Intellivision Amico!

[Atari 5200 Guy]

I watched it and I would feel the same way you guys do.  I'm hoping that the campaign ending with no explanation might be a way for them to stop and rethink/replan a better course of action to bring the machine to light.  I really hope that is the situation.

As for my comment on the movie relation, something about the whole Amico fiasco just reminded me of that movie.  I know Tucker was real and Tommy is far from Tucker.  I'm not sure why the Amico fiasco reminded me of that movie but it did.

I feel bad for the Investors right now.  I would have thought that those behind Intellivision would of had enough respect for the community and investors to tell them what is going on whether good or bad.

[Justin]

21 hours ago, Atari 5200 Guy said:

I'm not sure why the Amico fiasco reminded me of that movie but it did.

You should watch the movie "Boiler Room"

[Justin]

[Atari Creep]

 

 

[Justin]

Fresh update and perspective from @nosweargamer:

 

 

[Justin]

Today's updates from our friends @Atari Creep and @nosweargamer :

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regarding @nosweargamer's discussion on "Could the Original Intellivision Assets Be Sold?" - Yes, that's one possibility! From my personal experience, here are the different scenarios I see potentially playing out:

 

1. The Amico project is split off from Intellivision and sold to some other group or entity, who would likely make some changes and release the Amico without the Intellivision branding. In this scenario, rights to the Intellivision name and original "Blue Sky" software are retained by their current owners. (By retaining the original Intellivision name and software, this leaves the door open for future projects that could arise down the road, such as another Intellivision Lives! release or Intellivision Flashback) The Amico would be in the hands of new owners, who could potentially get it in Costco and Sam's Club for $69 with a bunch of built-in games, or sell it overseas.

2. Intellivision and its IP assets stay together - and is sold as a whole to a new buyer. In this example, Intellivision is bought by a new buyer - could be a single person, could be a Bitcoin billionaire, could be a Swiss banker, could be Atari or Microsoft, who knows. The entirety of Intellivision IP from the original system, the "Blue Sky Rangers" games, plus the Amico hardware and new game titles would be theirs to do whatever they want with. They could continue with the Amico and put more money into it. They could cancel the Amico and put the Amico games out on iOS and Nintendo Switch. They could make the games playable on an Intellivision website online. Atari could buy Intellivision and make all original games and Amico games playable on the Atari VCS. Who knows. It's less likely that Intellivision would stay together 100%. The IP could stay together potentially, but a new buyer likely wouldn't want their existing debt or commercial real estate commitments which are a different thing entirely.

3. Intellivision and its IP assets are broken up and sold off piecemeal - with different assets sold to multiple buyers. (In this example, one group may buy the Amico project, another group may buy the rights to the Intellivision name, a 3rd group could buy Astrosmash, a 4th group could buy Night Stalker, Atari Age could buy Shark! Shark!, etc.) 

4. Intellivision avoids bankruptcy through a new tranche of funding, with major shareholders (Tommy Tallarico for example) selling their ownership to a new investor / entity and walking away from the project. One new investor group or entity could acquire controlling interest of Intellivision by buying out a couple of the larger shareholders, without having to purchase 100% ownership in the company.

5.  Intellivision stays together and avoids bankruptcy through a new tranche of funding, by diluting their stock and bringing on a new majority shareholder - likely a group. For example, let's say Intellivision as it currently exists is divided into 100,000 shares of Intellivision stock, and let's also say for example that Tommy Tallarico owns roughly 20% of that stock, or roughly 20,000 shares. Intellivision could avoid bankruptcy by bringing on a new investment group or angel investor - let's call him "Cousin Steve" - by creating ANOTHER 100,000 shares of Intellivision stock, and offering those 100,000 shares to "Cousin Steve" for $5 Million plus some loan guarantees. Now there are 200,000 total shares of Intellivision stock (not just 100,000 as there was just a moment ago) meaning the total number of existing shares of Intellivision stock have doubled. This means that Tommy Tallarico's hypothetical 20,000 shares no longer represent 20% ownership in Intellivision, but have now been DILUTED to represent only a 10% ownership in Intellivision. They own the same number of shares, but those shares now make up less ownership of the company than they did before - but at least it's still ownership in something that will now have a fighting chance at survival, rather than owning a greater share of a project that is dead. "Cousin Steve" gets 100,000 shares or half the company and likely controlling interest and certainly a seat on the board. "Cousin Steve" would likely also require that staff and salaries are cut in half, and the majority of their commercial real estate entanglements are dropped.

