Intellivision Amico!

[CrossBow]

1 hour ago, nosweargamer said:

I love how the NES and Genesis are called too complicated in this picture from their StartEngine page.

Honestly, nothing in that complicated pile is complicated. You put in a game and turn on the system and start playing for the most part. Sure the Xbox had updates etc. but it was part of the start of online stuff back then. And while those controllers in the later gen consoles shown might have quite a few buttons, how does it compare with the original Intellivision controller or with how many possible buttons could be created on that touchscreen that the Amico is using on the controllers?

Pretty sure it will still be quicker to power on and be up and gaming even on that Xbox in that complicated systems picture than it will with the Amico or any of the current modern systems today.

 

[Justin]

1 hour ago, nosweargamer said:

I love how the NES and Genesis are called too complicated in this picture from their StartEngine page.

 

I realize they're trying to do a creative modernization of the Intellivision keypad, but I think they could've had a home run with 2 buttons and a D-Pad. That's all you need 🙂 

[Sabertooth]

18 hours ago, nosweargamer said:

I love how the NES and Genesis are called too complicated in this picture from their StartEngine page.

I saw this too! I'm still trying to wrap my head around that NES pad. Much less intuitive than the original Intellivision controller...

[Sabertooth]

An interesting summation of the required SEC disclosures from Intellivision Entertainment for the 3rd round fundraising:

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2022-02-09-intellivision-entertainment-hasnt-generated-revenue-since-launch

Full SEC document here:

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1909726/000166516022000236/offeringmemoformc.pdf

[Justin]

22 hours ago, nosweargamer said:

I love how the NES and Genesis are called too complicated in this picture from their StartEngine page.

It's honestly shocking that they would create and publish this image. They're not just pitting themselves against the current generation from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, now they're using this image to pit themselves against some of the greatest, most beloved classic video game systems of all time. The NES, SNES, and PlayStation Dual Shock are controllers that set the standard of their generation. Calling the NES "2 Buttons and a D-Pad" controller "complicated" is such an insane thing to say that it makes me wonder what they're smoking over there.

If anything the Amico controller is its Achilles Heel. It doubles down on the ergonomics of the original controller, and it makes their offering more expensive.

Also interesting to note that in that pile of "complicated" video game controllers they opted not to include the Sega Dreamcast controller with its unique VMU screen.

[nosweargamer]

I look at the recent crowdfunding effort in my latest video on it.

 

Edited February 9, 2022 by nosweargamer

[Marco1019]

I read a somewhat clickbait headline announcing Tallarico was stepping down, but he just stepped down as CEO.

 

Ars Technica had a more detailed article on their site: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2022/02/debt-stricken-intellivision-asks-for-more-funds-to-last-past-july/

 

[nosweargamer]

Happy Intellivision Amico Ship Date Announcement Day! (or so)
No ship date is expected today, but don't worry! Phil Adam said on Sunday "I’m dedicated to making some announcement by the end of this month”.
Reminds me of when they were determined to deliver pre-orders by Q4 2021.

[RickR]

That one debtor that gets $100 per console is probably the straw that broke the camels back.  There is simply no way to make money on this project.  Debts are too large. 

Maybe those folks that bought the boxed software will have a valuable collector item in the future. 

 

[nosweargamer]

11 minutes ago, RickR said:

That one debtor that gets $100 per console is probably the straw that broke the camels back.  There is simply no way to make money on this project.  Debts are too large. 

Maybe those folks that bought the boxed software will have a valuable collector item in the future. 

 

It'll be interesting to see their value if the Amico never launches. Currently, when someone posts an Amico game for sale on ebay, it's gets $30-$40, but games rarely show up for sale. If it's never released, and the game cards become glorified pieces of plastic, will it gain value as a collectors item, or will the value lower since you can't play them. Time will tell.

 

[nosweargamer]

This is not looking good. 3 Days in, less than 50 investors and they have only raised about $53k, or 1% of their goal, despite early bird perks. FYI they spent  $47,881 per week on expenses on 2020, so this covers about a week of expense without addressing debt or manufacturing. Compare this start to their Republic campaign 3 days in, where they raised over $7 mil, almost half of that goal, and had 2.6k investors. 

[RickR]

I was going to invest, but I found this bootleg version for $24.99.  It's very refreshing!

