Intellivision Amico’s trademark changed to ‘abandoned’

[1980gamer]

3 minutes ago, jerseystyle said:

You an investor? What’s your stake? For a few years you were one of the Amico boosters for sure, and now you are trying to gatekeep our conversation since we can finally discuss this again. Why?  
 

You know companies aren’t people, right? That we can’t hurt their feelings, right?

Yes, was an investor.  I have sold my Boeing stock.

I was not comparing Boeing to IE.  I was saying, just because you ask questions, does not entitle you to an answer.  As a share holder, I did ask questions, I was entitled to answers, I didn't get any either.

And to be clearer....  You in this case is not referring to jerseystyle.  It is a general term.

 

According to Mitt, Corporations ARE people.

 

Gatekeep?  Maybe.  The only stake I have is I want the Amico to be released and supported. My IE investment is a pre-order and 8 games. 

 

Hell, I have been waiting for Tron Complete and DK Arcade for like 10 years.   If/when they get released, I will get them.  ( actually, to be fair, I have the DKA Rom now. ) 

 

I know a lot of people here truly HATE TT.  That was clear from the beginning, before Amico was even a thing.  As soon as he acquired Intellivision it started.

Whatever, I don't know him and before this crazy ride started, I had know idea who he was.

 

I talked to him for a few minutes at the Boston event.  He was very nice to me and everyone else. 

 

[MrBeefy]

32 minutes ago, jerseystyle said:

You an investor? What’s your stake? For a few years you were one of the Amico boosters for sure, and now you are trying to gatekeep our conversation since we can finally discuss this again. Why?  
 

You know companies aren’t people, right? That we can’t hurt their feelings, right?

Pssst.... ?

4 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

The long answer:

 

- Intellectual limitation so outside thoughts and interactions are discouraged, check. Related is Opposition to any criticism, check. (Those not agreeing with said leader are determined "others"/phonies, calling people haters appeals to emotional call to arms and not real discussion. Going along with outside interactions is how members were encouraged to block, ostracized, or stop being friends with people the leader did not approve of).

 

- Unreasonable fears about outside world. Some sense of paranoia instilling, check. (4 haters with alt accounts! They just want to destroy us! They are elitists! They are threatening me! They are phonies and we know what you really are trying to do! Also includes fear of other gaming options, controllers, games, and similar. Kids in dark room.)

 

7 minutes ago, SteveTheColecoDude said:

 

Because Tommy cannot handle criticism, and had no answers to the majority of peoples' questions and concerns. So labelling them haters meant he could simply imply that their opinions and criticism weren't valid and make it seem like he had an excuse to not address them.

As well as this, Tommy likes to create small groups of diehard defenders to act dirty on his behalf. On the G4TV forums ~20 years ago, Tommy cultivared a group of users that would jump to his defense whenever anyone said anything bad or offered criticism about him. He called this his "Judgment Day mafia" and listed the users in his forum signature, and encouraged those to attack others. Also, people have shared stories about how at conventions he would have small groups of teenagers that he would use as "handlers". Everything about Amico and how he acted is nothing at all new when you look slightly into his past.

 

Tommy's use of "haters" goes way back.

 

 

His attitude on forums goes even further back, too

 

 

And his using terms in totally the wrong way to dismiss others opinions. Tommy saying "Nazi Communism" in 2002

 

 

In terms of how he has been. Yes this is normal behavior and is not situational. In the Psych world of Narcissism we describe those defenders of narcissists  "flying monkeys". Basically they rile people up to do the attacks for them. It is pretty common in NPD and in cult like behavior.

Edited August 2, 2022 by MrBeefy

[Rev]

9 minutes ago, SteveTheColecoDude said:

 

Because Tommy cannot handle criticism, and had no answers to the majority of peoples' questions and concerns. So labelling them haters meant he could simply imply that their opinions and criticism weren't valid and make it seem like he had an excuse to not address them.