6. Intellivision ceases operations and nobody is really sure what's going on with the assets for a long time. This is more likely than you think. There is the possibility that nobody comes to the rescue here. It's. possible that nobody wants to invest a substantial enough amount of money into Intellivision to each much of anything, and the public (particularly the classic gaming community) is left uncertain of who exactly owns what assets from Intellivision. A nasty bankruptcy could ensue.

[Mockduck]

My guess is they either sell off their IP and other assets to someone else (I could see an Evercade, Limited Run Games, AtGames, or even Atari picking up something like that), or they keep going as a publisher as they could continue to do that and basically meet their philosophical goals. Worst case would be the assets would be dumped by a court or something, and who knows what kind of vulture capital group could tie things up by buying it.

[Justin]

The latest thing:

 

 

[Atari 5200 Guy]

I'm glad I didn't invest in Amigo even when I wanted to.  I feel sorry for those who did.  If Amici manages to come out ill be surprised.  I understand about keeping somethings under wraps but if you have anything accomplished about it wouldn't it be best to just come out and say this is what we have so far?  So I agree with Smash's logic here as hard as must have been.

Do you guys feel that this might have been a quick money making scheme or am I thinking wrong on that part?  

[Justin]

On 3/7/2022 at 11:00 PM, Atari 5200 Guy said:

I understand about keeping somethings under wraps

They should've kept everything under wraps until it was ready to go. They made the Amico public WAYYY too early and invited the public in to watch over every move and offer commentary on every decision Intellivision made. They should've taken an entirely different approach and waited until the Amico was rolling down the assembly line, made an announcement (or wait until that point to launch a Kickstarter or Indigogo campaign which would be used solely to drum up interest in their project) and said to the world "We'd like to introduce you to Intellivision Amico, a new "friend" built for everyone of every age in every home across America. It's rolling off the assembly line now and will be on store shelves in 90 days along with a dozen of our best game titles." By NOT doing this, they jumped the gun in showing this to the public and have effectively made this vaporware akin to the Phantom or Intellivision IV.

 

On 3/7/2022 at 11:00 PM, Atari 5200 Guy said:

I'm glad I didn't invest in Amigo even when I wanted to.  I feel sorry for those who did.

Amico never EVER should've been an "investment" to anybody outside of venture capital groups, a couple wealthy family members, and a few accredited angel investors in "shark tanks" who go into these things prepared to lose their entire investment. Those are people who are qualified to see Amico for the moonshot that it is and are prepared to lose their entire investment, walk away from it unscathed and say "oh well I have 20 more investments just like this, one of them is bound to take off and more than make up for the other 19 that failed." That's how these things are supposed to work.

Instead, "Intellivision Entertainment" is out there with gas approaching $6/gal. asking regular working people to "invest" their savings into Intellivision as if it's going to make them rich in five years. Intellivision is effectively a tech startup company and a risky gamble no different from memestonks like Blockbuster and Gamestop, or shitcoins like Doge and Shibainu.

The shadiest thing about "Intellivision Entertainment" is that they were effective at convincing so many regular working people who had never invested in anything in their lives that they are now "investors" capable of investing their savings in risky startups instead of SPDRs or their 401k. That whole Republic site is trash and should be shut down by the SEC, it's no different than an unregulated securities exchange in my opinion and it's insane.

Beyond that they're operating with overhead of something like $6M per month? They're bleeding money on office space when most of them could be working from home until they've, you know, ever made a single dollar of profit.

What's sad is they already have enough intellectual property to generate the capital they were seeking if they had only been patient. Start small, then walk before you can run. For example, they could've released a new "Intellivision Greatest Hits" game for PS4, PS5, Xbox and Switch. Maybe something simple, like a download. And why not for Android and iOS as well? For Mac and PC? They also could've gone forward with the "Intellivision Flashback 2" that Keith was going to do and gotten it into Walmart, Target, Sam's Club and Costco. Those two products alone would've generated a few million for Intellivision over a Christmas or two that they themselves could invest back into the Amico project. Intellivision could've done something similar to Atari XP, or have been a boutique design house and created a few nice modern games for Switch, again generating some profit to reinvest into Amico. This would've given Intellivision a little time to develop 3 new, modern "killer app franchises" the same way Nintendo developed Mario, Zelda and Metroid. Intellivision could've released these games on the Switch or even the PlayStation and Xbox, generating more revenue and placing the Intellivision name back on the map before launching the Amico. How many Donkey Kong and Mario games were released on ColecoVision and Atari systems before Nintendo launched the NES?

