Intellivision Amico’s trademark changed to ‘abandoned’

[rayik]

2 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

Well there's some good news! Long overdue update coming soon after some extra finalization that is happening right now!

Guess since Phil is writing an email that means the new launch window for Amico is 2024. For every email Phil sends it takes them away from finalizing Amico for a year. How dare you want an update!

Ah the good old days again!  

 

An announcement that we will soon be making an announcement!  Just like TT did for years.

 

We can now have the fun of speculating what the finalized announcement will be!  

[MrBeefy]

6 minutes ago, rayik said:

Ah the good old days again!  

 

An announcement that we will soon be making an announcement!  Just like TT did for years.

 

We can now have the fun of speculating what the finalized announcement will be!  

Something about working on deals, working closely with testers, hard work, want to come out more than anyone else, maybe a bug, maybe some covid blame still? Some type of excuse, and/or this allows us to enter ______ production.

 

We will not get, a firm date for launch, a firm day for manufacturing, 

[+GoldLeader]

25 minutes ago, MrBeefy said:

Something about working on deals, working closely with testers, hard work, want to come out more than anyone else, maybe a bug, maybe some covid blame still? Some type of excuse, and/or this allows us to enter ______ production.

 

We will not get, a firm date for launch, a firm day for manufacturing, 

 

^ I agree it will probably be something like this.  Not sure why they lie,  but that is one constant.  I picture it being a, "So sorry folks...All along we thought we had a Small problem "X",  but it turned out to be a Big problem "Y",...Blah, blah, blah...But we'll get through it"  until their next update featuring their next "small problem"...

[mr_me]

5 hours ago, Rowsdower70 said:

I definitely feel like they figured out that they couldn't run games like Night Stalker and Cloudy Mountain on their planned production unit, so the original prototype was likely just some sort of android/pi device.   Once they decided that old smart phone specs was their target they noticeably switched to demoing mobile game shovelware.  

 

What is this based on?  The soc reported to be in leaked Amico specifications, posted a few pages back and pictured below, came out in 2018.  That's when they began this project, they could have gotten development boards at that time for developers to create the games for E3 2019, prior to making the development kits and prototypes based on the same soc.  The Amico is essentially an Android device, the operating system is Android based. A similar chip has been in mid and low range smartphones that came out between 2018 and 2021.  There's nothing special about this chip but the Adreno 506 GPU it comes with is more than capable for 3D games, although Amico Night Stalker is 2D, where Amico Skiing and Amico Moon Patrol look 3D.  The Amico Night Stalker developer has talked about developing for the Amico. 

 

Edited May 8, 2023 by mr_me

[Cebus Capucinis]

5 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

So you are leaning towards no hardware finished, no significant PO's, and line of credit entirely made up?

Don't forget no FCC Certs!!!!!

[MrBeefy]

1 hour ago, GoldLeader said:

 

^ I agree it will probably be something like this.  Not sure why they lie,  but that is one constant.  I picture it being a, "So sorry folks...All along we thought we had a Small problem "X",  but it turned out to be a Big problem "Y",...Blah, blah, blah...But we'll get through it"  until their next update featuring their next "small problem"...

Should we take bets if he addresses how he hasn't moved to Sweden? Despite having stated he lives there part time? I mean that is totally relevant and something he's brought up before. Maybe a statement of facts is in order?

13 minutes ago, Cebus Capucinis said:

Don't forget no FCC Certs!!!!!

I don't have to worry about FCC certs. A custodian whose sole job is to polish the Ferrari parking signs, told me they passed all their tests. So they totally have them and are ready to go. The launchpad was so 2020. They are like on their way to Mars right now.

[jerseystyle]

7 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

So you are leaning towards no hardware finished, no significant PO's, and line of credit entirely made up?

Yes, yes, and with the LOC I think they had it, lost it, and pretended they still had it after it was gone.

[roots.genoa]

9 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

They are like on their way to Mars right now.

Good news! Just be warned they may target Uranus next!

[MrBeefy]

3 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

Good news! Just be warned they may target Uranus next!

That would make sense. I produced an Amico or two from there daily.

[MattPilz]

It ain't no Running Man™️, but today Atari announced Mr. Run and Jump, available soon for every released platform including their own VCS.

 

 

The cover art and basic premise reminded me a lot of this 1 second teaser seen back in 2019 and then never again in any Amico showcase. Seems at least in concept Amico was planning their own runner.

