Dancrane212 Member Oct 25, 2017 14,108 What the heck’s an Intellivision Amico? Console’s leaky dev portal offers hints Creators compare the $250 crowdfunded console’s power to a chip from a $100 2016 smartphone. arstechnica.com Ars Technica is reporting on the information that Intellivision leaked when their development portal was apparently public earlier this month and was then captured by the archive.org webcrawling service. The spec and details are in the link above. Since its announcement as a crowdfunded game console in 2018, the Intellivision Amico has had a weird public image. There have been many YouTube pronouncements about its family-friendliness, yet there are few concrete details that have convinced us it will stand out in an increasingly crowded home-gaming market. And this year, public scrutiny about the $250 system (currently open for $100 preorder "down payments" or full-price preorders, which include two controllers and six pack-in games) has grown, particularly after Intellivision joined the 2021 virtual E3-showcase fray—and did so with a resounding thud. Thus far, the Amico has used video presentations to show what the company hopes will set this handheld apart from the pack. Those videos mostly originate from Intellivision and a few hand-picked fan YouTube channels. Until we can go hands on with live hardware ourselves, these videos leave us with question marks about dev kits and other potentially inauthentic presentations. Leaks from an Intellivision developer portal this week will have to suffice for now, as it's a great opportunity to finally take a closer look at what the heck an Intellivision Amico actually is. Click to expand... Click to shrink... The Intellivision developer portal was recently publicly available online, no password needed, for long enough to have the details saved at archive.org earlier this month. Sources with knowledge about Amico have confirmed to Ars Technica that the leaked specs we've seen were legitimate. While the specs were live as recently as June 14 and line up with Amico's own official specs page, they could still change between now and the system's launch. Click to expand... Click to shrink... The CEO of Intellevision is tossing around legal actions as the response for Ars reporting on this publicly available information:   Last edited: Jun 29, 2021 Squirrel09 Member Nov 4, 2017 1,895 The best way to sell your new console is have your CEO threaten legal action against journalist.   Scottoest Member Feb 4, 2020 12,498 I love Tommy's tweets, LOL. God, it had "NOT FOR PUBLIC" written right on it Ars! Don't you know that means it's illegal to report on?!   Kalor Resettlement Advisor Member Oct 25, 2017 20,724 I was just about to make a thread on this but this is my "favourite" part Various text prompts in the portal's "guidelines" section read like a Game Design 101 manual as opposed to Amico-specific rules or limitations. They're all archived at the previously shared link, but if you'd simply like a taste of what the text looks like, I will share one unedited segment, titled "THE SECRET SAUCE" in all caps: The secret sauce to video games is humor, yes even in serious games. Humor is the most difficult thing to do, it doesn't have to be "laugh out loud" but the player should feel amused. Ask yourself if Angry Birds® would be a hit if it was called The Catapult Game (without birds exploding etc.) Add humor to your games and you immediately step away from your competitors as most don't even try. Humor entertains both males and females, so you can double your audience when you entertain both. When you come up with designs, ask yourself, "Is this for males, or females, or both?" We highly recommend you focus on both, as it doubles the audience of your game before you even start coding! Click to expand... Click to shrink...   Deleted member 10737 User requested account closure Banned Oct 27, 2017 49,774 he should be thankful that there's someone out there reminding people this thing exists.   Jaded Alyx Editor-in-chief at SpecialCancel.com Verified Oct 25, 2017 39,624 Tommy Tallarico always struck me as a massive idiot, Video Games Live aside.   Bane The Fallen Oct 27, 2017 5,968 Man, I used to respect Tallarico so much for what he's done for game music but all this has just shown him for the ass he is. Terrible old man "games were better when I was younger" marketing, not really revealing much about the platform, having it impact his Video Games Live stuff when he initially said it wouldn't, and stuff like this today and other things he's said on twitter have just turned me off of him so damn much.   