 

On 3/7/2022 at 11:00 PM, Atari 5200 Guy said:

I feel sorry for those who did.

This will come off as insensitive to some but I DO NOT feel all that sorry for those who did. I have empathy for my fellow man and don't want to see anybody ripped off - but people cannot be "investing" money that they can't lose. That's what investing is. 

People have to be smart enough to not even place a preorder with an unknown, unproven company like "Intellivision Entertainment" with no history and no products having been sold. (Remember, "Intellivision Entertainment" is not "Intellivision Productions" or "INTV" and is certainly not Mattel.) At least be smart enough to make your preorder through GameStop or some other retailer that will hopefully exist long enough to honor a full refund. Otherwise you are opening yourself up to risk. People have to wise up. Also, it's okay to sign up for the newsletter and just wait until it comes out. Sometimes it's okay if you don't get the very first shipment, wait until you see lots of happy customers getting theirs first and raving about how great it is online.

Again, this is why presales of any kind are not allowed on Atari I/O. Have you noticed that although @Video 61 announces their upcoming games in our forums we don't allow them to take presales until the game is ready to put in a box and ship to your house, nor do they attempt to hustle Atari I/O Members for presales. They make a simple post saying "Here's a demo of a game we have coming out in 2 months, stay tuned to this thread and we will make an announcement when it goes on sale." It's as simple as that. It's not hard to operate with integrity.

 

On 3/7/2022 at 11:00 PM, Atari 5200 Guy said:

wouldn't it be best to just come out and say this is what we have so far?  So I agree with Smash's logic here as hard as must have been.

Yes. One of Intellivision Entertainment's biggest missteps is having people who come across to some as manipulative / deceptive out there in the public. They've invited criticism when they could've just hired a halfway decent PR firm to make announcements and interface with the public.

The "scammy feeling" comes from where there has not been transparency on issues as they change during development. Normally these events take place behind the scenes, but because Intellivision has been so public about everything, there's so much they owe the public truthful updates on. For example all of the announced game titles in development that sort of disappeared, and what was the story with that guy who was "the father of the Xbox" being touted as a big player on the Amico team when it was first announced? Those are all forced mistakes that should never have been made, and they have been rightly called out on these.

 

On 3/7/2022 at 11:00 PM, Atari 5200 Guy said:

Do you guys feel that this might have been a quick money making scheme or am I thinking wrong on that part?  

No, I don't believe this was a "quick money making scheme". There was nothing quick about Amico and there are much easier ways to separate people from their money. I don't think this was a "scheme" at all, I think you had a lot of people who really believed what they were saying and wanted to put an Amico in every home across America. 

I think this is a matter of tremendous incompetence and a substantial number of the public willing to go along with it because "WOW this is so nostalgic!"

It's always easy to call something a scam when it's not going according to plan. Nothing ever goes according to plan when you're trying to launch a startup or a new project. As I've said before, if AtGames or Evercade or Nintendo or Tesla had asked regular working people to cough up small "investments" and effectively invited the public to view their projects development process - those would all be called "scams" too.

Take for example the classic story about Nintendo launching the NES in US test markets for Christmas 1985, with NOA employees working through the night to deliver Nintendo systems to stores across NYC and LA just in time for Christmas. The stories of Nintendo using the Light Gun and R.O.B. the Robot to market the NES as a "toy" rather than a game system to stores who did not want any new video games after the crash, and Nintendo reps telling toy stores that Nintendo would come set up NES systems for sale in the toy stores and set up the NES displays with a promise unlike Atari to buy back any unsold merchandise after the new year. If God forbid the NES had failed, people would be pointing to these stories and calling the NES a "scam" too. And it likely would've been. It's very easy to call something that doesn't work out the way you want it to "a scam".

If anything there's been a TREMENDOUS amount of transparency on Intellivision's part compared to most projects. With every baby step Intellivision has made we've been greeted with multiple podcast episodes and 2-hour deep dive videos about every little nuance of controller lag. "Look how Finnegan Fox doesn't turn as quickly as he probably should. Let's go frame-by-frame on this." - Groups like Nintendo and Tesla are smart enough to not ever allow that to happen. Nintendo never held "events" inviting the public to come play Switch 2 years prior to its release and comment on it publicly. You never got to see the Nintendo Switch until the design was pretty much frozen and a few months from shipping. They kept it under wraps until it was ready to go and you didn't see the messy chaos that was kept behind the scenes, because that's how professionals act.

