The Intellivision Amico Console: Youtube Preview Event 8/4/2020 10AM EST

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So, over the last couple years I've been keeping my eye on Tommy Tallarico and his revival of the groundbreaking Intellivision brand with high hopes. As other retro console revivals have been hit and miss, I was hoping this was legit and not a cash grab. The console is set to arrive 10/10/20, and is aimed at the family gaming market. It will feature new titles as well as re-imagined versions of the original games for the system.

For those unfamiliar, Intellivision was a player in the Atari/Coleco era, introduced in the late 70's. It never captured more than 20% of the market, but the games and system were ahead of their time and introduced 16 bit gaming, Professional Sports licensing, and a host of other features later copied by everybody. Unfortunately, it sort of never got the credit it deserved, and lives on mostly in the minds of those who played it or stumbled upon it via the 'Intellivision Lives!' disc-based games that could be purchased for PC or the major consoles. There is also very good re-issued console called the Intellivision Flashback that was sold in department stores here in the USA for a time, you can still find them on ebay. The controllers were an exact re-make of the original, it was quite well executed.

Initially Tommy's revival effort was regarded with skepticism within the industry, or disregarded entirely-family gaming is dead! However, in the last several months, as more information, images, and demos have been shown, there seems to be a real buzz for the console building, and more than a few reviewers have it on their short list for the biggest gaming-industry surprise for 2020. Some are thinking we could have another Wii-level explosion on the way. I'm not sure about that, but since the original was pretty much the only console I played back then, so I'm very happy with the way this revival is being handled and that so far the buzz has been positive.

They appears to be aiming for a $200-$230 price point, with games costing less than $10, and the idea is that they will be available in retail outlets that may not carry more expensive consoles. Special editions will be available, as well as different colors.

Anyone else been watching this develop, or just interested in the concept? There is a ton of positive feedback on Youtube and Reddit, but I am assuming these are mostly middle aged fanboy types (like me), and was curious how the whole thing looks to people who are not coming from the direction of nostalgia or familiarity.

Links to various info sources:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Amico/

https://www.intellivisionamico.com/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1ycBH0-kgp8kDqU_yfAHKw

amicocolors-1024x438.png
 
None starter. I've still got my original Intellivision from back in the day and it still works so I know what I'm talking about.

Why would anyone want something so graphically basic as that? Yes it looked good to me back then but seriously no.
 
None starter. I've still got my original Intellivision from back in the day and it still works so I know what I'm talking about.

Why would anyone want something so graphically basic as that? Yes it looked good to me back then but seriously no.

I still have my old one also, not sure what that has to do with it? It's not like they are just putting out a bunch of old games.

The reboot is less a nostalgia exercise than another attempt at family-based, all together in one room, playing on one screen, gaming. Did you look at any of the links or are you just making assumptions?

As I said, it's not just an old console made new again. Graphically basic games don't seem to stop people from playing them on a phone, and paying, and paying, and paying....

Opinion noted.
 
Well, I doubt it's any indication of the interest level outside the fanbase, but it's worth noting that all 2600 signed, limited edition Amico consoles (at $300 each) sold out in 6 hours yesterday.
 
This is interesting, I'd get one, if only to experience re-imagined versions of the original games with my family now.

The Intellivison was my first console, a hand-me down from my dad, and my siblings and I used to play for hours. Though, he had so many sports games I wasn't into, I quite liked Pitfall, Night Stalker, Star Strike, Armor Battle, Mission X, and Space Hawk to name a few. Sadly, we gave the console and all games away only last year.
 
The Amico team has released a trailer with clips from early versions of 20+ games, and announced another preorder for March 31 for those on the mailing list. This time around there will be a choice of console color and a few other options. The first run of 2600 signed consoles sold out in 5 hours at $300 each, it will be interesting to see how this round goes.






I'm liking the Super Sprint style auto racing game, and Evel Knievel is a riot. Lots of interesting applications for the unique motion controllers also, like Cornhole/bag toss. Some games are reboots and updates of Intellivision games, others are arcade/console classics, some board/dice games, some are new altogether. Its a nice mix.
 
Another video is up from the Amico team that gives a fuller picture of what they are up to, and the market they are after:

 
Pre orders have been ongoing for people on the mailing list, but as things get closer to the release date, retail partners are beginning to roll out their pre-orders for their exclusive colors as well. Gamestop's version comes in Galaxy Purple, comes with a $25 gift card, and is now available.

https://www.gamestop.com/video-game...imited-edition-only-at-gamestop/11102038.html

You can still pre-order the VIP Edition on Fig, they come in Black, White, or Vintage Woodgrain:

https://www.fig.co/campaigns/amico/pledge
 
If you were wondering, is this thing legit? Well, it's attracted some big players in the gaming world, J Allard is the latest to join the Amico team:

https://venturebeat.com/2020/05/14/...veteran-j-allard-as-global-managing-director/

From the VentureBeat article above, this Allard quote highlights what Amico is all about, and the main concept so many others fail to grasp:



“You know I have always been a huge proponent of multiplayer, affordable, family-friendly entertainment as a leader, but as a gamer — I’ve also really miss it,” Allard said. “We play Overcooked on Xbox on Thanksgiving. It’s a really fun, weapon-free collaborative multiplayer game. But, Mom doesn’t play. She watches and laughs and cheers on. She’s intimidated by the controllers, the menus and the pace. The non-gamers willing to try also struggle with all of those issues.”

