Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

[Battlefish]

Happy birthday, Tommy!!

 

(Insert hilarious greeting here)

 

[LePionnier]

Happy Birthday to you Tommy ! 

 

2 questions about E3.

1) Will your conference be live on the Internet ?

2) How many consoles will there be to try Amico games  ?

 

Thank you.

Edited February 18, 2020 by LePionnier

[+BiffMan]

Additional question on E3, is IE not considered enough of a "major company" to be listed as one of the participating companies?  https://www.e3expo.com/participating-companies

 

I would imagine most folks probably don't look much deeper than that listing.

[Tavi]

29 minutes ago, BiffMan said:

Additional question on E3, is IE not considered enough of a "major company" to be listed as one of the participating companies?  https://www.e3expo.com/participating-companies

 

I would imagine most folks probably don't look much deeper than that listing.

He did just register yesterday morning for E3, so they might not have updated the list as of yet?

Also, Happy Birthday Tommy!

[+Swami]

This is pretty great. Almost 7000 views and a 94% like percentage for his positive views. 450 thumbs ups. It's funny people accused him of selling out for $40 in merchandise, but could it be because he is one of the few people who actually knows what he's talking about because he's actually used the console, instead of throwing around anecdotes based on presumption? Everyone who's used it seems to like it a lot. I think it's cool and funny he defiantly wears it all and has the mug while confronting the haters.

 

 

 

 

[Intellivision Master]

Hey Tommy,

 

How has your day been going?  I hope you had an awesome birthday.

[ASalvaro]

3 minutes ago, Atari_Master said:

Hey Tommy,

 

How has your day been going?  I hope you had an awesome birthday.

just think next year at this time Tommy will be able to get a free Amico game on his birthday! 

[poconojo]

Happy Birthday, Mr Tallarico 

[+Swami]

6 hours ago, Battlefish said:

Happy birthday, Tommy!!

 

(Insert hilarious greeting here)

 

 

 

[Alpha82]

Happy birthday Tommy,!hope your day was fun.  Thanks for bringing gaming together back in a big way with the company I first video gamers with.  

[supahwally]

4 hours ago, Swami said:

This is pretty great. Almost 7000 views and a 94% like percentage for his positive views. 450 thumbs ups. It's funny people accused him of selling out for $40 in merchandise, but could it be because he is one of the few people who actually knows what he's talking about because he's actually used the console, instead of throwing around anecdotes based on presumption? Everyone who's used it seems to like it a lot. I think it's cool and funny he defiantly wears it all and has the mug while confronting the haters.

 

 

 

 

Suddenly, I want a mug.  It's very casually saying 'screw you, hater' in this screenshot.  

[Steven Pendleton]

Happy birthday, Tommy!

 

Just so you know, I found this today and it's your fault that I bought it! Well, one of them, anyway. The dude at Super Potato said that they don't see many Intellivision games, sadly. They had a few more, but I only had so much cash on me and I REALLY wanted Herzog Zwei. I also got my Intellivision in the mail today. It has a sticker on the bottom that says FOR PROMOTIONAL USE ONLY, so it's really cool to have a rare Intellivision! I wish I could learn more about this particular Intellivision, but I doubt there are any records of demo system displays or what have you. I had to go get a new RF switch, though, which is when I found Skiing. Hopefully US RF consoles work on Japanese TVs with Japanese RF switches!

 

I just opened it and although it says "no instructions" (got cut off by my horribly photography skills) it does have the overlays.

Edited February 19, 2020 by Steven Pendleton

[RREDDWARFF]

On 2/17/2020 at 7:21 PM, Atari_Master said:

It would be cool if the Amico controller acted as a light gun like the Wiimote.  But that wouldn't work on modern TV's unless there was a sensor bar like the Nintendo Wii had.

This would be really neat. Imagine all the exclusive titles they could get from Sega. I would love to see a new Virtua Cop and House of the dead.

[+Swami]

40 minutes ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Happy birthday, Tommy!