[Justin]

12 hours ago, Atari 5200 Guy said:

Do you guys feel that this might have been a quick money making scheme or am I thinking wrong on that part?

 

You can’t call the Intellivision Amico a “scam” without calling the Atari Jaguar a “scam”. Where were we all back in 1994 “doing the math” and demanding answers?

 

[RickR]

@Justin, your post is so good and I can't disagree with a word of it.  Well done.

I agree that it wasn't a premeditated scam.  I think it was a dream and plan that was done in the worst possible way by folks that didn't really know what they were doing and in way over their heads. 

I also think it's weird -- really weird -- the have Mr. T calling youtubers on the phone to talk about things but also demand they don't reveal it.  Dude, don't you have any real friends?  WTF?  For me, that kind of encapsulates the whole weird feeling about this system I felt since day 1.  People use the word "cult", and I think a better word is "crusade".  It was made so personal and schmoozy and no professional company would ever run things that way. 

 

[Justin]

53 minutes ago, RickR said:

@Justin, your post is so good and I can't disagree with a word of it.  Well done.

Thank you @RickR!!

 

53 minutes ago, RickR said:

I agree that it wasn't a premeditated scam.  I think it was a dream and plan that was done in the worst possible way by folks that didn't really know what they were doing and in way over their heads. 

Agreed. I think all they really needed was some guidance from stronger people who knew what they were doing.

 

55 minutes ago, RickR said:

I also think it's weird -- really weird -- the have Mr. T calling youtubers on the phone

  -- new official emoji

[Justin]

Breaking Intellivision Amico news from @nosweargamer:

 

 

[Justin]

MORE from @nosweargamer - it appears people ARE receiving communication from Intellivision Entertainment that they will be receiving their refunds:

 

 

[btbfilms76]

Did anyone know about this Gen 2? I had no idea, but I find it funny that the same games being pushed today were being retooled for PlayStation a few years back… also here’s a strange plot twist, Mike Kennedy was involved. 

 

[Justin]

Today's update from @nosweargamer: Did everybody who invested in the StartEngine campaign get their money back? It looks like it, and looks like Intellivision is not taking any money from that campaign. Did they get a new angel investor?

 

 

[Atari 5200 Guy]

Hi guys,

I only asked the questions I did because I was hoping in would get other's thoughts on this system.  I was being biased when I asked it.  

Regardless of the outcome, I was really hoping the Amico would come out.  I still do.  I still want to believe that.  I didn't know or keep up with it after a while because the emails stopped coming.  I had not heard anything else about for a while until NSG started posting videos about it recently.  It was an Oh-No moment for me once I understood what was happening.

I'm still trying to grasp it.  I do believe they jumped the gun once Tommy did a video saying they were working a new Intellivision game console and what they wanted it to do.  Once I saw mock ups of the console I was impressed.  I thought they might have had a working prototype at least but it sounds like they had absolutely nothing solid other than dreams. 

I couldn't afford one even at the first price set they mentioned but it didn't mean that I did not want to see it on store shelves.  It sounded promising.

But, rest assured, I only asked what I asked to gain more knowledge and to understand where others thoughts were about it.  And, I agree, Jaguar sold me on that same poster with titles advertised that never made it. It's best to have something first before saying we got this, we want it to do this, but in reality there is nothing there. I bought the Jaguar based on that poster alone.

[nosweargamer]

I really liked the Amico at first, and even gave a ton of constructive feedback to help right the ship, but it really seems that they tried too much too soon, and made promises they couldn't keep and costs got out of control. They shady stuff I noticed didn't help either.

FYI - I just shared this on my Twitter:

Four (possibly former) Intellivision employees have recently changed their Linkedin profiles to say Open To Work or Offering Services. The biggest is their Senior Logistics Manager. Just the kind of person you want if you were going to launch a system...

[RickR]

I think it's safe to assume most of us retro gamers were watching this with a bit of excitement from the start.  And that slowly turned to horror as things unwound.  I personally was willing to give them a huge benefit of the doubt for the pandemic.  After all, that also delayed the Phoenix for several months.  But alas, while the Phoenix eventually shipped (and the project team kept communication to a minimum), the Amico was smoke and mirrors. 