Team_Feisar Member Jan 16, 2018 5,394 Something tells me it was not a very wise financial decision to invest my life savings into intellivision amico consoles (©) to profit off of the resale market.   Qwark Member Oct 27, 2017 9,920 Bad move for Tommy to lash out like that. Most of the dev portal stuff isn't even that bad. Though only 1MB available for controller assets is a pretty big limitation, no 3D games is a headscratcher, and lol at the Wii U callout: Having a touchscreen and physical buttons and input disc has also not been utilized (the Wii U failed miserably). [sic] Click to expand... Click to shrink...   Jaded Alyx Editor-in-chief at SpecialCancel.com Verified Oct 25, 2017 39,624 Some genius who thinks using stick photos are against the law Some genius who thinks using stock photos is against the law  grand Member Oct 25, 2017 30,128 Kalor said: I was just about to make a thread on this but this is my "favourite" part Click to expand... Click to shrink... "Is this for females?" How to tell me everything without saying anything  wideface ▲ Legend ▲ Avenger Oct 25, 2017 7,138 Hidamari Apartments Nice to see the Amico will entertain the females as well as the males.   apocat Member Oct 27, 2017 11,367 Kalor said: I was just about to make a thread on this but this is my "favourite" part Click to expand... Click to shrink... "iS tHiS FOr mAleS oR FeeMalEs?" Jaded Alyx said: Some genius who thinks using stick photos are against the law Some genius who thinks using stock photos is against the law Click to expand... Click to shrink...   SteveWinwood Member Oct 25, 2017 19,259 USA USA USA wideface said: Nice to see the Amico will entertain the females as well as the males. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Only if you want to double your audience before you even start coding.   Transistor This isn't going to go the way you think Administrator Oct 25, 2017 40,884 Washington, D.C. THIS POST IS NOT FOR PUBLIC VIEW Hilarious  Dunlop Member Oct 25, 2017 9,408 Flousn said: Something tells me it was not a very wise financial decision to invest my life savings into intellivision amico consoles (©) to profit off of the resale market. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Or it was genius! Savor your last days as a regular citizen   platocplx 2020 Member Elect Member Oct 30, 2017 37,361 samred MAN you really struck a nerve with this article lmao. Another great read! Cant believe what they are trying to pull with this One.   1-D_FE Member Oct 27, 2017 8,966 I always thought TT was suspect and a shameless self-promoter, but that's some Trump level narcissism.   Team_Feisar Member Jan 16, 2018 5,394 Dunlop said: Or it was genius! Savor your last days as a regular citizen Click to expand... Click to shrink... Do you consider someone who has 1 million $ net worth in Intellivision Amico Consoles to be rich?  Mahonay Member Oct 25, 2017 33,487 Pencils Vania Thank you Tommy. Even if you will entertain no one with the Amico, you've already given us all $300 worth of entertainment.   RF Switch Banned Oct 31, 2017 4,118 I've been following this console for years now and I can't deny I have a slight desire to own one. I like the idea of having a console with a bunch of gimmicks and quick pick up and play games and some of the games honestly look fun to play especially couch coop. The problem is the console is priced way too high for what they want to do and every single game I've seen so far would work on a normal controller. Selling all of these games in a bundle at full retail price with online play and leaderboards on established systems would probably have way higher profit margins than attempting a console. The other issue is clearly Tommy he is the complete opposite of trust worthy   FerrisBueller Member Jul 15, 2018 3,051 UK I've started following (and become a little fascinated with) the Amico recently simply for the entertaining shitshow it's turning out to be with Tommy Tallarico being such a huge arsehole and total lack of professionalism, plus the weird fan cult who attack anyone who says anything negative about it, it's amazing in both the worst and best ways.   senj Member Nov 6, 2017 8,444 They let Tommy Tallarico be CEO of something? That's going to end ... about how it's currently going.   bitcloudrzr Member May 31, 2018 20,081 Flousn said: Do you consider someone who has 1 million $ net worth in Intellivision Amico Consoles to be rich? Click to expand... Click to shrink...   