Intellivision Amico’s trademark changed to ‘abandoned’

[Rev]

2 hours ago, mr_me said:

We talked about Oct 2020.  It's a date that was selected prematurely in 2018.  Even without a pandemic people wouldn't have been surprised about missing that release date.

 

They warned when they announced the April 2021 date back in August 2020 that there would be a lot of uncertainty releasing by then, probably shouldn't have announced that date.  What's wrong with making the official announcement in February 2021, it gave Republic investors plenty of time to make their final decisions before the campaign ended. 

 

Their manufacturer might have started with ordering components with the longest lead time.  The risk disclosure mentioned parts but some money may have gone to other manufacturing activity. With all the uncertainty around component supply and pricing, they would have had to adapt production schedules, they didn't necessarily need 100k units of inventory for 2021.

So have all the release dates given premature?    There has been 5 to 10 launch dates or launch windows given now.       
 

With each new launch date are we supposed to believe Intellivision Entertainment THIS time?

 

If a new launch date is given, and we dont trust its true THIS time, and they voice that, does that make someone a hater?

[mr_me]

Release dates don't mean much in this environment (they've had three dates).  The news you'd want to hear is that they're shipping.  They haven't even mentioned manufacturing in their last few updates so don't expect anything anytime soon.

Edited November 9, 2022 by mr_me

[+x=usr(1536)]

Deleted on the advice of no lawyers whatsoever.

[MattPilz]

55 minutes ago, mr_me said:

Release dates don't mean much in this environment (they've had three dates). 

They became a problem when Intellivision failed to update or withdraw their consoles from third party marketplaces. People were being charged hundreds of dollars each from Gamestop for their pre-orders that never existed based on the release date Intellivision supplied to them. Even now Amico appears on various sites including Gamestop Canada for active pre-order with a listed release date of 12/31/22. Somewhere I had seen a question asking when it will ship and customer service replied that it would be available for pick-up or delivery on 12/31/22. It's sloppy conduct by Intellivision to had supplied the metadata and info to these retailers originally but then never followed-up to ensure no invalid data remained. It should not be available on any website at this stage.

 

[jhd]

 

So, you are saying that we Canadians will have it by the end of this year? It may be finally time to place a pre-order! 

[Razzie.P]

3 minutes ago, jhd said:

 

So, you are saying that we Canadians will have it by the end of this year? It may be finally time to place a pre-order! 

Yep.  As sure as Tommy is a NY Yankee's Hall of Famer, it'll be there!!!

[mr_me]

1 hour ago, MattPilz said:

They became a problem when Intellivision failed to update or withdraw their consoles from third party marketplaces. People were being charged hundreds of dollars each from Gamestop for their pre-orders that never existed based on the release date Intellivision supplied to them. Even now Amico appears on various sites including Gamestop Canada for active pre-order with a listed release date of 12/31/22. Somewhere I had seen a question asking when it will ship and customer service replied that it would be available for pick-up or delivery on 12/31/22. It's sloppy conduct by Intellivision to had supplied the metadata and info to these retailers originally but then never followed-up to ensure no invalid data remained. It should not be available on any website at this stage.

 

Each store is responsible for their own listings.  The Amico currently has no release date so that has nothing to do with them.  People don't have to preorder. It's only a problem if Gamestop Canada goes out of business.

Edited November 9, 2022 by mr_me

[Tommy2D]

43 minutes ago, mr_me said:

Each store is responsible for their own listings.  The Amico currently has no release date so that has nothing to do with them.  People don't have to preorder. It's only a problem if Gamestop Canada goes out of business.

It has something to do with them.  I can't think of that many companies that would continually list products, through a retailer, that they are unprepared to deliver. 

 

[MattPilz]

59 minutes ago, mr_me said:

Each store is responsible for their own listings.  The Amico currently has no release date so that has nothing to do with them.

Intellivision directly provided these sites with the store listing data in the first place, they certainly could make the effort to ensure the listings are pulled from all of these outlets until further notice. Out of respect and transparency, at least. Hard to believe a company could secure 100,000 pre-order units with major distributors but wouldn't still have a line of communication with them.

