Is the Amico dead?

[Rev]

I highly recommend Axiom Verge for anyone that dont know about it, and is wanting a Metroidvania type of 2D sidescroller with beautiful pixel art.  This game is amazing. 

 

Here is a great Sega collection for 30 bucks. 
 

Edited April 3, 2022 by Rev

[Razzie.P]

6 hours ago, atarifan88 said:

Two volumes?  I only see one... Atari Flashback Classics.  Which is the other one?

 

21 minutes ago, Rev said:

I was thinking of the PS4 version, which has 2 volumes.  Switch has one, sorry about that. ? 

 

If I remember correctly, there are 3 volumes on PS4 (50 games each) and the Switch version has all 3 volumes (150 games) in their one, single release.

[mr_me]

57 minutes ago, MrBeefy said:

You are trying to say that the jzintv emulator is not a retro emulator? Because it is baked into the system and last time I checked it was for original Intv games which 40 odd years later are retro. ?

They've been clear that there will be no emulated Intellivision games on Amico when it releases, not even as a download.

Edited April 3, 2022 by mr_me

[Rev]

18 minutes ago, Razzie.P said:

 

 

If I remember correctly, there are 3 volumes on PS4 (50 games each) and the Switch version has all 3 volumes (150 games) in their one, single release.

Oh wow, I only have two PS4 volumes, Ill check for the 3rd. Thanks

[MrBeefy]

2 hours ago, Cebus Capucinis said:

I do wonder if there's a niche in the cheaper side kid friendly consoles. Sort of like a better V-Tech or V-Smile type thing. Of course, at $350 it ain't gonna move units, but if they got in a nice little kid oriented console for $100ish, there might be something there.

This is what they made it sound like they wanted to do. At $250+ it just isn't going to happen. With the games they've shown off it should be $150 max. Right now Jr. Beef has a $28 tablet that can play the Sesame Street games and more. At $250+ the smarter consumer choice is buy something that can do the same thing and more. 

1 hour ago, Rev said:

This has a Bomberman type game on it.   You can also get Bomberman. 

 

Dynablasters will be coming to Switch at some point.

1 hour ago, mr_me said:

They've been clear that there will be no emulated Intellivision games on Amico when it releases, not even as a download.

I said it included a retro emulator, you said it didn't which is factually wrong. It does, and in fact early on in this saga, the former CEO said the original games would all be included on day one. It was later that that changed, but once again going with the "casual mom" talk being tracked on later.

[mr_me]

You can think whatever you want.  I don't want people to be under the impression that Amico will emulate Intellivision games on release.

[Rev]

I didnt realize Dynablasters was coming to Switch as well. What other exclusives are en route to other platforms?  
 

Space Strikers is coming to Switch or xbox? Sesame Street, Care Bears, and Evil Kenevil are also cell phone ports. 
 

Does anyone have a definitive list of all games that are coming and also actually started programming?

[Rev]

2 minutes ago, mr_me said:

You can think whatever you want.  I don't want people to be under the impression that Amico will emulate Intellivision games on release.

Mr Beefy said “early on”.  I think everyone does know none will be at launch. 

[mr_me]

No problem with their saying it will have it and then changing to it will come later, a year or so after release.  People shouldn't be under the impression that it is hidden in the firmware as an easter egg, unless there is some inside information out there that it does.  That would be nice to know if it is the case.

[DavidD]

3 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

It's the Homer Car of consoles.

The Homer was made by an actual car company, which a history of producing and selling actual cars.

[IMBerzerk]

I'm thinking more of like an Edsel.  It was actually built, sold and failed miserably.

 

[MrBeefy]

47 minutes ago, Rev said:

Mr Beefy said “early on”.  I think everyone does know none will be at launch. 

Actually what started it,  was I said it has a retro emulator on it. Which is 100% accurate statement. Someone wants to ignore that. Plus I think the bigger concern is if it will even come out, not that there will or won't be roms available for it. ?

 

Probably does means someone could hack it and get them easily on. I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to do considering they have a history of not really locking things down. I'm sure a Duck Duck Go search will lead us on how to hack it.

