Where will the official Intellivision brand be years from now?

[+evg2000]

2 minutes ago, Flojomojo said:

Did you like any of those? I know Keith said they sold 5 million of them, but they're ... not great

nope.  the games on the plug n plays were remade nes on a chip games

[Sinjinhawke]

Thanks for the reminder.  I have the 25 in 1.  Grabbed mine and didn't realize I had left the batteries in it.  Batteries had leaked but I was able to clean and deox-it everything and it's all good.  Wow those games have crap sound.  I mean the graphics they made an effort but the sounds are almost non-existent or worse than the 2600.

 

 

 

[mr_me]

6 hours ago, Rev said:

 

Perhaps a collection like never before?   Including 3rd party games this time. That would involve licensing fees. Intellivision should have the Burgertime license already. Mattel Intellivision had alot of 3rd party games that would make a nice collection.  

Of the 75+ Intellivision games IE owns (ECS excluded) about a dozen would be tied up with third party licensing.  If you're talking Coleco, Parker Brothers, and Atarisoft cartridges there are multiple licenses per game.  That's just too many third parties to make something like that viable.  There's barely enough money in it for one company.  There are always Intellivision fans looking for a way to play the classics today.  And there's plenty of favourites amongst the remaining 60+ games they have.

 

4 hours ago, Rev said:

 

At the end of 2014 after it was released I picked up 15 Intv Flashbacks for 20.00 each at Dollar General. woah!

 

4 hours ago, Sinjinhawke said:

That's pretty good.  I only bought one Intv and one Coleco.  I did not do my part.  At least they were still working last time I tried them.

Where I am they were never discounted.  They sold out and disappeared off the shelves.

 

3 hours ago, evg2000 said:

In the time line I don't see any of the other plug and plays, before the flashback. Or the handhelds

https://history.blueskyrangers.com/

Have a look at the timeline from 2003 to 2005 for the direct-to-tv units.  In those days, a proper emulation box wouldn't have been practical.  The remakes for nes are interesting none the less.

 

The other thing that can be added to that history page is the Intellivision collection for Evercade in 2021.

[roots.genoa]

15 hours ago, Rev said:

Even the VCS games are getting a Nintendo Switch physical release by Limited Run Games right now.

Well, maybe because they're not "VCS games" but games that happen to be also released on the VCS. 😉

[Bill Loguidice]

19 hours ago, Flojomojo said:

I don't think we ever got numbers, but we could read between the lines with things said by @Bill Loguidice that suggested Atari 2600 and Sega Genesis were their big movers in plug-and-play machines, and that there wasn't much appetite for revisiting Intellivision and Colecovision flashbacks beyond the initial 2014 run. 

Right, I can't give specifics, but basically retailers set higher expectations than were realistic, hence both were considered failures. The reality is, they sold respectably, just nowhere near what the typical numbers were for the Atari and Genesis plug and plays at the time. Now, of course, the plug and play market is very different and quite depressed, so there's no real chance of getting anything like that now in retail stores anyway even if both had met their retail expectations (and I don't know if the Amico debacle and its loose Intellivision association would further complicate things). 

 

I suspect the most realistic - and arguably, best - approach at some point in the future is that when FPGA hardware drops low enough in price we'll have plenty of custom "other" systems like the Intellivision readily available. The value-add would be the console shell, I/O, and controllers. The good news is that it seems practical new homebrew Intellivision controllers are already being made (I haven't gotten mine yet to see how good it is), so certainly that's a big plus already.

[mr_me]

The big advantage fpga has is full cartridge compatibility. People with a library of Intellivision cartridges is fairly niche.  Otherwise software emulation can be very accurate and high quality if implemented properly.  Atgames has shown that decent Intellivision controllers can be made inexpensively.  Most would expect a complete out of the box solution with licensed exec and games.