[Bill Loguidice]

9 minutes ago, MattPilz said:

It ain't no Running Man™️, but today Atari announced Mr. Run and Jump, available soon for every released platform including their own VCS.

 

 

 

I do crave the occasional simplistic game, especially as my reflexes wane, and I get why they do these because of the low development costs, but I'd really like to see a bit more ambition and imagination with these titles. This game looks nice enough and seems to be well-designed, but we have a million of these things to choose from.

And I know I'm a broken record, but I'm really tired of these games having the psychedelic FX. I know why they do them because it's an easy way to mask low budget visuals, and, to be fair, this game seems to do it well without being overbearing, but I'd definitely like to see more diversity going forward with these. In short, I'd be more apt to support these if they strove to try out more new stuff rather than just do solid takes on what's already out there.

[Rowsdower70]

1 hour ago, Bill Loguidice said:

I do crave the occasional simplistic game, especially as my reflexes wane, and I get why they do these because of the low development costs, but I'd really like to see a bit more ambition and imagination with these titles. This game looks nice enough and seems to be well-designed, but we have a million of these things to choose from.

And I know I'm a broken record, but I'm really tired of these games having the psychedelic FX. I know why they do them because it's an easy way to mask low budget visuals, and, to be fair, this game seems to do it well without being overbearing, but I'd definitely like to see more diversity going forward with these. In short, I'd be more apt to support these if they strove to try out more new stuff rather than just do solid takes on what's already out there.

Yeah this seems to be the common theme with Atari's re-charged series, and while it fits on some games like Black Widow Recharged, I dont like it as the theme for every game. 

[MrBeefy]

1 hour ago, MattPilz said:

It ain't no Running Man™️, but today Atari announced Mr. Run and Jump, available soon for every released platform including their own VCS.

 

 

The cover art and basic premise reminded me a lot of this 1 second teaser seen back in 2019 and then never again in any Amico showcase. Seems at least in concept Amico was planning their own runner.

At this point, if you saw only a small snippet to never see it again, assume it was trash. Tommy was dumpster diving for any footage. That Cats With Swords was never in development.

I mean Brain Duel is a reskin, and they supposedly spent $100,000 to basically remove the beer gut from Evel in that game.

 

So funny how so many wet themselves over games that were already released and failed, flopped, or did lackluster at best. Anything to justify their fetishizsd hatred for Switch, or to make leader Tommy happy. 🤣

 

Quick PSA it won't cost you $1000s of dollars to get quality cheap games on Switch.

The same people wetting their pants over Amico games should really be making a mess of themselves over games from Qubic or other publishers.

 

[MrBeefy]

33 minutes ago, Rowsdower70 said:

Yeah this seems to be the common theme with Atari's re-charged series, and while it fits on some games like Black Widow Recharged, I dont like it as the theme for every game. 

Atari's Missile Command really made Amico's look like trash though. Both in design and gameplay. Just spray and pray on Amico. Which oddly enough is exactly how Intellivision ran itself.

[Matt_B]

1 hour ago, Rowsdower70 said:

Yeah this seems to be the common theme with Atari's re-charged series, and while it fits on some games like Black Widow Recharged, I dont like it as the theme for every game. 

I'd say that it's a really nice style for games that had vector displays to begin with, and that's a good chunk of the classic Atari Arcade games.

 

Everything else looks a bit forced though.

[mr_me]

13 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

Atari's Missile Command really made Amico's look like trash though. Both in design and gameplay. Just spray and pray on Amico. Which oddly enough is exactly how Intellivision ran itself.

With 1980 Missile Command, spraying a wall of missiles was a common tactic in later waves to deal with the initial onslaught.  You still have a finite number of missiles to manage to survive the wave.  The initial version of Missile Command Recharged lacked attack waves as well as managing missile resources so didn't feel like a Missile Command game.  It was addressed in version 2.  The other key thing is having a proper cursor controller.  If you have a Playstation you can try Missile Command Recharged control with its trackpad.  I never cared for how 1980 Missile Command looked but was still one of my favourite games.

[MrBeefy]

Any day now Phil! I believe in your ability to send an email. Even kids with the simplest grasp of tech can send an email.

CUPodcast doesn't have a weekly show. You don't have to release announcements around that. So you need to have your Amicolytes spin your tripe before the next episode.

 

I believe in his great leadership!

[Wayler]

I wonder who has died or has a terminal illness for Phil to bring about this newest update =/

[Matt_B]

4 minutes ago, Wayler said:

I wonder who has died or has a terminal illness for Phil to bring about this newest update =/

The Amico itself, perhaps?

