Intellivision Amico’s trademark changed to ‘abandoned’

[zapzapzac]

15 hours ago, Special Teams said:

You're on the right track except we like to refer to it as freedom.

Did you just waltz into a discussion about the intense censorship on AtariAge in favor of TT and the Amico to tell me how much you love freedom?

 

🤡

[MCHufnagel]

I'll be honest, I stayed away for a while due to the handling of the now hidden Amico thread. The deleting of the posts showing footbaths was puzzling to me at first. But then I realized why this was being done. When I returned, I was kinda shocked that the thread wasn't just closed, but deleted. Pretty shameful.

[Flojomojo]

2 hours ago, rayik said:

Jaybird drank the cool aid as far back as 2019.  Kind of explains the moderation done.  Doesn't make it right though.

 

 

Interesting post. I remember the turn. He wasn't always like that, he seemed happy to pile on in the Atari VCS and Coleco trainwreck threads. 

 

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For whatever it's worth, I don't see how there is any but the most superficial resemblance between the Intellivision Amico and the Coleco Chameleon.

Well THAT aged poorly. 

 

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They're both projects with the stated goal of creating a game console, but that's about it.

Maybe that was true in late 2019, but he gave an awful lot of benefit of the doubt to a completely new startup with a loudmouth CEO who behaved like a clown from the jump. 

 

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When you look at the people involved, the years of experience and the expertise in relevant areas that they bring to it, the market research they've done, the clarity of their focus on the market and their target user base, the framework they've put together for managing game development projects and for attracting new developers, and just about any other basis of comparison, the Intellivision Amico project is so much more credible than the Coleco Chameleon could ever hope to be that they don't even belong in the same conversation.

Ah yes, that "market research," which said that their addressable audience was 3 billion people, in other words, like Candy Crush, but they got to keep all the money. That market research? And the people involved, as we can plainly see now, were all name-drops that were exploited to separate people from pre-order money. Maybe it was credible to the guy who wrote this, but the parallels between Amico and Chameleon were and are painfully obvious. 

 

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I'm glad that people still remember the Chameleon as a cautionary tale, but at this point, those who are still making constant callbacks to it are only making themselves look willfully ignorant of what the Amico project is trying to do. So, how about we stop "crying Chameleon" and give the Amico the benefit of the doubt and an honest chance.

"An honest chance" via censorship, bullying, and gaslighting! This was an extreme overcorrection and I wish he'd come out and apologize for it. It was like, 18th amendment levels of wrong. 

 

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I also don't agree that the Intellivision hasn't "earned a fan base," to paraphrase something that was said a few pages back. The original Blue Sky Rangers are among those behind it, and they've spent many years successfully marketing the Intellivision library and properties in novel ways, from the "Intellivision Lives!" and "Intellivision Rocks!" collections to the various plug-and-plays to the Nintendo DS collection to the multiple versions of Intellivision games that have been released for phones and other mobile platforms. Not all of those efforts have been equally successful, but the fact that they're still at it should be a sign that they know what they're doing and that they've successfully built and maintained a reliable fan base. (That fan base would include me, even though I didn't grow up with the Intellivision and didn't play my first Intellivision game until my mid-20s.)

As we said back in 1993, WHOOMP! (There It Is)

Blind fanboy worship of a greasy salesman, because he tells you want you want to hear, was a serious lapse in judgment. 

[SegaSnatcher]

3 hours ago, rayik said:

Jaybird drank the cool aid as far back as 2019.  Kind of explains the moderation done.  Doesn't make it right though.

 

 

Well it turned out the Amico project is much, much worse than the Chameleon.  At least Mike didn't take anyone's money.  Also, I don't think he acted downright nasty to people who criticized that project, could be wrong.  

