Intellivision Amico’s trademark changed to ‘abandoned’

[zapzapzac]

2 hours ago, mr_me said:

The assumption there is that the last hardware revision from early 2021 didn't address fcc compliance like they said it did according to their claims of positive test results later that summer. So far they've been reluctant to go to manufacturing, and therefore reluctant to obtain certifications.  Exact reasons are unknown but there is the current cost/supply of components and more importantly the financing of the manufacturing.  Last we heard from them, financing wasn't there.  Without financing, not much is going to happen.

ERGO TOMMY LIED TO YOU FOR 1200 POSTS ABOUT BEING ON THE LAUNCHPAD

that's the final step you REFUSE to take

[mr_me]

We talked about that already.  I think it's from an April 2020 video.  They did have a working prototype and playable games at the time.  They were also asking Fig/Republic investors for $15M dollars, so still some work to be done.  Regarding the hardware, one of things they said was giving them trouble was access to testing labs.  When they got test results that fall, they might have been surprised that another hardware revision was needed.  I've followed this project since mid 2018, there's been some exaggerations and some misleading comments from the beginning.  Doesn't mean I shouldn't hear what they say.  (And if the 1200 posts is referring to the Atariage Q&A thread, it moved too fast for me to follow, I missed a lot of it.)

Edited August 29, 2022 by mr_me

[MrBeefy]

8 hours ago, 5-11under said:

We've heard both sides many times already... lack of FCC certs uploaded vs. statements from Amico staff/representatives. The dead horses deserve some respect.

 

Do the FCC certs matter? They do, but if there's issues, then probably just a few months worth of CEO/etc. interest payments could fix that. It's not rocket science (launchpad reference), but could require some specialized skills. It does show, however, that it's highly unlikely that the production circuit board is ready for manufacture and assembly. If they're smart , they're going to want to have the FCC certs as a gating action, prior to start of manufacturing.

 

The real question is whether any of this is actually being worked on or not. Are people working on the PCB/FCC? Are people working on part sourcing? Do they (still) have money available for parts and manufacturing and assembly? Manufacturing isn't for the faint of heart. Many companies would prefer to license out their assets, and have other companies deal with the risks involved in manufacturing. Is the current board interested in manufacturing at all, or do they want to change course, and just slap the Intellivision logo on things? I have no idea on the answers, but based on the lack of updates/evidence, I'm guessing not too much is happening with regards to preparing for manufacturing.

I doubt they have much of anyone working. Word is that the 25 units they will maybe cobble together "came out of their own pocket".

 

I'm pretty sure they have some legal reasons they can't officially close shop and would like to get some out the door to, "Make an effort".

 

The FCC stuff is funny because if their was actually a chance that it could be released in 2020, 2021, or 2022 it would be done. If hardware was done in 2019 there is no reason to not have them. Anytime the former CEO said there was a chance 2020 could happen was a lie, as was any reference to 2021. 

 

In 2020 they had an opportunity to manufacture and have parts sourced for them. They didn't take it.

 

I think they are trying to bleed the coffers as much as possible.

6 hours ago, Razzie.P said:

That's just from MrBeefy and mr_me.  Gotta add another couple hundred to factor in the rest of us.

3 hours ago, zapzapzac said:

ERGO TOMMY LIED TO YOU FOR 1200 POSTS ABOUT BEING ON THE LAUNCHPAD

that's the final step you REFUSE to take

The amount of lies over the years is mind boggling. Some people just want it to really happen that they shut off their reasoning and critical thinking. It's magical thinking.

- If I ignore the red flags they will go away.

- No critical thoughts allow only positivity or else bad things happen

- If I use a phrase enough it will make it happen and be good! Wouldn't that be something?

- If we don't talk about past lies it won't impact it coming out now.

- They totally passed everything and are ready to manufacture. I want that to be true enough that it must be!

[zapzapzac]

1 hour ago, mr_me said:

I've followed this project since mid 2018, there's been some exaggerations and some misleading comments from the beginning.  Doesn't mean I shouldn't hear what they say. 

"I've been lied to, I know I've been lied to, but I want them to lie to me more."

[SegaSnatcher]

2 hours ago, mr_me said:

 I've followed this project since mid 2018, there's been some exaggerations and some misleading comments from the beginning.  Doesn't mean I shouldn't hear what they say.