 

Just so you know, I found this today and it's your fault that I bought it! Well, one of them, anyway. The dude at Super Potato said that they don't see many Intellivision games, sadly. They had a few more, but I only had so much cash on me and I REALLY wanted Herzog Zwei. I also got my Intellivision in the mail today. It has a sticker on the bottom that says FOR PROMOTIONAL USE ONLY, so it's really cool to have a rare Intellivision! I wish I could learn more about this particular Intellivision, but I doubt there are any records of demo system displays or what have you. I had to go get a new RF switch, though, which is when I found Skiing. Hopefully US RF consoles work on Japanese TVs with Japanese RF switches!

 

I just opened it and although it says "no instructions" (got cut off by my horribly photography skills) it does have the overlays.

If it doesn't work, you might need one of these with US plug, plus the BNC to RF cable. Just repost and I'll tell you what you need to do.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/RF-To-AV-Analog-TV-Receiver-Converter-Modulator-Power-Adapter-USB-US-EU-Plug/

[Steven Pendleton]

1 minute ago, Swami said:

If it doesn't work, you might need one of these plus the BNC to RF cable.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/RF-To-AV-Analog-TV-Receiver-Converter-Modulator-Power-Adapter-USB-US-EU-Plug/

Yeah, I am just getting what's basically green static (title screen) with this thing, which is the one I bought.

 

 

It looks like it's actually a Hyperkin product, sadly, so it's probably basically trash and if I had known, I wouldn't have bought it. They have another type, though, so I might see about returning it later today since Akiba is only like 17 minutes away by train or something.

[+Swami]

9 minutes ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Yeah, I am just getting what's basically green static (title screen) with this thing, which is the one I bought.

 

 

It looks like it's actually a Hyperkin product, sadly, so it's probably basically trash and if I had known, I wouldn't have bought it. They have another type, though, so I might see about returning it later today since Akiba is only like 17 minutes away by train or something.

Give it a try. If you can't get it to work:

Channel 3 is  ~63 MHz in the USA and the lowest channel in Japan is ~91 MHz.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_channel_frequencies#Japan

 

Here is some light reading:

 

[Steven Pendleton]

27 minutes ago, Swami said:

Give it a try. If you can't get it to work:

Channel 3 is  ~63 MHz in the USA and the lowest channel in Japan is ~91 MHz.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_channel_frequencies#Japan

 

Here is some light reading:

 

Yeah, I get green static on channel 2 and nothing at all on the other channels or the BS channels when I tried the BS input. I've tried the switch on the INTV and it doesn't change anything.

 

Might have to buy an RF to AV adaptor.

 

I honestly expected this to happen, though. I should have spent the extra money and bought a Japanese INTV instead, but I wanted the demo unit and the 25 games that came with it. Oh well, too late now.

 

Some of these are kind of weird, though. Like it came with 2 Night Stalkers with one in the box but nothing else, 2 Space Spartans (both cart only but 1 manual), 2 Star Strikes (1 CIB the other cart only), and the manual for Sharp Shot but not the game. Still, I got a good deal and Sharp Shot wasn't included in the pictures, just the manual, so I'm happy.

Edited February 19, 2020 by Steven Pendleton

[Steven Pendleton]

On 2/6/2020 at 3:19 AM, NinjaWarrior said:

Castlevania

I just noticed this. Tommy, is this too violent for the system? I really REALLY hope not, but I imagine it is. Rondo of Blood, which I quite literally bought a PC Engine + CD ROM2 + IFU for, got censored on PS4, but it's better than nothing.

 

By the way, I beat some game just now and Shiny said that I'm the best. What bass did you use for this? It was nice and super twangy. Sounds like Jazz Bass to me.

 

Edited February 19, 2020 by Steven Pendleton

[+Tommy Tallarico]

Thank you all for the kind birthday wishes!!

We received some AMAZING news from a few investors yesterday so it was only fitting that it came on my birthday.  

 

Unfortunately I have that flu that's going around (no... not Coronavirus!) so after spending a few hours at the office, I headed home and went to bed.  Been exhausted the past week or so... been pushing too hard physically.  Going to try an take it down a notch until I get better.  Headed to Toy Fair in NYC this weekend and lots of super important meetings with our licensors.  Will take pics. 