 

 

[SegaMasterSystemPunk]

2 hours ago, DavidD said:

The Homer was made by an actual car company, which a history of producing and selling actual cars.

 

Sure, but the design process, and the output, has some major similarities.

[mr_me]

41 minutes ago, MrBeefy said:

Actually what started it,  was I said it has a retro emulator on it. Which is 100% accurate statement. Someone wants to ignore that. Plus I think the bigger concern is if it will even come out, not that there will or won't be roms available for it. ?

 

Probably does means someone could hack it and get them easily on. I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to do considering they have a history of not really locking things down. I'm sure a Duck Duck Go search will lead us on how to hack it.

 

 

Pretty much everything gets hacked.  And porting emulators to Amico would be straightforward.  Someone would have to figure out programming the Amico touchscreen to emulate an Intellivision keypad.  What's the source that says they've done all that?

[Rev]

Interesting perspective on the business and brand side. Is the name “Amico” too far gone? Or will it be fine if it gets released? 

 

 

[MrBeefy]

3 hours ago, Rev said:

I didnt realize Dynablasters was coming to Switch as well. What other exclusives are en route to other platforms?  
 

Space Strikers is coming to Switch or xbox? Sesame Street, Care Bears, and Evil Kenevil are also cell phone ports. 
 

Does anyone have a definitive list of all games that are coming and also actually started programming?

Space Strikers but will be called Graviators on other platforms in the future.

 

Fox n Forests is on multiple platforms currently.

 

Dynablasters on multiple platforms in future.

 

Dolphin Quest will be on multiple platforms in the future and I think they may do a KS to get it finished.

 

EK is still available.

 

Sesame Street games are currently available through their website and through the PBS Kids app.

 

Ridged Force Redux is on multiple platforms currently.

 

Emoji Charades is available still the last time I checked.

 

I feel like I'm missing one but maybe not.

[SegaSnatcher]

25 minutes ago, Rev said:

Interesting perspective on the business and brand side. Is the name “Amico” too far gone? Or will it be fine if it gets released? 

 

 

Well in all fairness the target market they want to hit still doesn't even know the Amico exists, so IE still has that on their side, but good luck trying to convince that market to spend $250+ to play Emoji Charades when they can get most of those experiences for free on their cell phones and tablets. 

Edited April 4, 2022 by SegaSnatcher

[MrBeefy]

33 minutes ago, mr_me said:

Pretty much everything gets hacked.  And porting emulators to Amico would be straightforward.  Someone would have to figure out programming the Amico touchscreen to emulate an Intellivision keypad.  What's the source that says they've done all that?

Where did I say they are emulating the keypad? I didn't I said they are including the emulator. 

 

If I remember my real names to AA profiles, @nurmix confirmed they are still including the jzintv emulator via chat in the interview with Nick Richard's iirc.

 

At least I think it was nurmix under his real name posting (I'm not going to say the name for privacy purposes). Maybe I'm wrong and he could correct that.

 

Now in term of being able to use it I'm sure there's no icon to select it, but that doesn't mean it isn't baked in. 

[MrBeefy]

7 minutes ago, SegaSnatcher said:

Well in all fairness the target market they want to hit still doesn't even know the Amico exists, so IE still has that on their side, but good luck trying to convince that market to spend $250+ to play Emoji Charades when they can get most of those experiences for free on their cell phones and tablets. 

Can you call them the target market if they aren't targeting them? ?

[SegaSnatcher]

1 minute ago, MrBeefy said:

Can you call them the target market if they aren't targeting them? ?

Something tells me they aren't going to invest millions into heavy marketing.  You kinda need that to bring in the casuals otherwise how else will they find out your console even exists?  

[mr_me]

With a softlaunch and slow ramp-up to production, it will be a while before they have to do any marketing.

[MrBeefy]

Softlaunch? It has looked to be pretty hard to launch to me. ?

 

You know what would have helped them? Actually target those billions of people if they truly believe it will get them. That would have been more pre-orders and hype. Such numbers and hype would have made this appealing for investors right?

 

Or maybe that talk was just a talking point and isn't the actuality.