[1980gamer]

On 11/30/2022 at 9:01 AM, Bill Loguidice said:

Right, I can't give specifics, but basically retailers set higher expectations than were realistic, hence both were considered failures. The reality is, they sold respectably, just nowhere near what the typical numbers were for the Atari and Genesis plug and plays at the time. Now, of course, the plug and play market is very different and quite depressed, so there's no real chance of getting anything like that now in retail stores anyway even if both had met their retail expectations (and I don't know if the Amico debacle and its loose Intellivision association would further complicate things). 

 

I suspect the most realistic - and arguably, best - approach at some point in the future is that when FPGA hardware drops low enough in price we'll have plenty of custom "other" systems like the Intellivision readily available. The value-add would be the console shell, I/O, and controllers. The good news is that it seems practical new homebrew Intellivision controllers are already being made (I haven't gotten mine yet to see how good it is), so certainly that's a big plus already.

Any chance AtGames would consider selling just the controllers?

I would certainly buy 10 to 20 of them based on price.

 

I think if the Intellivision Flashback II were to happen, it would need to be HDMI, include SD and maybe add systems of similar controller layout like the Arcadia 2001 etc.

 

Or a Double Vision console.  Intellivision and Colecovision in one.  The coleco controllers were already altered from the original, so this should work, plus most CV games did not use the keypad beyond the menu.

Or Triple Vision.... Include all the Activision games with the above console!   Somehow include the 2600 Activision games too...   

 

A real dream...  Flashback deluxe platinum: Golden Age Gaming!   best of 2600, Intellivision, CV, 5200/A8    Drop the Paddle games and include Intellivision controllers.   Use 5200 games that do not need analogue or use the 800 version of the games.

 

Okay, my day dream ended....  Any chance they could sell replacement controllers for the Intellivision Flashback?

 

Edited December 3, 2022 by 1980gamer

[Bill Loguidice]

On 12/3/2022 at 7:18 AM, 1980gamer said:

Any chance AtGames would consider selling just the controllers?

I would certainly buy 10 to 20 of them based on price.

 

I think if the Intellivision Flashback II were to happen, it would need to be HDMI, include SD and maybe add systems of similar controller layout like the Arcadia 2001 etc.

 

Or a Double Vision console.  Intellivision and Colecovision in one.  The coleco controllers were already altered from the original, so this should work, plus most CV games did not use the keypad beyond the menu.

Or Triple Vision.... Include all the Activision games with the above console!   Somehow include the 2600 Activision games too...   

 

A real dream...  Flashback deluxe platinum: Golden Age Gaming!   best of 2600, Intellivision, CV, 5200/A8    Drop the Paddle games and include Intellivision controllers.   Use 5200 games that do not need analogue or use the 800 version of the games.

 

Okay, my day dream ended....  Any chance they could sell replacement controllers for the Intellivision Flashback?

 

I no longer work for AtGames, but based on my previous experience and the current state of the market, logistics, etc., there's zero chance of them producing the controllers in my opinion (consider the difficulty of producing extra Atari 2600 paddle controllers, something people have been asking for for years and something I was pushing for for years). There just wouldn't be enough of a market, besides the fact that I assume the rights would have to reacquired, which is a whole other issue.

 

In any case, the only logical path I see forward is for what's already happening, and that's smaller companies/groups/individuals pursuing the FPGA possibilities (and emulation-based systems with modules) and creating modules for each of the respective systems to use original cartridges and controllers. Otherwise, it's extremely unlikely a company like an AtGames or any of the other players involved would bother with licensing what they'd have to license for pre-Crash systems that just don't have a large enough audience to support all of the effort and expense.

[mr_me]

They don't need to license rights to sell Intellivision controllers, patents expired a long time ago.  However, besides the small market, I don't see them doing so unless it was in support of a device that they are also selling that would use them.

[1980gamer]

2 hours ago, mr_me said:

They don't need to license rights to sell Intellivision controllers, patents expired a long time ago.  However, besides the small market, I don't see them doing so unless it was in support of a device that they are also selling that would use them.

I wonder if AtGames has a patent on the controller now?