And there's still that cult/crusade feeling as now it's turned into youtubers calling each other out and pointing fingers.  For what?  Report the facts and move on fellas.  Please. 

 

 

[Atari 5200 Guy]

14 hours ago, nosweargamer said:

Four (possibly former) Intellivision employees have recently changed their Linkedin profiles to say Open To Work or Offering Services. The biggest is their Senior Logistics Manager. Just the kind of person you want if you were going to launch a system

I heard about that.  That's not something you want to hear when a console's production is at stake.  I'm not.going to.speculate.  I only wish them well and hope that someday, regardless of Amico's outcome and provided nothing else is said, maybe they can step forward to what all really happened.  That's if it doesn't land them in a lawsuit.

13 hours ago, RickR said:

I think it's safe to assume most of us retro gamers were watching this with a bit of excitement from the start.  And that slowly turned to horror as things unwound.  I personally was willing to give them a huge benefit of the doubt for the pandemic.  After all, that also delayed the Phoenix for several months.  But alas, while the Phoenix eventually shipped (and the project team kept communication to a minimum), the Amico was smoke and mirrors. 

And there's still that cult/crusade feeling as now it's turned into youtubers calling each other out and pointing fingers.  For what?  Report the facts and move on fellas.  Please. 

 

 

I was excited even though (cough) I'm not a huge INTV fan.  I had one and while I liked the games I couldn't get past the uncomfortable controllers.  I was hoping the Amico would be the, what's the word I'm looking for... better design where I could enjoy the system even if it was modern.  

I could honestly understand the pandemic delaying and even changing Amico's design and part requirements.  It's changed a lot of things.  But if it did, unless I missed it, it would have been wise to let those who invested in Amico know that the parts they were depending on they couldn't get because of the pandemic.  It affected me getting a cellphone upgrade for about a year and I hear Detroit would not make new vehicles until one was ordered because of chip shortages.  It was even difficult for the three main video game consoles to meet demands because of those shortages unless I missed something again.  I have yet to see and PlayStation or Xbox consoles on store shelves.  I've seen a few Switch consoles but only maybe three every month or so.

I still hope that Amico eventually gets to see the light of day.  Do you guys think that making it into a system with built-in games would help?  Provided it kept the original operating system it would need, as planned, so when things do manage to get back on track somehow it can receive an update and do, A little.at.a.time, the things it was suppose to do?  Just a theory.  

For what it's worth I did like the design. I also liked the various color options but I would have picked just one to start with.  And then once it was established I might consider more color options.

 

[nosweargamer]

On 3/11/2022 at 6:23 AM, Atari 5200 Guy said:

I still hope that Amico eventually gets to see the light of day.  Do you guys think that making it into a system with built-in games would help?  Provided it kept the original operating system it would need, as planned, so when things do manage to get back on track somehow it can receive an update and do, A little.at.a.time, the things it was suppose to do?  Just a theory.  

Originally it was supposed to come with 7 re-imagined games and the majority of the original library for 149-179. That would've been amazing! Unfortunately, this appears to have been promised before figuring out how much it would cost to build, even pre-pandemic.

Interestingly rumors of a Intellivision Flashback 2 came out shortly before the death of Keith Robinson. This included some licensed titles missing on the first edition, like Tron Deadly Discs. It was never confirmed, but my guess is this was the plan before the Amico came into the picture. Something like that, with HDMI out, maybe with some homebrews would be very cool. From everything I've heard, I think the Amico in it's current form, with the wireless touchscreen controllers, is simply too expensive to make for most consumers. If it was on a small scale, like the VCS or Analogue systems, at a premium price, it could've worked.  

Due to the debt and loans, I can't see any scenario this works without a major angel investor. But any investor would probably have to spend an insane amount of money just overcome the loans and debt. My current hope is someone who cares about the brand, and is good at the business, ends up buying the brand, keeping it alive like Keith Robinson did.

[MaximumRD]

All things considered was kind of surprised to see this? Well hope everyone gets what they pre-ordered at the very least. IF this video can be believed though it really does not excuse the horrible non communication with fans and supporters. We will see. 🤷‍♂️ 

 

Edited March 22, 2022 by MaximumRD

[nosweargamer]

Here's my two cents on it. 

 

[MaximumRD]

For your consideration from the unboxing video guy. For the record I have always said none of these unboxing videos matter until one is done by a backer or consumer, until then it's still just marketing......

 

Edited March 23, 2022 by MaximumRD