animated parallax scrolling ground, simulating 3D but remaining fully 2D, and a photorealistic starfield as the background. Additionally they're adding things that never appeared in the original Astrosmash, like "rubberized" asteroids that make your missiles bounce and jelly-like asteroids that split apart into globs. There's nothing inherently "childish" about these concepts; it's just a fun blast-em-up game that's accessible to anyone. I think people forget that in the late 1970s early 1980s, EVERY game was inherently E10+ or younger (even though there was no ESRB at the time, because there was no need for one). A game rated E10+ doesn't necessary need to be a juvenile, Sesame Street title, and I think the media (including Pat) doesn't do a very good job of clarifying this. An E-rated game doesn't immediately mean a game isn't fun, just as an M-rated doesn't automatically mean a game IS fun. Having a E10+ ratings means "for ages 10 and up" but somehow, I think people inherently forget about the "and up" part and dismiss it as being for kids. In that way, the ESRB ratings do a disservice to games like this that are not childish, and are fun for everyone (like Burgertime, for example). Now, about the controllers. I think some subtlety was lost in the review here. This is NOT a disc controller-- it's a Wii-style motion controller with a modern D-pad SHAPED like a disc, meant to evoke the look of the original controller but without the poor functionality that original gold disc had. This means that you'll be able to use the controller in any number of configurations. You will NOT be locked into the vertical orientation like with the original Intellivision. I fully understand your hesitation at using the little side buttons as a primary firing button, but 1) you'll in theory be able to play Astrosmash, for example, with the controller in a horizontal position so you can use it as a more comfortable bumper button or 2) perhaps a virtual button on the touch screen will allow for a more traditional positioning thumb-activated fire button. In any case, the controllers have huge potential for innovation since motion controls weren't a part of 1970s/80s gaming and can bring some really fresh mechanics to reimagined classic games. Lastly, as for the intended audience, I think you're right that they're aiming for a divergent set of demographics. "Old people", like me, who were kids when they played Intellivision are interested, and many of us have kids now and would like to introduce them to "safe" video gaming, like the NES provided. So there is crossover here. Additionally, they're trying to hook in the large demographic of "non-gamers"-- essentially the people who bought a Wii to play Tennis and Bowling, and then never bought anything else. Tallarico is trying to emulate what it was like to play games in the early 80s-- fun, accessible games that anyone could play, but with modern tweaks.
The fact people say Pat and Ian were negative from the start and were hoping the Amico was going to fail is utter trash and wrong. It is quite disturbing at how much Tommy Tallarico was able to brainwash people to get on one side or the other is pretty crazy. I cannot believe a bunch of youtubers went to bat for Tommy to try and get people to either invest into the Amico business or that a viable product was going to be released in the near future is just sad. This video was nothing but discussing and asking legitimate questions about a new video game console and whether there was a market for something of this nature. Pat and Ian even go on to complement the people behind the Amico business that if things went right they might be able to pull off and produce a good product. I think what really went wrong here is starting a business from the ground up is incredibly difficult and Tommy 100% is to blame as he was not a capable CEO to properly allocate funds in a proper way to get a business up and running. It seems Tommy was more interested in creating the facade that everything was great from the start and that he wanted the look and prestige of running a fortune 500 company from the start rather than just getting product units out the door first and building up from there. Tommy misused funds because instead of building a company by going from A to B to C he wanted to go from A to Z in one fell swoop. I kind of feel bad for all the people who either invested money or bought into the Amico from the crowed funding.
To continue the conversation that kids are more inclined to play video games today, I got a perfect example of that I experienced firsthand. Last year, a friend of ours was over and her 6 year old daughter was dying to play Mario Odyssey. This girl had never touched a Switch before that day, and she blew by the first few worlds in almost no time. By comparison, I remember struggling in Mario 64 when I was 10 in Jolly Roger Bay. It's a different era now.
@@SamuraiMotoko I really does make a good point. Now that Nintendo has made the leap to allow these type of adult games onto their systems there is a glut in the market for a console that I can simply plop my seven-year-old in front of and not worry about him being traumatized. I'm almost 40 now (38) and looking back on it the NES was like that to my parents. I'm interested to see where this goes.