 

It's still listed for sale on Best Buy Canada too, complete with the blog promotion from Jon Scarr containing the Q1 2022 anticipated release date straight from the then-CEO's mouth.

 

I believed the words of the new CEO in February when he claimed the release date would be announced by the end of that month. I bought the full boxset and pre-ordered founder's edition as part of that pledge. Feels like past and present CEO kept dangling the stick of false promises in front of everyone to encourage more sales, and that's unfortunate.

 

Edited November 9, 2022 by MattPilz

[Wayler]

5 hours ago, mr_me said:

Even without a pandemic people wouldn't have been surprised about missing that release date.

This kind of blanket statement just shows how you shouldn't be taken seriously. It isn't lying per se, just grossly and purposefully deceiving. 

 

People means everyone. And it's a laughable statement that everyone wouldn't be surprised about the delay. 

 

A more accurate statement would be: those people who had followed this intensely from the beginning and, for example, knew about the job openings a few months before launch wouldn't have been surprised about missing the release date. 

 

As you like to talk about facts, could you clarify your statement and meaning of "people"? 

 

Or has this been discussed? 

[+GoldLeader]

8 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

... submitted the paperwork and got that FCC certs...

 

 

Speaking of CERTS

Did I tell you guys the story of how I once picked up 2 sailor girls with just a drop of retsyn?

 

 

Nawwww, ...  another time,...

 

 

 

 

I'll throw myself out

[Matt_B]

6 hours ago, mr_me said:

We talked about Oct 2020.  It's a date that was selected prematurely in 2018.  Even without a pandemic people wouldn't have been surprised about missing that release date.

 

They warned when they announced the April 2021 date back in August 2020 that there would be a lot of uncertainty releasing by then, probably shouldn't have announced that date.  What's wrong with making the official announcement in February 2021, it gave Republic investors plenty of time to make their final decisions before the campaign ended. 

 

Their manufacturer might have started with ordering components with the longest lead time.  The risk disclosure mentioned parts but some money may have gone to other manufacturing activity. With all the uncertainty around component supply and pricing, they would have had to adapt production schedules, they didn't necessarily need 100k units of inventory for 2021.

Yes, they selected Oct 2020 far too early and it should have been treated as an aspirational date at that point. However, they reconfirmed an Oct 2020 release in Apr 2020 when they ran the Fig campaign, at which point they must have known that they weren't going to make it. After all, they didn't have a finished console, FCC certification, a manufacturing deal or parts on order. Covid lockdowns had already started in parts of the world by then. We didn't hear about it until August 2020 though.

 

Similarly, the Apr 2021 date was announced in Aug 2020 when they still didn't have a finished console, FCC certification, parts on order or a manufacturing deal. There was no 'uncertainty' because they certainly weren't going to make it. Throwing a million bucks that they end up forfeiting at Ark a month later doesn't get them off the hook. Neither does telling us in Feb 2021 when they've already known for the better part of six months that it's not happening.

 

Oh, and guess what. They still didn't have FCC certification or a finished console in Feb 2021 so they were lying to the Republic investors when they said it could be out for Oct 2021. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that the Ark hadn't just pocketed the money for breach of contract by that point, but if parts had been ordered in Apr 2020 they'd have had them by then and that excuse had already worn thin.

 

Given that it was part of their investor pitch that they had 100K in purchase orders, why wouldn't they be making that many of them? Maybe you think that was the lie? 😃

[+x=usr(1536)]

This thread has inspired me to begin collecting Amico certifications of fitness for sale.  I'm starting with the FCC, probably going for Industry Canada next, and will likely branch out to the CE mark after that.  From there, the rest of the world is my oyster   If anyone has any suggestions for how best to find these, I'd love to hear about them.  Oh, and WATA grading.  Definitely want to have them graded.

 

Also, does anyone have experience with collecting ГОСТ standards?  I realise that given current events in Russia this may be difficult at present, but they will eventually be on my radar so might as well start preparing now.

