New Atari Console that Ataribox?

[TACODON]

Not to defend Atari or Intellivision too much but no one could foresee the current economic situation. Many businesses got hit hard by a lack of cash quickly. Clearly that is a factor for both of these. Of course they have no one to blame but themselves for being so susceptible to such a thing but it is a fact of life. Both will need cash injection to keep things moving.

[Paul Slocum]

3 hours ago, OCAT said:

^ Amico video, seems like they do not have a viable prototype at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV1EKzFUyT8

I haven't been following that Amico that closely, but I work in the industry and have been following Intellivision's job listings for about a year, and their interpretation of those job listings make it seem like they don't know what they're talking about.  I don't think it necessarily indicates that the project is behind schedule.  There are other reasonable explanations for why they have those job listings, and they're vastly overestimating the seniority of that embedded position.

 

That Youtube show is often kinda bad, even their last Atari VCS episode was really lazy.

[jaybird3rd]

4 hours ago, OCAT said:

^ Amico video, seems like they do not have a viable prototype at all.

That's Pat's and Ian's video, which has already been addressed elsewhere.  Put briefly, they're misinterpreting the language in the Intellivision Entertainment job posting, which is for additional hardware/firmware engineers to work on peripherals and accessories for 2021/2022.  The references to "working on the Amico console" were intended to refer to the system as a whole; even if one were to read that differently, it only takes a few minutes to find that they've been demonstrating the hardware, in various stages of development, since March.  To look at that job description and to conclude that "they do not have a viable prototype at all" is to read way too much into it; you need to dig a little deeper than one video from a single source (which we already know to be biased against the Amico) before making claims of this kind.

[TACODON]

Not to get off the subject again but I am a fan of Pat and Ian but I will admit they are kinda losing me a bit. They barely cover the VCS and when they do it is kinda lazy. They really seem to have an axe to grind with the Amico. Which they do have some valid points but they get lost in foaming at the mouth reactions.

[Yarzzz]

1 hour ago, TACODON said:

They really seem to have an axe to grind with the Amico. Which they do have some valid points but they get lost in foaming at the mouth reactions.

In my opinion their initial criticisms of the system were fair, but after T.T and the Amico bunch came after them everything went downhill. Now they are certainly biased but T.T has left a considerable portion of the gaming community alienated with the way he responds  to critics and how he unnecesarily bashed Nintendo.

[Bill Loguidice]

3 minutes ago, Yarzzz said:

In my opinion their initial criticisms of the system were fair, but after T.T and the Amico bunch came after them everything went downhill. Now they are certainly biased but T.T has left a considerable portion of the gaming community alienated with the way he responds  to critics and how he unnecesarily bashed Nintendo.

They do a lot of bad mouthing, frankly, which I never like from any company, but I'm trying hard to not let it influence my opinion of the Amico project itself (and again, I'm one of the earliest people who pre-ordered).

[TACODON]

16 minutes ago, Yarzzz said:

In my opinion their initial criticisms of the system were fair, but after T.T and the Amico bunch came after them everything went downhill. Now they are certainly biased but T.T has left a considerable portion of the gaming community alienated with the way he responds  to critics and how he unnecesarily bashed Nintendo.

 

I think both sides have let the situation get out of hand. T.T. certainly needs to cool off how he reacts to critics.

[+D Train]

6 hours ago, OCAT said:

^ Amico video, seems like they do not have a viable prototype at all.

I don't think that pat and ian are reliable sources.  there is a whole thread dedicated to the amico, and the founder is in there constantly giving progress updates if you believe him.

 

it sounds like the main deliverables are in stable configuration and just need to be produced.  if tommy is to be believed, the job posting was for new hardware, not hardware necessary to meet the production run, and the "pre-sales" are completely refundable, which is a very different situation from crowdfunding where nothing is refundable.

 

is it possible that this is all smoke and mirrors?  absolutely.  but the operation seems to be much larger and much better funded than the "vcs"

 

so we'll see!

