Intellivision Amico’s trademark changed to ‘abandoned’

[Cebus Capucinis]

24 minutes ago, Pink said:

why it's not a good idea to eat dog poop.

I know of a certain film that may disagree with that assessment......

[+5-11under]

28 minutes ago, Matt_B said:

I'd say that we've already moved on to the wake.

Are there little quartered triangle sandwiches?

[Matt_B]

33 minutes ago, Pink said:

I'm sure @kevtris could explain as to why building a plant in Texas to manufacture and assemble everything is a completely stupid, unrealistic, cost prohibitive and inefficient idea, but's it's honestly not even worth his time. It'd be like writing an entire novel explaining why it's not a good idea to eat dog poop.

There's a brief history of Microsoft's ill-fated Wilsonville plant here that should pretty much tell you all you'd need to know:

 

https://www.extremetech.com/computing/252743-microsoft-closes-us-surface-factory-moves-production-china

[Matt_B]

 

2 minutes ago, 5-11under said:

Are there little quartered triangle sandwiches?

Of course.

 

The professional keeners will be arriving shortly.

 

 

Edited November 15, 2022 by Matt_B

[SteveTheColecoDude]

49 minutes ago, Pink said:

Oh not to worry, we got evidence that they have 25 multi-millionaire investors who all want to invest, along with a "legit billionaire" who LOVES what they're doing! I'm sure the reason we've heard nothing is because these things take a while to finalize and they're probably taking their sweet time to get everything just right 😉 Oh, and the pandemic and chip shortage slow everything down too as well 🙃

 

 

Or if they truly are "smart and successful" like Tommy claims, then that's probably why they never bothered to invest in the first place 😂

 

Or maybe Tommy just made & fabricated this whole thing up, or at least part of it 🤣🤣🤣

 

I'm sure @kevtris could explain as to why building a plant in Texas to manufacture and assemble everything is a completely stupid, unrealistic, cost prohibitive and inefficient idea, but's it's honestly not even worth his time. It'd be like writing an entire novel explaining why it's not a good idea to eat dog poop.

 

Is there anyone (not counting any of the Youtube harassment crew) that still believes that all the things Tommy claimed were actually true? Also like the hundreds of games/companies Tommy said they were working on/in talks with, does anyone still believe that he was being honest? Not being funny or anything, I'd be fascinated to see if there actually is anyone out there.

Edited November 15, 2022 by SteveTheColecoDude

[Rowsdower70]

36 minutes ago, SteveTheColecoDude said:

 

Is there anyone (not counting any of the Youtube harassment crew) that still believes that all the things Tommy claimed were actually true? Also like the hundreds of games/companies Tommy said they were working on/in talks with, does anyone still believe that he was being honest? Not being funny or anything, I'd be fascinated to see if there actually is anyone out there.

If you still hear them refer to Tommy as "my friend" then they are still under the spell and believe whatever they're told by Tommy or Phil. 

[Matt_B]

44 minutes ago, Rowsdower70 said:

If you still hear them refer to Tommy as "my friend" then they are still under the spell and believe whatever they're told by Tommy or Phil. 

It's funny how their 'friend' hasn't spoken to any of them since April, isn't it?

[SteveTheColecoDude]

1 hour ago, Rowsdower70 said:

If you still hear them refer to Tommy as "my friend" then they are still under the spell and believe whatever they're told by Tommy or Phil. 

 

Ha yes, that's quite a telling sign alright!

 

17 minutes ago, Matt_B said:

It's funny how their 'friend' hasn't spoken to any of them since April, isn't it?

 

Don't be cruel, he's not talking to them because he needs some space.

 

...Just ignore the fact that he's off playing backgammon tournaments, giving interviews to backgammon magazines and hanging in bars with real life friends. 

[kevtris]

17 minutes ago, SteveTheColecoDude said:

 

Ha yes, that's quite a telling sign alright!

 

 

Don't be cruel, he's not talking to them because he needs some space.

 

...Just ignore the fact that he's off playing backgammon tournaments, giving interviews to backgammon magazines and hanging in bars with real life friends. 

wonder if he's the designated driver then.  tommy claims to have never drank a single drop of liquor in his life.   just like he was eating pizza after claiming to be a vegan I guess.

[MrBeefy]

4 hours ago, Bill Loguidice said:

The joke answer is it's reasonably different from anything else out there because it doesn't actually exist, but the serious answer is that what made it distinctive before would still make it distinctive for the foreseeable future should it actually somehow come into existence. I feel like the controllers and their integration are distinctive enough on their own to offer a different enough play experience from anything else out there (and again, whether that idea would be compelling enough to enough people is a different discussion).

 

With that said - and my concern with anything like this - outside technology marches on. The problem with any niche system is that they already start at a power deficit and the longer they go without being released and/or stagnating, the bigger the technological gap gets. That doesn't always matter as a platform like the Switch proves, but even that is getting pushback and starting to bump up against practical limitations when it comes to game ports. Basically, the more time that passes, the creakier the technology gets and the less compelling other differentiators become. In other words, you can have as clever a gimmick/angle as you want, but at some point that surrounding technology becomes too much of a handicap to overcome. That's another reason why I don't see a future for the VCS, and certainly have concerns about the - at this point - hypothetical Amico, as more time passes. More time passing is NEVER a good thing in the technology world unless you have a product like the Playdate that's by design already obsolete. 