Jay betted on the wrong horse by being Tommy's personal muscle man for 3 straight years.  Literally banning many people who did not break any actual forum rules, but simply posted stuff that made Tommy upset.  Like why was Jay so worried about Tommy's feeling getting hurt over valid critical comments?  Why did he make it a mission to silence anyone who was asking too many hard questions that Tommy didn't like?  Why did he only go after people asking critical questions and not also the members who would personally attack those of us posting valid criticism?  People who were way more out of line towards me and others than I ever was towards Tommy.  

I challenge anyone to find one post of mine in that "Tommy Hugbox" thread that was ban worthy.  I posted in that thread in the exact same manner I have in this thread and I don't think anyone would say any of my posts here are ban worthy, so why were they in his thread? That was a rhetorical question, because we all know why.  At worse, I might have been a bit relentless here and there in getting my points across in his thread, but ban worthy I don't think so. 

And let's face facts, Tommy was way more relentless in the straight up BS he spewed in his thread than any of us who offered criticism.  100% objective fact. 
 
Lastly, I always found it quite interesting how discussion in the VCS thread was basically a free for all, but when it came to Amico there were clear limitations in the discussions that could be had.  

 

Edited February 15, 2023 by SegaSnatcher

[Flojomojo]

We were led to believe it wasn't a unilateral decision from Jay, but a panel of moderators who agreed on what was to be done. Clearly they were afraid of chasing away the Amico Man, even as he exploited their good will. I think it would have been better for everyone if Tallarico and his ideas were forced to stand on their own, without help from an overly kind host. It's also clear that AtariAge doesn't seem to want to own their part in this. Maybe the SEC came along and advised them to stop doing marketing for a suspected scam?

 

I know I got a little silly in the Atari VCS thread, because their pre-release marketing was hilariously inept, but I would have toned it down or taken it outside if I were ever asked to do so. 

 

@SegaSnatcher were you kicked out of the Tommy thread(s)? 

 

 

[SegaSnatcher]

1 hour ago, Flojomojo said:

We were led to believe it wasn't a unilateral decision from Jay, but a panel of moderators who agreed on what was to be done. Clearly they were afraid of chasing away the Amico Man, even as he exploited their good will. I think it would have been better for everyone if Tallarico and his ideas were forced to stand on their own, without help from an overly kind host. It's also clear that AtariAge doesn't seem to want to own their part in this. Maybe the SEC came along and advised them to stop doing marketing for a suspected scam?

 

I know I got a little silly in the Atari VCS thread, because their pre-release marketing was hilariously inept, but I would have toned it down or taken it outside if I were ever asked to do so. 

 

@SegaSnatcher were you kicked out of the Tommy thread(s)? 

 

 

Yes, I got kicked out of Tommy's Q&A thread.   Before they changed it to "Amico Fun Conversations". 

[SteveTheColecoDude]

At Tommy's request!

 

 

 

 

https://amicoage.neocities.org/32

[SegaSnatcher]

14 minutes ago, SteveTheColecoDude said:

At Tommy's request!

 

 

 

 

https://amicoage.neocities.org/32

"I'm intrigued by the Intelllivision Amico, and I look forward to learning more!"  

I bet he learned a lot!

[Tommy2D]

1 hour ago, SteveTheColecoDude said:

Yeeessshhhh that tone is so fawning and servile.  I get that an industry veteran / special guest often gets a degree of deference and protection, if they attend a Q&A.  Except, those Q&A sessions don't usually go on for months and aren't typically attached to someone promoting a product, at least not so blatantly. 

 

I wonder how many unique users viewed the Amico thread.  I know that it got millions of views but how many separate people actually laid eyes on it? 

Edited February 15, 2023 by Tommy2D

[MarioMan88]

Pitiful behavior from an adult. I remember being appalled at how Lord Tallarico responded to Mr Beefy. 
 

Wonder if Tom is on some backgammon forums right now engaging in same said behavior?

[roots.genoa]

9 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

I think Amico will never officially be canceled. They have no need to cancel it. If you check out the hugbox FB group they are deluded in thinking it is still coming. Some still talk about how Tommy is going to pull it through even though he was ousted from his spot.