Thank-you all again for the well wishes on my birthday.  It really meant a lot!

 

 

 

 

[+Tommy Tallarico]

On 2/17/2020 at 8:49 AM, Atari_Master said:

Hey Tommy,

 

What about doing an Amico keychain for the shop?

Yeah!  That would be super cool!  I can think of a number of different shapes to do (Running Man, original controller, new controller, old machine, new machine, logo, etc.).

We currently use Printful for our merchandise (because it's super easy and we don't need to deal with the logistics).  Here are a list of ALL the available things we could make.

If anyone has any suggestions as to what we should add to our current store... please let me know!!

 

https://www.printful.com/custom-products

 

[+Tommy Tallarico]

On 2/17/2020 at 8:57 AM, 1001lives said:

I got an Intellivision II in the mid 90s.

The buttons are not so great on that one. I was hoping it was just due to the age of the controllers but I tried a relatively unused one recently and the buttons felt the same. Hopefully Tommy uses it as an example of how not to make controllers. 

 

The Intellivison III looked cool, too bad it never came to pass. 

Yeah... I personally hated the controllers for the INTV II.  The buttons were the worst.  Luckily I never had one growing up.  Only the original.

Amico buttons are literally the opposite of the INTV II.  

 

 

[Intellivision Master]

6 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Thank you all for the kind birthday wishes!!

We received some AMAZING news from a few investors yesterday so it was only fitting that it came on my birthday.  

 

Unfortunately I have that flu that's going around (no... not Coronavirus!) so after spending a few hours at the office, I headed home and went to bed.  Been exhausted the past week or so... been pushing too hard physically.  Going to try an take it down a notch until I get better.  Headed to Toy Fair in NYC this weekend and lots of super important meetings with our licensors.  Will take pics. 

Thank-you all again for the well wishes on my birthday.  It really meant a lot!

 

 

 

 

You're welcome.  I hope you feel better.  Take care!

[+Tommy Tallarico]

On 2/17/2020 at 9:04 AM, 1001lives said:

Speaking of Intellivision III, Tommy, did you know about this?! Someone beat you to the punch in Christmas of 2012 apparently! 

 

 

🤡 I love these fake console videos

HA!  I never saw that one before.  Cool.

 

 

[+Tommy Tallarico]

On 2/17/2020 at 9:22 AM, Steven Pendleton said:

I keep forgetting about Breakout, and this article reminds me it exists for Amico. That, along with R-Type, Earthworm Jim, and no DLC, are my system sellers. My middle school's computers (all Macs) had a clone called MacBrickout. Once our computer class finished early, and it literally always did, guess what EVERYONE played for the last 20 minutes. I'll sit on my guitar amp chair and play Breakout on the Amico for hours, most likely.

 

I don't know why I keep forgetting about Amico Breakout, but I do. Such a simple game, but that's all it needs to be. Launch title, right?

 

Edit: yep, launch title. Now I know what I'm doing on whatever day the Founders Edition gets to me.

 

That leads to another question, actually. Will the online store already be up when Founders Edition ships? I remember when the Vita launched and I couldn't download my digital PSP games on the Vita since the PSN store for Vita did not exist yet and I also couldn't transfer stuff from my PS3. That REALLY sucked since I had a few digital-only PSP titles.

Yes.  Breakout is a launch title!

Yes.  Online store will be up when the Founders Editions launch.

 

 

[+Tommy Tallarico]

On 2/17/2020 at 10:41 AM, supahwally said:

LOL I watched that just now also, I had never seen it.

 

If you want more interesting tidbits about the history of Intellivison (and more related humor) I stumbled across this article a couple nights ago:

 

http://thedoteaters.com/?bitstory=console/intellivision

 

It was a great read.

WOW!!!  That article looks AMAZING.  Just quickly breezed through it.  Going to read the entire thing later today.  Very cool.  Thanks for sharing.