As well as this, Tommy likes to create small groups of diehard defenders to act dirty on his behalf. On the G4TV forums ~20 years ago, Tommy cultivated a group of users that would jump to his defense whenever anyone said anything bad or offered criticism about him. He called this his "Judgment Day mafia" and listed the users in his forum signature, and encouraged those to attack others. Also, people have shared stories about how at conventions he would have small groups of teenagers that he would use as "handlers". Calling people "haters" gets those fans to get defending on his behalf.

 

Tommy's use of "haters" goes way back.

 

 

His attitude on forums goes even further back, too

 

 

And his using terms in totally the wrong way to dismiss others opinions. Tommy saying "Nazi Communism" in 2002

 

 

 

Everything about Amico and how he acted during it is absolutely nothing at all new when you take the slightest look into his past.

? 
 

I never heard of the former CEO until Amico came about. I knew there was the G4 show but kept on flipping past that channel. 

[SteveTheColecoDude]

7 minutes ago, MrBeefy said:

"flying monkeys"

 

 

4 minutes ago, Rev said:

? 
 

I never heard of the former CEO until Amico came about. I knew there was the G4 show but kept on flipping past that channel. 

 

Yeah. I think a lot of people assumed from seeing him on the G4 show(s) that he was playing the character of an obnoxious and arrogant person, but the last few years have proven that he was just being himself.

Edited August 2, 2022 by SteveTheColecoDude

[mr_me]

18 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

I think I will pass on that video.

 

Guess hardware wasn't finished sometime into 2020 possibly. That in and of itself practically eliminates 2020 as ever being a possibility for launch.

 

They were showing prototypes of the redesigned controller as early as 2019.  The microcontroller inside didn't change, so relocating the controller buttons and upgrading the type of touchscreen shouldn't have much effect on controller firmware development. 

 

5 hours ago, Rev said:

Serious question.  Why was anyone that had any questions, concerns, and even the slightest criticisms labeled as haters? 
...

Lots of people weren't.  I wasn't.

 

5 hours ago, Lathe26 said:

There were definitely haters.  However, they were the minority.  The majority of people not interested in the Amico either 1) were questioning a few of the decisions, 2) taking a wait and see attitude, or 3) poking fun at the device but didn't really care either way about it.

Hate and ridicule are closely related.  People from the outside looking at this thread and the individual comments, see them for what they are.

 

4 hours ago, Rev said:

Wasnt the FB questions planned by IE?   As in everyone ask questions and then they get answered.   

Thought it was Retro Rich who came up with the idea to collect questions and forward them to the company.  One of the questions was "Will the leadership of Intellivision return to become more active in this group?", indicating the idea isn't from the company.

 

3 hours ago, jerseystyle said:

I’ll never understand why the Amico forums were treated differently than the VCS and CC forums. It’s like TT just took over- he even talked about AA as “his” forums at times while talking about it in other spaces.  Maybe there were legal threats?  

Only the Q&A thread was treated differently.  And anyone kicked out of the Q&A thread could say what they wanted in one of the other Amico threads or create a new thread.  In fact rules were put in place to restrict the CEO from commenting in some threads, except to provide information.  The CEO had posts deleted just as others did as bickering escalated.

 

2 hours ago, atarifan88 said:

It's pretty sad when you think about it.  Even At Games can pass FCC certs with their much criticized flashback systems.  So why can't IE?  Maybe they need some of these?... ?

 

Since they haven't yet put commercial units in production, they haven't needed fcc certification.  They did however pass fcc RF emissions testing, as reported by several of their engineers, making their prototype fcc compliant.

[jerseystyle]

49 minutes ago, 1980gamer said:

 

 

I know a lot of people here truly HATE TT.  That was clear from the beginning, before Amico was even a thing.  As soon as he acquired Intellivision it started.

Whatever, I don't know him and before this crazy ride started, I had know idea who he was.

 

 

 

I was WAY more skeptical  of the VCS then I was of the Amico.  In fact in the Amico forum I said I would buy one if Cornhole was as awesome as was being claimed- I also liked Skiing and what I saw of Nightstalker.  They lost my respect and support once they started stealing money from disadvantaged people.  I made an entire thread making fun of the VCS using only GIFS, but when I tried to do that for the Amico they shut it down, plus all other non TT Amico threads. Why? It’s weird how TT is looked at as this genius, this talented entrepreneur on one hand, but on the other hand so fragile that nothing bad can be said ever, and at no point can he be made an object of ridicule (which is kind of the deal if you sign on as a public figure- in contrast I have no idea who the person is who runs Evercade or the Playdate)

 

I hope you either get your system or your money.  