Do you think they'll start a real religion based on waiting for the coming of the Amico? 😅

 

Since we're talking about bans, I didn't even confront Tommy to get banned! Iirc, a few days before I was banned, I posted a rant because one of the shills suddenly attacked me for no reason (he was like blaming me for some modern aspects of gaming that have no relation to me at all) and in it I pointed out that the Amico "family" was creating its own enemies by the attitude of its members, but I remember that my rant was actually rather kindly welcomed. Some shills even agreed with my points. Anyway, I wasn't banned afterwards.

What happened in-between is a shill (probably that two-faced 1001lives/Rayken) complained about the Taco thread (in the Q&A thread), saying it wasn't interesting or something (then just don't go there, silly!). Jaybird started to say 'they' were considering locking it because it had become too big, and I (politely) protested because I thought it was unfair... And I made the mistake to say it didn't seem "that hard to moderate" (since it was basically in free-style mode 😅). So I suspect Jay banned me because he felt I didn't show him enough respect on that occasion, but it's not like he gave me warning or anything. 😑 The day after, I could not access the thread.

Edited February 15, 2023 by roots.genoa

[Matt_B]

The Amico might not officially be canceled but I'd think that Intellivision will eventually be forced into bankruptcy by their unpaid debts, and that should be the end of it.

 

I wouldn't put it past someone to buy up what's left when they're liquidated and re-start the whole shenanigans again though.

[Tommy2D]

1 hour ago, roots.genoa said:

So I suspect Jay banned me because he felt I didn't show him enough respect on that occasion, but it's not like he gave me warning or anything. 😑 The day after, I could not access the thread.

 

I think that this GIF pretty much covers the moderation style of that thread. 

 

[MrBeefy]

6 hours ago, SegaSnatcher said:

Well it turned out the Amico project is much, much worse than the Chameleon.  At least Mike didn't take anyone's money.  Also, I don't think he acted downright nasty to people who criticized that project, could be wrong.  

Jay betted on the wrong horse by being Tommy's personal muscle man for 3 straight years.  Literally banning many people who did not break any actual forum rules, but simply posted stuff that made Tommy upset.  Like why was Jay so worried about Tommy's feeling getting hurt over valid critical comments?  Why did he make it a mission to silence anyone who was asking too many hard questions that Tommy didn't like?  Why did he only go after people asking critical questions and not also the members who would personally attack those of us posting valid criticism?  People who were way more out of line towards me and others than I ever was towards Tommy.  

I challenge anyone to find one post of mine in that "Tommy Hugbox" thread that was ban worthy.  I posted in that thread in the exact same manner I have in this thread and I don't think anyone would say any of my posts here are ban worthy, so why were they in his thread? That was a rhetorical question, because we all know why.  At worse, I might have been a bit relentless here and there in getting my points across in his thread, but ban worthy I don't think so. 

And let's face facts, Tommy was way more relentless in the straight up BS he spewed in his thread than any of us who offered criticism.  100% objective fact. 
 
Lastly, I always found it quite interesting how discussion in the VCS thread was basically a free for all, but when it came to Amico there were clear limitations in the discussions that could be had.  

Please leave...

 

Wait until you see the AMAZING wall wart!!!! Hater!

3 hours ago, MarioMan88 said:

Pitiful behavior from an adult. I remember being appalled at how Lord Tallarico responded to Mr Beefy. 
 

Wonder if Tom is on some backgammon forums right now engaging in same said behavior?

Ah yeah wasn't that the one where I pointed out he was saying "We at AtariAge" like he spoke for AtariAge? Weird phrasing to where it sounded like he was part of the team at AtariAge and was going to make AA look bad.

 

Great times. When I posted that is when I ignored ole Tommy. I knew he'd lose those 2 shits he likes holding onto. I'm kind of sad that I was right, and that many people look at him on AA as a black mark on the forums.

[MrBeefy]

Amico is saved! 

 

Now they can work on those FCC certs!

