mr_me Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 (edited) ... I don't think anyone would promise 100%. At least, not anyone sane. The Intellivision itself doesn't even achieve 100%, given that the Keyboard Component requires an Intellivision 1, while the System Changer requires an Intellivision 2 (or modified Intellivision 1, modified in a way that makes it incompatible with the Keyboard Component). And, we've seen homebrew cartridge board designs that work on Intellivision 2 and then fail on Intellivision 1 until they're fixed. FWIW, I have zero plans to support the System Changer, PlayCable, and the IntelliExpander (should it be revived), for example. (decle's impressive work with the PlayCable notwithstanding.) And if Bee3 or the Hive ever come back to life, I would need to work with GroovyBee to ensure compatibility with his non-standard extensions. That's really not up to me. I can do my best, but I won't make promises that aren't mine to keep. I'm not as sure about the Keyboard Component, but don't hold your breath. (But hold mah beer! ) ... That sounds pretty good, so all existing cartridge types should be covered. Future cartridge types are question marks. I figure you'll find a way to make the ltoflash and cc3 work since they won't allow side loading rom files. Would this be an Intellivision Entertainment add-on or a third party add-on? Edited October 25, 2018 by mr_me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lathe26 Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 If you think this is going to appeal to the market that matters (i.e.18 - 35 age group) then you don't understand the gaming market at all. Again, Intellivision doesn't have strong brand power. The majority of people who owned an Intellivision are in their 40's and 50's. Thats not enough to push this console to success. Like what does this system offer that is so great? You want new 2D games then go support some quality indie titles found on Steam and the current crop of consoles, or support the homebrew community that are making new games for old consoles that you already own. If you're hung up on cliche gamer demographics, then you don't understand what the markets the Amico is aimed at. It's aimed at new markets that the big 3 consoles have failed to capitalize on or have abandoned. Regarding brand power, no, the Intellivision does not have the brand power of XBox, Playstation, Nintendo, or Atari. However, it does have a modest amount of brand power in its own right. Looking at those direct-to-TV retro systems, the Intellivision 10 and the Intellivision 25 sold 4 million units. In comparison, the Nintendo Classic sold 3 million units. That's with the Intellivision 10 and 25 games being inaccurate recreations of Intellivision games. There were a number of serious mitigating factors why the Intellivision beat Nintendo (Intellivision would have lost in a fair fight). Markets have changed a bit since then but... 4 million units is nothing to ignore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SegaSnatcher Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 (edited) If you're hung up on cliche gamer demographics, then you don't understand what the markets the Amico is aimed at. It's aimed at new markets that the big 3 consoles have failed to capitalize on or have abandoned. Regarding brand power, no, the Intellivision does not have the brand power of XBox, Playstation, Nintendo, or Atari. However, it does have a modest amount of brand power in its own right. Looking at those direct-to-TV retro systems, the Intellivision 10 and the Intellivision 25 sold 4 million units. In comparison, the Nintendo Classic sold 3 million units. That's with the Intellivision 10 and 25 games being inaccurate recreations of Intellivision games. There were a number of serious mitigating factors why the Intellivision beat Nintendo (Intellivision would have lost in a fair fight). Markets have changed a bit since then but... 4 million units is nothing to ignore. Which are? Also, not that I don't believe you, but can you provide a source for that 4 million sales figure? This is the only thing I can find referencing any sales numbers and they say over 1 million only. http://www.intellivisionlives.com/retrotopia/direct2tv.shtml EDIT: I see what happened there, you combined the original Intellivision's 3 million sales and the 1 million figure of the plug n play devices. You should have probably mentioned that lol. Edited October 25, 2018 by SegaSnatcher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youxia Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 That's what I was thinking too. "2D" Powerhouse but all games will cost $2-8. And everything will be exclusive. What competent or semi-competent developer is going to waste their resources on developing something worthwhile that isn't a piece of shovelware that will sell for $2-8 to an install base of a couple ten thousand or couple hundred thousand (Let's be honest, a couple 100 thousand is probably best case scenario for this) This is what irks me the most about this project. Because I'm also a massive fan of 2D style. I do love my 3D alright too, but haven't turned my back on the old ways. In fact, I do consider some of the arcade games a pinnacle of gfx achievement, no matter what era. And my secret pipe dream is a revival of this style, which, in a way has already happened since "pixel art" games are ten-a-penny and then you have the likes of AAA 2D titles such as Cuphead, Hollow Knight or Ori & The Blind Forest. None of the really good ones cost "$2-8" since this is logistically implausible. And the market for simple