 

Edited February 11, 2022 by RickR

[Sabertooth]

21 minutes ago, RickR said:

I was going to invest, but I found that bootleg version for $24.99.  It's very refreshing!

 

They saved a bundle by reusing foot bath molds for the plastics!

[Justin]

I wonder why they went so strongly in the direction of the Wii branding. Same colors, similar concepts.

[btbfilms76]

On 2/8/2022 at 11:32 AM, nosweargamer said:

I love how the NES and Genesis are called too complicated in this picture from their StartEngine page.

Amico controller totally simple lol - 4 misplaced shoulder buttons and a laggy touch screen… and let’s double down on that disk, the worst part of the original controller, yeah let’s do that again.  All of these cheap games can be played on your Apple TV for a few bucks.  Go on your phone‘s App Store right now, and see how many different versions you can play at this very moment, that are very similar to the six launch titles. 

[nosweargamer]

 

[btbfilms76]

If you go into your phones App Store you can latterly get the 6 “pack in” games - or very similar, if not the exact same thing for free, or a couple bucks each. Here are the beloved pack in’s Skiing, Astrosmash, Shark Shark!, Cornhole, Farkle and they still haven’t announced the party game - I’m guessing it’s Emoji Charades.  See for yourself… 

 

[RickR]

1 hour ago, btbfilms76 said:

If you go into your phones App Store you can latterly get the 6 “pack in” games - or very similar, if not the exact same thing for free, or a couple bucks each. Here are the beloved pack in’s Skiing, Astrosmash, Shark Shark!, Cornhole, Farkle and they still haven’t announced the party game - I’m guessing it’s Emoji Charades.  See for yourself… 

 

I had this exact thought since the very first "demo" video was released.  It totally looks like something on a phone or tablet.  I didn't say anything for fear of being lambasted by the zealots. 

 

[Justin]

6 minutes ago, RickR said:

I had this exact thought since the very first "demo" video was released.  It totally looks like something on a phone or tablet.  I didn't say anything for fear of being lambasted by the zealots. 

I think there have been a lot of comparisons to the Ouya because of that, it shares that basic Android architecture without much else. I feel like if this is released without a -serious- push from third party publishers, it will end up with a similar library to the Ouya and fade away within a year.

Say what you want about the Ouya, at least it made it to the store shelves in Target. At this point, Amico will be fortunate to get that far.

[Justin]

5 hours ago, btbfilms76 said:

If you go into your phones App Store you can latterly get the 6 “pack in” games - or very similar, if not the exact same thing for free, or a couple bucks each. Here are the beloved pack in’s Skiing, Astrosmash, Shark Shark!, Cornhole, Farkle and they still haven’t announced the party game - I’m guessing it’s Emoji Charades.  See for yourself… 

If AppleTV (or Amazon or whatever) included a gyroscopic / motion remote, a lot of these mobile games like "Cornhole" could be played on the TV at home and deliver a similar experience to what Intellivision Amico would.

Amico would be more appealing to me if it were launching with some of the more notable titles that had been announced and now seem to have disappeared from the list, games like Earthworm Jim and Toe Jam & Earl.

[nosweargamer]

Just a quick video discussing the ownership of Jungle Hunt & Bump n Jump by Intellivision.

 

[btbfilms76]

18 hours ago, nosweargamer said:

Just a quick video discussing the ownership of Jungle Hunt & Bump n Jump by Intellivision.

 

This was great, the onion is peeling and we’re seeing more and more of how this company operates. Thanks for the update. 

[Justin]

19 hours ago, nosweargamer said:

Just a quick video discussing the ownership of Jungle Hunt & Bump n Jump by Intellivision.

 

 

Good sleuth work @nosweargamer! You were right in thinking there is a difference between copyright law and trademark law. The name of a game is different than the copyrighted works of the software program and any patents that may also apply to the game itself. Two different things.

 

 

1 hour ago, btbfilms76 said:

This was great, the onion is peeling and we’re seeing more and more of how this company operates. Thanks for the update. 

 

Agreed @nosweargamer has had the best coverage of this imo.

 

[nosweargamer]

I plan to do a livestream tonight at 10:30pm est discussing the Intelivision Amico, Psychology and The Cult. 

 

[nosweargamer]

Within a week, Intellivision is supposed to be giving us a ship date update. However, based on their history, I wouldn't be surprised if they miss another deadline.

Why anyone would take them at their word at this point is beyond me.