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Re: Intellivision Amico | Launching 10 October 2021 | @totalamico

Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2021 12:13 am
by Abacus
Everyone knows the odds are ridiculously stacked against it succeeding.

But I do think a lot of people had never heard of the N64, the GameCube, or even Nintendo at all, and bought a Wii because they say someone play it. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that the majority of Wii owners were like that.

The problem was, many of them played Wii sports and nothing much else. Didn't stop them buying it.

Still, no-one expects this to be the next Wii, or anything even close. Or even, in my case, anything that comes out at all.

Anyhow, odds or not, I suppose this has become the ridiculous optimism thread. I'm even warming to those ridic controlllers.

So, three cheers to that.

Re: Intellivision Amico | Launching 10 October 2021 | @totalamico

Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2021 12:24 am
by Abacus
It's such a laughable idea that this might even work, so now I'm all in!

It's like the duck billed platypus of consoles!

Re: Intellivision Amico | Launching 10 October 2021 | @totalamico

Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2021 12:37 am
by Abacus
All cynicism aside, I would be so delighted if this console worked, based on its principles. Like I say, all in.

I'll be buying one, even if just for the laugh.

Re: Intellivision Amico | Launching 10 October 2021 | @totalamico

Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2021 12:48 am
by jawa2
Preezy wrote:... I'm going to call bullshit on this one...
...Intellivision by comparison has zero brand recognition - zero...
...thawed out of a glacier...
...whether you choose to accept it or not...
...just revisionist nonsense...
...I'm sure you'll love your founders version, jawa...

You see, this is exactly the style of posting that I'm really reticent to respond to. There is no "conversation"; the wording is closed and merely looks to crap on something with no real intent to chat it over.

So I won't.

I hope that most folk will see that, over the past few pages, I will and do respond in detail to thoughts, questions and criticisms of the Amico. However, I won't respond to the above style of posting in this thread.

Re: Intellivision Amico | Launching 10 October 2021 | @totalamico

Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2021 6:10 am
by Preezy
jawa2 wrote:
Preezy wrote:... I'm going to call bullshit on this one...
...Intellivision by comparison has zero brand recognition - zero...
...thawed out of a glacier...
...whether you choose to accept it or not...
...just revisionist nonsense...
...I'm sure you'll love your founders version, jawa...

You see, this is exactly the style of posting that I'm really reticent to respond to. There is no "conversation"; the wording is closed and merely looks to crap on something with no real intent to chat it over.

So I won't.

I hope that most folk will see that, over the past few pages, I will and do respond in detail to thoughts, questions and criticisms of the Amico. However, I won't respond to the above style of posting in this thread.

I'm not looking for you to respond, jawa, I'm just sharing my thoughts on how I think you're incorrect in comparing this thing's chances to the Wii. You probably disagree with my points and that's fine but I'm not just crapping on it for the sake of it. No need to get defensive and prickly, we're only talking about a bloody videogame console ffs, this isn't the Politics thread.

Re: Intellivision Amico | Launching 10 October 2021 | @totalamico

Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2021 9:13 am
by jawa2
Preezy wrote:I'm not looking for you to respond, jawa, I'm just sharing my thoughts on how I think you're incorrect in comparing this thing's chances to the Wii. You probably disagree with my points and that's fine but I'm not just crapping on it for the sake of it. No need to get defensive and prickly, we're only talking about a bloody videogame console ffs, this isn't the Politics thread.

Preezy, if you join a thread and start bandying around terms like "bullshit" and "revisionist nonsense" in reference to posts - apparently without looking for the person to respond - then you must know that the likelihood of friction is pretty high. I'm open to thoughts about the Amico's challenges and in this thread I've responded in detail to a few folk about this.

I will pick up on your final point that "the odds are ridiculously stacked against it succeeding.". Yes... it is a huge challenge. Is the market not big enough for something different, though? The gaming market is growing exponentially and there are millions of people who wouldn't play Halo but would play Texas Hold 'Em. Do the current format options replicate that Wii-type experience of families and friends playing together on the TV? There feels - to me! - like there is potentially a large space that current consoles haven't really got covered. Of course, coming up with the system to fill that gap is tough. Maybe Intellivision won't have the clout or the money to be the company to achieve the goal. So, you are right - the odds are stacked high. But all ideas start out small.

Re: Intellivision Amico | Launching 10 October 2021 | @totalamico

Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2021 9:18 am
by OrangeRKN
Abacus wrote:But I do think a lot of people had never heard of the N64, the GameCube, or even Nintendo at all, and bought a Wii because they say someone play it. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that the majority of Wii owners were like that.


Wii branding deliberately sidelined "Nintendo" as part of its identity, but everyone has heard of Nintendo. The Game Boy is probably the most significant, for a long time that was synonymous with handheld gaming. Pokemon was an impossible to miss phenomemon. Mario is one of the most recognisable characters ever.

I think its only when you look at home consoles in the UK where Nintendo seem to not have that level of recognition.

Re: Intellivision Amico | Launching 10 October 2021 | @totalamico

Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2021 9:24 am
by Victor Mildew
Side note: if love the gameboy brand to come back in some form. Although you probably couldn't use that name now.

Re: Intellivision Amico | Launching 10 October 2021 | @totalamico

Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2021 9:32 am
by Cuttooth
For at least a couple of generations of parents and grandparents "Nintendo" was synonymous with all games consoles and arguably all video games. I doubt that many "casual" fans were pre-ordering a Wii as a lifestyle console in the run up to Christmas 2006, even with the ongoing success of the DS in that market.