[Rev]

10 hours ago, mr_me said:

(they've had three dates).  

 

Incorrect. As usual. 

 

 

[MrBeefy]

16 hours ago, Wayler said:

This kind of blanket statement just shows how you shouldn't be taken seriously. It isn't lying per se, just grossly and purposefully deceiving. 

 

People means everyone. And it's a laughable statement that everyone wouldn't be surprised about the delay. 

 

A more accurate statement would be: those people who had followed this intensely from the beginning and, for example, knew about the job openings a few months before launch wouldn't have been surprised about missing the release date. 

 

As you like to talk about facts, could you clarify your statement and meaning of "people"? 

 

Or has this been discussed? 

He's just holding on to Amico being his friend and thinks the company is trying hard and that you should just LEAVE THEM ALONE! 😭

 

If you had any reasonable thoughts you were labeled a hater or worse around here.

10 hours ago, Rev said:

 

Incorrect. As usual. 

 

 

Yup. Intellivision has lied and provided many timeliness.

 

Some people have a hard time admitting the people making their Friend is a bunch of incompetent pathological liars.

 

If Joey was on the team it would be done.

 

IT'S ALWAYS JOEY!

[Matt_B]

They've had more dates than an entire season of Love Island and they've all been just as fake.

[Tommy2D]

2 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

IT'S ALWAYS JOEY!

What is this reference?

[Rev]

3 hours ago, Tommy2D said:

What is this reference?

Its a line in that YT documentary “roblox oof”.   Referencing Joey Kuras doing all the sounds in games and someone else taking his credit. 

[MattPilz]

I'm still not following the non-disclosure agreement of Mike and Chuck, since they also seem readily able to say and convey whatever they want including on video even joking about hoping they won't violate it by doing so. At this rate it'd be appreciated if they would take questions or demonstrate certain other aspects to their audience if this is all in its final production form. I'm still really intrigued by the RFID aspects and how everything syncs with the accounts, cloud storage, server database and so on.

 

Here are some screen grabs from last night where Chuck showed off some phone interface and the LEDs. Not sure if those are buttons on the touch screen, some GUI or just the 'docked controller' animation that might change per game?

 

Edited November 10, 2022 by MattPilz

[MrBeefy]

6 hours ago, Tommy2D said:

What is this reference?

What Rev said here. I linked the patreon to the guy who made the video. I think it will be public at some point, but if you want to laugh at how Tommy lies an absurd amount it is a must watch. It's 90 minutes long but entertaining and fairly thorough.

 

It's a reminder as to how when you don't question what people say they can make up their own reality. Tommy lies a lot(tm). It actually inflates himself while people who did the work don't get recognized.

 

Even something as simple as Oof. Tommy has started claiming he created Oof FOR Roblox. It was created FOR Messiah. He has even changed the Metadata in the file to say Tommy Tallarico instead of what it originally said which was Joey Kuras.

 

This is what it says on Joey's website as to what he did. 

 

IT'S ALWAYS JOEY.

[MrBeefy]

42 minutes ago, MattPilz said:

I'm still not following the non-disclosure agreement of Mike and Chuck, since they also seem readily able to say and convey whatever they want including on video even joking about hoping they won't violate it by doing so. At this rate it'd be appreciated if they would take questions or demonstrate certain other aspects to their audience if this is all in its final production form. I'm still really intrigued by the RFID aspects and how everything syncs with the accounts, cloud storage, server database and so on.

 

Here are some screen grabs from last night where Chuck showed off some phone interface and the LEDs. Not sure if those are buttons on the touch screen, some GUI or just the 'docked controller' animation that might change per game?

 

Man that's a eyesore to just be sitting on a table. It needs to lose the leds. Is it a good idea to have the screens continually on when charging/not in use?

[Rev]

2 minutes ago, MrBeefy said:

What Rev said here. I linked the patreon to the guy who made the video. I think it will be public at some point, but if you want to laugh at how Tommy lies an absurd amount it is a must watch. It's 90 minutes long but entertaining and fairly thorough.

