Game Over for the Intellivision Amico

[axel]

I should have stocked up on popcorn... anyone else watching this implode in real time?

I knew from the start Tommy Tallarico was an arrogant windbag but I thought his initial idea of an inexpensive console that plays only 2D games from physical media could have appealed to a certain niche. If you want that, buy an Evercade...

...the Amico on the other hand, has turned out to be a scam on par with the Coleco Chameleon. Millions in investor dollars down the toilet, the company is broke and begging for money to keep going for another few weeks, the games look terrible and the hardware is on par with a 2016 cell phone.

Take a look for yourself, here's the latest propaganda page, I especially like the video that pretends the Switch doesn't exist:
https://www.startengine.com/intellivision

Now look at the fine print: buried in this document you find they can't even make a profit selling each console at $249, so the price is going to increase to $349:
https://d19j0qt0x55bap.cloudfront.ne...memorandum.pdf

Remember... there are over 3 billion potential customers

[Leynos]

The new guy was in charge of the Chameleon wasn't he? AMico doesn't really sell physical games but NFTs or so they claim. Only the Tommy knobsuckers really thought this thing was ever coming out. They have some weekly podcast where some 50 something year old dudes bash mainly the Switch (mainly as it stands in the way of the amico for being the family system) and of course they praise the Amico. Praise Tommy. This Phil guy is a dope as well. Ah man our controllers are Microsoft Zunes with resistive touch screen! Our games look like minigames slapped on a PS1 disc in 1996! NFT's as our "physical" games! At the very least they never showed a shell with a old capture card in it.

[axel]

Yes! It's Phil Adam, same guy from the Chameleon! You can't make this up.

I admit I thought it sounded like a decent idea early on, in 2018 or whenever I first heard of it. But back then it was a totally different pitch, it sounded like it was going to be a retrogamer's dream with exclusive new 2D games, Tommy was talking about getting new Contra and Castlevania titles, Capcom IPs, six player beat 'em up games, a deal with Disney for licensing the Marvel characters, a new Ecco game, etc. Turns out every word of that was false, he had no plan he just made grand promises to get investors onboard. Then when it became apparent those games weren't coming it was quickly rebranded as a children's console, because kids today are bored with Minecraft and Roblox and would rather play Missile Command or Shark Shark.

I still don't think the NFT thing is real, I've never seen it demonstrated and there's no scenario where it would be beneficial, since you still need the Intellivision server to transfer ownership of the game to a different account.

[Greg2600]

Tommy pissed off Atari Age a few months ago as well, which resulted in them dropping the Amico forum on the site. So I really have no clue what's going on with it, or care for that matter. Sadly Tommy is just a flashier version of the execs at Commodore, Atari, Sega, etc. back in the day. Devoid of a business plan.

[gamevet]

Tommy has been talking shit about CU podcast, talking negatively about his Amico. Pat and Ian are going to have a "I told you so" on this one. Tommy fought wars with everyone that questioned the viability of that console in today's market and sure enough, it's turned into another paper console launch built on lies and broken promises.

[Greg2600]

Well releasing this thing in the middle of a pandemic with massive manufacturing challenges really was a tall order. I continue to say you cannot crowdfund something like this. It's one thing if it's a fully homebrew product or open source, this is neither. This was going to be a game platform. They should have done this somewhat privately, and gotten a working product, before possibly crowdfunding. You never win with stuff like this.

[Leynos]

They should not have made a console at all and just released these games on Steam/Eshop/Phones.

[sull56ivan2010]

Tommy has been talking shit about CU podcast, talking negatively about his Amico. Pat and Ian are going to have a "I told you so" on this one. Tommy fought wars with everyone that questioned the viability of that console in today's market and sure enough, it's turned into another paper console launch built on lies and broken promises.

This is not exclusive to the Amico, but Pat and Ian are assholes with ego problems. It is something to be reported due to the various failures of other retro style systems and this is no different. Tallarico comes off a bit deceptive and should be called out for it. But CU Podcast's obsession on it I think is hurting their channel to some capacity, sponsors be damned. Tallarico's behavior should not be excused, but Pat and Ian's shouldn't be excused either with their behavior. And it goes beyond Amico.

[axel]

Say what you will about Pat and Ian, they called this one from the beginning.

I think if someone wanted to make a console with the Intellivision name, it should have been an FPGA based design that can run the original carts + repros. Ship it with the classic games and some of the modern homebrews, which are just incredible considering the hardware, plus a few dev tools like IntyBasic. Make it an open platform and post code samples anyone can use, go for the nostalgia/hobbyist market, forget trying to sell Missile Command to toddlers. Unfortunately Tommy chose to use his time on AtariAge to insult and belittle Kevtris, the one guy who could have made such a thing possible. (On that note I got banned from AtariAge for daring to question King Tommy, but that's another story).

[JCU]

Business want to sell its products which is understandable but I noticed something on one of the linked pages which showed the complete lack of sincerity and/or honesty when pushing said product. Notice the complicated vs simple graphic. Talk about poppycock!