Bill you should be a politician.

4 hours ago, Rev said:

Why does this thread feel like a waiting room for a funeral?

Everyone attends a funeral to try and buy the rights to a company name and discuss building a new console. Isn't that what any normal person does at a funeral?

 

On a different note. Can anyone tell me how well this aged?

[Matt_B]

That post aged about as well as a carton of goats milk in a sauna. 😀

[rayik]

2 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

On a different note. Can anyone tell me how well this aged?

 

How prophetic!  All 5 points have come true!

[MarioMan88]

4 hours ago, kevtris said:

wonder if he's the designated driver then.  tommy claims to have never drank a single drop of liquor in his life.   just like he was eating pizza after claiming to be a vegan I guess.

Yep he’s the DD alright. He’s giving them Ferrari rides. Maybe to entice another 10k investor….

….or he could be doing Uber as side hustle.

[MrBeefy]

Great news! The credits in Pac-Man World Repac has recognized the original team!

 

Like usual IT'S ALWAYS JOEY!

 

 

[Flojomojo]

Joey did that work under Tommy Tallarico Studios. When you get some renovation work done by Castle Windows, doesn’t Chris Cardillo benefit from that, too? 
 

Why aren’t those guys collaborating? Just imagine it: Care Bears AND Rainbow Brite, under one leaky roof. 🌈🦄 Coleco Amico!

[MrBeefy]

58 minutes ago, Flojomojo said:

Joey did that work under Tommy Tallarico Studios. When you get some renovation work done by Castle Windows, doesn’t Chris Cardillo benefit from that, too? 
 

Why aren’t those guys collaborating? Just imagine it: Care Bears AND Rainbow Brite, under one leaky roof. 🌈🦄 Coleco Amico!

[MrBeefy]

So here is an interview with Mike Mika.

 

They talk Amico at 2:01:10

 

Here are some takeaways...

- Hope's that Night Stalker and Cloudy get a release.

- Night Stalker was a 4 level demo when shown.

- Called their dev kit just an Android board and was not the final thing.

- Cloudy is done.

- After demo the question of money came up. Digital Eclipse can't spend money. 

- Ideally get both games on other platforms.

- When raising money they need to say things publicly to entice people. So people will give you the money you need.

- SEO doesn't work at the end of the day.

- Made a lot of promises that they had to keep to investors.

- A lot of games were far a long or done.

 

So IE basically said yes make these games but didn't give them money. So it is reasonable to assume that is how a majority of the games went. 

 

Marketing seems to be astroturfing and making promises to make it sound good. Too many, Would That Be Something promises to investors they couldn't keep or stretched them too far. My guess is they had little to no focus on the product which was obvious when Tommy would flap his gums.

 

It screamed to me that the main goal was for them to obtain money. Looks like they didn't know when to cut their loses or just accept they had a turd.

[Flojomojo]

He was VERY diplomatic. I guess industry people never know where their next partnership is coming from. Refreshing to hear someone actually talk about what might happen with Cloudy Mountain and Night Stalker, which looked like they had potential to be fun. 

[Matt_B]

Reading between the lines, I'd guess that both games were developed for that demo but Intellivision never paid them to take either any further.

You can see why they dropped down from the promised fifty or so games to more like fifteen now.

 

That said, if the devs have essentially finished Cloudy Mountain on their own time, maybe something can come of it yet? They'll want paying for it though.

[MrBeefy]

47 minutes ago, Matt_B said:

Reading between the lines, I'd guess that both games were developed for that demo but Intellivision never paid them to take either any further.

You can see why they dropped down from the promised fifty or so games to more like fifteen now.

 

That said, if the devs have essentially finished Cloudy Mountain on their own time, maybe something can come of it yet? They'll want paying for it though.

Or they could change the name and release it themselves. 🤷

[roots.genoa]

Cloudy with a chance of mountains™️

[MrTrust]

Elite Oubliettes and Basilisks: Overcast Summit.

[Matt_B]

50 minutes ago, MrBeefy said:

Or they could change the name and release it themselves. 🤷

They could, but that might land them in a TxK situation where everyone loses but the lawyers.

 

 

[MrBeefy]

54 minutes ago, Matt_B said:

They could, but that might land them in a TxK situation where everyone loses but the lawyers.

 

 

Just saying the running man is horribly generic. Quest to Smokey/Fire Mountain.

 

If they didn't get paid for it there's nothing IE could do. You can't copyright gameplay. There are plenty of similar games out there. The only people who would care are the ones who care about the name. In this case Cloudy still isn't the full original name either.

[Matt_B]

21 minutes ago, MrBeefy said:

Just saying the running man is horribly generic. Quest to Smokey/Fire Mountain.

 

If they didn't get paid for it there's nothing IE could do. You can't copyright gameplay. There are plenty of similar games out there. The only people who would care are the ones who care about the name. In this case Cloudy still isn't the full original name either.

The Running Man is trademarked. You don't mess with trademarks no matter how generic they might look. The holders are practically obliged to sue you.

 

Also, if you're a small developer, merely defending a lawsuit is quite possibly going to bankrupt you, win or lose. That was the real tragedy of TxK; all the analysis was that Minter would win, but he chose not to fight the case because it would suck up too much of his time and money.