On the most recent Mother’s Day, Allard showed her and his nephews an early build of Amico skiing.

“She volunteered to take the third run. On her first attempt, she only crashed three times and her biggest complaint was that she ‘could have gone faster if she figured out how to jump at the start of the race,'” Allard said. “She tried Fusion Frenzy in 2001 because she’s my Mom. But it’s been 35 years since she’s actually picked up and played a game with other people like this with absolutely zero help or stress. Watching her play games with my eight-year-old nephew for the first time was a terrific feeling. Thanks, Amico.”
 
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Big Amico announcement today at 10AM EST!

https://www.youtube.com/c/Intellivision/videos
April 2021 then.

Anyway, as much found i am of the original Intellivision (our third console we had at home when i was a child / i sold it for a Colecovision, then bought it back during my Amiga years), i feel little interest into this. I mean the nostalgia feel is not really there, that wouldn't compete with the original for that matter. As far as i'm concerned, the Intellevision paper catalogue weight more nostaligia than the console itself.
Is there a mouse hole in the market next to Nintendo to make it viable? I hope for them, as i still like the Amico as a project involving veterans of the industry.
After all, i played Sea Battle against my grand father, maybe Amico will get that Wii-like trans-generational family friendly feel.

I hope they don't expect from us to use our console to make home accounting this time.
inty-keyboard-couple-tax-1980.jpg
 
April 2021 then.

Anyway, as much found i am of the original Intellivision (our third console we had at home when i was a child / i sold it for a Colecovision, then bought it back during my Amiga years), i feel little interest into this. I mean the nostalgia feel is not really there, that wouldn't compete with the original for that matter. As far as i'm concerned, the Intellevision paper catalogue weight more nostaligia than the console itself.
Is there a mouse hole in the market next to Nintendo to make it viable? I hope for them, as i still like the Amico as a project involving veterans of the industry.
After all, i played Sea Battle against my grand father, maybe Amico will get that Wii-like trans-generational family friendly feel.

I hope they don't expect from us to use our console to make home accounting this time.

I believe what you consider to be a mouse hole in the market is actually a giant void, waiting to be filled. PS5 and XBox are not really Amico competitors for obvious reasons. The Switch? It's $400, comes with one full controller, and games are $60 each. There are not a lot of cooperative games for it, and few that can be enjoyed by 2 people in the same room. The Amico is $250, comes with 2 very unique controllers (and up to 6 more people can join using an app that turns your smartphone into a controller-for a total of 8 playing at once, together, in one room). All games will be priced under $10, and the console will come with 6 games included when you buy it.

The current generation of parents with kids under 10 grew up with online gaming and are wary of it's social pitfalls. Kids spending time alone in a room with headphones on, interacting with other gamers of unknown age and intent is something they want to avoid. These same parents have childhood memories of playing games together with friends and family, and are looking to recreate these moments. Your example of playing Sea Battle with your grandfather is a perfect example-imagine handing him a Playstation or Switch controller and trying to teach him to play almost ANY modern game-the complexity is a non-starter. The original Intellivision controller, despite having a lot of buttons, had an intuitive structure and the game-specific overlays/inserts that made most games understandable at a glance. Sea Battle was simple to learn but had a lot of complexity for the era and great replay value. How many modern games can you say that about? Not many since the Wii faded away.

As you mentioned, the Amico team is composed of industry veterans who are working with developers, distributors, and marketers around the world to bring exclusive games (and uniquely re-imagined games, some retro, some from the smartphone game era) to the Amico that take advantage of the controller, which is like no other. For developers of lower cost, 2D and 2.5D games, the chance to work with a company that actually cares about bringing your game to market and featuring it in the store (as opposed to anonymously dropping the game into the causal smartphone market and watching it disappear in days) has brought a lot of excitement and interest.

I think the system is poised to be very popular with a wide range of people, especially if the retail price drops to $199 at some point.
 
I thought the same with wii. That it would bomb but it ended up winning the console war of that generation.

Why?

Games were fun and the controls were basic and intuitive.

I got one of those console emulators and I spend most of my gaming on that for one reason the gameplay. It was all that mattered back then as opposed to graphics. All yoi need is good games and a system seller.

So if this gets good games then I would get it. Horsepower and graphics are vastly overstated in my opinion.
 
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