 

I am guessing AtGames was able to make these in quantity for $5 or less.  If we knew who made these, we could maybe get them made for $8 each for a 1000 maybe?

 

I think we have a market of 1000 controllers at $12.95  Maybe a 10 pack for $110  I know I want 20...  That should get me through...  But it would be nice to outlive them! 

 

I would like to fix the wiring of course.

 

 

[1980gamer]

3 hours ago, Bill Loguidice said:

I no longer work for AtGames, but based on my previous experience and the current state of the market, logistics, etc., there's zero chance of them producing the controllers in my opinion (consider the difficulty of producing extra Atari 2600 paddle controllers, something people have been asking for for years and something I was pushing for for years). There just wouldn't be enough of a market, besides the fact that I assume the rights would have to reacquired, which is a whole other issue.

 

In any case, the only logical path I see forward is for what's already happening, and that's smaller companies/groups/individuals pursuing the FPGA possibilities (and emulation-based systems with modules) and creating modules for each of the respective systems to use original cartridges and controllers. Otherwise, it's extremely unlikely a company like an AtGames or any of the other players involved would bother with licensing what they'd have to license for pre-Crash systems that just don't have a large enough audience to support all of the effort and expense.

Hi Bill,

I hope leaving was your choice and it was on good terms.

 

Anyway, that explains why you have not been updating us on AtGames.

 

I always liked your insight and thank you for advocating for us retro gamers.

[Bill Loguidice]

51 minutes ago, 1980gamer said:

Hi Bill,

I hope leaving was your choice and it was on good terms.

 

Anyway, that explains why you have not been updating us on AtGames.

 

I always liked your insight and thank you for advocating for us retro gamers.

Thanks. Yes, it was on my own and my relationship is still good with everyone there. I was there for roughly 7 years and became a full-time consultant from 2018 until October of this year.

[mr_me]

6 hours ago, 1980gamer said:

I wonder if AtGames has a patent on the controller now?

 

I am guessing AtGames was able to make these in quantity for $5 or less.  If we knew who made these, we could maybe get them made for $8 each for a 1000 maybe?

 

I think we have a market of 1000 controllers at $12.95  Maybe a 10 pack for $110  I know I want 20...  That should get me through...  But it would be nice to outlive them! 

 

I would like to fix the wiring of course.

 

 

Well you can't patent something that's already out there, especially something that's been previously patented.  And Atgames pretty much used the same design as Mattel's.  Intellivision Productions was selling those controllers for $10 to $15, even at double the price it would be a good deal.  There is a guy making all the controller internal parts new and they cost more.

https://www.sellmyretro.com/offer/details/brand-new-mattel-intellivision-1-controller-mylar-set-38583

[1980gamer]

1 minute ago, mr_me said:

Well you can't patent something that's already out there, especially something that's been previously patented.  And Atgames pretty much used the same design as Mattel's.  Intellivision Productions was selling those controllers for $10 to $15, even at double the price it would be a good deal.  There is a guy making all the controller internal parts new and they cost more.

https://www.sellmyretro.com/offer/details/brand-new-mattel-intellivision-1-controller-mylar-set-38583

You can file for a patent, it may not be granted etc.  My concern would be any PART within the controller that is new design and patent-able.

  Starting over... Would be cost prohibitive.  Using existing molds for the housing, action buttons and mylar etc.  is the only cost effective way to do this.

 

[Keatah]

I don't know how much more hardware needs to be manufactured nowadays. So many platforms already exist and are installed.

 

It'd be better if effort was put toward licensing and properly compiling collections for distro on those platforms. And then making them available as widely as possible. Both with emphasis on the original library and new homebrews. Plus remakes and enhancement of the oldies of course to satisfy fans of modern design.

[roots.genoa]

I can picture an "Intellivision 50" compilation in which every video interview and quotes are Tommy Tallarico giving his honest opinion™️ about the games and how they made him the successful businessman backgammon player he is today.