[Yarzzz]

3 minutes ago, D Train said:

I don't think that pat and ian are reliable sources.  there is a whole thread dedicated to the amico, and the founder is in there constantly giving progress updates if you believe him.

 

it sounds like the main deliverables are in stable configuration and just need to be produced.  if tommy is to be believed, the job posting was for new hardware, not hardware necessary to meet the production run, and the "pre-sales" are completely refundable, which is a very different situation from crowdfunding where nothing is refundable.

 

is it possible that this is all smoke and mirrors?  absolutely.  but the operation seems to be much larger and much better funded than the "vcs"

 

so we'll see!

I dont have a doubt that the Amico exists and its gonna deliver. I believe the main concerns are: what its going to deliver? When? And if the console will have a place in the current gaming ecosystem. I was interested in the Amico at first, but after the switch of target audience to christian families, im quite skeptical.

[godslabrat]

2 hours ago, Yarzzz said:

I dont have a doubt that the Amico exists and its gonna deliver. I believe the main concerns are: what its going to deliver? When? And if the console will have a place in the current gaming ecosystem. I was interested in the Amico at first, but after the switch of target audience to christian families, im quite skeptical.

I'm not following the Amico closely (personal choice) but when and how did the focus move from "families" to "Christian families"?

[OCAT]

^Ha!, I thought it said "get the Switch at Target.

Anyway these 2 lawn Gnomes better package up these consoles in the most elaborate boxes they can find. I want the unboxings to make the iPhone look like opening a carton of eggs, none of this Tree hugging Whale kissing save the planet BS. Go all out, glossy ink, magnetic tabs, 100% fresh pulp, 0% recycable materials.
When you open up that box it better smell like a new car.. Don't forget the huge strofoam insert.
Ahhh! smell that fresh!

[Bill Loguidice]

4 minutes ago, godslabrat said:

I'm not following the Amico closely (personal choice) but when and how did the focus move from "families" to "Christian families"?

Yeah, I'd be extraordinarily skeptical and not too happy if they suddenly switched to that type of targeting.

[godslabrat]

17 minutes ago, Bill Loguidice said:

Yeah, I'd be extraordinarily skeptical and not too happy if they suddenly switched to that type of targeting.

I'm not saying I'd be surprised... it's kind of a classic way of moving merchandise you can't unload to the mass market.  But... it would be a sign that Intelly doesn't think it can unload to the mass market.

 

Again, requesting clarification.

[TACODON]

Yeah I'm curious on this shift also?

[Agillig]

5 hours ago, Yarzzz said:

In my opinion their initial criticisms of the system were fair, but after T.T and the Amico bunch came after them everything went downhill. Now they are certainly biased but T.T has left a considerable portion of the gaming community alienated with the way he responds  to critics and how he unnecesarily bashed Nintendo.

What was the bashing of Nintendo?  I missed that. 

[Agillig]

7 minutes ago, TACODON said:

Yeah I'm curious on this shift also?

Yeah, I'm a Christian, and not even remotely interested in Amico.

[jaybird3rd]

5 hours ago, Yarzzz said:

I was interested in the Amico at first, but after the switch of target audience to christian families, im quite skeptical.

When exactly did this happen?  After a quick search of the Q&A thread (where any such "switch" surely would have been discussed), the closest thing to a "confirmation" that I could find was this post:

 

On 6/1/2020 at 2:42 PM, Tommy Tallarico said:

[...]

 

I'd LOVE for folks to give me YouTube channel links and/or Twitter/Facebook pages of people who you think would LOVE the system.  Not hate it.

 

Mom groups, kid groups, family groups, Christian groups, etc.  So many GREAT and positive channels out there.  Send me THOSE links instead so I can have our folks reach out!

 

Thanks!

 

That's hardly a "switch of the target audience"; that's extending their marketing outreach to one of several potential audiences.  Just because they decide to start marketing to one group doesn't mean that they have to stop marketing to all the other groups.