I have followed this project since 2018 as well and I saw all the potential issues and red flags back then.  The previous CEO was so use to being able to use his charisma to sway people by saying what he thought they wanted to hear and was annoyed that his jedi mind tricks wouldn't work on me, because I could see through all that over the top 90s VJ persona. 

I think more people really need to go into any new project from a start up company with a stronger critical eye, instead of just blindly accepting every word from said company.   The previous CEO was lying left and right and there are still people to this day who won't acknowledge this fact. The only positive thing about the new CEO is he's not going after critics, but that isn't saying much as even he isn't being absolutely transparent either. 





 

[MrBeefy]

11 minutes ago, SegaSnatcher said:

I have followed this project since 2018 as well and I saw all the potential issues and red flags back then.  The previous CEO was so use to being able to use his charisma to sway people by saying what he thought they wanted to hear and was annoyed that his jedi mind tricks wouldn't work on me, because I could see through all that over the top 90s VJ persona. 

I think more people really need to go into any new project from a start up company with a stronger critical eye, instead of just blindly accepting every word from said company.   The previous CEO was lying left and right and there are still people to this day who won't acknowledge this fact. The only positive thing about the new CEO is he's not going after critics, but that isn't saying much as even he isn't being absolutely transparent either. 

Yeah anyone who has been watching from 2018 and gets upset at people pointing out the lies, either hasn't really paid any attention or are sticking theor fingers in their ears going NAHNAHANAHNAH!

 

I think it was okay to give some benefit early on, but I also saw nothing wrong with skepticism either. Red flags got worse in 2019, and 2020 was pure dumpster fire.

 

If you had watched as many of those infomercials as I did you would have seen lies left and right. Many ignored it because it was the wishcast console. He says it's "in the works" or wouldn't that be something. It would make them all giggly inside and ignore that answers changed based on who he was talking to.

 

Guy couldn't keep his lies straight either. You are right on the money about the jedi mind tricks. If he didn't see you as a useful idiot to exploit you were bad news. Funny thing is you weren't really bad towards it either from what I remember. That's why it got labeled as a cult. You either believed the one true way or you were an other who had an agenda. Someone who deserved being attacked for trying to destroy what they were doing.

 

Truth is the CEO's (former) incompetence and ignorance was just too much to overcome. He had to build a cult of personality because he had no product. Amico was trash and he and the rest of them knew it, or else they wouldn't have reacted to simple criticism the way they did. As this whole fiasco has shown he is all talk and no substance, which is exactly what Amico was. A bunch of talk and no substance.

 

[SegaSnatcher]

3 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

Funny thing is you weren't really bad towards it either from what I remember.

 

The previous CEO said much worse things about critics than I ever said about the Amico via his infamous thread.  I never had an issue with Amico existing, it will succeed or fail regardless of my comments. 

Look I've been made fun of because I like the 3DO, but I also don't pretend the 3DO is some super amazing console.  You can like something while also acknowledging its flaws, and well the 3DO definitely has its share of flaws. 

[roots.genoa]

Someone posted that video elsewhere on AA and I quite easily found an appearance of our favorite CEO. Ironically, he's being apologetic about violence in video games:

 

[mr_me]

8 hours ago, SegaSnatcher said:

I have followed this project since 2018 as well and I saw all the potential issues and red flags back then.  The previous CEO was so use to being able to use his charisma to sway people by saying what he thought they wanted to hear and was annoyed that his jedi mind tricks wouldn't work on me, because I could see through all that over the top 90s VJ persona. 

I think more people really need to go into any new project from a start up company with a stronger critical eye, instead of just blindly accepting every word from said company.   The previous CEO was lying left and right and there are still people to this day who won't acknowledge this fact. The only positive thing about the new CEO is he's not going after critics, but that isn't saying much as even he isn't being absolutely transparent either. 





 

What does the CEO's interactions here or on youtube have to do with their engineers and developers not having the system ready for manufacturing.  That was just a side show.

[MrBeefy]

5 hours ago, SegaSnatcher said:

The previous CEO said much worse things about critics than I ever said about the Amico via his infamous thread.  I never had an issue with Amico existing, it will succeed or fail regardless of my comments. 
 

I think a lot of people tried to point out that he shouldn't worry about random people trying to discuss the console on a forum.