 

12 minutes ago, SegaSnatcher said:

Something tells me they aren't going to invest millions into heavy marketing.  You kinda need that to bring in the casuals otherwise how else will they find out your console even exists?  

They can't even invest enough to get it out the door and people still think there's this magic marketing budget. I think the former CEO overestimated his star status and didn't get the big YouTubers behind him. This led to settling for low subs and putting a stupid amount of time roping people in to invest and give them money by those interviews. 

 

They could have easily spent that time talking to mom bloggers and channels. That or they tried and the moms didn't care or want it. Remember the Ellen picture? What happened to that? What about the multi-million sub YouTuber to reveal the physical products? Where is that? Intellivision says a lot but never seems to deliver.

 

[Rev]

1 hour ago, SegaSnatcher said:

Something tells me they aren't going to invest millions into heavy marketing.  You kinda need that to bring in the casuals otherwise how else will they find out your console even exists?  

I remember they had a 10 million dollar marketing campaign lined up. You couldnt of been more wrong!!!  ?. They also have  celebrities waiting to help promote. 
 

Skip to 1 hour 47 min:

 

 

 

 

Edited April 4, 2022 by Rev

[Cebus Capucinis]

1 hour ago, MrBeefy said:

They could have easily spent that time talking to mom bloggers and channels.

I don't think that would have done anything though. Would Karens really listen to another Karen faking up a video game console, or would the other Karens just buy a Switch since little Jaxxyne and Bralylynne in the back of the Yukon say that's what they want and MOMMY NEEDS SOME CABERNET AND A BUBBLE BATH, MOMBOSS  GOT TO SELF CARE?!

 

(Nothing against moms in general, but I can safely say all my female friends who read "mom blogs" and watch "mommy YouTubers" fall PRECISELY into this description.)

 

The Switch is still the real elephant in the room, even in that avenue. Moms at least know what "Nintendo" is, and are sophisticated enough now to go beyond the "We have Nintendo at home, Nintendo at home: <picture of Amico>" meme. That meme wouldn't even really work anyway because the concept is that "Nintendo at home" is a crappier version that's CHEAPER, not a crappier version that COSTS MORE ???

 

(Dear Lord, the Amico doesn't even make a good MEME, that's just sad.)

 

Though if it ever comes out someone better make that meme.

[mr_me]

4 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

Actually what started it,  was I said it has a retro emulator on it. Which is 100% accurate statement. Someone wants to ignore that. Plus I think the bigger concern is if it will even come out, not that there will or won't be roms available for it.  ...

The discussion was about the family friendly ideas for the console being there from the beginning or after the fact.  I pointed out that the very first press release and reveal video presented it as a family friendly game system inclusive to all types of gamers without any mention of retro video game emulation.  The family friendly inclusive aspect also got the founding partners on board.

 

2 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

You know what would have helped them? Actually target those billions of people if they truly believe it will get them. That would have been more pre-orders and hype. Such numbers and hype would have made this appealing for investors right?

Spending money on marketing without product to ship wouldn't be a good use of their money.  Certain people preorder and I don't know if that market does.  Retail is how they were planning to reach that group and they got the purchase orders.  They did get millions of investment dollars as well.

 

57 minutes ago, Rev said:

I remember they had a 10 million dollar marketing campaign lined up. You couldnt of been more wrong!!!  ?. They also have  celebrities waiting to help promote. 

I was remembering a budget of five million but he's always thinking more and a bigger budget is better.  It was also a time when they were planning a single source, mass production manufacturer.   Their manufacturing and production plans have changed and marketing adjusts accordingly.

 

21 minutes ago, Cebus Capucinis said:

I don't think that would have done anything though. Would Karens really listen to another Karen faking up a video game console, or would the other Karens just buy a Switch since little Jaxxyne and Bralylynne in the back of the Yukon say that's what they want and MOMMY NEEDS SOME CABERNET AND A BUBBLE BATH?

 

The Switch is still the real elephant in the room, even in that avenue.

Their primary target market is quite specific, families with children under age seven.  I think they recognize that once kids are older they'll start asking for those other systems rather than something new.

 

 

Edited April 4, 2022 by mr_me