[Shaggy the Atarian]

On 7/3/2020 at 9:42 PM, Tidus79001 said:

Wow! Just saw the Atari VCS email today that they are guaranteeing delivery before before Dec 24th for pre-orders (not to be confused with Indiegogo orders that will ship in October).  This is a huge announcement since that they are pinning down delivery to be in time for a Christmas for the launch of the console.

 

That is good news for backers, who will have been strung along for four years on this project by the time this is supposed to ship this time. It's just in time to compete with at least three other brand new gaming platforms, all of which will have much more software support, exclusive games, far superior graphics (ok, maybe not the Amico), established technical support and overall more features, for pretty much the same or lower price. Move over cocaine, here's nostalgia!

[bluswimmer]

Just saw the specs and pricepoint on reddit... all I can say is YIKES. It's literally not even worth considering at that price. Quite frankly I feel like they should've aimed for a lower-spec, lower-price set top box like a Roku. There's pretty much no way they can directly compete with Sony and Microsoft.

[Matt_B]

15 minutes ago, bluswimmer said:

Just saw the specs and pricepoint on reddit... all I can say is YIKES. It's literally not even worth considering at that price. Quite frankly I feel like they should've aimed for a lower-spec, lower-price set top box like a Roku. There's pretty much no way they can directly compete with Sony and Microsoft.

The irony being that such a device already exists in the shape of the Flashback X.

 

Well, it covers the games side of things well enough. Sure, it's not a streaming device, but who cares about that when your TV has apps for all the popular services anyway?

[Yarzzz]

1 hour ago, jaybird3rd said:

That's hardly a "switch of the target audience"; that's extending their marketing outreach to one of several potential audiences.  Just because they decide to start marketing to one group doesn't mean that they have to stop marketing to all the other groups.

My last post on the topic cause i dont want to keep derailing the thread.

 

Obviously the "target switch " that i speak about its not an explicit Intellivision policy, but when this system appeared it was fueled by nostalgia and classic Intellivision ips, promoted by gaming channels and outlets (specially retro gaming ones -hence why is so widely discussed here-). Then of a sudden T.T. starts stating that the primary audience for his console are non gamers. He has even clearly stated that his system is not for gamers.

 

I understand the need to distance themselves  from the recently unsucessful retro consoles but still seems like a weird approach to take, specially when Intellivision nostalgics have been the people who  spend most money on the system so far.

[TACODON]

1 hour ago, Agillig said:

What was the bashing of Nintendo?  I missed that. 

T.T. has claimed Nintendo let's too many adult games onto the Switch which children can then play. I don't recall the exact titles he called out. Honestly parents shouldn't be buying those games for young children. I mean things can happens but for the most part in my opinion. Parents are in control of making sure a child isn't exposed to those things.

[keithbk]

It appears the Amico is targeting those who want a casual, family oriented gaming experience with no sex, violence, or harsh language that seems to find its way onto other systems.

 

This puts them in a unique niche that has been overlooked by the general market. Makes sense they would advertise to groups concerned about game content.

[digdugnate]

gettin' super heavy in here what with all this non-taco, non-notaribox talk.

 

You know what's not heavy?  Delicious, light, fluffy flour tortillas.

[Agillig]

26 minutes ago, TACODON said:

T.T. has claimed Nintendo let's too many adult games onto the Switch which children can then play. I don't recall the exact titles he called out. Honestly parents shouldn't be buying those games for young children. I mean things can happens but for the most part in my opinion. Parents are in control of making sure a child isn't exposed to those things.

I have 4 kids who play games.  I've  made it pretty clear to them what the rules are.  If Nintendo releases some horrific Leisure Suit Larry/Splatterhouse crossover, and my kids get a hold of it, the failure is mine.

 

Besides all that, I think TT is really shooting the system in the foot with this approach.  If they're relying on the brand name, they have a very narrow market of people in their 40's and 50's.  People much younger than that aren't going to be interested in spending money to play these games. 

Edited July 7, 2020 by Agillig