 

I now think he was trying to leverage AA to show to potential buyers or whatever, as to how legitimate it was. One thread or whatever discussing red flags wouldn't look good for the sales pitch. That would explain some of why he would crap his britches in threads wanting them to get shut down. It wasn't because of misinformation either. He and his YT PR team spread that around themselves.

 

Also...the 3DO... really?

 

[MrBeefy]

33 minutes ago, mr_me said:

What does the CEO's interactions here or on youtube have to do with their engineers and developers not having the system ready for manufacturing.  That was just a side show.

He was the CEO. The "buck stopped there". He was more focused on flame wars than getting things done.

 

I don't know what you do for a living but have you ever needed to get approval to do some things? He should have been focused on his job and company. When the person at top is incompetent and innept at their job it has a tendency to trickle down. 

[mr_me]

You're suggesting that staff were waiting on the CEO to approve decisions.  His job was to build the company, and that he did, if anything he might have over done it.  I don't see how his time on atariage interferes with his job any different than other atariage users and their jobs.  Whether he was the best person to be CEO is a separate question.

 

As far as motivations behind his online forum discussion activity.  He had a history of that long before this project, it's what he likes to do.

Edited August 30, 2022 by mr_me

[+5-11under]

2 minutes ago, mr_me said:

You're suggesting that staff were waiting on the CEO to approve decisions.  His job was to build the company, and that he did, if anything he might have over done it.

Seriously???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

That is all so wrong, it's not worthy of a longer response. Sorry, I won't be able to see any more of your posts after this.

[mr_me]

What do you mean?  They started with nothing, they needed people to build the thing and oversee game development.  You don't think they grew too fast?  I'm not saying they didn't make wrong decisions. But again, that's a separate discussion from the CEO's atariage activity.

Edited August 30, 2022 by mr_me

[Rowsdower70]

7 minutes ago, mr_me said:

What do you mean?  They started with nothing they needed people to build the thing and oversee game development.  I'm not saying they didn't make wrong decisions.  But again, that's a separate discussion from the CEO's atariage activity.

The only thing Tiny Tom built was debt, a bad reputation, and a handful of sycophants who want a ride in the love Ferrari. 

[MrBeefy]

14 minutes ago, Rowsdower70 said:

The only thing Tiny Tom built was debt, a bad reputation, and a handful of sycophants who want a ride in the love Ferrari. 

He was very successful at building a giant flop.

[Steven Pendleton]

To be fair, somewhere around 90% or more of all businesses fail and cease to exist in their first 5 years of existence. Any business, and every business, is statistically far more likely to fail spectacularly than not. It is quite unusual for Intellivision to have survived this long with or without any source of profit, which is rather remarkable in itself.

[MattPilz]

Regarding the rumored 20-30 units Phil told DJC they are working to ship to select individuals, that seems easily within reach. I'm not sure what the developer agreements entailed, but it's common for companies to make clear they own those kits and can request them back at any time especially if the developer obligations have concluded. I had an Apple Developer Kit (M1) that was on a short lease and had to be returned after so many months, with credit then given to put toward a retail unit. If there were 40 independent developers working on 75 games as of 2019 and the majority of those commitments are now shelved indefinitely or were one-off requests, I imagine many of those dev kits might be back in Intellivision hands and could be repurposed for these select few to receive. That seems to be how the kit for the unboxing video was assembled as well, from existing dev parts.

 

Today is the tail end of DJC's most recent prediction of when Phil would be sending out an update. What isn't clear is whether these updates are even going to be sent to all supporters and followers or just the few that are expecting to receive one. DJC has repeatedly referenced emails that nobody in the public has received. The last one I and anyone else is known to receive was 2.5 months ago.

[MrBeefy]

2 hours ago, MattPilz said:

Regarding the rumored 20-30 units Phil told DJC they are working to ship to select individuals, that seems easily within reach. I'm not sure what the developer agreements entailed, but it's common for companies to make clear they own those kits and can request them back at any time especially if the developer obligations have concluded. I had an Apple Developer Kit (M1) that was on a short lease and had to be returned after so many months, with credit then given to put toward a retail unit. If there were 40 independent developers working on 75 games as of 2019 and the majority of those commitments are now shelved indefinitely or were one-off requests, I imagine many of those dev kits might be back in Intellivision hands and could be repurposed for these select few to receive. That seems to be how the kit for the unboxing video was assembled as well, from existing dev parts.