 

It's a reminder as to how when you don't question what people say they can make up their own reality. Tommy lies a lot(tm). It actually inflates himself while people who did the work don't get recognized.

 

Even something as simple as Oof. Tommy has started claiming he created Oof FOR Roblox. It was created FOR Messiah. He has even changed the Metadata in the file to say Tommy Tallarico instead of what it originally said which was Joey Kuras.

 

This is what it says on Joey's website as to what he did. 

 

IT'S ALWAYS JOEY.

Apparently this Joey guy is a gaming racist hater!

[mr_me]

On 11/9/2022 at 1:54 PM, MattPilz said:

Intellivision directly provided these sites with the store listing data in the first place, they certainly could make the effort to ensure the listings are pulled from all of these outlets until further notice. Out of respect and transparency, at least. Hard to believe a company could secure 100,000 pre-order units with major distributors but wouldn't still have a line of communication with them.

 

It's still listed for sale on Best Buy Canada too, complete with the blog promotion from Jon Scarr containing the Q1 2022 anticipated release date straight from the then-CEO's mouth.

 

I believed the words of the new CEO in February when he claimed the release date would be announced by the end of that month. I bought the full boxset and pre-ordered founder's edition as part of that pledge. Feels like past and present CEO kept dangling the stick of false promises in front of everyone to encourage more sales, and that's unfortunate.

 

Earlier this year different stores listed different release dates.  When the manufacturer has no date the store picks an arbitrary date like December 31st.  That guy at Best Buy would of course know this, the customer service rep that takes the customer call wouldn't. 

 

I don't have any inside information to say if at that time they were close to a deal or had a deal that fell through or not.

 

On 11/9/2022 at 3:12 PM, Matt_B said:

Yes, they selected Oct 2020 far too early and it should have been treated as an aspirational date at that point. However, they reconfirmed an Oct 2020 release in Apr 2020 when they ran the Fig campaign, at which point they must have known that they weren't going to make it. After all, they didn't have a finished console, FCC certification, a manufacturing deal or parts on order. Covid lockdowns had already started in parts of the world by then. We didn't hear about it until August 2020 though.

 

Similarly, the Apr 2021 date was announced in Aug 2020 when they still didn't have a finished console, FCC certification, parts on order or a manufacturing deal. There was no 'uncertainty' because they certainly weren't going to make it. Throwing a million bucks that they end up forfeiting at Ark a month later doesn't get them off the hook. Neither does telling us in Feb 2021 when they've already known for the better part of six months that it's not happening.

 

Oh, and guess what. They still didn't have FCC certification or a finished console in Feb 2021 so they were lying to the Republic investors when they said it could be out for Oct 2021. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that the Ark hadn't just pocketed the money for breach of contract by that point, but if parts had been ordered in Apr 2020 they'd have had them by then and that excuse had already worn thin.

 

Given that it was part of their investor pitch that they had 100K in purchase orders, why wouldn't they be making that many of them? Maybe you think that was the lie? 😃

There's nothing wrong with having a target release date when you are starting product development but most companies keep that private.

 

in April 2020 the Fig-Amico web page didn't have an October release date.  It said "if and when Fig Publishing becomes a co-publisher and the product is developed and commercially released (anticipated Q4 2020)."  Again later on the page it says "Provided the product is successfully developed and released,".  It also said "We are currently only collecting indications of interest, and the terms of the revenue sharing agreement with the developer and other details of this investment will be finalized if we receive sufficient interest from investors."  Ultimately the Republic/Fig campaign closed the following year in April 2021 with investor's money committed at that time.

 

In early 2020 they were probably behind on a few things, being a few months late wouldn't have been the end of the world.  Looking back it might be clear they weren't ready but at the time they were working with many months still ahead of them to get ready.  Hardware wise they had a working prototype with final specifications by early 2020.  It turned out, according to their engineers, that they didn't get their prototype in a lab for compliance testing until November 2020, which resulted in an engineering change in early 2021, and then fcc compliance confirmation from the lab not until June/July 2021.  They didn't know in August 2020 that they'd have to make that hardware revision.   In February 2021, they were working towards a 2021 or early 2022 release, they did have a contract manufacturer and supposedly plenty of financing for manufacturing.  Of course they failed to release the product and then we found out their deal with their contract manufacturer fell apart and they lost their financing.  And no more release dates.