[Matt_B]

Phil has done three different deals? I know of the Evercade and BBG Entertainment ones. Any ideas as to the third?

 

As for the "6 to 7 digits", I'm guessing that he's just doing it to blow off time wasters. They're going to need millions to stave off bankruptcy, so it's probably not worth it for anything less.

[+madman]

So now Amico games wouldn't even be exclusive to the Amico? I get that this is a possible revenue stream for them, but the non-existent console will have games you can get on Steam or elsewhere? I didn't even really understand the draw of the Amico from day 1, now it's even more confusing.

[Rowsdower70]

58 minutes ago, Matt_B said:

Phil has done three different deals? I know of the Evercade and BBG Entertainment ones. Any ideas as to the third?

 

As for the "6 to 7 digits", I'm guessing that he's just doing it to blow off time wasters. They're going to need millions to stave off bankruptcy, so it's probably not worth it for anything less.

Holoride, Hans' next scam.   Its gonna be HUGE!  /s 

[Tommy2D]

2 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

Wait until you see the AMAZING wall wart!!!! Hater!

I'm half expecting INTV to send out those amazing AC adapters to all of their remaining pre-order holders and call it a day. Of course, they would have to be able to afford the shipping costs to pull that off. 

 

[MarioMan88]

3 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

Ah yeah wasn't that the one where I pointed out he was saying "We at AtariAge" like he spoke for AtariAge?

Honestly I can’t remember. I remember it was around the time he started his chatter about the Switch being a haven for porn. That is when the cracks in the Tom veneer started to appear for me.

 

Good times indeed….lots of entertainment for me and harassment for you.

 

[Matt_B]

31 minutes ago, Rowsdower70 said:

Holoride, Hans' next scam.   Its gonna be HUGE!  /s 

That checks out.

 

So, no new deals and probably not much money flowing into the Intellivision coffers from the ones that they've done either.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if they were paid in kind by writing off debts owed to the developers too.

[SparkTR]

18 minutes ago, madman said:

So now Amico games wouldn't even be exclusive to the Amico? I get that this is a possible revenue stream for them, but the non-existent console will have games you can get on Steam or elsewhere? I didn't even really understand the draw of the Amico from day 1, now it's even more confusing.

As I understand it, they targeted out of touch older people who hadn't played a videogame console since the Atari days, and thus didn't understand the modern gaming landscape. To us it looked that an android box that had weak off the shelf hardware. To them it looked like a family friendly system that was free from scandalous games like GTA and brought back the simplicity and innocence of the 80s (despite retro inspired indie games being a thing, but out of touch people wouldn't know this).

[SegaSnatcher]

I'm really curious to see how well something like Night Stalker or Astrosmash would do on other platforms.  

Definitely not the kind of games you try to sell people on a $300 console.....

[roots.genoa]

8 minutes ago, SegaSnatcher said:

I'm really curious to see how well something like Night Stalker or Astrosmash would do on other platforms.  

Definitely not the kind of games you try to sell people on a $300 console.....

Frankly Night Stalker has a cool Rez-like style that could be very popular on other systems if it's priced right. Same with Breakout even though that one is far less original. Now Astrosmash, not so much imho. It's far too generic.

[brownie]

Hi,

I jump into this looooong thread to give my opinion about the previous statements : to address the family target, don't you think there is also an aesthetic problem with what was supposed to be the Amico range of games ? Let me explain : like many of you I was really enthusiastic when the console was announced, and it would have been my first console since my original Intellivision (yes, I'm a so-called casual gamer, the target for this product). But long before the scandals we know happened, I was disappointed by how the games looked like, and especially the visual effects I never liked in the 32bit generation game consoles (explosions, ray of lights...). Many of the screenshots looked cheap and as some of you already said, were very close to what we can get on cellphones (even old java dumb phones). So for me a dream console should be retro, but with a more elegant looking games, inspired by some indie games, or by some other universes (comic books, Ghibli films, vector design...)