Game Over for the Intellivision Amico

[Leynos]

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 don't think the Wii approach would work either. Wii only worked because of right time and place and a name more people know plus a $200 million dollar marketing budget. A couple years after DS which opened the door for casual gamers. Wii busted it wide open in 2006. A year later iphone released and that audience started to migrate there. Even Wii fell off a cliff in 2009 in sales and never recovered that same momentum. Now in 2022? What worked in 2006 is not going to work now. Everyone has a phone. All those people DS/Wii attracted play on phones. No need to buy this unkown device when Switch,Series S exist if you do want a console on a budget. Speaking of 2006. Those controllers look like they are MS Zunes from 2006. Amico never had a chance. Again they should have just made those simple games,released them on existing hardware esp phones. All they are are phone games.

[gamevet]

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 believe that what you perceive as them being assholes, and I'm not acting like neither of those two can't be, was them warning people not to throw their money at vaporware. They called out the Amica group, because everything that was going on wreaked of what happened with the Coleco console, and just so happens that one of the people involved was connected to that botched vaporware.


CU Podcast did put out another video today, going into great detail about the events leading up to Tommy being canned. And to be fair, Ian did understand (somewhat defend) what the project faced that eventually led to the downfall.

[axel]

Speaking of 2006. Those controllers look like they are MS Zunes from 2006. Amico never had a chance.

This is what I tried to tell Tommy. Reinventing the controller is incredibly ambitious for a startup. There's almost always complications with manufacturing something like this, so you often have to go back to the drawing board, make new revisions, QA/QC everything, etc. Having lag-free gameplay is not trivial especially when you're designing a new console and OS to go with it. Plus it makes things harder for developers if they have to test their game on a phone because your controller and OS aren't ready yet.

And that's if the controller actually had a good design! These were garbage. I didn't see one game that made me think "wow, you couldn't do this with a JoyCon". All these did was balloon the R&D budget and unit price of the console.

I believe that what you perceive as them being assholes, and I'm not acting like neither of those two can't be, was them warning people not to throw their money at vaporware. They called out the Amica group, because everything that was going on wreaked of what happened with the Coleco console, and just so happens that one of the people involved was connected to that botched vaporware.


CU Podcast did put out another video today, going into great detail about the events leading up to Tommy being canned. And to be fair, Ian did understand (somewhat defend) what the project faced that eventually led to the downfall.

Yes, and I hope the AtariAge thread goes back up in read-only mode, because it's going to show that all the negativity started with Tommy and his pals. Pat and Ian were very respectful in the beginning, their attitude was basically "OK, we wish the Amico well". Not good enough apparently so the attacks started soon after that, Tommy mocked Ian for having a disability and his AtariAge minions started referring to them as "Rat and Peon". It wasn't just them though, anyone who had anything less than glowing praise for Tommy and Amico received similar treatment. Multiple YouTubers and journalists received threats of violence from the mob and legal threats from Tommy. When the company goes bankrupt in a month or two I'm sure all of the blame will be on "podcasters who spread misinformation" and not a now former CEO who spent his entire workday posting to forums.

[Greg2600]

Leynos is right, Wii came prior to smartphones where you can casually game now, or via tablets, on a budget. The Amico business plan was flawed from day one, that's aside from hardware issues. Who are you marketing to? This changed multiple times. What is the price point? Forget it.

[Thenewguy]

I mean, the Wii also still exists, its all over the place for like ~£30, the games can be bought for less than £10

I bought a Wii last year, I take it to my mothers house during special occasions when all the family is down, we play Wii Sports.

and of course there's also emulation, there are so many 2D retro games available you could spend a lifetime playing them, as well as new homebrew, and indie projects on steam and such. What this thing said it was offering, could already be had for next to no money anyway.

[axel]

I mean, the Wii also still exists, its all over the place for like ~£30, the games can be bought for less than £10

I bought a Wii last year, I take it to my mothers house during special occasions when all the family is down, we play Wii Sports.

and of course there's also emulation, there are so many 2D retro games available you could spend a lifetime playing them, as well as new homebrew, and indie projects on steam and such. What this thing said it was offering, could already be had for next to no money anyway.

Oh yeah, I have people in my family like that too, my sister for example still has her Wii hooked up. The Switch is having the same kind of effect, I have family and friends who hadn't picked up a controller in years who love the Switch. In fact I consider it a much bigger success since it's still going so strong in its sixth year while the Wii peaked around 2008. Some of the games coming out this year like Switch Sports are designed for the same audience too.

I would like to see new consoles on the scene but trying to take on Nintendo in the "family friendly" category is the business plan of an idiot.

[Leynos]

I never paid much attention to the Evercade, Watching the GameSack review of the console version. This is pretty much the promise of Amico. Affordable console. 2D games. Classic games including Intellivision. Newer indie games on it as well. Physical carts. Ok no MS Zune controllers but you can use the portable Evercade as a controller. Yeah, Amico may have a little more power (lulz) but not sure that matters really. Amico games have about a $25 price tag for one according to Phil or whatever. Evercade you get a collection of games for $20 each cart. So Amico is entirely pointless even if they could deliver this thing.