 

Regarding speculation on Ark making less than 100k units, there's a number of things to consider.  From Ark's perspective they're dealing with a new company and might want to manage the numbers.  From IE's perspective, they still have to sell those 100k units sitting in retail.  The numbers they produce have to be coordinated with their marketing efforts and marketing budget, at a time where each day they go without revenue is costing them.   Further, purchase orders don't take away the risk.  Bigger numbers means bigger risk, how much risk were they willing to take. Maybe they were prepared to do 100k units and take on that risk. Again we don't know what quantities Ark was preparing to manufacture according to their contract.

 

1 hour ago, MattPilz said:

I'm still not following the non-disclosure agreement of Mike and Chuck, since they also seem readily able to say and convey whatever they want including on video even joking about hoping they won't violate it by doing so. At this rate it'd be appreciated if they would take questions or demonstrate certain other aspects to their audience if this is all in its final production form. I'm still really intrigued by the RFID aspects and how everything syncs with the accounts, cloud storage, server database and so on.

 

Here are some screen grabs from last night where Chuck showed off some phone interface and the LEDs. Not sure if those are buttons on the touch screen, some GUI or just the 'docked controller' animation that might change per game?

Depends what the NDA says.  For example, it might say they aren't allowed to show gameplay or talk about the games.  Showing the lighting effects or the controller app wouldn't violate those points.  

 

 

Edited November 10, 2022 by mr_me

[MattPilz]

58 minutes ago, mr_me said:

Depends what the NDA says.  For example, it might say they aren't allowed to show gameplay or talk about the games.  Showing the lighting effects or the controller app wouldn't violate those points.  

Even on stream the two don't seem to be in agreement of what the NDA constitutes with one saying they can't talk about a certain thing and the other still talking about it and saying they can, like this exchange here. They both implied initially they could only show the unboxing and then cut the stream before showing any UI stuff, but now both of them have shown various bits of the UI including the touch controllers and controller app. And it seems each week they might tease more details, but I can't imagine the NDA is evolving like that when these are the same core test units meant for internal feedback (and not reviews).

[Matt_B]

1 hour ago, mr_me said:

There's nothing wrong with having a target release date when you are starting product development but most companies keep that private.

Yes, keeping it internal is what the big three do until they've got everything in place to set a launch date that they absolutely know that they won't miss.

 

With that expectation set across the industry, doing anything else is just going to mark you as an amateur. Smaller companies might get away with a few months of slipping but more than a year and you're vaporware or the console that time forgot.

 

1 hour ago, mr_me said:

in April 2020 the Fig-Amico web page didn't have an October release date.  It said "if and when Fig Publishing becomes a co-publisher and the product is developed and commercially released (anticipated Q4 2020)."  Again later on the page it says "Provided the product is successfully developed and released,".  It also said "We are currently only collecting indications of interest, and the terms of the revenue sharing agreement with the developer and other details of this investment will be finalized if we receive sufficient interest from investors."  Ultimately the Republic/Fig campaign closed the following year in April 2021 with investor's money committed at that time.

Seeing as 10/10/2020 is in Q4 2020 that does not repudiate the long established and already widely published date. A reasonable person who hadn't been paying much attention to the fine print might assume that they were only doing so to allow for unforeseen slippages, not that they weren't even remotely ready to commence manufacturing.

 

Also, here's a quote from a post Tommy made to this forum that very month:

The thread in question might have been locked and hidden, but the internet doesn't forget.

 

Anyway, not only were they supposedly still on for 10/10/20 but they're supposedly manufacturing a hundred units in May 2020 of an unfinished and un-certified console with no parts on order and no manufacturing deal in place. Yeah, right?

 

Either Tommy is a liar or delusional, take your pick. They're not mutually exclusive either.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 10, 2022 by Matt_B
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