and cheep ones is covered by the mobiles. Add to it the talk of kid-ratings, exclusives and 2 year timeframe and it all really does not make much sense. Sadly, it points out to them sort of just saying random things for the sake of saying them and generating some buzz, but it's the wrong kind of buzz, for me at least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 Wasn't the Ouya open for any kind of games: ports, violent games for adults, perhaps even small amounts of nudity? If so, the buyers of that console would be more diverse and it explains if there wasn't a single game reaching more than 0.7% of the owners. The Amico on the other hand seems more focused on its target group, so anyone buying it knows on beforehand which types of games to expect and more importantly what to not expect. Possibly that means the best selling game will reach a larger percentage of the installed user base, perhaps up to 10-20%, or even more if there is a "killer app" not present anywhere else. It raises the question if Intellivision Entertainment have the legal abilities to fight any clones of a such game on other formats, to maintain the uniqueness. Nintendo surely did what they could to prevent Super Mario Bros clones, but they may have been in a different position. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 If you're hung up on cliche gamer demographics, then you don't understand what the markets the Amico is aimed at. It's aimed at new markets that the big 3 consoles have failed to capitalize on or have abandoned. Regarding brand power, no, the Intellivision does not have the brand power of XBox, Playstation, Nintendo, or Atari. However, it does have a modest amount of brand power in its own right. Looking at those direct-to-TV retro systems, the Intellivision 10 and the Intellivision 25 sold 4 million units. In comparison, the Nintendo Classic sold 3 million units. That's with the Intellivision 10 and 25 games being inaccurate recreations of Intellivision games. There were a number of serious mitigating factors why the Intellivision beat Nintendo (Intellivision would have lost in a fair fight). Markets have changed a bit since then but... 4 million units is nothing to ignore. 81HqT2b-B5L._SL1393_.jpg Oh gaaawd! I have one of those. That was the first Intellivision thing I bought before I came back into the fold back when that thing came out. At the time, I didn't get around to playing it -- I was having too much fun playing my Activision Anthology on PS2 and the Commondore-64 console-on-a-chip-on-a-joystick thingy. By the time I was ready to play it, I found an Intellivision games collection for PS2 and played that instead. From there, I discovered IntellivisionLives.com, then the INTVProg community, and bought an actual Intellivision from eBay. In the end, I never got to play with that Intellivision-TV toy thingy, which is just as well, because I've learned since that it was awful. It's still sealed. Perhaps in another 30 years it'll be worth a buck more than when I bought it. Ka-ching!!! LOL! -dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 Wasn't the Ouya open for any kind of games: ports, violent games for adults, perhaps even small amounts of nudity? If so, the buyers of that console would be more diverse and it explains if there wasn't a single game reaching more than 0.7% of the owners. The Amico on the other hand seems more focused on its target group, so anyone buying it knows on beforehand which types of games to expect and more importantly what to not expect. Possibly that means the best selling game will reach a larger percentage of the installed user base, perhaps up to 10-20%, or even more if there is a "killer app" not present anywhere else. It raises the question if Intellivision Entertainment have the legal abilities to fight any clones of a such game on other formats, to maintain the uniqueness. Nintendo surely did what they could to prevent Super Mario Bros clones, but they may have been in a different position. Now, thinking out loud, I wonder if their approach would work better without the hardware. I mean, with the hardware, they have to muscle their way into the market and compete on equal footing with strong incumbents. What if the Intellivision Amico were just a brand of games, like the old Mattel "network" concept? In that scenario, Intellivision Entertainment would act more like a publisher or producer than platform manager. It's the same role, but without the hardware development. They could form a coalition of existing third-party game developers (or build their own team), provide development tools, frameworks, design principles, and testing and review infrastructure for games developed specifically to meet the "Amico" aesthetic and vision. Parents, who most likely already own an XBox-One or a Nintendo Switch, could then feel safe in their choice of purchasing an "Intellivision Amico" game, which is guaranteed to meet a specific level of quality standards for gameplay, design, and family friendliness. As I think about this idea, it occurs to me that the notion of a third-party middle-man may sound a bit crazy and impractical -- but honestly, it is not more crazy and impractical than aiming to be that plus a hardware maker to compete with the big guns. Think about it: They would be competing with EA, Sony Interactive, Konami, etc. for brand awareness; but in their current approach they are competing with Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony -- and still competing with EA, Sony Interactive, Konami, and their ilk for resources and brand awareness. I wonder if it would work better to abstract the hardware platform and accept contemporaries and just focus on the software ... -dZ. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 (edited) Which are? Also, not that I don't believe you, but can you provide a source for that 4 million sales figure? This is the only thing I can find referencing any sales numbers and they say over 1 million only. http://www.intellivisionlives.com/retrotopia/direct2tv.shtml EDIT: I see what happened there, you combined the original Intellivision's 3 million sales and the 1 million figure of the plug n play devices. You should have probably mentioned that lol. No, the article you referenced is from 2004. By Christmas 2005 "the combined sales of the four Intellivision-branded direct-to-TV units approach 4 million, more than the total sales of the original Intellivision consoles."http://www.intellivisiongames.com/history.php Wasn't the Ouya open for any kind of games: ports, violent games for adults, perhaps even small amounts of nudity? If so, the buyers of that console would be more diverse and it explains if there wasn't a single game reaching more than 0.7% of the owners. The Amico on the other hand seems more focused on its target group, so anyone buying it knows on beforehand which types of games to expect and more importantly what to not expect. Possibly that means the best selling game will reach a larger percentage of the installed user base, perhaps up to 10-20%, or even more if there is a "killer app" not present anywhere else. It raises the question if Intellivision Entertainment have the legal abilities to fight any clones of a such game on other formats, to maintain the uniqueness. Nintendo surely did what they could to prevent Super Mario Bros clones, but they may have been in a different position.If they have to worry about others copying their games than they must have been successful. Edited October 25, 2018 by mr_me 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denicio Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 And, of course, emulated Intellivision games will still have the keypad-vs.-disc limitation. The reimagined titles and new titles won't, though. This is what i am needing to hear. For all the groaning this causes in me...it makes me happy! It means the Intelly-Gods have heard my cries and are including BOTH old and new. NOTHING else matters to me....i am fully IN on this console! Now i just gotta hide 179.00 under my mattress till 10/2020~ D 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+fdr4prez Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 .... Now i just gotta hide 179.00 under my mattress till 10/2020~ D It is 24 months away, so save $10 a month under there and you'll have plenty of cash tucked away with plenty of spare cash for some of the new games I am thinking that PRGE 2020 will be the one to go to... At least I hope they have a big booth with plenty of consoles and games on display 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intymike Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 (edited) By PRGE 2010 its already released. For a first presentation they go presumably to GDC in San Francisco or internationally to Gamescon. Edited October 25, 2018 by Intymike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanicSpeed Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 Yeah, I'm one of those that isn't "getting" it. Very little of this makes sense. A 2D powerhouse capable of "hundreds of thousands of sprites", all the games are going to be good, no ports, and all between 3 to 8 bucks. Yeah, whatever lol. I'm sure all the amazing indie devs are gonna come flocking with their hundreds of thousands of sprites at $8 max and develop for this first. And on top of that a lot of the stuff really reeked off "back in the good old days" sentiment like "Efff DLC, eff 3D graphics, etc." Hmmm, sounds familiar. The only thing I see going for this is it seems to have credible people on board and it's not crowdfunded. (I think) Other then that I have a really though time seeing this succeed or even what the point is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intymike Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 At least Atari Age gets with this console new users. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColecoJoe Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lathe26 Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 Which are? Also, not that I don't believe you, but can you provide a source for that 4 million sales figure? This is the only thing I can find referencing any sales numbers and they say over 1 million only. http://www.intellivisionlives.com/retrotopia/direct2tv.shtml EDIT: I see what happened there, you combined the original Intellivision's 3 million sales and the 1 million figure of the plug n play devices. You should have probably mentioned that lol. The markets are Amico is going after are described at length in most of the interviews, presentations, and talks that Tommy has given over the past several months. He also explains how the big 3 have not addressed those markets. Go check them out. The 4 million does not include the original 3 million Intellivisions. mr_me already provided a published link to the 4 million figure, but additionally here's a video of Tommy talking about it as well (given as a url since AA doesn't support embedded videos with timepoints). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+fdr4prez Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 Not sure where the "sold 4 million" came from. On the Intellivision Live site, it claims 1 million sold as of 2004. http://www.intellivisionlives.com/retrotopia/direct2tv.shtml So 3 million sold from 2004-present? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 I remember that Keith Robinson was talking 2–2.5 million in interviews by 2005, so an overall figure of 4 million seems reasonable; the plug-and-plays didn't run their course until a few years after that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Thag Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 That's right - if they get it right. And "they" (Intellivision Entertainment and their investors) are taking that risk. Perhaps I'm still blinded by nerdy fandom because it's got Intellivision in the name (and in the box!), but the fact that this isn't Kickstarter / GoFundMe / IndieGoGo and that they've got some top-shelf talent on board in so many areas of this effort ratchets up my optimism several notches. There have been a lot of great things done on those platforms, don't get me wrong. Then again we also know that some spectacular failures and outright shady things happen on those platforms, too. This is different - IMO in a lot of the right ways. That's the part that surprised me... this did not come off like some Kickstarter BS. His business plan seemed pretty damn sound. He has a good pitch. And, most importantly, he has a qualified team and a specific, identifiable market target whose needs are not being met by existing consoles. Early days yet, but if they nail the execution of the idea... this has every chance of carving out a modest chunk of the market. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvEkBGUxWDEIn this interview Tommy says Amico games can cost more than $7.99. The $7.99 upper limit will apply to all games available at launch. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intvnut Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 (edited) I remember that Keith Robinson was talking 2–2.5 million in interviews by 2005, so an overall figure of 4 million seems reasonable; the plug-and-plays didn't run their course until a few years after that. It seems both reasonable and sad. The original unit only sold 3 million copies. So, there's more instances of these turds out there than there are of the real deal. But, on the plus side, it does say something positive about the brand. At least they never went through with the Intellivision-branded hair dryer: "[ike] Perlmutter [one of the investors in the purchase of the Intellivision rights from Mattel] expressed his commitment to continuing the Intellivision product line, and said he plans to place the Intellivision name on other appliances, such as hair dryers." - Los Angeles Times, February 7, 1984 Would this be an Intellivision Entertainment add-on or a third party add-on? TBD. Edited October 25, 2018 by intvnut 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey Bouchard Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 Since there will be games from other systems on the Amico, do you think that it would be possible to include the retro versions as well? I was surprised and delighted to hear that other systems games such as Atari will be included, it would be nice to also have the retro versions of these games if possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+intvsteve Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 Since there will be games from other systems on the Amico, do you think that it would be possible to include the retro versions as well? I was surprised and delighted to hear that other systems games such as Atari will be included, it would be nice to also have the retro versions of these games if possible. There was nothing in any of the trailers or other presentations to indicate support for any vintage systems other than Intellivision. I suspect that to remain the case at least initially. I suppose it's possible someone could approach Intellivision Entertainment with such a suggestion, though it doesn't seem like it aligns with their goals, which are decidedly to not be a system focused on the past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 (edited) "Every game version on the console is EXCLUSIVE" There's Atari collections on other systems so they wouldn't be exclusive. They can always change their policy. Technically this should be able to run emulators covering systems into the mid 1990s. Edited October 26, 2018 by mr_me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey Bouchard Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 Good point....that does make sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NumbThumb Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 (edited) A couple of thoughts 1. I am not a modern gamer but it seems that modern games are getting more and more violent and of course the realism of todays graphics make war games (I call it e-war and not e-sport by the way. Fifa for example is e-sport. Battlefield etc. is e-war in my opinion) even more disturbing. A non-violence dedicated games console is definately the right thing to do and I am sure that there is a market for it. They can basically do a George Plimpton thing again. Show images from bloody e-war games and images from Amico games and ask the target group (parents) which kind of games they want their kids to play... 2. Going down the Intellivision controller route again is risky. These controllers REALLY need to be great and not just produced for nostalgia reasons. It is essential that the console is also compatible with any other standard usb controllers/joysticks out there so that people have a choice. Edited October 26, 2018 by NumbThumb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.