Necron ▲ Legend ▲ Member Oct 25, 2017 9,671 Switzerland Jaded Alyx said: Some genius who thinks using stick photos are against the law Some genius who thinks using stock photos is against the law Click to expand... Click to shrink... Beautiful...   FormatCompatible One Winged Slayer Member Oct 25, 2017 12,071 Good lord Tommy, get a fucking grip.   grand Member Oct 25, 2017 30,128 Not since the Gizmondo has there been such a creative console launch attempt   whoamiifnotwhoiam Member Sep 29, 2019 1,734 The Amico seems to be nothing else but a phone with a super weird format, honestly. The specs are really basic, too. Wouldn't parents just prefer to buy some tablet for cheaper, or something of the sorts?   werezompire Zeboyd Games Verified Oct 26, 2017 14,636 Angry Birds® (With Birds Exploding) should be the new name of the game.   Deleted member 3017 User requested account closure Banned Oct 25, 2017 17,653 Old Man Yells At Cloud: The Console   7threst Member Oct 25, 2017 3,297 Netherlands That's Tommy Tallarico of Video Games Live? Wow.... holy shit. I liked what he has done for game music but man, this guy isn't the cool guy I want him to be. A damn shame.   Billfisto Member Oct 30, 2017 17,601 Canada But I thought it was somehow going to be the greatest 2d machine ever? As if it's not bad enough that Doug TenNapel has revealed himself to be a huge scumbag, why does Tonmy need to go full charlatan?  PROh1bited The Fallen Oct 25, 2017 3,759 Tommy has really fallen off a cliff the past 15 years.   jmsebastian Member Nov 14, 2019 1,136 grand said: "Is this for females?" How to tell me everything without saying anything Click to expand... Click to shrink... Yeah, that immediately jumped out to me, too. Is it too difficult to just say that humor appeals to everybody? To go with "males and females" is just so weird and gross. "Female", in particular, has really become a red flag. Of course, Tallarico's work to get Earthworm Jim on the Amico platform (including its awful, awful creator) is much more damning and reason enough to have nothing to do with this product...not that I think it will even release.   FormatCompatible One Winged Slayer Member Oct 25, 2017 12,071 Qwark said: Bad move for Tommy to lash out like that. Most of the dev portal stuff isn't even that bad. Though only 1MB available for controller assets is a pretty big limitation, no 3D games is a headscratcher, and lol at the Wii U callout: Click to expand... Click to shrink... Bold prediction: This thing is gonna do way worse than the Wii U.   chrisPjelly Avenger Oct 29, 2017 10,911 I can't believe Tommy is putting so much into a Gamer Warz bit   Melpomene One Winged Slayer Member Jun 9, 2019 19,191 My favorite thing about this is Tallarico's interesting use of "copywritten."   Liam Allen-Miller Member Nov 2, 2017 7,836 Shibuya It's really easy to get where Tommy is coming from in that he's clearly very emotionally invested and wants to protect his product's good image, but he's really going too far and I feel he's making things worse for the project. I think this should have been a simple exchange with them posting some sort of factually corrective blog post (eg.: "The documentation reported x at the time, it is now y", and so forth) but Tommy coming out with this threat of legal action is just a nasty look. I don't explicitly want them to fail (if Tennapel got dumped that'd be great) but it's really clear that they're not doing themselves any good with Tommy's awful style of damage control and it's hard to even want to try and hope for them at this point.   Goddo Hando Member Oct 25, 2017 5,375 Chicago chrisPjelly said: I can't believe Tommy is putting so much into a Gamer Warz bit Click to expand... Click to shrink... streisand effect is about all he has as a marketing plan at this point  Perzeval Prophet of Truth Avenger Oct 25, 2017 11,084 Sweden Interesting..​   TheChrisGlass Member Oct 25, 2017 5,722 Los Angeles, CA I knew Keith Robinson. I'd see him a few times a year at certain gatherings. The last few years before he passed, he was trying to get a newer console made. But I think he was aiming more for the blister-pack style stuff you'd get for cheap at a Big Lots. Not a "resell a half-decade old CPU for $250" console.   