Surprising is how the Amico is still alive when it looks like something sold at Five Below. Upon looking at the gadget and reading about it I'm reminded of the 1988 Lloyd Benson quote of "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."

[gamevet]

This is not exclusive to the Amico, but Pat and Ian are assholes with ego problems. It is something to be reported due to the various failures of other retro style systems and this is no different. Tallarico comes off a bit deceptive and should be called out for it. But CU Podcast's obsession on it I think is hurting their channel to some capacity, sponsors be damned. Tallarico's behavior should not be excused, but Pat and Ian's shouldn't be excused either with their behavior. And it goes beyond Amico.

They rightfully had a reason to act like they did towards Tommy, who lawyered up on them just for giving a negative opinion on a console that hasn’t had any new progress reports from the initial showing from several years ago. Anyone that had anything negative to say about the Amico was quickly berated by Tommy. He acted like a child about the whole thing.

CU podcast took the high ground with this one, and only mentioned “some console was cancelled” and went on with their show.

[sull56ivan2010]

They rightfully had a reason to act like they did towards Tommy, who lawyered up on them just for giving a negative opinion on a console that hasn’t had any new progress reports from the initial showing from several years ago. Anyone that had anything negative to say about the Amico was quickly berated by Tommy. He acted like a child about the whole thing.

CU podcast took the high ground with this one, and only mentioned “some console was cancelled” and went on with their show.

I'm not saying they shouldn't be calling it out. Look at all the failures of stuff that were planned but never came out. Very few retro style systems have come out. But CU has not taken the high ground. They are still being babies and are getting completely unhinged in their obsession of the Amico. It's not difficult to find both sides despicable. Tallarico looking for lawyers is disgusting. But Pat and Ian also act unprofessionally quite a bit.

If that offends you, sorry. But I'm not going to pretend CU podcast are angels on this matter, even if I understand why they cover the Amico.

[Raijin Z]

(On that note I got banned from AtariAge for daring to question King Tommy, but that's another story).

I got banned well over a decade ago, probably closer to twenty years than ten, for proving some big muck-a-muck wrong, and I never bothered going back other than to grab whatever freeware ROMs were being posted. Too much ego-stroking there, or people just being plain weird.

I recall much more recently, people being mad at one of my online personas for suggesting that the Amico shouldn't be graded against the Switch or Vita, as it was a simple system geared towards young children, and people with a lot of nostalgia for the INTV. Oh no, how dare I say it is not a system meant to kick sand in Nintendo's face. I was hoping it wouldn't be mired in drama and nonsense, as it seemed like an interesting idea, and more worthy of purchase than another EverythingPi system full of NES ROMs and a billion variations of old Java flip phone games.

[axel]

I'm not saying they shouldn't be calling it out. Look at all the failures of stuff that were planned but never came out. Very few retro style systems have come out. But CU has not taken the high ground. They are still being babies and are getting completely unhinged in their obsession of the Amico. It's not difficult to find both sides despicable. Tallarico looking for lawyers is disgusting. But Pat and Ian also act unprofessionally quite a bit.

If that offends you, sorry. But I'm not going to pretend CU podcast are angels on this matter, even if I understand why they cover the Amico.

I don't see it as comparable. Tommy took millions from investors by claiming this was going to be bigger than the Wii and they would receive a 10x return on their investment. He pretended he had connections throughout the industry and a $150 million line of credit as well as an unnamed billionaire in Dubai who could bankroll everything. He claimed he had a lineup of exclusive games when in reality all he had were a few Unity tech demos made by German college students and he didn't even pay for those, that was through some kind of Bavarian Arts grant. Then he took over $200k in Covid relief money despite the fact he lives in a mansion and drives a Ferrari.

Then there's Pat and Ian... who run a podcast where they made fun of Tommy and exposed the flaws in his business plan. Who's the real bad guy here?

I got banned well over a decade ago, probably closer to twenty years than ten, for proving some big muck-a-muck wrong, and I never bothered going back other than to grab whatever freeware ROMs were being posted. Too much ego-stroking there, or people just being plain weird.

I recall much more recently, people being mad at one of my online personas for suggesting that the Amico shouldn't be graded against the Switch or Vita, as it was a simple system geared towards young children, and people with a lot of nostalgia for the INTV. Oh no, how dare I say it is not a system meant to kick sand in Nintendo's face. I was hoping it wouldn't be mired in drama and nonsense, as it seemed like an interesting idea, and more worthy of purchase than another EverythingPi system full of NES ROMs and a billion variations of old Java flip phone games.

I'm not surprised, stuff like this is why most forums are dying. No one is allowed to disagree on the Internet!

[sull56ivan2010]

I can look at Tallarico as a bad guy and still see Pat and Ian as bad guys too with how they act on their podcast. It's not one side over the other. You run a podcast, you got to have some form of etiquette and professionalism. You run a company, same thing times ten.