@@Chrispypullen Nintendo has always had all sorts of games. Sure it was a bit more family focused than it's competitors in the past, and still is, but it's always had all sorts of games.
I think that's just a problem with older parents. Younger, tech savvy parents could easily enable parental block. People who grew up with video games could easily tell how violent a game is based on it's ESRB rating. In fact, I'm sure the Switch asks if you want to enable parental block on setup. The example he gave is pretty flimsy. Why would there be blood on the screen? Did she also buy Doom or Wolfenstein 2, two very clearly violent games for her kid? Does the kid have her credit card info? There are so many barriers that prevent kids from playing stuff like that. The parent is just being careless. I don't think the "careless parent" market is a big enough one to make a whole console for.
@@no_nameyouknow sure that all sorts of games but when the NES came out you didn't have to worry about things like Mortal Kombat or Grand Theft Auto being on the screen. It's completely different.
So let me get this right, Intellivision is banking on nostalgia for the name. If you were 12 and buying an intellivision back in 79, that makes you 51 years old now. If you are 51, you aren't buying games for your under 10 year old kid. If you had kids, they are probably pushing 30s now. Might have kids of their own. Intellivision missed the marketing by an entire generation.
If the Intellivision is so irrelevant, then why is Pat getting so upset over the branding? Let's just wait and see what it does. It already sounds better than any of the Flashback or @games cash-grabs littering the stores.
After recently watching hours of coverage on this thing. Seeing these two MFs look into their crystal ball and be spot on is absolutely hilarious. Good on you guys for taking a stance and sticking to it.
Excited about the new Intellivision. For the price, it’s a no-brainer for me to push my gaming from the early 80’s to modern-day. The revised titles will be incredibly awesome to play !!! And yes, I still love the Intellivision Running Man :) Ps) we need the Intellivision controller - otherwise why call it Intellivision? I hear they’re coming out with alternative controllers for those who hate it... but if you hate the Intellivision then this console is not for you... just like the X Box and PlayStation are not for me :) Take care guys!!
I'm mostly worried by kids going like "Why should I own an Amico, when I can own what everybody else does?" In a world where Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft are running the industry, the power of brand identity and peer pressure leaves little to no room for newcomers. I really want to believe in a children's system, like the Sega Pico. I am not a fan of AAA games, so I am looking forward to this.
If this system only played all of the games released on the old intellivision i would still buy it. i really love the disc controller it is basically just a big thumbstick. They could always just make a different controller and sell it separately if they wanted
Switch and DS fill the niche already. Who is this marketed for? We have the ESRB, CERO, and PEGI rating boards for a reason. This is a stupid idea that is going to fail. The console crash in the 80s showed it, the micro android based console crashed recently. Kids have smart phones and tablets already. Go back to composing music, Tommy.
All the questions addressed here; why keep 2D, why E and E10 only, Nintendo being a family console also, cell phone games, etc; Tommy Tallarico addressed all this stuff at the PRGE panel specifically and compared how those issues apply to the Intellivison. Hoping the panel video hits youtube soon. Don't know if I am sold on the system, but I definitely get where he is going with this.
Not just messenger, but messengers. A lot of people with experience in the video game industry behind this. So to answer your question if it was a chinese company, I wouldn't believe anything until I see it. But let's flip that around. If Nintendo was announcing the same thing/video/pitch, how would you react? We already know that answer. The Wii sold super well to people who were not gamers, like my grandmother. But since there is no crowd funding behind this, I can at least take them more seriously as something which isn't a cash grab. I get the vision they are going for, and hope it succeeds because of that. But if it is a failure, oh well. None of us put money behind it, so not much of a loss from that perspective.
You guys missed the entire point. Maybe should have watched the keynote. This isn't about games for kids, it's about making things simple for mom and dad and grandparents....it's a family console.
Omg! A "pause feature"? I think the last console to NOT have a "pause feature" was the 2600. You know things are bad when they tout a "pause feature". They were really scraping the bottom of the barrel for features.