 

Today is the tail end of DJC's most recent prediction of when Phil would be sending out an update. What isn't clear is whether these updates are even going to be sent to all supporters and followers or just the few that are expecting to receive one. DJC has repeatedly referenced emails that nobody in the public has received. The last one I and anyone else is known to receive was 2.5 months ago.

I wouldn't be surprised if they repurpose some. However, I think DJC claimed they will be production units.

 

Review units should have been handed out a long time ago. And when I say review u it's I don't mean to investors who could benefit from acting like it's the best thing ever. I mean like Ars, Ign, ETA Prime.

[SegaSnatcher]

5 hours ago, mr_me said:

What does the CEO's interactions here or on youtube have to do with their engineers and developers not having the system ready for manufacturing.  That was just a side show.

The leadership is vastly important, it all trickles down to the the rest of the team. 

Edited August 30, 2022 by SegaSnatcher

[mr_me]

1 hour ago, MrBeefy said:

I wouldn't be surprised if they repurpose some. However, I think DJC claimed they will be production units.

 

Review units should have been handed out a long time ago. And when I say review u it's I don't mean to investors who could benefit from acting like it's the best thing ever. I mean like Ars, Ign, ETA Prime.

He's just going off the official email which said "test production run".  But at this point, I wouldn't know what to expect.

 

The organisations listed above won't hit their target audience, Ars Technica might to some extent.

Edited August 30, 2022 by mr_me

[Hwlngmad]

11 hours ago, SegaSnatcher said:

Look I've been made fun of because I like the 3DO, but I also don't pretend the 3DO is some super amazing console.  You can like something while also acknowledging its flaws, and well the 3DO definitely has its share of flaws. 

The 3DO did have its flaws.  But, it is a good console and no one should make fun of you for liking it imo.  It has some really good games on it to be sure.

[MattPilz]

21 minutes ago, mr_me said:

The organisations listed above won't hit their target audience, Ars Technica might to some extent.

Well Intellivision/Sumeet let IGN preview the Amico for an article and then Tommy spent considerable time providing them with detailed interview responses for another story last year. I know he wasn't pleased with them writing about the unresponsive feel of the controllers and spent a lot of time trying to correct and clarify that for these stories and another by IGN Italy. I think IGN is as relevant as E3 in this scope.

 

[SteveTheColecoDude]

4 hours ago, MattPilz said:

Regarding the rumored 20-30 units Phil told DJC they are working to ship to select individuals, that seems easily within reach. I'm not sure what the developer agreements entailed, but it's common for companies to make clear they own those kits and can request them back at any time especially if the developer obligations have concluded. I had an Apple Developer Kit (M1) that was on a short lease and had to be returned after so many months, with credit then given to put toward a retail unit. If there were 40 independent developers working on 75 games as of 2019 and the majority of those commitments are now shelved indefinitely or were one-off requests, I imagine many of those dev kits might be back in Intellivision hands and could be repurposed for these select few to receive. That seems to be how the kit for the unboxing video was assembled as well, from existing dev parts.

 

Today is the tail end of DJC's most recent prediction of when Phil would be sending out an update. What isn't clear is whether these updates are even going to be sent to all supporters and followers or just the few that are expecting to receive one. DJC has repeatedly referenced emails that nobody in the public has received. The last one I and anyone else is known to receive was 2.5 months ago.

 

Part of me thinks Phil is just telling DJC whatever gets him off the phone quicker. I imagine Phil and his wife sitting at home watching TV and his phone keeps going off, so eventually he just answers and tells DJC what he wants to hear. Repeat this once a week or so. He's probably desperately hoping DJC gets bored and gives up, rather than constantly reminding everyone that it's still a thing.

[mr_me]

1 hour ago, MattPilz said:

Well Intellivision/Sumeet let IGN preview the Amico for an article and then Tommy spent considerable time providing them with detailed interview responses for another story last year. I know he wasn't pleased with them writing about the unresponsive feel of the controllers and spent a lot of time trying to correct and clarify that for these stories and another by IGN Italy. I think IGN is as relevant as E3 in this scope.

 

E3 doesn't hit their target audience directly.  It is an industry conference, so retailers, distributors, publishers, developers.  And all types of media might be there.  For example, AARP magazine has a general audience but also covers video games.