[Matt_B]

2 hours ago, MattPilz said:

Edit - And I know Tommy implied at one point that they didn't want to publish those until absolutely necessary due to potential disclosure of confidential IP... But they also could've simply requested said items be held confidentially and not published. That's part of the cover letter template itself if they do have any items they wish be protected.

 

What confidential IP would they have in there anyway? The only custom parts would be the PCBs with everything else just cheap off-the-shelf components.

[Rev]

2 hours ago, 1980gamer said:

Yes, was an investor.  I have sold my Boeing stock.

I was not comparing Boeing to IE.  I was saying, just because you ask questions, does not entitle you to an answer.  As a share holder, I did ask questions, I was entitled to answers, I didn't get any either.

And to be clearer....  You in this case is not referring to jerseystyle.  It is a general term.

 

According to Mitt, Corporations ARE people.

 

Gatekeep?  Maybe.  The only stake I have is I want the Amico to be released and supported. My IE investment is a pre-order and 8 games. 

 

Hell, I have been waiting for Tron Complete and DK Arcade for like 10 years.   If/when they get released, I will get them.  ( actually, to be fair, I have the DKA Rom now. ) 

 

I know a lot of people here truly HATE TT.  That was clear from the beginning, before Amico was even a thing.  As soon as he acquired Intellivision it started.

Whatever, I don't know him and before this crazy ride started, I had know idea who he was.

 

I talked to him for a few minutes at the Boston event.  He was very nice to me and everyone else. 

 

Regarding Tron Complete, preorder payments was never taken, unlike Amico. 
 

“hate” is a strong term for how people feel about the ex-Ceo, I dont hate him in the least. 
 

Who here on Atari Age hates him?    Go ahead and state it. No one will….

 

Being nice at the event?  How about being nice to the other fans and give them their refunds. 

Edited August 2, 2022 by Rev

[1980gamer]

2 minutes ago, Rev said:

Regarding Tron Complete, preorder payments was never taken, unlike Amico. 
 

“hate” is a strong term for how people feel about the ex-Ceo, I dont hate him in the least. 
 

Who here on Atari Age hates him?    Go ahead and state it. No one will….

Never said you took money,  just saying, sometimes things take longer than we want.

Never said you hated anyone.   I have no problem with people pointing out things they don't like or things that want the Amico to be etc.

Hate is a strong word, you don't have to look far to find it, unfortunately. 

 

Critiques are not hate.  Flaming anyone for the sake of flaming etc.  is simply not constructive.

[MrBeefy]

1 hour ago, Rev said:

I never heard of the former CEO until Amico came about. I knew there was the G4 show but kept on flipping past that channel. 

Same for both him, G4, and VGL. Except I had only heard of G4 randomly. I never had a chance to even flip past it. Nor do I care he reviewed games. I did hear a rumor that he wouldn't play a lot of the games and use other people's reviews and ham it up. 

51 minutes ago, jerseystyle said:

I was WAY more skeptical  of the VCS then I was of the Amico.  In fact in the Amico forum I said I would buy one if Cornhole was as awesome as was being claimed- I also liked Skiing and what I saw of Nightstalker.  They lost my respect and support once they started stealing money from disadvantaged people.  I made an entire thread making fun of the VCS using only GIFS, but when I tried to do that for the Amico they shut it down, plus all other non TT Amico threads. Why? It’s weird how TT is looked at as this genius, this talented entrepreneur on one hand, but on the other hand so fragile that nothing bad can be said ever, and at no point can he be made an object of ridicule (which is kind of the deal if you sign on as a public figure- in contrast I have no idea who the person is who runs Evercade or the Playdate)

 

I hope you either get your system or your money.  

I think those who say there are peoe who truly HATED it are still just drinking the TT-aid in his made up crusade. I still don't know of one person who hated it and wants it to fail.