jmsebastian Member Nov 14, 2019 1,136 Billfisto said: As if it's not bad enough that Doug TenNapel has revealed himself to be a huge scumbag, why does Tonmy need to go full charlatan? Click to expand... Click to shrink... TenNapel has been awful the whole time. He had a blog way back in the early 2000s where he regularly outed himself as an idiot and bigot. When Earthworm Jim hit it big, I really loved the games and it was cool knowing that he was local to my area. But after finding out about his political views, I've never been able to return to his work. The fact that Tallarico is really hawking Earthworm Jim merch and playing up that relationship is especially gross. There's just no way to justify supporting that kind of willful and hateful ignorance.   scottbeowulf Member Oct 27, 2017 10,797 United States   iksenpets Member Oct 26, 2017 8,342 Dallas, TX Everything about Tallarico's presentation of this thing has seemed skeevy as fuck from the start. He's built this product that seems like it could honestly find reasonable success if it were $99 and preloaded with a dozen games for sale in a bin by the checkout line at Target, but is instead marketing it to "the real gamers" or whatever for $250 as this sort of protest against every evolution in game design post-1995, which judging by his weird directives to developers, he's really a true believer in.   JershJopstin Member Oct 25, 2017 5,333 Jaded Alyx said: Some genius who thinks using stick photos are against the law Some genius who thinks using stock photos is against the law Click to expand... Click to shrink... This is doomed to have typos, you couldn't even copy it correctly! (He said "Same genius" both times)  zoodoo Member Oct 26, 2017 14,387 Montreal RF Switch said: I've been following this console for years now and I can't deny I have a slight desire to own one. I like the idea of having a console with a bunch of gimmicks and quick pick up and play games and some of the games honestly look fun to play especially couch coop. The problem is the console is priced way too high for what they want to do and every single game I've seen so far would work on a normal controller. Selling all of these games in a bundle at full retail price with online play and leaderboards on established systems would probably have way higher profit margins than attempting a console. The other issue is clearly Tommy he is the complete opposite of trust worthy Click to expand... Click to shrink... That's where i'm at too. I was a bit curious but there are a lot of red flags. Also i don't want anything to do with that Earthworm Jim guy   Billfisto Member Oct 30, 2017 17,601 Canada jmsebastian said: TenNapel has been awful the whole time. He had a blog way back in the early 2000s where he regularly outed himself as an idiot and bigot. When Earthworm Jim hit it big, I really loved the games and it was cool knowing that he was local to my area. But after finding out about his political views, I've never been able to return to his work. The fact that Tallarico is really hawking Earthworm Jim merch and playing up that relationship is especially gross. There's just no way to justify supporting that kind of willful and hateful ignorance. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Yep. By "revealed" I definitely mean "Post-EWJ" and not anything particularly recent. It's absolutely disgusting that Tommy keeps him hanging around. "The family friendly console" includes the really bigoted uncle, I guess.  FerrisBueller Member Jul 15, 2018 3,051 UK Tommy Tallarico, CEO of the "family friendly" Intellivision   CorpseLight Member Nov 3, 2018 7,666 Kalor said: I was just about to make a thread on this but this is my "favourite" part Click to expand... Click to shrink... Various text prompts in the portal's "guidelines" section read like a Game Design 101 manual as opposed to Amico-specific rules or limitations. They're all archived at the previously shared link, but if you'd simply like a taste of what the text looks like, I will share one unedited segment, titled "THE SECRET SAUCE" in all caps: The secret sauce to video games is humor, yes even in serious games. Humor is the most difficult thing to do, it doesn't have to be "laugh out loud" but the player should feel amused. Ask yourself if Angry Birds® would be a hit if it was called The Catapult Game (without birds exploding etc.) Add humor to your games and you immediately step away from your competitors as most don't even try. Humor entertains both males and females, so you can double your audience when you entertain both. When you come up with designs, ask yourself, "Is this for males, or females, or both?" We highly recommend you focus on both, as it doubles the audience of your game before you even start coding! Yes. Ask yourself if you made a completely different game if it would be as successful.  malaiseforever Member Mar 31, 2018 263 This thing is dead in the water at the current price point.