I know it's out of your wheelhouse, but I think it's worth mentioning that things like Leapfrog exist and have been apparently successful for years. There are also a lot of parents out there spending hundreds on iPads and stuff for toddler friendly games. I don't know if this will be successful or not, but at the very least, if they are aiming for part of that market, I don't think it's too crazy to think this has a chance at being a financially viable venture. I may be way off, but to me it seems like they are trying to bridge that gap between Leapfrog and 'real' consoles. The Intellivision branding is a little odd, but if it sells even a few more units, why not?
Forkenstein your comment supports exactly their point on the target market. Both your examples are portable devices with inexpensive software. Not to mention and ipad has way more utility and a giant eco system oh and produced by a billion dollar company. It's like they keep saying, they are trying to create a solution where there isnt a problem. If they had released this before Nintendo started releasing their minis it may have had a chance but there is 0 market for this now. It's DOA!
The primary focus should be having quality games that are interesting and appeal to the modern gamer. Tommy talks about parents buying a console and then not having to worry about what games are suitable for their kids; However, if the parents are (theoretically) going to also want to have their hands on the console's game controller, then why wouldn't there just be an easy way to change content settings? I know it's probably not a feasible idea, but I think it would be a cool idea to have two SKUs- one standard Amico allowing games of all ESRB ratings, and the Amico Family which automatically blocks games with a more mature rating from surfacing/showing on the store and does not allow such games to execute on the console. ...I know this probably goes against the simplicity Tommy wants for the consumer (to not have to have two SKUs to choose from). I'm probably making too big of a deal about this. It's not much harder to make a fun game without blood, excessive violence, suggestive themes, or strong language. Isn't any betting/gambling games rated T for Teen?- which would include many Intellivision titles- Las Vegas Roulette. Horse Racing. Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack. Las Vegas Craps. Royal Dealer.
I think the controller looks great.. not 100% crazy about the touch screen, but it does make sense as it can change as per game just like the old slips.
I completely agree with you because i also think the controller looks great and i also like the fact that it's going to be something different and with old slips too in my opinion.
Anyone that already has one of the main consoles just won't look at this. Unless of course you're a collector of anything and everything retro. Outside of that market though I can't really see this being much of a success.
Drink a Beer and Play a Game Exactly, kids these days don’t really give a shit about retro games. If it aint got Fortnite, Roblox, or Minecraft then it’ll bust
@iVirtualPlays it's hard for consoles to distinguish themselves now in days as consoles are mainly just glorified computers in today's world. Most games that run on ps or xbox also can run on computers which is why most third parties spread their games on both consoles ( it's all about maximizing profit) which is why the " only on intellivision" in s a concerning argument. Its sadly a double edged sword and can just as much hurt their chances at procuring developers for the console as well as draw in consumers if they can truly make some unique games ( also pirate and bootleggers who will obviously steal the character designs to make shady mobile games...its sad the world we live in now:( ).
Failure in every sense of the word. I asked for a 2600 for Christmas and thanks to my awesome parents (sigh) I got the Intellivision. The game console I learned to love to play by myself because every fucking friend came over all excited, used the controller, then never wanted to touch it again. The controller was a significant reason for Intellivision's DOWNFALL. That they are HIGHLIGHTING that is batshit crazy. But regardless of the controller, even if they put out a regular gamepad style one, this console has no market. Everything they want to do is done better by Nintendo, a smartphone, or tablet. Shit, if SEGA couldn't hang with the big three, sure as shit this....thing isn't either.
I don't think Nintendo is making the concessions to the hardcore market close to as much as third parties are, in fact I'm pretty sure Nintendo spends a noticeable amount more funding more "hardcore" focused games than family friendly, not out of an interest for family friendly games but just due to the fact that they inherently cost more to develop. I think third parties are just failing to support the system as well as Nintendo expected, and that is most certainly on Nintendo (poor communication on the handheld nature of the system to publishers like Capcom, not waiting long enough to get the more powerful X2 in the system), but when you look on what is not Nintendo on the system, third party games most certainly lean to hardcore on Switch far more than the family market. With that said, Nintendo themselves are still making plenty of family friendly games on the system, and that is what is still driving a large part of the sales momentum for the hardware right now, so I would certainly agree that they are filling the niche perfectly well at this time, but I'd never argue that as developers that is their focus more or less than any other niche.