 

I heard people refer to it as a POS that won't do well in the market. But that isn't actually wanting it to fail. No, people thinking this was better than Chameleon or VCS made the situation worse. It got people invested. So when they started to scam people by taking money, people ignored it, because of the rose tinted glasses the CEO told them to wear.

 

You still will have idiots argue they didn't use crowdfunding when they did, AND it turned out to be in a way worse than KS or IGG. But the CEO said they weren't going to and then used excuses when they did. Which the 100% guaranteed refund was used.

 

No anyone who thinks there are haters are mistaken. No there was just a companybegging for money by selling hope and lies. One of those lies was that people wanted to destroy them. While in actuality it was their ignorance, impotence, and indolence which destroyed them.

[jerseystyle]

22 minutes ago, MrBeefy said:

 

 

No there was just a companybegging for money by selling hope and lies. One of those lies was that people wanted to destroy them. 

 

[Rev]

Time check.  It is August 2022. Is there still time for any kind of Amico release in calendar 2022?  Even a few thousand?  

[IntyFanMatt]

29 minutes ago, Rev said:

Time check.  It is August 2022. Is there still time for any kind of Amico release in calendar 2022?  Even a few thousand?  

[jerseystyle]

37 minutes ago, Rev said:

Time check.  It is August 2022. Is there still time for any kind of Amico release in calendar 2022?  Even a few thousand?  

[MrBeefy]

57 minutes ago, Rev said:

Time check.  It is August 2022. Is there still time for any kind of Amico release in calendar 2022?  Even a few thousand?  

Retail one's? Doubtful. You will probably see some YTers get first dibs to fluff them up and encourage to keep preorders "because they are making them right now!"

 

YTers are happy because they get what was promised to them, and the can is kicked down the road. Amico 2023.

[Matt_B]

1 hour ago, Rev said:

Time check.  It is August 2022. Is there still time for any kind of Amico release in calendar 2022?  Even a few thousand?  

Realistically, no. Any machines that go out this year will have to be cobbled together from existing stocks of parts.

 

For comparison, another project that I'm following - The Spectrum Next Issue 2 - just set a release window of Q3 2023 after ordering their parts.

[Rev]

28 minutes ago, Matt_B said:

Realistically, no. Any machines that go out this year will have to be cobbled together from existing stocks of parts.

 

For comparison, another project that I'm following - The Spectrum Next Issue 2 - just set a release window of Q3 2023 after ordering their parts.

Havent heard of this, link?

[MattPilz]

13 minutes ago, Rev said:

Havent heard of this, link?

It's the second successful Kickstarter with about 5k backers. I missed both campaigns but actually became interested in Amico as a result of the Next. It's a much more authentic reimagining of the original Spectrum with compatible hardware and compatibility but also modern ammenities.

 

I've been following their latest campaign as well and the amount of detail they write in each update is very commendable. It's not just "delayed due to chip shortage" it is pages of granular detail about what specific chips they are waiting for from what suppliers, what alternative measures they are taking or substitute parts, how the software is coming along and so on.

Here's their latest update:

 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/spectrumnext/zx-spectrum-next-issue-2/posts/3346128

Edited August 3, 2022 by MattPilz

[gaterooze_ink]

13 minutes ago, MattPilz said:

It's the second successful Kickstarter with about 5k backers. I missed both campaigns but actually became interested in Amico as a result of the Next. It's a much more authentic reimagining of the original Spectrum with compatible hardware and compatibility but also modern ammenities.

 

I've been following their latest campaign as well and the amount of detail they write in each update is very commendable. It's not just "delayed due to chip shortage" it is pages of granular detail about what specific chips they are waiting for from what suppliers, what alternative measures they are taking or substitute parts, how the software is coming along and so on.

Here's their latest update:

 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/spectrumnext/zx-spectrum-next-issue-2/posts/3346128

I really want one of these, the games look excellent and it looks like it will be fun to make some games on - I was waiting until they were readily available, didn't even realize the second kickstarter had happened (probably would have backed it).

[Matt_B]

To get into the specifics of it, they're not shipping until well into next year because they had a lead time of 65 weeks quoted for their FPGAs.