[SteveTheColecoDude]

4 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

I believe in his great leadership!

 

Intellivision Gen2 needs to be in Phil's circle too. He was the CEO and president of Retroaction Entertainment, the company that did the Kickstarter.

 

He has quite the resume of failed projects and companies does old Phil.

Edited May 10, 2023 by SteveTheColecoDude

[+GoldLeader]

When I think of Phil Adam (and the appropriately titled Vortex of Suck, haha),  my thought is simple:  How much would they have to pay you for the Ultimate Sell Out?  To shred every last cell of dignity you have as a human being and Destroy almost any Future Credibility you may someday wish you had?

 

It'd be like getting "promoted" to Captain of the Titanic,...3 and a half hours After they hit the iceberg.

[Shawn]

On 5/7/2023 at 10:42 PM, Bill Loguidice said:

It's clearly a very sensitive topic for you, but the reality is that's how all licensing works. Whatever you think of Cardillo and his ownership - or lack thereof - he still hasn't been "stopped" after all these many years. As far as anyone knows, he really does own what he says he does despite the questions. All the bellyaching in the world will not change that. It would take a proper legal challenge, which has yet to materialize, so that content continues to be fair game for licensing by companies like iiRcade (I believe they're the only active licensors at the moment, but I haven't bothered to check).

 

Not sensitive to me personally at all. I just think it's gross how slimy it all is.

[roots.genoa]

4 hours ago, SteveTheColecoDude said:

He has quite the resume of failed projects and companies does old Phil.

Oh you're being harsh with him. Phil was the CEO of Interplay when it went bankrupt and managed to make everyone lose their job like a boss! 😎

[+frankodragon]

The entire debacle is like a well-known anime.

 

 

[MrBeefy]

11 hours ago, Wayler said:

I wonder who has died or has a terminal illness for Phil to bring about this newest update =/

It's a little dark humor but it's a way to solicit sympathy. His mother dying had no bearing on all the times previously they didn't update. Tommy did the same thing by plugging Amico in posts about his dad dying. He also weaponized his dead sister to push his failed project and went as far to swear on her grave that there was no lag (when you could see with your own eyes there was lag).

 

Is it sad that people die? Yes. It has nothing to do with the company and them not delivering on their promises, nor refunding people.

 

Maybe I have more grit than some, as after my parent died, I helped raise my youngest sibling and was back at work within 3 days. I also wouldn't disrespect said parent by whoring out their memory, or swearing on their grave to make an extra buck. If I did something in honor of that family member, you wouldn't know until AFTER (if then) that project was done.

 

Personally I find it slimy. It doesn't help that some of the sadness comes off as shallow and rehearsed, as it happened multiple times.

Now, let me be clear. You can both love your family (or someone) and still weaponize them/their tragedy for your own gain.

 

7 hours ago, SteveTheColecoDude said:

 

Intellivision Gen2 needs to be in Phil's circle too. He was the CEO and president of Retroaction Entertainment, the company that did the Kickstarter.

 

He has quite the resume of failed projects and companies does old Phil.

I'm not fixing the picture as the vortex of suck still basically remains the same. All these guys are connected. I had heard a rumor that even before the Chameleon, Tommy was talking to Mike about basically what turned into the Amico project. That is a big rumor though. Either way they are very similar with the only big difference is Intellivision had more money to fake it longer.

7 hours ago, GoldLeader said:

When I think of Phil Adam (and the appropriately titled Vortex of Suck, haha),  my thought is simple:  How much would they have to pay you for the Ultimate Sell Out?  To shred every last cell of dignity you have as a human being and Destroy almost any Future Credibility you may someday wish you had?

 

It'd be like getting "promoted" to Captain of the Titanic,...3 and a half hours After they hit the iceberg.

I respect my dignity to much. However, if I was in charge of Intellivision, they wouldn't like my decision. Which would be to issue out refunds to everyone, even the blissfully ignorant, and cancel the thing. I'd apologize for the previous leadership and their disrespect for the fans.

 

As payment I'd only take the rights to Night Stalker just to irritate @Rev at first. But then I'd let him make t-shirts or whatever and notawhile at him for using the font, likeness, or whatever. 

 

Honestly, the respectable thing to do would be shut it down. They know the hardware is not nor will be successful. Release all games (assuming they are done) on other platforms. Shred any contracts with devs saying it has to be on Amico for a time before other platforms. Just scrounge for any remaining dignity you have left.