I like COMPETITION...I like MULTIPLE consoles on the market...I like EXCLUSIVES to consoles...I like ARCADE games of SKILL to get HIGH scores/walk away/walk back for a BETTER score. SO...I hope it makes it to market BUT I PROBABLY won't buy it...will be playing my 2019 Atari VCS & HOPEFULLY Sega will bring out a new console by 2020 as well. Good Luck Intellivision.
I like the idea of the Amico but I doubt it will sell well outside the US. Well in the UK we love our dirt cheap games but offensive games and violence and not bothering with caring about age ratings is kind of the UK bread and butter. So maybe it will do well in other countries Europe.
Now that Nintendo has made the leap to allow these type of adult games onto their systems there is a glut in the market for a console that I can simply plop my seven-year-old in front of and not worry about him being traumatized. I'm almost 40 now (38) and looking back on it the NES was like that to my parents. I'm interested to see where this goes.
Replacing the keypad with the touchscreen, in my opinion, makes those controllers more accessible for a newcomer who might be a kid growing up with smartphones. A lot of us older folks criticize the keypad and how clunky the controller was in general but now it's design updated for the modern day actually makes it appear relevant. To the kids, the touchscreen is the center focus and they'll just adapt to the physical buttons and disk around it as gameplay asks. But this all depends in the first place on the adult responsible for their gaming consumption wanting to introduce this new machine to them. That's me giving them the benefit of the doubt. Frankly, this whole thing smacks of a passion project for Tommy Tallarico, his love of the Intellivision is well known.
I think the AD&D can happen by removing the D&D label. They did it on the flashback disc for PC... The game was created way before it was labelled a D&D game in the first place ;) ... just call it cloudy mountain.
If when I was five in 95 sneaking down at 7am to boot up DOS to play Mech Warrior on, then kids today are sneaking sessions of Dark Souls no problem, not to mention what most kids I know play is Roblox, and that shit is basically coding 101 for kids, rest my case. Also I’ll say it, I don’t like Nintendo, never have, as a kid thought Mario was lame as shit, but you guys ain’t being fanboys; you’re being right.
They're obviously aiming at older people, like me, who grew up with the system and loved it. Its just that people my age tend to have kids, so they want to be able to share the experience with them more easily. As a kid, my family had the Intellivision and not the Atari, but I had friends and family with the Atari, so I got to compare the two. Some games I liked better on the Atari and some I liked better on the Intellivision. It DID have classic arcade games because I liked the Intellivision version of Donkey Kong more than the Atari one. Its version of Pac-Man was certainly better than Atari's. I was maybe 4 or 5 and I could figure out the Intellivision's controls no problem. Its certainly different looking back, but at the time it was new and innovative, allowing you to play more complex games without requiring a peripheral. It was obviously too big and bulky to continue on, especially when the NES came out and had a smaller, simplified controller. However, I feel like those touch pads are going to be able to display stuff like those classic plastic insert cards and overlays, as well as other nifty things. Also, remember that it has USB ports, so they can (and probably will) make more classic style controllers you can plug into it. Just because its being displayed with those controllers doesn't mean that will be your only option. They have a while yet before their projected release date, and its likely the system look will change by then. Either way, I'm in. I want it and I'd buy it at the price quoted.
I see a ton of Leapster consoles and game carts at thrift stores all the time, so they must of sold millions of them. I think this could find that market and succeed it. Very interesting stuff actually. Also now is the time to buy Leapster games :p get on it collectors.
True, former usa president of sega jumped ship when Japan was upset over Saturn/32× fiasco. He showed again he could launch and make a company a ton of money in gaming.
@chris harugy lol man hearing that story reminded when we got our first computer (win 95 ) and my mom insisted we get educational games. The day after my friend's older brother came over and installed several classics like Doom, warcraft 2, ages of empire, and Jazz jackrabbit. To be fair we did play those educational games a lot as well. One of them was a pretty good puzzle adventure game called Zoombeenies.