 

That's the reality of it. You can't even guesstimate when your product will get delivered these days until the parts order is in, and we're fairly confident that Intellvision aren't even close to that stage yet.

[roots.genoa]

9 hours ago, SteveTheColecoDude said:

Yeah. I think a lot of people assumed from seeing him on the G4 show(s) that he was playing the character of an obnoxious and arrogant person, but the last few years have proven that he was just being himself.

I've mentioned it briefly before, but the worst I've seen from him on old forums was when he was mocking believers like a teenager would do, claiming believing in God is as relevant as believing in flying cows or something. ? If he wanted the Amico to cater to Christian families, maybe he should have removed some of his old posts, then. ?

 

9 hours ago, mr_me said:

Lots of people weren't.  I wasn't.

Lots? No, just the 4-5 Amico shills and their confirmed multiple fake accounts. ? To be fair it was not always Tommy's doing, but some of the most aggressive fans like M-crew or Papy that were always suspecting newcomers to have some kind of "secret agenda". ?

 

9 hours ago, mr_me said:

And anyone kicked out of the Q&A thread could say what they wanted in one of the other Amico threads or create a new thread.  In fact rules were put in place to restrict the CEO from commenting in some threads, except to provide information.

NO. Every time someone would create another Amico topic, Tommy or one of the fans would crash the party and have it locked very quickly. ?

[mr_me]

Getting a thread locked is usually a joint effort.  If it were only one sided then then that person would get kicked out.  There were plenty of threads, plenty of criticism, plenty of discussion.  And the reason they were all removed in the end had nothing to do with protecting anyone or anything.  Being called a hater means about as little as being called a shill.  It's each person's own actions that makes it what it is.

[roots.genoa]

Well, the fact that Tommy can't take criticism doesn't mean every doubter can stay calm in every situation. Indeed, the topics would get locked because an Amico fan (or sometimes Tommy himself, at least in the beginning) would start to complain about misinformation, negativity, etc., and then some doubters would try to counter in an even more aggressive way, which leads to an escalation, insults or politics brought in... Note that the two very aggressive fans I mentioned were indeed banned, not just from a topic if I'm not mistaken. Also some of those threads were locked by the same moderator who banned people from Tommy's topic, and usually for the same reason ("it has been already discussed™️", "this topic has run its course™️/outlived its purpose™️", etc.).

[MrBeefy]

45 minutes ago, roots.genoa said:

Well, the fact that Tommy can't take criticism doesn't mean every doubter can stay calm in every situation. Indeed, the topics would get locked because an Amico fan (or sometimes Tommy himself, at least in the beginning) would start to complain about misinformation, negativity, etc., and then some doubters would try to counter in an even more aggressive way, which leads to an escalation, insults or politics brought in... Note that the two very aggressive fans I mentioned were indeed banned, not just from a topic if I'm not mistaken. Also some of those threads were locked by the same moderator who banned people from Tommy's topic, and usually for the same reason ("it has been already discussed™️", "this topic has run its course™️/outlived its purpose™️", etc.).

Ha yeah I remember where literally one guy was in a thread just calling everyone a troll, or f-ing meatball, etc. It was allowed to go on for quite a while. 

 

Truth is when you go back and look at the threads TT was the most aggressive and attacked practically everyone that wouldn't swallow the tripe. He was literally the biggest troll and gathered a bunch of flying monkeys to help him. One of his last posts here was him saying I should apologize to my family. ? His projection and lack of self awareness is pretty hilarious. If I was him I'd worry that the Karma Engine is real. ?? ?

 

6 hours ago, Matt_B said:

To get into the specifics of it, they're not shipping until well into next year because they had a lead time of 65 weeks quoted for their FPGAs.

 

That's the reality of it. You can't even guesstimate when your product will get delivered these days until the parts order is in, and we're fairly confident that Intellvision aren't even close to that stage yet.

Their inability to lay out an actual plan shows they don't have one. At least not one that would make people happy. It's more like it is bad news and smoke and mirrors. So they keep it vague and kick the can some more. They not been honest once about it. So I don't see why they would change that now.

Edited August 3, 2022 by MrBeefy

[Rev]