Intellivision Amico | Amico Home on mobile | Meet Mico!

Victor Mildew wrote:
OrangeRKN wrote:
BID0 wrote:It would have been better to have produced a bluetooth controller which could be synced to an android and iOS smartphone. They could have kept their unique selling point and had a much bigger audience with the much cheaper point of entry.

Not sure it would have been profitable in 2022 though, see hardware specific products like Toys to Life, Rock Band, Guitar Hero, Dance Games.

Part of the pitch is that smartphones will work as additional controllers, which really raises the question of the need for unique controllers at all if games will be playable with a phone.

It could have just been a usb dongle that plugs into a TV, letting the whole family connect their phones as controllers (with the game running off player one's phone). Price it at £20 and suddenly that is actually an attractive pitch to a casual audience - at least much more than a £200+ console.

Amico reminds me of the short lived android microconsole fad, where expensive consoles promised the earth, but in reality were just shop fronts for buying android apps that were available on a phone anyway. So people just thought why pay £200 for the ability to play my phone games on a tv?

You mean like the Ouya and the GameStick? I got a Gamestick cheap but could never get the controller it came with to connect to it so never used it (I am assuming the controller was bust apparently you can connect other wirless controllers to it).

Things are getting pretty intense. SmashJT was one of the bigger fans/supporters of the Amico console and he put up $10k towards funding the system. He's just frustrated now, though, and his two recent vids are interesting in terms of seeing how even the largest of Amico's fans are struggling to keep believing.

I liked these vids as they - in my eyes - offer a reasonable viewpoint; the guy is not someone with a shouty I-hated-Amico-on-day-one-and-I'm-always-right kinda perspective but someone who is upset about how things are panning out.

There's no way in hell I am clicking either of those YouTube face thumbnails.

Winckle wrote:There's no way in hell I am clicking either of those YouTube face thumbnails.

Yeah, although TBH, Winckle, the guy is pretty calm in both vids; those thumbnails are so clickbaity.

DON'T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE AND SMASH THAT CULT BUTTON!

I only skimmed through the videos, but he seems pretty sensible (despite having invested $10k in the project). But now he’s shown a little negativity, he’s regarded as a full-on heretic by the Church of Amicology.

Good thing nobody here on GR fell for this, and all forumites spotted the Amico as the awful idea/grift it is.

rinks wrote:...But now he’s shown a little negativity, he’s regarded as a full-on heretic by the Church of Amicology.

I'm conflicted as I can understand both points of view. The folk being labelled as a "cult" seem, generally, to just be people who really want the Amico to succeed. I kinda counted myself in this group as I sure did want the console to do well; and still do, really. But... yeah, things have reached a point where the business aspects deserve scrutiny and they don't look to be too healthy right now.

The thing that turned me away from the scene was the rising toxicity from various people on both sides; the system became a "figure of fun" rather than just a potentially cool, pretty obscure gaming system. I put my Total Amico Twitter account on hold many months back and I don't plan on using it further unless the system launches; and, right now, the only way I can see that happening is if Intellivision gains a big boost in funding.

Both the grifters taking money for a console that will never exist and the people making fun of them are toxic.

we live in a society

coldspice wrote:we live in a society

Statement of Facts — Events of the Intellivision Amico timeline that have pushed it into scam territory

Members of the Cult of Tommy are starting to turn on him now too, poor guy, bunch of gaming racists :cry:

Dangerblade wrote:Statement of Facts — Events of the Intellivision Amico timeline that have pushed it into scam territory

Members of the Cult of Tommy are starting to turn on him now too, poor guy, bunch of gaming racists

I was intrigued by such a bold heading! And I was interested in reading about which people had "turned" on Tallarico. And... "gaming racists"?!?

But.. who is Michael Vincetti? It seems that this is a blog by someone who appears to have only made two updates; both of which clearly indicate the guy is not too keen on the Amico. Sorry if Vincetti is in fact someone close to the issue, Dangerblade, and I'm not disputing the right of anyone to share their view nor that everyone needs to be an "expert" in the subject... but this feels like it could do with a bit of context?

The penny seems to have dropped for an investor called Smash JT who uploaded a video about scammy behaviour today.

I'm surprised you've never come across one of delightful Tommy's signature phrases before

God, he's a detestable banana split.

Ah! I've seen those comments from Tallarico on the Atari Age forum; unfortunately the Amico section was closed down - despite being one of the most popular threads on the site! - as the heat (from both "sides") just got to be too much.

I don't like the way that Tallarico phrased some of those comments and I don't feel that he should have let himself get drawn into making them. But... in most instances he was provoked by people using similar - or far worse - language. I'm intrigued by that collation of quotes as there doesn't seem to be anything similar done for the people he was conversing with.

I'm not someone who is gonna say Intellivision or Tallarico have done everything right - they clearly haven't - but I just don't agree that he's a "detestable split". Overly-ambitious, loud, perhaps naive about the business side of Intellivision and putting dreams above reality... sure, but I struggle to get the the thinking that "he tried to launch a game console and it didn't work out so he's a split".

However... we're veering into a disagreeable territory that I have said I would stay away from when I returned to GR. So, I shall say no more about the Amico for a while.

Where on earth did I say that the reason I think he's a banana split is for failing to launch a games console

“Split hairs”.

Seems like there's a huge dose of denial, delusion, and projection in each of those Tallarico posts.

Jawa, I do feel bad for you and wanting the amico to be a successful product, but I do think entrepreneurs like this are exploiting your good faith.

Green Gecko wrote:Seems like there's a huge dose of denial, delusion, and projection in each of those Tallarico posts...

Yeah, they don't make for good reading, GG, although I do feel that in most cases the provocation and language from the other parties was equally poor.

Green Gecko wrote:...Jawa, I do feel bad for you and wanting the amico to be a successful product, but I do think entrepreneurs like this are exploiting your good faith.

It just feels like such a shame! I know that many gamers aren't gonna be interested in getting an Amico, but my thinking does align with Intellivision's in that there is a far bigger, casual gaming market out there and potentially a system could be launched to try and gain momentum in that area. I don't think the current platform holders are really exploiting this opportunity and I'd like to see a smaller company do so. Alas, I can't now see this dream becoming a reality for the Amico!

It's a wonderful quality of yours only I worry about the ethics of the crowdfunding model for all kinds of things like star citizen. For hardware, it's particularly patchy. But I hope something comes out of it for all the backers.

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