I just wish these people throwing money at retro gaming would throw it towards something consumers are actually demanding. They could make a mint selling replacement SNES shells, a Game Gear clone, or an adapter for using a Zapper with a Famicom.
I think the difference between this and an ipad is most games they say family oriented which also means multiplayer so a game a parent can play with thier kids.
Affordability is key. Technology is supposed to make these consoles and titles easier and cheaper to attain. Like a print of the Mona Lisa is supposed to be cheaper than the original. Exaggerated example for sure, but applicable.
Good point about kids having tablets and phones. Agree on the controller design too...it’s just not ideal. However, a comment about 2D vs 3D games. My 6 year old plays games on his Fire tablet, and most of the games he plays are 2D. They are not traditional console genres mind you, but the fact that they are not in 3D doesn’t seem to matter to children. There are countless flash type games on phones that kids eat up.
these guys only saw the trailer and didnt do their homework the head of intellivision did an hour plus interview explaining all this. this is the wii 2 for parents
What the hell is Tellarico talking about? Kids figure out today's games in two seconds. If anything it's way easier to get into modern games with all the tutorials and hand holding they do. So the "complexity" that he talks about isn't an issue. Also, I don't get who the fuck this is marketed to. Kids don't care about Intellivision, grandparents do. But I can't see Intellivision fans buying this for 170$ that's a ludicrous price. Id be surprised if 1000 people wanted one. Also it seems like the Amico team hasn't done a Google search in awhile because there are literally MILLIONS of kid friendly games on Apple, Google, Steam and the various consoles online stores. MILLIONS. These games cost from 2-10$ usually. That doesn't when include the various web based games that kids play. So it seems like their market research team isnt doing their due diligence. The controller looks horrible. Old school gamers want tactile buttons not touch screen shit not to mention that the circle dpad has always been shit. They should have made a SNES/Genesis type controller to use. And that doesn't even go into the way the mockup of the system looks. It's horrible and looks like hospital equipment. Why wouldn't they go for a more Intellivision look? It's like they use the name for recognition yet do nothing else to harken back to the consoles Heyday other than the horrible controller design.
Its branded Intellevision for hardware brand recognition and legacy, its filled with old Intellevision games, and the controller adds uniqueness which you guys are complaining this console doesn't have.
19:20 okay, so that's what they meant by "Equal opportunity gaming" or whatever it was in the trailer. No offense, I know the guy's a legend in the gaming realm, but this is so silly.
You mean another console that has options out there already headed by someone who doesn't know the market? Man I'm glad this is the only time this happened
Do we have any idea what chipset its using? Because $150 seems incredibly expensive for 2D only, even if it has touchscreen controllers. You could probably get a desktop Xbox 360 level power chipset for under $50, heck, Nintendo got X1, which is a portable chipset which is more powerful than a PS3 by a decent margin, for only $50.
you guys need to understand that not all parents/grandparents are aware of all the violent and inappropriate games on the switch. they don't have the know how to turn on parental controls. they just want to buy a console and let their kids explore it without any concern or worry just like in the nes era. that currently does not exist in ANY entertainment platform. the intellivision will be the first in that regard and it is a noble focus in my opinion. but the main goal of the intellivision is to encourage people of all age demographics and skill (or lack of skill) to play games together. even nintendo does not offer this... controls are too complicated with most modern games... this is yet another concern that is not being addressed with modern games on the whole and is a niche intellivision can fill. also, it has been confirmed that intellivision themselves will be financing all the games... developers are not going to take a hit or be required to take a risk in developing for the platform.
I don't see the controllers being that big of a problem, I mean they look kinda like a smart phone and have touch screens, and most kids are probably really used to the touch screen controls from playing with smart phones anyway, and who knows they could end up releasing a separate Amico pro or something another controller, similar to what Nintendo did with the Switch pro controller.
I hope they go back to the drawing board on those controllers. Unless they have some revolutionary tech that's super precise up their sleeve, the touch screen is going to be especially awful if game play depends heavily on it.