The person who would buy a cheap Wii has almost certainly moved on to the slew of free, premium, and freemium mobile games in that time if they are actively avoiding a Xbox or PlayStation.

EDIT - Or Switch, even.

Re: Intellivision Amico | Launching 10 October 2021 | @totalamico

Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2021 10:51 am
by OrangeRKN
Victor Mildew wrote:Side note: if love the gameboy brand to come back in some form. Although you probably couldn't use that name now.


What do you mean?

Re: Intellivision Amico | Launching 10 October 2021 | @totalamico

Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2021 1:31 pm
by Hypes
jawa2 wrote:The gaming market is growing exponentially and there are millions of people who wouldn't play Halo but would play Texas Hold 'Em.

I don't think that's an option for the Amico. You can play that on your phone or with a pack of cards. It needs to offer unique local multiplayer that you can't get on the phone or current consoles. People/families who want a bit more than a mobile game but less than one of the established consoles? Does that market really exist in large enough numbers for Intellivision to make it viable, I guess we'll see

Re: Intellivision Amico | Launching October 2021 TBC | @totalamico

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 1:47 pm
by jawa2
jawa2 wrote:... > Bomb Squad utilises practically all of the controller features; including the led lights built into the console itself...

Intellivision released a (extremely brief, no real game footage) vid for Bomb Squad yesterday which confirms that the game will utilise every feature of the controllers:



It doesn't mention it in the vid but I believe that the game will use the led lighting on the console itself as a way of working out codes/sequences, too.

Re: Intellivision Amico | Launching 10 October 2021 | @totalamico

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 5:51 pm
by jawa2


Intellivision launched a short preview vid for a game called "Space Strikers" a few days ago and some folk have voiced a bit of criticism on certain things about it. The developer is a small team called Couch in the Woods and during the demo they made it clear that the version shown was running on a PC; and they were using Xbox controllers to play it. Cue a few folk suggesting that it wasn't an Amico exclusive game and that it may be running badly on Amico.

The developer has just updated their website to say that the game is an exclusive for Amico; it will launch on the console on 10 Oct alongside the console. There may be versions released for other systems in the future, but with a different name and with different levels/features. In my opinion it seems that, in common with some games on other consoles, it is a "launch exclusive", probably for an agreed period of time.

Re: Intellivision Amico | Launching 10 October 2021 | @totalamico

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 10:17 pm
by jawa2


twitter.com/Intellivision/status/1364307365097480193



GameStop USA have started advertising the Amico online and in-store.

They're offering an exclusive purple/silver version of the system alongside the standard black and white variants. Interestingly, they're giving a $25 digital spend voucher, too - this isn't something I've seen any UK retailer offering.

Re: Intellivision Amico | Launching 10 October 2021 | @totalamico

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2021 6:08 pm
by jawa2
A nice spread in Edge magazine on the Amico.
Image

Image

Re: Intellivision Amico | Launching 10 October 2021 | @totalamico

Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2021 10:21 am
by Zilnad
Any news on what's going on with Amazon pre-orders, Jawa? Has all of their stock been allocated?

Re: Intellivision Amico | Launching 10 October 2021 | @totalamico

Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2021 10:47 am
by ITSMILNER
I noticed someone on Twitter saying Amazon UK cancelled all pre-orders for some reason?

Re: Intellivision Amico | Launching 10 October 2021 | @totalamico

Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2021 2:40 pm
by Abacus
I had one in my basket a few weeks back, but removed it.

When I look now on Amazon, it is marked as "Currently unavailable. We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock".

I'm not sure if this because the preorders are all gone, or if there's a glitch on Amazon. Hopefully it's one of those two, anyway rather than some kind of bad news.

Re: Intellivision Amico | Launching 10 October 2021 | @totalamico

Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2021 2:49 pm
by jawa2
Zilnad wrote:Any news on what's going on with Amazon pre-orders, Jawa? Has all of their stock been allocated?


It has been a hectic and frustrating few days!

The current position as I understand it is:

> All Amico console pre-orders have sold out on Amazon UK and Amazon Germany (yes, seven months before launch!)
> Amazon Europe appears to have made a mistake with the number of consoles they thought had been allocated to them; and they have seemingly been taking additional pre-orders for over three months that cannot be fulfilled
> People that had placed pre-orders with Amazon UK since 1 December 2020 (possibly earlier) have had their pre-orders cancelled

My personal position is:

> I placed my console pre-order with Amazon UK on 24 December 2020 and yesterday Amazon cancelled it
> I subsequently attempted to place a pre-order at Argos and they instantly debited my account twice without accepting the order... seriously. Argos claim that this was a system fault and I now have to wait five working days before they restore the £499.98 to my account :shock: :x :x
> It is unlikely that I will be getting an Amico at launch; as Amazon have sold out, Argos ripped me off and I don't really want to order from GAME

Amico has literally been too popular and now I probably won't have one. Even though I am calling myself strawberry-floatin' @totalamico :x :cry: .

Re: Intellivision Amico | Launching 10 October 2021 | @totalamico

Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2021 2:51 pm
by Victor Mildew
I think they've realised they're going to make Sony and Microsoft look stupid, so have pulled the console out of courtesy.